With Malfoy joining the 'battlefield', Crabbe and Goyle also completely let themselves loose.
They saw teasing these owls as a good opportunity to vent their frustration. The curses' lights grazed the wings of the owls, scaring the little creatures and causing them to panic. Many of the terrified owls flew aimlessly and one even crashed into a hard stone wall, losing consciousness. Its feathers were stained with blood and its eyes were wide open in fear.
"Haha, look at these fools!" Amidst the crackling sounds of explosions, Malfoy's laughter sounded particularly sharp and cruel. "I have something even more interesting!"
"Serpensortia!"
As he spoke, Malfoy flicked his wrist and his wand immediately emitted a wisp of ethereal black smoke. As the smoke touched the ground, it transformed into a long, thick black snake. The snake raised its head proudly, staring at the owls flying around, occasionally spitting out crimson snake venom. Its scales glistened in the dim light and its tongue flickered in and out.
However, the situation didn't go as Malfoy expected. Instead of being further frightened by the presence of the snake, the owls became even more excited. A snowy white owl broke free from the flock, moving so fast that even the snake couldn't react. Its steel-like talons swept across the snake's back, causing Malfoy's snake to collapse on the ground like an overfed caterpillar. The owl let out a triumphant hoot and flew back to join its companions.
"Draco, owls like to eat snakes–"
Malfoy's pale face froze instantly, and the words spoken by Crabbe made him even more furious.
"Don't run, you damn beast!"
Already filled with anger that couldn't be vented, Malfoy shouted loudly and used a powerful curse.
"Expulso!"
The curse light of expulso suddenly collided with the wall. After a violent explosion, the curse grazed the wing of an owl and rebounded, heading straight towards Goyle's stomach.
"Get out of the way!"
In an instant, Malfoy realized that he had acted impulsively. Using this curse in a room surrounded by walls was simply asking for trouble.
Goyle hadn't reacted yet, and Malfoy rushed towards him like a rolling ball. At the critical moment, he bumped into Goyle, causing him to stagger back a few steps. Malfoy himself managed to dodge the rebounded curse's light by a hair's breadth.
However, the expulso curse that touched the ground exploded once again. The strong air lifted Malfoy, who was suspended in mid-air, and if it weren't for Goyle acting as a cushion, just this impact alone would have been enough to keep him in the hospital wing for several days!
In the next few seconds, the expulso curse collided with the stone house, creating continuous explosions. Finally, after crashing into a dusty wooden shelf at the back of the room, the rebounded curse flew out of the window and disappeared. The shelf collapsed and the books and papers on it scattered all over the floor.
With this commotion, the owls no longer challenged Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. They flew out of the small windows on the stone walls, leaving this place of chaos!
The owlery was filled with dust, and the ground and surrounding stone walls were covered in small circular pits created by the expulso curse. Malfoy and his companions desperately covered their ears and lay on the ground, wishing they could hide in a pile of hay. They coughed and sneezed as the dust entered their noses and mouths.
"Oh, damn it!"
It wasn't until five minutes later that Malfoy exhaled a puff of smoke, supported his forehead, and stood up in a dazed manner. When he saw the mess he had caused in front of him, his face turned red with anger. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
"What should we do, Draco–"
Goyle was also pulled up by Crabbe. The two of them brushed off the dust from their robes while wearing mournful expressions. "If Professor Watson finds out about what we did, he will make us clean the Owlery for several years."
Upon hearing this, Malfoy held his breath.
It had to be said that Goyle rarely had foresight. Based on Malfoy's understanding of Professor Watson, he was capable of doing such a thing!
The collapsed owlery made Malfoy feel a sense of difficulty. Just then, from the innermost part of the shed, only a decaying wooden leg was still propping up a wooden shelf. With a loud crash, the six to seven feet tall shelf collapsed completely, stirring up a cloud of rolling dust. The dust covered everything in a thick layer of gray, obscuring the sight of Malfoy and his companions.
Squeak!
Before the dust settled, a miserable and piercing screech suddenly came from the haze, catching the attention of Malfoy and his companions who were coughing from the dust. The sound was shrill and desperate, as if something was in great pain.
"What's going on? What is making that noise?!"
Crabbe looked frightened and exclaimed. He clutched his wand tightly, fearing that some dangerous creature was lurking in the dust.
"It's nothing serious, Crabbe. Probably just a rat. There are dead rats everywhere here, They were all caught by those beasts from outside–"
After listening carefully for a few moments, Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief and said.
Underneath the collapsed shelf, Scabbers' gray and fluffy body twitched continuously. One of his legs was pinned down by the fallen shelf, and from the bent angle, it was most likely broken. He felt a sharp pain in his leg, and he could not move it at all. He tried to gnaw at the wood, but it was too hard and thick for his teeth.
'How unlucky does one have to be to encounter such a situation?' Scabbers wailed in his heart!
After faking his death and escaping from Ron during the Halloween feast, he had been hiding here all this time.
'Wasn't it a brilliant idea?'
Even if Sirius Black infiltrated the castle again and discovered that he had left the boy, he would never think that he would be hiding in the owlery. Just like Lucius's son said, rats are the owls' food. Who would have thought that a rat would dare to hide right under the predator's nose?
But no matter how much he calculated, Scabbers didn't anticipate that Bryan would send these Slytherin brats to clean the owlery, and that Malfoy and his two lackeys would cause so much havoc here!
The rat's beady black eyes were filled with 'crystal' tears, and his heart was filled with immense sadness.
His leg was broken, he had no wand, and there was no one to treat him. What should he do next?
"Hey, Draco, look at this!"
Just as Scabbers was wallowing in self-pity, the dust cleared, and the dazzling blue light from the lightning cut through the rain curtain, illuminating the chaotic owlery. Taking advantage of this light, Goyle suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Scabbers in disbelief. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.
Draco thought Goyle had discovered something extraordinary, but when he saw Scabbers, he immediately glared at Goyle with disgust and said,
"What's the matter? It's just a rat. What, do you like it?"
He sneered at Goyle, mocking his stupidity and lack of taste.
"I've seen it before, Draco, it's, it's–"
Goyle struggled to think and explain to Draco what was special about this rat. He racked his brains, trying to recall where he had seen this rat before. And at the moment Goyle called out, Scabbers' body suddenly stiffened, and he let out a frightened squeak. Suppressing his fear, he struggled even harder to break free.
"This rat belongs to Weasley!"
In Draco's increasingly angry gaze, Goyle, who was sweating profusely, finally managed to blurt out in a hurry,
"This is Weasley's rat, Draco, remember? It bit me before!"
The heavy rain washed the world, and the flickering lightning in the clouds made the eerie cloud clusters appear sinister and bizarre. The thunder roared and shook the earth, as if announcing the arrival of a storm.
Inside the owl shed, it was gloomy, and even the sound of the pouring rain was suppressed by the strange atmosphere in the room, making little noise. The only light came from the occasional flashes of lightning, which cast eerie shadows on the walls. The air was thick with dust and the smell of feathers and droppings.
'Weasley's rat had bitten Goyle before?'
Malfoy stared at the trembling and shivering Scabbers with confusion and bewilderment in his gray eyes. He couldn't remember when this had happened, but he did recognize the skinny, dirty fur of the rat, as if he had seen it somewhere before. He frowned and tried to recall the memory, but it was vague and blurry.
"It was during our first year on the Hogwarts Express!" Goyle couldn't help but remind him.
The sudden gust of wind, carrying a damp chill, lifted Draco's hair from his forehead, clearing his mind. He felt a jolt of recognition, as the scene from three years ago flashed in his mind.
"Oh, I remember now, it was back then!" Malfoy exclaimed loudly.
It was during their first year at Hogwarts, when everyone was excitedly discussing Harry Potter being on the same train. Out of curiosity, he, Goyle, and Crabbe visited Harry Potter's compartment and discovered the black-haired, green-eyed, malnourished little boy who his mother had encountered at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions when they were buying their school uniforms.
At the time, he had planned to befriend Harry Potter!
Thinking back to his "ignorant youth," Malfoy shuddered with shame at his ridiculous thoughts. But immediately after, he burst into laughter.
"Ah, it's you!"
In a few steps, Malfoy and his two companions surrounded the helpless Scabbers like three giants. Malfoy pointed his wand at Scabbers' head, wearing a malicious smile.
"The pathetic sidekick of cowardly Potter, the rat of the Weasley family who willingly degraded himself. What are you doing here?"
Watching Scabbers trembling in fear, the pent-up frustration in Malfoy's heart quickly dissipated since Professor Watson's practical class. Malfoy used the tip of his wand to poke at Scabbers' body.
Malfoy crouched down, eyeing Scabbers' injured leg with curiosity, as he answered his own question. He spoke in a falsely compassionate tone, as if he cared about the rat's fate.
"Did you run away from home, because the Blood-traitor Weasley was so destitute that he couldn't even feed a rat, so you had to scavenge for yourself?"
Crabbe and Goyle howled with laughter, enjoying Malfoy's taunting. They chimed in with their own jibes and jests.
"Or maybe he was looking for a better owner, but no one wanted him!"
"Or maybe he tried to join the owls, but they shooed him away!"
"Enough, you two!"
Malfoy didn't notice the fear in Scabbers' eyes, which showed a remarkable amount of humanity. He stood up abruptly, pushing the two big guys a few steps back. Then, he turned around at a distance of ten feet, holding his wand and wearing a wicked smile.
"We need to have some fun!"
Scabbers desperately scratched at the ground, hoping to escape into the shadows. But as a mere rat, he lacked the strength to move the heavy wooden frame, and the pain from his broken leg tormented his nerves.
What should he do?
Black hadn't managed to overcome the obstacles and reach him yet, but the annoying little boys had unexpectedly discovered him and seemed determined not to let him go easily.
Suddenly, he felt a slight tug on his injured hind leg. He felt ecstatic, thinking he had finally freed himself from the shackles of the wooden frame. Just as he was about to escape into the shadows using his remaining three claws, he suddenly felt his body become weightless. In the next moment, he was uncontrollably floating in mid-air.
He realized too late that it was Malfoy's magic that had lifted him up. He felt a surge of panic, as he realized that he was at Malfoy's mercy. He tried to wriggle and squirm, but it was useless.
Seeing Scabbers desperately struggling and scratching on the ground, Malfoy's mocking laughter became even more joyful. He watched with delight as the rat's fear and pain increased.
"Let me think… Ah, I've got it!"
Malfoy's excited gaze wandered around, and when he saw a large pile of gray-green bird droppings under a branch, his gray eyes suddenly lit up.
"Look at what the Weasley has turned you into, you little thing, aren't you hungry!"
With that, Malfoy swiftly swung his wand, and Scabbers, like an insect trapped in solidifying amber, traced a graceful curve in mid-air and plunged headfirst into the fresh pile of bird droppings.
Squeak!
Scabbers' three limbs slipped on the ground within the pile, but now he was just a rat, completely powerless against the force of magic.
"Hey, don't run away, little guy!"
Amidst Crabbe and Goyle's loud cheers, Malfoy's face, tinged with a bluish hue, gradually became ferocious. He used his magic to keep Scabbers firmly pressed in the pile of bird droppings, controlling his body to roll around as if giving him a bath.
"Since you can tolerate Potter and the Weasleys, this pile of bird droppings obviously shouldn't be a problem for you!"
Malfoy's expression was menacing, his nose raised, and his eyes filled with malice. He was determined to torment Scabbers until he was satisfied before giving up.
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Author's Note: Starting from this chapter, I aim to write more than 2000 words per chapter to make the story flow faster without sacrificing the quality.