Battle in the Corridor

Back in the common room, Roy was still thinking about what Elias had told him.

Seeing Cedric hunched over the table, diligently doing his homework, Roy wanted to hear his thoughts.

"Did I do something to offend Slytherin? Do they hate me that much?"

Cedric stopped writing and looked up at the bewildered Roy, his tone full of helplessness.

"You only just noticed? I was starting to think Slytherin students would have to spit in your face before you realized they were hostile."

Hearing Cedric say that, Roy asked in confusion why.

"What did I do? I haven't done anything bad."

Cedric shook his head and explained to Roy.

"Because you hurt their sense of superiority. Most Slytherin students look down on people from poor backgrounds, and some of them are extreme blood-purity supporters."

"My father said that the essence of Slytherin's discrimination is protecting their fragile superiority complex. Pure-bloods discriminate against half-bloods, and half-bloods turn around and discriminate against Muggles."

Cedric shrugged. "But you stand out too much, and neither your background nor your behavior has even a hint of what an 'elite' should look like. That hurts the superiority complex of those so-called elites. They can accept someone like Aisling showing off, but an orphan from a Muggle background like you—the kind of person they look down on most—stepping over their heads? That scares them."

Cedric finally summed it up in one concise sentence.

"They aren't afraid of being looked down on by people more superior than them. They're afraid there won't be anyone left for them to look down on."

"Is that so..."

After hearing Cedric's answer, Roy finally understood how feudal and backward wizarding society's mindset was, and he could not help sighing.

Seeing that Roy had been preoccupied all day, Cedric stood up and, just as Roy usually did to him, slung an arm around Roy's shoulders.

"But only Slytherin has people like that. Most of the students still like you. Fred and George were loudly spreading the story of how you knocked out a professor with one spell in the corridor just now. Most students were impressed when they heard it."

Was a killing machine like him really going to be upset over something so trivial? Don't make Brother Roy laugh. Had he given those little Slytherin scumbags too much face?

Still, remembering his conversation with Aisling on the train, Roy truly did not think she was a bad person. He would rather believe that he had done something wrong.

"Forget it, let's eat." Roy stopped dwelling on it and headed to the dining hall with an arm around Cedric.

"Wait, my homework isn't—"

Roy was too strong, and Cedric was simply hauled away by him.

At dinner, Roy was the one everyone teased the most. Tonks sat beside him, constantly rubbing his blond hair while mercilessly teasing the increasingly exasperated Roy.

"Look at our Little Dumbledore. On his very first class, he nearly beat a professor to death."

Roy had now earned the nickname Little Dumbledore. Mainly because he had been so dazzling, and because his relationship with the little witch from the Grindelwald family had become so strained. Besides, many students had seen Dumbledore take him to Diagon Alley. Combined with Roy's abilities, everyone thought Dumbledore especially valued him because of his talent.

Fred and George also came over to join the teasing. Everyone laughed happily. After all, Roy himself looked pretty funny, didn't he?

Roy helplessly let them say whatever they wanted, since none of them meant any harm. Glancing at the Slytherin table, he saw that the looks sent his way were always hostile. Now he understood: to some people, someone like him simply did not deserve to be outstanding.

"Hope you know what's good for you. Otherwise, I don't mind teaching you a lesson."

After dinner, Roy did not go to the newly built base in the Forbidden Forest, nor did he go to the library to read. Instead, he returned to the common room with everyone else.

After copying some of Cedric's homework and listening to the classmates beside him gossip about school for a while, Roy heard the hottest piece of gossip that day: he had knocked out Professor Thorn. Roy picked up his toiletries and headed alone toward the boys' washroom on the seventh floor.

If he really ended up fighting someone, Roy did not want to drag anyone else into it.

After coming up the stairs, Roy glanced toward the washroom and spotted fifth-years Ronan Voss and Avery Selwyn skulking around the corner of the corridor.

"They really don't know when to quit."

Roy did not hide himself. He openly walked down the corridor as though he knew nothing, and both Ronan and Avery noticed him from around the corner.

When he reached the corner, the two rushed out and rammed into Roy with all their strength, trying to knock him over. Unexpectedly, Roy's small body possessed the strength of a troll, and he sent Ronan, who had been in front, crashing straight to the floor.

"Ow! You filthy Mudblood, can't you watch where you're going?"

Ronan clutched the place where he had been hit and struggled to get back up.

"Haha, who told you two to be so blind? Get lost already. Seeing worms like you Slytherins pisses me off. If you don't get lost, don't blame me for beating you so badly even your mothers won't recognize you."

The two had considered what they would do if an upper-year student or a professor happened to pass by, but they had never anticipated this situation.

"You lowly—"

Avery had barely opened his mouth when Roy kicked him away.

Avery was sent flying by the powerful kick. His head smashed into a suit of armor displayed in the corridor, and blood immediately spilled as he passed out.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me tell you to get lost?!"

Ronan had just gotten back to his feet when he realized Roy was so ruthless and so strong. Panicking, he pulled out his wand and tried to attack Roy.

"Overestimating yourself."

Roy was furious now. The magic inside him surged wildly as though boiling, and red light flickered deep within his originally blue eyes.

Ronan's hands were trembling. He raised his wand and fired a barrage of spells at Roy in one go, even throwing out several Dark Magic spells without restraint.

Yet every spell was stopped by an invisible barrier before it could reach Roy. The barrage did not slow Roy's advancing steps in the slightest. Throughout the entire process, Roy did not even draw his wand.

"What a bunch of stinking maggots. I thought your Dark Magic would be impressive. This is it?"

One of the Dark Magic spells was reflected back exactly as it had been cast, striking Ronan in one knee. Crying out in pain, Ronan dropped to one knee.

Without using his wand, Roy raised a hand and fired a Dark Magic spell directly at Ronan's other knee. This Dark Magic spell was far more powerful than Ronan's own, and Ronan felt as though his knee had caught fire. He collapsed to both knees, completely powerless.

"Y-you, what are you going to do?! My father is the head—"

"Your father is nothing to me. I'm your daddy."

Roy kicked Ronan in the face. The kick produced the sound of cracking bones, sending Ronan flying a long distance before he passed out.

Roy walked over, spat on him, then gave the two people lying on the ground several more kicks. Thinking that they would be bedridden for at least a month, Roy was finally satisfied.

Obliviate.

Two wisps of pale white smoke emerged from the tip of Roy's wand and connected to the mangled, bloodied heads of the two people on the floor.

"There. Problem solved. What bad luck. I was going to take a shower, but forget it. I'm not bathing now."

There had been no witnesses. After altering their memories, no one would know that he had beaten them up.

However, when Roy turned around, he saw a familiar figure.

A voice cold yet tinged with madness echoed through the pitch-black corridor.

"I remember the girls' washroom is on the second floor. So, you were the one who sent those two, weren't you, dear Aisling?"

Red light flickered in Roy's eyes, and a Homelander-like benevolent smile appeared on his face.