For a long time afterward, Malfoy immersed himself in the joy of learning jinxes.
Cyrus did not give him much guidance, but he still learned quickly. Aside from jinxes, Malfoy was also very interested in little alchemical trinkets. At home, however, Lucius had never allowed him to indulge in that interest.
Obsessing over alchemical gadgets was nothing more than wasting his potential on toys!
In reality, though, Malfoy had a bit of talent in that area.
After discovering this by chance, Cyrus immediately put it to use and began teaching Malfoy alchemy. Sometimes, he even went out of his way to visit the room where things were hidden and find broken alchemical objects for Draco to repair. Among them, he even found a damaged Pensieve.
At last, they had a shared secret. Malfoy also grew more trusting of Cyrus.
"If you want to keep studying alchemy, I suggest you make sure to take Runes Writing in your third year," Cyrus advised.
Unlike the ancient alchemy he was currently studying, modern alchemy focused more on crafting magical objects and made greater use of runes to imbue them with magical power.
The school had yet to bring up choosing electives, but Malfoy was already giving it serious thought.
Ever since stealing the Diary from Ginny, Dobby had been plagued by distress and indecision.
He had tried so many ways to warn Harry Potter, yet he had never imagined that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was still alive. He had narrowly escaped Harry Potter eleven years ago!
Now, Harry Potter would probably face an even more terrifying threat.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is still alive! Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts!" Dobby clenched his fists tightly!
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, Harry and the others were still trying everything they could to help Ginny find Riddle's Diary. Several weeks had passed, however, and they still had nothing to show for it.
Almost everyone looked like the culprit to them. Nearly every student in Slytherin and Gryffindor had become a suspect.
Ginny was devastated, but as time passed, her grief gradually gave way to resignation.
"I'm afraid we'll never find that Diary," Ron said, playing the defeatist and starting to sound discouraged. "And have you noticed? The attacks seem to have stopped. Something must have happened somewhere we don't know about. Maybe Riddle found a way to stop the heir."
He was practically implying that the brave, fearless, righteous Mr. Riddle had sacrificed himself in the fight against evil.
As a result, Ginny burst into tears the moment she heard it. Not only did she cry, but she also used Levicorpus to hang Ron from the ceiling.
Ron: ...
By contrast, Fred and George, who thought Ginny had lost the map, were much less anxious. For one thing, they had already explored almost all the secret passages on it. They also believed the heir could never discover the map's secret.
The culprit would never be able to use the map to hurt anyone. Even if they got hold of it, it would be nothing more than a scrap of paper.
The fact that the attacks had stopped was the best proof!
So rather than worrying, they even came to comfort Ginny from time to time. Their methods were rather unconventional, however. At least, Percy did not think draping themselves in fur or covering themselves in boils and leaping out from behind statues to amuse her... counted as comforting her.
Before long, Harry had no choice but to stop searching for the thief.
Wood had recently started increasing their training like a madman, and Harry spent almost all his time after dinner on the pitch.
The weather was still bitterly cold, and it kept raining, so he returned to the dormitory soaked to the skin every time. Ron was exhausted too, and always fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Worse than all of that was Lockhart.
To ease the tense atmosphere at school, he had taken it upon himself to organize a Valentine's Day event. The "Little Cupids" carrying cards-actually hideous dwarfs-would read out people's love letters to you in public. Harry's only consolation was that at least he had not received anything that might embarrass him.
Ron, however, was furious because Hermione still refused to present a united front with him when it came to Lockhart. He suspected that one of the forty-odd Valentine's Day cards Lockhart had received was hers.
"That Gilderoy Lockhart! I've never met anyone worse than him!"
Even Malfoy had almost reached the limit of his tolerance for Lockhart.
"My father was right. Dumbledore has gone completely senile. Just look at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors he's hired these past two years! They get worse every year! Last year's only stammered, but this year's? He ought to go join a drama club and be a ridiculous actor!"
If there was anything about Lockhart that pleased him, it was that he kept inviting Harry Potter up to perform with him in class.
Almost every time, that detestable Scarhead played some ridiculous role, which certainly gave him plenty to laugh at. But even the same old act grew boring after a while.
And now he had come up with this Valentine's Day stunt...
He was Draco Malfoy!
Who didn't know how popular he was in Slytherin?
Could there possibly be any shortage of people who wanted to confess their love to him?
But if someone confessed to him in a setting like this, he would rather die!
"If anyone dares write me a card and embarrass me, I'll teach her a lesson!" Draco declared at once. Pansy, who was sitting nearby, immediately abandoned the idea.
At noon, Malfoy complained to Cyrus about it as well.
He had practically come to regard Cyrus as a true friend, affectionately calling him Little Tom at every opportunity.
Sometimes, Cyrus would remind him, "I'm older than your father. Even he has to treat me with respect. How can you call me Little Tom?"
Draco always brushed it off:
"We can each do our own thing. He can call you Uncle, and I can call you my brother!"
Without hesitation, Draco had promoted himself up an entire generation. But if Lucius knew he was calling Voldemort Little Tom, sooner or later he would be kneeling before Draco and calling him Dad!
Cyrus did not mind.
All he needed to do was be Draco's "trusted confidant."
"I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing," Cyrus said deliberately. "You should make good use of this opportunity."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you think this would be embarrassing, what about other people? You seem to really hate Harry Potter. Why not try sending him an unsigned card? How about writing, 'His eyes are as green as a freshly pickled toad'?"
"Then watch the great celebrity Potter make a fool of himself in front of everyone!"
Cyrus had completely forgotten his brief collaboration with Harry to steal potions ingredients and showed no hesitation whatsoever in setting him up.
"You're an absolute genius!" Malfoy jumped to his feet.
"I'll write it! I absolutely have to! I'll write it exactly as you said! Honestly, I've hated those eyes of his for ages." And he had a new idea.
"And I'll have those dwarfs read it out during Potions Class!" he said smugly.
Cyrus, however, slowly supplied a mental question mark.
"You probably don't know this, but Professor Snape hates Harry Potter more than anyone!" Thinking Cyrus simply did not understand the situation, Malfoy excitedly explained, "If his class gets interrupted, you can imagine how dead Potter will be!"
Say Harry's eyes were as green as a freshly pickled toad in front of Snape?
You really are something, Draco Malfoy!
Who's going to be dead is still up for debate!
Don't you know Snape hates every pore on Harry's body except those eyes?
Give you the slur "Mudblood," and you could earn yourself a whole term of cleaning toilets. Give you Valentine's Day as well, and you could step straight onto a land mine! Even America's five-star Grand Wizard MacArthur had said:
"When it comes to courting death, even I can't compete with Draco Malfoy!"
"Once Malfoy starts courting death, it's already too late!"
"If God made me compete with Malfoy at courting death, I would kill God without hesitation!"
The epic documentary "The legend of Draco Malfoy" continues!
Before you continue