In the presence of Asterion's aura, Rose remained perfectly calm, curiously observing the boy's shadow, while the imposing hundred-eyed hound captured all her attention.
It was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, but she couldn't understand why the cursed spirit obeyed Asterion's commands.
"Could it be his innate technique?" She thought, looking at Asterion with growing curiosity in her intense blue eyes. It seemed that this cousin was truly intriguing.
As a Special Grade Witch, Rose was fine, but the situation was entirely different for Ron and Hermione. Their faces paled, and their eyes widened with horror and fear. A sadistic and chilling laughter echoed in their minds, almost causing their hearts to stop beating.
Suddenly, everything ceased, as if nothing had happened, except for the sweat covering their bodies.
"What was that?" Gasping, Hermione asked, looking at Asterion with a terrified gaze. She had seen cursed spirits before, but this was an entirely different level; it was as if she were facing a cold, emotionless monster.
Ignoring the frightened girl, Asterion directed his gaze at Ron and spoke coldly, "If your father were here, he would probably be humbly kneeling, asking for permission to speak, let alone you, his son, so behave yourself or I will make you behave."
Ron's cheeks flushed, almost as if they were burning, but he remained silent, still haunted by the feeling of suffocation and fear that had overwhelmed him moments ago. It was the scariest thing he had ever experienced in his life.
"Did you have to scare Hermione?" Rose, who had suddenly appeared beside the girl, spoke while gently comforting her, still disturbed by the events that had just unfolded.
Asterion rolled his eyes at Rose and turned to Hermione, apologizing gracefully as he placed his hand over his chest.
"I apologize, Miss Granger, it wasn't my intention to scare you. Sometimes I can be a bit reckless."
Asterion didn't lie. Despite being more mature than most of his age, he was still just a thirteen-year-old boy after all. He wasn't perfect; Asterion acknowledged his flaws. Like any extremely powerful teenager, he was impulsive, arrogant, sarcastic, and often quite cruel and sadistic.
He knew his flaws, but at the same time, he didn't want to change, at least not at the moment.
Upon hearing his apology, Hermione was surprised for a moment. She nodded as she looked at him and moved closer to Rose, cautious of the most handsome yet extremely frightening boy she had ever seen.
As for Ron, he seemed to be ignored by everyone in the cabin. It was as if he were invisible.
This forced the young man to leave to avoid embarrassment, but as he was about to exit, the cabin door was opened once again, this time by a handsome teenager with platinum blonde hair and an arrogant look on his face, followed by two large and almost identical teenagers.
Although the young man's smile lasted only a second after seeing Asterion inside the cabin.
"Lord Asterion Black," Draco forced a smile on his face and greeted him, though anyone could see the discomfort on his face.
"Heir Malfoy," Asterion also greeted him with a cold look, if there was one person he disliked and even harbored hatred towards, it was the teenager in front of him.
Draco Malfoy was someone he had despised and wanted to kill for a long time; he was only alive because of Narcissa. If it weren't for her, he would have reduced the entire Malfoy Manor to ashes.
The pain he caused Narcissa was enough for Asterion to want to gut him like an animal, along with his father and the entire Malfoy House.
"So, came to kiss my shoes like your father or something else, Heir Malfoy," Seeing Draco standing there, Asterion continued to speak, his voice dripping with sarcasm and irony.
Asterion was humiliating him on purpose; to Lucius Malfoy, it didn't matter if it was Asterion or Voldemort, the man would kneel and kiss his shoes without batting an eyelid if it brought power and wealth to the Malfoy House.
Draco clenched his fists and tightened his jaw. His blue eyes inherited from Narcissa practically burned with anger.
"I heard rumors that Rose Potter was on the Express and wanted to meet her," Draco said, suppressing the growing fury in his chest. He calmed down and responded with a polite smile on his face.
Asterion simply pointed to Rose and Hermione, who watched the scene with curious eyes.
Draco followed his direction and saw two teenagers, one with white hair and the other with brown hair.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Potter. My name is Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy," Draco focused his attention on the white-haired teenager, greeting her with the most charming smile he possessed.
He continued speaking with gentle and flowery words. "I am a big fan of your feats as a baby."
Rose only looked at him with interest, but precisely she was curious to know the relationship between Draco and Asterion. They seemed like enemies, but in her eyes, Draco was too weak for such a feat, so their animosity must have come from somewhere else.
"The courage of fools," Asterion scoffed, looking at Draco showing off like a peacock. Was that it? Did Lucius really send Draco to seduce Rose? The thought made him laugh, but the joke was really bad, even tasteless.
"Aren't you going to greet my friend?" Rose, who began to feel bored again, asked, pointing to Hermione beside her.
Draco looked at her and scanned her from head to toe. He didn't recognize the girl; he didn't remember her attending any parties.
"Hermione Granger," Although uncomfortable with his scrutinizing gaze, Hermione introduced herself.
Knowing that there was no Granger House in Britain, that only meant one thing, and it made the beautiful smile on Draco's face stiffen. He looked at the girl with a look of disgust.
"Mudblood."
Hermione remained indifferent to the racist comments; it wasn't the first time she had been called that. In Diagon Alley, she was called that by some arrogant boys and girls.
She learned not long after what the word meant, but in the end, it didn't matter. As her mother had told her, she ignored the words of others and moved forward with her head held high, like a noble queen looking at her subjects.
Rose, although she didn't know what it meant, was not foolish, and she could see that it was an offensive term. The sense of amusement she had for Draco turned into deep disgust in a mere instant; what she hated most in life was bullying.
"I think it's time for you to leave, Mr. Malfoy," Rose looked at Draco and spoke slowly with a slight coercion emanating from her.
"Lady Potter, you'll learn that some people are better than others," Draco tried to argue, feeling the pressure on him increasing with each passing second.
"I have eyes to identify trash, you don't need to worry about that," Rose sarcastically replied as she increased the pressure even more. She was kinder than Asterion; if it were him, he would have made the boy kneel until he passed out.
Draco, feeling he couldn't bear the growing pressure anymore, gave one last resentful glance at Asterion and hurriedly left the cabin with his henchmen, leaving Rose, Hermione, and Asterion behind.
"Well, that was certainly a scene straight out of a children's book," Asterion commented sarcastically.
Rose rolled her eyes at his words, noticing that Asterion was particularly sarcastic, but not in an annoying way, in a fun and ironic way, as he wasn't afraid to speak his mind.
"Do you know something interesting, Lady Potter?" Asterion looked at Rose and spoke mysteriously.
"First of all, drop the 'Lady,' just call me Rose, I'm not an old noble lady," Before Asterion could continue, Rose interjected with an impatient expression.
Ignoring her request, Asterion spoke with a growing amusement in his eyes. "Lady Potter, did you know that the blonde who just left is the son of Narcissa Black..."
Although dissatisfied with still being called 'Lady,' Rose couldn't help but curse how incestuous her ancestors were. Couldn't they just find other families further away?
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Author's Thoughts: Poor Draco, humiliated by Asterion and then Rose. In fact, don't expect things to be the same as the original work, I'm practically going to kick the book away from the First Year of school. I hope you like it, because I'm preparing to write a lot!
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
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Next Chapter: Chapter 40 - Hogwarts Express (4), Chapter 41 - Hogwarts Express (5), Chapter 42 - Hogwarts (1), Chapter 43 - Hogwarts (2), Chapter 44 - Hogwarts (3), Chapter 45 - Classroom (1), Chapter 46 - Classroom (2), Chapter 47 - Classroom (3), Chapter 48 - First Class of Defense Against Cursed Spirits (1), Chapter 49 - First Class of Defense Against Cursed Spirits (2), Chapter 50 - Request (1), Chapter 51 - Request (2), Chapter 52 - A Treacherous Game of Chess (1), Chapter 53 - A Treacherous Game of Chess (2), Chapter 54 - A Treacherous Game of Chess (3), Chapter 55 - A Treacherous Game of Chess (4), Chapter 56 - Magical Self-Defense Tactical Training Class (1), Chapter 57 - Magical Self-Defense Tactical Training Class (2), Chapter 58 - Magical Self-Defense Tactical Training Class (3).
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