Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 24.

The first day of the new school year.

Soren's first class was Herbology. After enjoying a hearty breakfast in the Great Hall and reading Mrs. Weasley's howler sent to Ron, Soren set off with Daphne and Meredith to the Hogwarts greenhouses.

"Two mischievous students have injured a very precious Whomping Willow, and I've spent the entire morning treating it!" Professor Sprout's voice was gentle. "I hope you all won't do things like that in the future!"

"Alright, now follow me to the Third Greenhouse!" She led the way, with the second-year students from Slytherin and Ravenclaw following her. The plants in the Third Greenhouse were more interesting than those in the First Greenhouse, but also more dangerous. Professor Sprout stood behind a bench in the centre of the greenhouse, clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, and said, "Today we are going to repot the Mandrakes. Who can tell me what the properties of Mandrakes are?"

Moray McDougall from Ravenclaw pushed up her glasses and raised her hand. At Professor Sprout's nod, she answered, "It is a powerful restorative, able to help those who have been transformed by potions, curses, or transfiguration return to their original state."

"Very good, Miss McDougall! Ravenclaw gets ten points." Professor Sprout nodded in satisfaction. "Now, who can tell me why we need to prepare this stuff?" She pointed to a large pile of furry earplugs in the corner.

This time she called on Soren from Slytherin to answer the question. Generally speaking, students from Slytherin were not very skilled in Herbology, as these noble young masters and mistresses believed that these dirty tasks of digging in the soil and watering plants were the responsibilities of servants.

But Soren was an exception. Soren's magical philosophy is to utilise any available tools—whether spells, transformations, potions, herbs, magical creatures, or even Muggle tools, nothing is turned away.

He replied, "The cry of an adult Mandrake can be fatal. One of the former Minister of Magic, Venusia Crickerly, died on the spot due to an accident while handling the Mandrakes in her own garden. Later, the Ministry of Magic established a series of regulations regarding this plant, requiring wizarding families to obtain special permits to grow Mandrakes. Of course, young Mandrakes will only cause a person to faint for a few hours."

"Absolutely correct, and the fatal record of the Mandrake is an appropriate addition, even better than I anticipated—Slytherin gets fifteen points. As Mr. Malfoy said, Mandrakes are indeed dangerous, but the ones here are still young, and their cries will only cause fainting for a few hours," Professor Sprout said calmly.

Professor Sprout demonstrated first, then had the young witches and wizards start potting in groups of four. Draco originally wanted to team up with Soren (who was clearly the most reliable partner in Slytherin), but he was forcibly grabbed by Pansy and taken to the Slytherin girls' group to do the hard work, while Goyle, Crabbe, Nott, and Blaise Zabini formed a group.

Soren had Daphne and Meredith, but they were still one person short. Soren politely approached Moray McDougal from Ravenclaw to invite her. Moray was a bit surprised by Soren's sudden invitation but nodded in agreement to join his group.

Pulling Mandrakes out of the soil was quite a physical task, not as easy as what Professor Sprout demonstrated. It was even harder than pulling carrots in a field, as the Mandrakes were unwilling to be uprooted.

Daphne struggled for quite a while without success, and in the end, it was Meredith who helped pull it out. The worst part was that once it was out, the little creature refused to go back, wriggling, kicking its legs, shaking its fists, and blocking the pot's opening, refusing to be stuffed back in. Daphne wrestled with the Mandrake for few minutes before the task was completed with Soren's help.

Soren usually paid great attention to physical exercise, and over the summer, Lucius had given him and Draco a Strengthening Solution, a potion that could improve one's physical condition and increase strength—given Soren's current physical strength, he could easily knock down an adult Muggle in close combat.

With a firm grip on the Mandrake's root, Soren pulled it out with just one tug, and due to the force, he even made the Mandrake dizzy, resulting in no resistance and successfully completing the potting.

After Meredith succeeded with Soren's assistance, only Moray was left.

It was Moray's first time in a group with Soren, and they had never communicated before. Although she had heard that he was approachable, her feminine modesty made it difficult for her to ask him for help. She was a typical Ravenclaw girl, quiet by nature and of a rather delicate physique. Having seen what happened to others, she felt unsure about completing today's task alone.

Soren noticed Moray's predicament and gallantly offered his help. With Soren's assistance, Moray slowly pulled the Mandrake out, but she couldn't hold onto the wildly thrashing Mandrake, which unexpectedly escaped from her hands and sprayed both herself and Soren with dirt.

As the Mandrake bounced rapidly across the ground, about to run away, Moray stood frozen in place and let out an "ah." Suddenly, Soren darted past her like almost cheetah, lunging toward the direction of the Mandrake. He precisely seized the little creature and, without giving it a chance to struggle, roughly shoved it into the pot.

At that moment, both Soren and Moray were covered in dirt, and they looked at each other's messy state and couldn't help but laugh. The initial sense of distance between them was instantly broken. Soren took out his wand and cast a Scourgify spell on both of them, instantly cleaning away the mud and even making the smell of sweat nearly undetectable.

Moray couldn't help but exclaim, "Your spell work is amazing! Even among Ravenclaw, where we excel in spell-casting, no one can master the Scourgify spell so thoroughly. Not to mention dirt, I can't even see any dust on me now…"

Soren humbly smiled and replied, "Miss McDougall, you flatter me. I've just practiced harder than others. When it comes to theoretical knowledge of charms, Ravenclaw is definitely superior."

Moray gave Soren a sidelong glance, "Hey, being overly modest makes you seem quite insincere! Also, stop calling me Miss McDougall; just call me Moray!"

The group of four was the first to complete the task in class, and Professor Sprout happily awarded them each 5 points for their respective houses. The other students—especially the mostly studious individuals from Ravenclaw—were still struggling with the Mandrake, while Slytherin had performed better, but most were also disheveled, sweaty, and covered in dirt.

After lunch was Defense Against the Dark Arts class. For some unknown reason, this year's class was combined with Gryffindor.

Like the Potions class, the two rival houses sat distinctly on opposite sides of the classroom. Everyone arrived early, holding their breath in anticipation of the class, demonstrating how eagerly they awaited Professor Lockhart's lesson—perhaps Harry and Soren were the two exceptions.

"Hello, children!" Lockhart entered, wearing a dark green robe, his demeanor impeccable, causing nearly all the girls to unconsciously straighten up and lift their heads. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Third Class of the Order of Merlin, five-time winner of the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award—but I don't use that to boast; I didn't vanquish Banshees with just a smile!"

Lockhart pulled out a stack of parchment, "I see that all of you have bought my complete works—very good. Let's start with a little quiz to see how well you've read and understood." After distributing the papers, he returned to the podium and announced, "You have thirty minutes, starting now!"

The quiz spanned three full pages filled with questions about his personal preferences. For Soren, who had an excellent memory, the questions posed no difficulty at all, and he swiftly filled out his paper. Hermione did the same, while the other students—Harry and Ron looked confused at their papers, Draco and Nott looked disgusted, and Goyle and Crabbe sat dazed and drooling.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and began grading them in front of everyone. The answers on most papers seemed unsatisfactory to him, prompting him to make "tut-tut" sounds frequently.

"Beautifully done, Mr. Soren Malfoy! You actually remembered that my favorite color is lilac," Lockhart exclaimed excitedly.

"This paper deserves a 100… Slytherin gets ten points!" Next, he flipped to Hermione's paper, "Miss Hermione Granger knows that my secret ambition is to eradicate evil from the world and sell my own line of hair products. This paper also scores a 100… Gryffindor gets ten points!"

He pulled out a large cage covered with a cloth and placed it on the desk. "Now—be careful! My task is to teach you how to defend against the most evil things in the wizarding world! You will face the most terrifying things in this classroom. But as long as I am here, you will not be harmed. I only ask that you remain calm."

Harry peeked out from behind a pile of books, wanting to get a good look at the cage, while Neville shrank back a little, and Pansy inched closer to Draco. Daphne and Meredith, who had braved the Devil's Snare and defeated a troll under Soren's guidance last year, had developed a courage and weren't afraid of real combat, and they seemed eager to try it out.

"I must ask you not to scream," Lockhart said in a lowered voice, "that will only anger them!" He then lifted the cover.

"Indeed," he said theatrically, "a freshly captured Cornwall pixie." Pixies are not only found in Cornwall; they are mainly spread throughout the southwestern part of England, particularly in Cornwall and Devon, and are known for their mischievous behavior. Cornwall pixies are bright electric blue, while Devon pixies are more modestly colored in steel blue.

Soren observed the cage closely, noting that these pixies were about eight inches tall, had pointy faces, and extremely high-pitched voices, bouncing around, shaking the cage, and making all sorts of bizarre faces.

A male student couldn't help but snicker, and Lockhart snapped, "Be serious! They are devilishly cunning little troublemakers!" After saying this, he opened the cage door.

Chaos ensued—the pixies flew around wildly, two of them grabbed Neville's ears and lifted him up, while several others rushed out the window, scattering broken glass across the back row of the classroom, and the remaining ones wreaked havoc inside.

Harry showed the courage of a Gryffindor and tried to protect Ron and Hermione, but his efforts fell short—his glasses were snatched away by a pixie, leaving him unable to see anything and only able to flail his arms around, trying to grab a pixie by chance; Ron dared not use his wand that was sputtering with unpredictable sparks; Hermione performed the best, cleverly using a binding spell to freeze two pixies and shove them back into the cage.

A few minutes later, half the class had taken cover under their desks, with poor Neville swinging from the chandelier. Seeing that it was about time, Soren exchanged glances with Daphne and Meredith and shouted, "This is Professor Lockhart's first lesson for us—never underestimate any enemy. Now—follow me!"

Soren took the lead and shot a burst of roaring flames with the fire spell, driving the pixies into a corner of the wall. Daphne and Meredith intuitively stood on either side of Soren and used the binding spell to immobilise pixies one by one, causing them to fall to the ground, and the number of flying pixies visibly decreased.

At that moment, Draco, Pansy, Nott, and Zabini stepped forward to help, and spells began to fly. In just a few minutes, all the pixies were shoved back into the cage.

At this point, the chandelier couldn't bear the strain and fell down. Soren caught the falling Neville with the levitation spell and then used the repair spell to fix the damaged windows, desks, chairs, and chandelier one by one.

Finally, with a normal tone, he reported to Lockhart, "Professor, we understand your point—you want to convey that even unremarkable pixies must be approached with caution, and we should never underestimate any enemy, right? Moreover, you've given us a valuable practical opportunity—of course, I have no doubt that if we had failed, you would have stepped in to show us your true skills. I must say, this has been an invaluable lesson."

Lockhart stood up, radiating excitement. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy completely understood my meaning—what an excellent little wizard you are! The Slytherins also did very well! Now, let me think... Slytherin gets sixty points!