The truth seemed to have come out, only to become another secret they could not speak aloud. Their hearts felt heavy, making it hard to breathe.
Except for Cyrus.
He returned to the Slytherin Common Room, intending to find a suitable time to resume his attacks.
I remember the fourth and fifth attacks happened almost simultaneously. Those two attacks nearly forced the school to close, Cyrus thought.
It was not time to close the school yet. He had to proceed gradually, letting them believe the situation was not too serious. Ideally, Dumbledore would leave the school without any trouble. Things would be much easier then.
"I'll have to stay in closer contact with Lucius."
Muttering to himself, Cyrus sat alone on a sofa in the common room and crossed his legs.
Before long, a tall, burly young man approached. From a distance, he looked like an enormous green gorilla.
"Malfoy-" Marcus Flint frowned. "Why are you still here? Get to Quidditch practice! If we win against Ravenclaw, we'll still have a fighting chance."
Last term, Slytherin had lost to Gryffindor in a Quidditch match despite having the most advanced brooms and an overwhelming advantage. Malfoy had been so busy taunting Harry that he had forgotten he was playing, missing his chance to get to the Golden Snitch first.
Marcus Flint had been deeply dissatisfied with Malfoy ever since. But what could he do? Malfoy's father was a school governor, and his family had donated Slytherin's brooms. However unhappy Marcus was, he could only put up with it.
Under the tournament rules, each house had to play one match against each of the other three houses, and the championship was ultimately decided by the points scored during those matches. They had lost one game, but if they beat Ravenclaw by three