Chapter 654
I can’t
Chapter 654 I can’t
Draco stared in horror, instinctively looking at Myrtle, only to see the ghost who had been helping him all along seemingly oblivious to his predicament, her hands cupping her face in a shy yet delighted expression.
Before he could make a sound, something was shoved into his mouth.
The sweet aroma spread instantly, and a hint of confusion appeared in Draco's eyes.
It turned out to be a piece of candy.
Before he could think or resist, the young wizard was transformed into a chubby, furry, lop-eared rabbit with a "bang."
Then, his body was suspended in mid-air, the whole rabbit was grabbed and lifted up by one hand, and then stuffed into the pocket of the wizard's robe.
The lop-eared rabbit's eyes widened, and its body trembled. It saw that the person who had captured it did not take it to "Viper" for disposal, but simply waved the magic wand twice, and then turned on the tap to wash their hands.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Myrtle asked in a sweet voice, "Did you come to see me?"
She completely ignored the fact that this was not the restroom she usually stayed in.
Draco didn't hear the person's voice. His heart was pounding, his nostrils flared, and he tentatively peeked out from his pocket. In front of him were the bathroom wall tiles and the sink, and in his ears was the sound of running water.
Freedom seemed within reach, and those who had captured him did not restrict his movements.
Just as Draco was about to leap into the air, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open with a bang!
The lop-eared rabbit suddenly turned its head and saw several familiar faces. They had just been practicing the Cruciatus Curse in the underground chamber, and their faces still wore fierce expressions as they scanned the room.
Draco instantly released his claws, slid his body into his pocket, and dared not make a sound, his hind leg muscles tensed, ready to escape at any moment.
But his heart was almost completely filled with despair.
Draco moved too quickly to see the momentary freeze on their faces. But then he heard their wary voices:
"—Why is it you?"
More hurried footsteps rushed into the washroom, followed by "Viper" Rosen's calm voice:
“It’s not him—if he had just come out of the pipe, even with a cleansing charm, he couldn’t have made himself this clean.”
Draco heard the man who had captured him ask in an unusually cold tone, "Who are you looking for?"
In an instant, the lop-eared rabbit seemed to be struck by lightning; its entire body froze, and its fur stood on end!
That voice... it's Wade Gray!
There's no mistake, it can't be anyone else... Even if the tone is similar, no one can imitate the way this guy speaks!
Draco knew that people had always called him arrogant, but he felt that compared to him, Wade Grey was the truly incorrigible arrogant guy.
He huddled in his pocket, and through the gaps in the fabric, he could vaguely see the wary and fearful expressions on Rosen and the others' faces.
"None of your business, Gray!"
Rosen said indifferently, and with a wave of his hand, a group of people searched all the stalls in the restroom, even behind the doors, but they couldn't find anyone else.
When someone opened a door, Myrtle was sitting inside. She widened her eyes, let out an angry howl, turned around and suddenly jumped into the toilet, splashing water all over the floor.
After getting soaked, Gao wiped his face, gagged a few times, and silently closed the cubicle door.
Rosen looked up at the pipe entrance and saw that the iron fence was still intact, and even the dust accumulated on the edge was still in perfect shape.
He turned his head again, looked at Wade suspiciously, and his gaze swept over his white collar and cuffs, his fluffy hair, and his wizard robes that were so straight that there were almost no extra wrinkles.
Even if Vader Grey's spells were incredibly powerful, this couldn't possibly be the state of someone who had just crawled out of a pipe.
Of course, the most important thing is that even if they outnumber each other, Rosen is not confident of winning if a fight really breaks out.
Professor Snape's office is nearby; making too much noise would surely attract the attention of their dean.
Rosen was not naive enough to believe that Snape would help them without asking why, simply because they were Slytherins.
Given that professor's style, there's a greater chance he'd bury them all without a word.
The boy opposite him wiped the water off his hands and let him look him over with an open and generous air. His gaze swept over the group of people with interest, and he revealed a thoughtful expression.
Fearing that he might have noticed something, Rosen quickly led the group out of the restroom before pulling the person next to him aside and asking, "How's your tracking spell? Are you sure it's pointing to this restroom?"
“No…not entirely…” the student said awkwardly, “The tracking spell stopped around here. I can only say that guy was probably around here just now…”
Rosen's gaze swept across the surroundings.
The washroom is the most immediate target, but since there isn't one... there are a few classrooms, a storage room, and a potion storage room nearby. Further away are the potions classroom and Professor Snape's office.
"Search!" he said in a hoarse voice. "We must find that guy!"
As the crowd dispersed, Rosen heard a piercing "squeak" sound coming from beside him.
Wade came out of the bathroom and opened and closed the door twice more, gripping the doorknob.
Amidst the creaking sound, he turned his head and said, "The hinges on this door are probably warped by you guys. Shouldn't you fix them?"
Rosen glanced at the fourth-grade student's calm demeanor, walked over with a cold face, and cast a "Restore to Original State" spell on the hinges of the wooden door.
The light of the spell flashed, and Vader shook the door again, this time without making a jarring sound.
He nodded to Rosen with satisfaction, then turned and left.
As if possessed, Rosen squinted again and examined the soles of his shoes that were showing when he walked.
There are some traces left by normal use, indicating that Gray did not use any cleaning spell on his shoes that was stronger than he knew.
But the absence of fine black ash indicates that he was indeed not in the pipe just now.
He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze to the storage room, which seemed to be a better hiding place.
……
With a "bang," the lop-eared rabbit disappeared from the floor, replaced by Draco Malfoy.
His skin was so blackened by the smoke that his original complexion was almost unrecognizable, his robe was wrinkled as if it had been trampled by a giant, and even his fingernails were filled with rust and grime.
"Isn't this shapeshifting gummy only supposed to last for a very short time?"
Antoine, still looking like a student, asked curiously.
While the others were searching, he took the opportunity to break away from the group and run to find Wade.
Wade said, "It's not what I have in my hand."
"You've reserved a special batch for yourself, like when you became a mermaid before?" Antoine asked excitedly. "Can it be mass-produced?" Wade glanced at him and said, "I added gill sac grass to the last batch of gummies, and I put night-blooming jasmine in this candy. Ordinary ingredients can't produce this kind of effect."
Antoine calculated his own savings and said regretfully, "Never mind then, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Why are you helping me, Gray?" Draco asked through gritted teeth as he got up from the ground.
“If you don’t want to, you can go back and loudly tell Perth Rosen that you are the one who eavesdropped.”
Antoine pointed and said impatiently, "Go ahead! We won't stop you from turning yourself in."
Draco's face stiffened, and he said somewhat awkwardly, "That's not what I meant..."
Suddenly, he realized something, looked at Antoine with a frown, and asked, "You're not Blake... who are you?"
Blitch was a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and also the appearance Antoine took after taking Polyjuice Potion. This was how he managed to infiltrate Rosen's Dark Arts study group. Draco was fairly familiar with him, and after a few more words, he sensed something was amiss.
Of course, he was able to discover it because Antoine made no attempt to hide it.
Antoine smiled and winked: "Then guess who I am?"
This expression was somewhat reminiscent of Dumbledore's style, and Draco unconsciously took a half step back, his back stiffening.
Antoine wasn't disappointed when he didn't receive a reply. He patted Wade on the shoulder and said, "You two keep talking, I'm leaving now."
Wade nodded and watched him leave.
As Antoine passed Draco, he suddenly reached out and touched Draco's hair. Draco immediately took two large steps back, like a startled rabbit.
Antoine smiled and opened his hand; a small, grayish-brown creature was lying in his palm.
There was a gecko on your head, I've removed it for you, you're welcome.
Draco stared wide-eyed as the unfamiliar "BlacKk" walked out of the room, then turned to Wade: "Who exactly is this guy?"
Wade countered, "Why should I tell you?"
Draco's expression froze for a moment, as if he had just remembered that his relationship with Wade Gray wasn't good either.
However, compared to Rosen and his men who were chasing him, and the "Miles Blaise" who inexplicably replaced the real Blaise, Wade Gray seemed much more approachable and reliable, making him subconsciously regard the other party as his partner.
While Draco remained silent, Wade examined his sweat-drenched face and, seeing the lingering fear in his eyes, asked after a moment of silence, "Why did you run away just now?"
"Huh?" Draco hesitated for a moment, instinctively concealing the fact that Rosen and the others had learned the Cruciatus Curse, and vaguely said, "Of course it's because they're chasing me..."
Vader glanced at him and said slowly, "I mean... isn't that necromancer's guild a group you used to be in? Why did you spy on them learning magic, and then try to run away after being caught?"
Draco's pupils contracted sharply, his mind felt as if struck by an invisible lightning bolt, his ears were ringing, and cold sweat slid down his back.
He heard Wade Gray say calmly, "You are, after all, Malfoy. I think if you had just walked up and said you wanted to join, Perth Rosen probably wouldn't have refused."
Draco's throat suddenly tightened, and his gaze swept across Wade's face, searching for clues to deduce—just how much did this man know?
"That fake Blake told you everything?" he said in a dry voice. "You know what they're doing? Or... are you... are you one of them too?"
An idea popped into his head uncontrollably—wasn't it enough that Wade Gray organized a spell workshop to teach "white magic"? Did he also secretly manipulate Perth Rosen to set up an intensive "dark magic" class?
This idea was absurd, but perhaps it was the tone of Wade Gray's voice, or perhaps it was some inexplicable aura about him, that gave the boy in front of him an exceptionally strong sense of being the "mastermind."
Wade asked in surprise, "Why would I join such a low-level gang?"
Draco couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
After a series of escapes, his emotions were tense and relaxed several times, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted.
Draco, lacking his usual confrontational energy, tugged at his sweat-soaked tie, hesitated for a moment, and then told the truth:
"Actually, it was Myrtle who took me... I wanted to get revenge on the people who bullied me. She told me that some people at school were teaching dark magic. I thought... I thought that after learning it, I could regain people's respect for me..."
"You didn't know it was the Necropolis before you went there?" Vader asked.
“How should I know?” Draco said with a wry smile. “I haven’t been in touch with them for a long time. Ever since… ever since my father’s accident, they haven’t seemed to want to talk to me much…”
Vader: "So you didn't know before that necromancers teach dark magic?"
Draco said, "We used to... actually just use the guise of dark magic to learn some slightly over-the-top spells. Like curses, and some evil spells..."
"And a gut-removing curse?" Wade added.
Draco said stiffly, "They said it was a prank spell... or you could call it a healing spell. The person who taught me the spell didn't know the consequences would be so severe before I used it..."
"That's what they told you?" Wade raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Do you believe them?"
"...In short, I never expected they'd actually started learning about the unforgivable." Draco abruptly changed the subject: "It's really..."
He recalled the miserable state of those rats and couldn't help but shudder, then belatedly broke out in a cold sweat.
“Now you know,” Wade asked, “Do you still want to join them again?”
Draco suddenly looked up, and their two gray eyes met.
"I...I can't..."
Draco took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice, "I can't... I can't do that kind of thing..."
The desperate and painful eyes of those creatures being tortured flashed before his eyes again, as did the excited and twisted expressions of Rosen and his men, who looked like demons.
At this moment, Draco even began to have vague doubts about his parents—
Did his most respected and admired father, when he followed the Dark Lord, also torture others in that way? Torture living people like that?
Would a mother...do that too?
Wade smiled: "That's good..."
He put away his wand, walked past Draco, and said as he left, "Make sure you're properly dressed before you go out. Otherwise, you'll give yourself away as the voyeur."
The door closed, and Draco turned his head to see his reflection in the glass:
The dust on my face was washed away by cold sweat, as if I had rolled around in coal dust and then cried my heart out.
But compared to his filthy appearance, the emotion in his eyes made him tremble even more—
His gray eyes were filled with fear and weakness that he was unwilling to admit, like a trapped beast driven to the brink of despair, yet still clinging to the last shred of dignity.
(End of this chapter)