Blaise Zabini

"Why not? You seem like an interesting person. I'd be happy to get to know you."

Sean looked at him. He was a brown-skinned boy, quite tall for his age, with already strikingly handsome features. He carried himself with a composure and nonchalance that someone his age should not have possessed. Sean thought he seemed like a very interesting person too.

Sean reached out and shook his hand. "Sean Bulstrode. And you are?"

"Blaise Zabini. Just call me Blaise."

Sean smiled and nodded, releasing his hand. "Then you can call me Sean. But that said, aren't you worried those guys will give you trouble?"

"How could they give me trouble? Put a snake in my bed? Or a frog? We're Slytherins, aren't we?"

Just as Blaise had said, they were Slytherins. Those childish little pranks were far too juvenile. Unless someone cast a curse behind another's back—but Hogwarts' rules were no mere decoration. At best, secretly cursing someone would get you expelled from Hogwarts; at worst, you would be sent directly to the Ministry of Magic for trial, perhaps even straight to Azkaban. No one was willing to take that kind of risk over a momentary grudge. After all, they were Slytherins, not impulsive Gryffindors.

Of course, if someone considered themselves skilled enough at magic to avoid being traced, then secretly casting a curse was not entirely impossible. But it would certainly not happen among the lower years.

Blaise was quite an interesting person—humorous, witty, and mentally mature, far beyond most Young Wizards their age. To Sean, who was equally mature at heart—or perhaps even more so—he was an excellent candidate for a friend.

"Hisss..."

Hearing the hissing from inside his robes, Sean gently pulled open his collar. Kulkan slithered out from beneath it and lightly coiled around Sean's neck, looking around as though surveying the area.

"Is that your pet?"

"Yes." Sean gently stroked Kulkan's head, and Kulkan took the initiative to rub against his hand. Blaise watched with envy and reached out, wanting to stroke Kulkan's head just as Sean had.

But the instant Blaise extended his hand, Kulkan immediately raised the front half of his body, staring at Blaise warily while flicking his tongue again and again, ready to attack at any moment.

Seeing Kulkan's reaction, Blaise immediately withdrew his hand and said somewhat gloomily, "It's really beautiful, but it's far too fierce."

Sean gently stroked Kulkan's head, calming him down, then said to Blaise, "When I bought Kulkan, I had to pay quite a price before he trusted me. I still have his tooth marks on my hand."

Blaise looked at Kulkan enviously. For wizards entering Slytherin, Kulkan's appearance was practically irresistible. A white snake that had nearly vanished from the outside world was simply the perfect pet made for Slytherin.

Sean and Blaise were seated far apart, but they were still at the Slytherin table. Naturally, Kulkan, coiled around Sean's neck, drew attention. To some of the boys, the white snake was pretty enough, but not particularly noteworthy. If they wanted one, they could ask their families to find them something similar. The girls, on the other hand, found it much harder to resist Kulkan.

But before they could approach, Dumbledore tapped his goblet. Everything on the tables, which had already been cleared of food, vanished in an instant. Aside from Goyle, who held a turkey leg in one hand and a piece of cake in the other, and Crabbe, whose face was covered in grease as he clutched a pork knuckle, the other Slytherins had already finished eating and sat quietly on the benches, waiting for the feast to end.

Dumbledore watched as the Great Hall gradually quieted down, then slowly rose from his seat. After clearing his throat, he began, "While you still have the energy to listen to me, I have a few more important matters to mention. First, whether you are a new student or an old one, you are not permitted to enter the Forbidden Forest. If you are caught entering it without permission, you will receive the appropriate punishment. Second...

Lastly, I would like to remind you all that if you do not wish to die a horrible death, or suffer accidents and pain, then please do not enter the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor.

"All right, that concludes the announcements. Before everyone returns to their respective House Common Rooms for the night, let us sing the school song together!"

It was obvious that the moment Dumbledore mentioned singing the school song, not only did the older students of every House show helpless, pained expressions, but even the professors at the staff table had stiffened faces. Clearly, they were deeply resistant to Hogwarts' school song.

But with the Headmaster having spoken, there was nothing they could do. Under Dumbledore's lead, the school song began ringing through the Great Hall in all sorts of different tunes. Most students around the Slytherin table merely opened their mouths and mouthed the words without making a sound.

Goyle and Crabbe, however, had just finished the food in their hands while Dumbledore had been speaking. With their broad faces still smeared with grease and cream, they bellowed the school song in a tune resembling a funeral dirge performed by only the two of them. Their singing made Malfoy question his life choices and left the new students seated beside them on the verge of collapse.

Sean believed that if they had not been in the Great Hall, and if Goyle and Crabbe had not been under the watchful eyes of Dumbledore and their own Head of House, Snape, then at least seventeen or eighteen Slytherin students would probably have cursed them by now and poisoned them mute.

Once the maddening school song finally ended, Sean and Blaise exchanged a look. Both wore helpless expressions, clearly still affected by the lingering shockwaves of Goyle and Crabbe's singing.

"I really don't know how those two got sorted into Slytherin. Could it be that the Sorting Hat really only looks at bloodline and nothing else? I think those two would be much better suited to Gryffindor!"

Hearing Blaise's words, Sean shook his head with a laugh. "I think that's the worst Gryffindor has ever been slandered."

"Haha, that's quite an interesting way of putting it."

After the school song ended, the Prefects from each House gradually stood up and led their students out of the Great Hall toward their respective Common Rooms.

First came the newly selected fifth-year Prefects, followed by Oliver and the other sixth-year Prefect, and finally the two seventh-year Prefects. Among them, the female seventh-year Prefect was also this year's Head Girl. As the representative of all female students, the Head Girl was certainly exceptionally outstanding.

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