Harry couldn't understand why he did what he did; he wasn't even aware of making the decision.
All he knew was that his legs were moving forward automatically, as if rolling on small wheels.
He foolishly shouted at the snake, "Let him go!"
A miracle happened—absolutely unbelievable—the snake slumped to the floor, as a submissive pile of thick, black watering hose.
He looked up at Justin and grinned. He expected to see a relaxed, puzzled, or grateful expression on Justin's face—not anger and shock.
"What do you think you're doing?" Justin yelled, without waiting for Harry to speak, he turned and rushed out of the Great Hall.
Alaric walked up, waved his wand at the snake on the ground, and the snake, born of dark magic, turned into black smoke and disappeared.
Then he looked at Harry, shook his head, "So, you're a Parselmouth."
With that, he walked away.
He knew the famous savior would face countless doubts next.
Harry vaguely realized that the people around were whispering ominously. At that moment, he felt someone tugging at the back of his robe.
"Let's go," Ron whispered in his ear, "Quickly—let's go…"
Everyone nervously left the Great Hall, as if the spectacular duel just now hadn't happened.
...
From the next day, rumors about Harry at Hogwarts started circulating again: Harry Potter was the true heir, and this rumor was stronger and more widespread than before.
Because they seemed to have found evidence: Harry spoke Parseltongue.
According to Hogwarts history, Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin House, was himself a Parselmouth.
And historically, all Parselmouths were not reputable wizards but mostly dark wizards.
Even regarding Harry defeating the mysterious figure, there was an explanation.
Harry himself was a more powerful dark wizard than Voldemort, which allowed him to accomplish such feats.
Everything was spread with vivid details.
A few days later, another incident occurred that further confirmed the rumors.
Justin Finch-Fletchley was petrified, next to him Nearly Headless Nick was almost beheaded—though he was a ghost, he too was petrified.
And Harry was caught at the scene again.
Peeves the Poltergeist discovered all of this and shouted in the corridors, attracting the attention of numerous young wizards.
Unlucky Harry, before all this happened, he had been looking for Justin.
He intended to explain everything that happened in the Dueling Club to Justin, but he encountered this, which only increased his suspicion.
With the appearance of the third and fourth victims, the young wizards started to feel paranoid, and they began ordering Christmas holiday tickets, hoping to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible to spend Christmas at home.
Now, Harry Potter was practically treated as if he were a venomous snake by those Muggle-born or half-blood young wizards, as if he could grow fangs and spray poison at any moment. Others pointed and whispered about him.
However, Fred and George found it all amusing. They intentionally ran ahead of Harry in the corridors, walking proudly, shouting.
"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, the most evil wizard has arrived..."
Sometimes, Fred would loudly ask Harry whom he planned to target next, or George, upon seeing Harry, would pretend to block his attack.
Even Peeves joined in the joke. He would fly over Harry's head and, in front of everyone, sing:
Oh, Potter, you annoying nuisance, look at the good deeds you've done.
You killed the student and find it oddly fun—
All of this annoyed Harry, and he couldn't wait to extract evidence from Malfoy during the Christmas holiday and clear his name.
Meanwhile, Alaric locked himself in the Room of Requirement, working like a blacksmith to forge his sword.
For this, he canceled several days of Defense Against the Dark Arts classes in a row.
Finally, to the anticipation of all, the Christmas holiday arrived.
Hermione, Cho Chang, and Penelope decided to go home for Christmas, while Alaric was about to embark on his journey to collect dragon blood.
His first target was the Common Welsh Green Dragon, possibly the most dragon-like of all dragon breeds in the Harry Potter world.
Unlike other dragons, the Welsh Green Dragon had four limbs plus a pair of wings, making it more akin to a traditional dragon.
But before that, Alaric needed to complete the final enchantment on the sword at his home on the Knight Bus.
It was a silver, fantasy-style one-handed longsword, modeled after a cool sword in a game Alaric had played in his past life—Infinity Blade.
Although it was a one-handed sword, its length almost reached that of a two-handed sword.
The curves of the blade were exceptionally beautiful, and there were several holes along the spine for future upgrades.
Between the hilt and the blade, there was a ring. Currently, it was empty, just like Infinity Blade in the game.
However, Alaric decided to embed a powerful gem here in the future, similar to the dark crystal embedded in the Ashbringer in World of Warcraft, serving as the sword's power source.
Now, Alaric needed to inscribe ancient magical runes on the sword and strengthen it through magic.
With his superb skills, Alaric enchanted the sword with "Sharpness," "Durability," "Anti-Magic," and "Cleansing."
This made the sword not only capable of easily piercing the scales of dragons or serpent creatures but also capable of breaking through wizards' armor charms, barrier charms, or transfiguration spells.
In this world, there were originally no true anti-magic runes.
Alaric could only rely on his wit and research of various counter-curses to come up with a rune that was powerful enough to break almost all spells.
He had initially intended to research a counter-curse that could be universally effective against all spells, but the rune was too complicated.
Even if simplified into an incantation, it would take over ten minutes to recite.
Such a counter-curse had no practical use in real combat situations and could only be used in special circumstances.
However, as an enchantment spell, its effects were entirely different. Virtually, no powerful defensive spell could withstand the attacks of this sword.
Considering the sword's appearance was entirely modeled after the Infinity Blade game Alaric simply named it the Infinity Blade
With such a formidable weapon in hand, Alaric could now embark on his dragon-hunting plan with confidence.
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