Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 23.

At King's Cross Station, Soren and Draco said goodbye to their parents, passed through the wall at Platform 9¾, and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

Originally, Draco and Soren were supposed to share a compartment, but after Draco found his friends(Lackeys) Goyle and Crabbe, he hesitated briefly before abandoning his brother and moving to his friends' compartment—Soren knew he couldn't resist the urge to show off his newly acquired broom and his participation in the Quidditch team; he really was a kid who didn't understand how to be low-key, Soren scoffed.

Soren found an empty compartment and sat down. According to the plot, this year Harry and Ron would be pranked by Dobby to the point that they couldn't board the train, and those two attention-seekers would enter Hogwarts in Arthur Weasley's modified Ford Anglia. As Dobby's little master, Soren had the ability to stop this from happening, but he chose to do nothing and let the story unfold.

Before long, the compartment door was pulled open, and Daphne and Meredith stood at the door. When they saw Soren inside, they showed clear delight on their faces and hurriedly grabbed their luggage to come in.

Soren used a levitation charm to help them stow their luggage. Daphne's luggage was a lightweight bag made of Mokeskin, and Soren was sure it contained anti-theft and no-crease spells; it only took a gentle tug to put the bag away. Meredith's suitcase, on the other hand, was an old, large trunk, its weathered and faded exterior indicating that it was quite ancient.

Soren silently sighed, the distinguished Shafiq family has fallen so low that they can't even afford a suitcase with no-crease spells? Perhaps this Christmas, he could use alchemy to make Meredith one as a Christmas gift?

To respect Meredith's dignity, Soren kept these thoughts to himself and did not voice them, maintaining a neutral expression. He knew that with Meredith's proud personality, giving her a suitcase directly would only hurt the girl's fragile feelings; presenting it as a Christmas gift would minimize that risk.

After Daphne sat down, she suddenly made a pouty face. Soren scratched his head and asked, "What's wrong, Daphne? Who upset you?"

"Soren!" Daphne said sulkily.

"What happened?" Soren looked at her in confusion, thinking he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Why didn't you write to me over the summer?"

"I did! How could I not write?" Soren was even more puzzled.

"Hmph! You dare to say that? You only wrote one letter half a foot long in the entire two months of summer, which isn't even half the length of your usual essays!" Daphne huffed angrily.

"Huh? Isn't the point of writing letters the content?" Soren felt wronged.

After promising a series of unequal agreements, Daphne finally let Soren off the hook, turning to chat with Meredith about this semester's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the new students.

The three chatted back and forth idly, flipping through a large book on their laps. In the meantime, Soren also bought a bunch of sweets from a witch pushing a cart; sweets indeed had a deadly attraction to girls, as the two girls quickly warmed up to the atmosphere while eating candies.

Suddenly, a commotion was heard from outside.

With a whoosh, the compartment door was thrown open.

"Hello!" Hermione walked in. She was already wearing her robes, her face showing signs of anxiety, and behind her was a little girl with a head full of red hair—though it was their first meeting, Soren recognised her as Ginny Weasley, a key character in the storyline for this academic year.

Hermione appeared a bit unnatural, slightly turning her head to avoid Daphne and Meredith's gaze as she looked at Soren. "Soren, have you seen Harry and Ron? Ginny and I have searched the entire train and couldn't find them."

"Maybe they missed the train?" Soren pretended to think. "But don't worry; the school will surely arrange for a professor to pick them up—although they might have to face some punishment."

"Oh no!" Ginny was almost in tears. "Punishment? They won't be expelled, will they?"

"No," Soren reassured her. "It's just missing the train; it's not a major mistake. I don't think Professor Dumbledore would make such a decision."

"Exactly, Ginny, they just missed the train—my God, look over there!" Hermione suddenly screamed, pointing outside with a look of surprise. Following Hermione's finger, everyone turned to look outside.

The weather outside was clear, with blue skies and white clouds, and a blue Ford car was flying in the air!

"Oh no, that's..." Ginny's face was filled with despair.

The car slowly descended, gradually approaching the train. "Harry, Ron, how could you do this!" In the car, Hermione saw Harry and Ron sitting inside, grinning and waving at them. She shouted angrily at them. But the two boys clearly couldn't hear Hermione's scolding and continued to wave cheerily.

"Will Harry get expelled?" Looking at the car in the sky, Ginny was about to cry again.

"He will definitely be expelled; they've violated at least twenty school rules!" Hermione said, her face pale.

"I think you guys should write a letter to Professor Dumbledore. If you hurry, maybe you can handle the situation," said Soren, withdrawing his gaze and suggesting to Hermione and the others.

"You're right!" A few people came back to their senses, and Hermione immediately said, "I'll go right now!" With that, Hermione and Ginny left looking ashen.

"Knock, knock, knock!" An owl was tapping on the window, carrying a newspaper. Seeing the newspaper on the owl, Soren recognised where the owl was from. "Oh, it's the newspaper I subscribed to, tonight's Daily Prophet. I didn't expect it to arrive so soon."

Opening the car window, the owl swiftly entered the compartment and extended its leg towards Soren. Soren took the newspaper, put five Knuts into the pouch, and the owl immediately flew out.

Soren opened the newspaper, clicked his tongue, and looked at the headline: "A Ford Anglia Car Flew Over London, Muggles Astonished." Daphne and Meredith were also attracted by this news headline and, without coordination, stood up, moved to Soren's side, and sat down close to him to read the big news together.

The two girls were too close to Soren, whether intentional or not; Daphne's body kept brushing against Soren's left arm, giving him a delightful electric feeling; as Meredith read the newspaper, her soft blonde hair gently grazed Soren's chin, making him feel a tickling sensation.

From Soren's perspective, he could catch a glimpse of Meredith's long, white neck and her delicately visible collarbone, accompanied by the unique fresh scent of youth coming from the girl. Soren suddenly found himself feeling dry-mouthed and flustered.

No matter how oblivious Soren was, he realised at this moment that the two girls might have ulterior motives for him.

To be honest, Soren didn't resist these two girls. They were top-notch in terms of family background, appearance, talent, and character. However, first of all, Soren had conservative thoughts; he was only 12 years old and was not prepared for relationships. Secondly, he knew turbulent times were coming and didn't want to waste time on romantic affairs. Soren forced himself to calm down and pretended not to notice the suggestive behavior of the two girls, compelling himself to focus on the content of the newspaper—

"Two Muggles in London are convinced they saw an old car flying over the post office building, and one of them took a blurred photo. At noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bellis saw it while hanging out the laundry... Mr. Angus Fleet from Peebles reported it to the police..."

The rest of the train journey was spent during these exciting hours.

At the Sorting Ceremony, Soren noticed that Professor Snape, Harry, and Ron were all missing.

As in previous years, the Sorting Hat assigned this year's new students to their respective houses: Ginny Weasley into Gryffindor, Colin Creevey into Gryffindor, Vicky Frobisher into Gryffindor, Luna Lovegood into Ravenclaw, Eloise Midgen into Hufflepuff, Edward Harper into Slytherin...

As the Sorting Ceremony and Dumbledore's speech concluded, the young wizards began to feast. Soren noticed that both Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had left the Great Hall one after the other. The young wizards discussed the news about the blue flying car from the Daily Prophet while eating—Draco was boasting at the Slytherin table that he had known all along that the blue car was carrying Potter and Weasley, enjoying the attention he was receiving.

Soren pursed his lips and said nothing. Daphne and Meredith had been observing Soren quietly, and at this moment, they wisely refrained from joining the excitement.

Upon returning to his familiar dormitory, Soren locked the door and cast a silent spell and an anti-interference spell at the entrance. He then snapped his fingers, and with a loud pop, a dirty little house-elf named Dobby appeared in the room.

Dobby usually got along well with him and was always cheerful when he saw Soren. But at this moment, Dobby seemed like a child who had done something wrong, constantly lowering his head and not daring to look Soren in the eye. However, his trembling body betrayed his nervousness and fear inside.

"Spill it, Dobby. Did you do something to Harry Potter and his friends?"

Dobby's eyes immediately widened!

Dobby kept banging his head against the wall, "Bad Dobby, bad Dobby. Dobby knows the old master wants to harm the great Harry Potter, so he tried to stop Harry Potter from coming to school. Dobby attempted to ruin the old master's plans. Dobby deserves to be punished; Dobby is a bad elf!"

"Enough!" Soren interrupted forcefully. Dobby shivered, raised his head, and slowly looked at Soren. Dobby had watched Soren grow up from a baby, and this was the first time he felt a sense of authority coming from him.

Though only 12 years old, Soren had experienced fierce battles, including facing a giant and outsmarting Dumbledore. At this moment, his youthful innocence had vanished, replaced by a decisive firmness. Dobby froze and stopped punishing himself, gazing at Soren with eager eyes, longing for his little master's forgiveness.

Dobby was an anomaly among house-elves; he held no reverence for his owner, the Malfoy family, obeying them only due to the binding magic of their contract. However, Dobby's feelings for Soren were genuine, stemming from Soren's belief in equality. Since childhood, he had treated Dobby as an equal friend rather than a lowly servant.

"Dobby, I've told you many times, we are friends, not master and servant. I'm aware of the things my father does, but I must clarify: my father is one person, and I am another. I do not support my father's actions, so Dobby, I believe you haven't done anything wrong! Stop punishing yourself."

Dobby was moved to tears, "Thank you, master soren! Thank you! I knew my little master is as great as Harry Potter..."

"From now on, don't get involved in Harry's matters. I promise he will be fine, and next year, Harry Potter will return to Hogwarts safe and sound. On the contrary, I have many things to do at school this year and require a helper. Dobby, would you like to assist me?"

Dobby nodded vigorously, "Dobby is willing! Dobby is willing! Helping the great little master is Dobby's honor!"