Chương 14: Chapter 14

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Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry had already grown numb to the admiration people held for him, and to the media in general. His name had already made the head line hundreds of times despite barely appearing in public.

Recently though, something interesting had appeared. Someone, rather. Ethan Grindelwald.

Although Harry did not go to school in his childhood, his mother had taught him and Cassia, his sister, everything they needed to know, and that included the history of the magical world.

To him, who had lost his grandparents to Lord Voldemort, whom he had somehow killed as a baby, he was especially sensitive to Dark Lords in history.

So learning the descendant of the previous greatest Dark Lord, a Grindelwald, Harry couldn't help his curiosity.

And he wasn't disappointed, as for the first time in his life, Harry saw someone attract as much attention as him, if not more.

However, as he read the newspapers, and heard the whispers of his now fellow students, he did not feel the slightest jealousy, but instead some pity.

Harry, as someone who had been the focus of the magical world, and the media, for his entire life, he knew better than to believe everything written there, and wouldn't base his judgement on what he read.

But he couldn't help but put himself in this guy's shoes, and could only imagine what it would be to be to already be treated as a Dark Lord before even entering Hogwarts.

So Harry expected many thing from Ethan, all revolving around an angry boy wishing for revenge against the world. That was the most likely result his father had told him, and Harry agreed with it.

But as he finally met Ethan himself, Harry met someone completely different from what he believed.

Ethan wasn't a dark, revengeful child who looked ready to jump at anyone's throat. Instead, he always carried a smile. Him joining Slytherin was to be expected, but to his shock, Harry had seen Ethan encourage a girl who joined Gryffindor.

That was a wildly different person than what he expected, and it sent him in quite the turmoil.

And as he sat down at the Gryffindor table, he heard his sister ask, "Do you think he is hiding something?"

Harry's eyes darted to his sister as he replied, "I don't know… He is very strange. But I guess its a good thing."

Cassia smiled as she sent a look at the Slytherin table, and said, "Who knows, he may be able to keep Malfoy in check."

Harry nodded slightly, feeling a little lost…

After the Potter siblings, the rest of the first years were quickly sorted, and as the last student, Blaise Zabini, was put in Slytherin, and McGonagall brought away the Sorting Hat, the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, rose from his seat.

"Before we start the feast, a few words. This year, our school welcomes an old teacher, Professor Quirrell! He has been away for a year, but has agreed to come back this year to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts! A round of applause for Professor Quirrell!"

Ethan, who had been avoiding the professors' table since the beginning, smiled as he started clapping alongside everyone, and his eyes finally moved to the table to search for Quirrell.

However, as he saw the teacher stand up from his seat, Ethan's eyes widened in shock as his hands slowed down.

Blurred as his memories may be, Ethan still remembered the most important threat in Harry's first year, Voldemort, who was on the back of Quirrell's head.

To hide the Dark Lord, Quirrell had wrapped a turban around his head, but here, Ethan was shocked to discover that Quirrell wore no turban. Instead, the teacher was waving at the students with a smile, no trace of nervousness or dark magic around him.

Although Ethan knew he couldn't rely much on his knowledge of the timeline to plan for his safety, he still thought he could navigate around the main events. Unfortunately, Quirrell had proved him wrong.

But that set a whole other problem. How was Voldemort going to attack the school this year? Was he even going to attack the school?

Was Voldemort… really dead in this universe?

Ethan was brought out from his thoughts by a nudge from Miyuki, and he noticed food had appeared on the table. Understanding this wasn't the place for such thoughts, Ethan picked a piece of meat and fed it to Miyuki, who was on his thigh.

As he did so, he turned to his neighbour on the right, who had come here by himself, and extended his clean hand.

"Ethan. You're Theodore, right? Nice to meet you."

The impassive boy, Theodore Nott, looked a bit shocked Ethan took the initiative to speak to him, but after a moment realized he was being rude not replying, so he shook his hand and replied, "Yes, nice to meet you. Is that a Kitsune?"

Ethan patted Miyuki's head as she ate, and replied with a smile, "She is. We have grown up together, she's like family to me. Do you have a pet?"

Theodore shook his head, "I don't, but," he pointed at the girl across them, Daphne, and continued, "she does. A cat."

Ethan turned toward the blond girl, who looked surprised she was introduced into the conversation out of nowhere, and after a small cough she said, "She's a Bengal. Her name's Ava. I couldn't bring her here though…"

Ethan smiled as he lightly stroked Miyuki's back and asked, "That's a nice breed, quite expensive I heard… Anyway, are you guys happy to be in Slytherin?"

Theodore shrugged and replied, "I didn't have much of a choice anyway, my dad would have killed me if I got in any other house than Slytherin."

Daphne slightly squinted her eyes at his response, but did not say anything, while Nott looked down. Ethan was curious about their reactions, and a part of him was tempted to take a peek into their minds, but refrained from doing so.

As the heirs of magical families, especially from the Sacred 28, they most certainly developed mental defences, but Ethan was confident to read their mind without being caught. However, he didn't, both out of respect for the two, and because it was a bad habit he didn't want to catch.

So he turned to Daphne, who said, "Slytherin is good. Gryffindor would have been a bother, Hufflepuffs are too meek, but I guess I could see myself in Ravenclaw, so it was either that or Slytherin. The Sorting Hat thought I was more of a Slytherin, I guess. What about you?"

Ethan beamed and replied, "Funnily enough, the Sorting Hat hesitated between three houses, with Ravenclaw being the only one excluded. It's because I don't like reading. However, I wouldn't really fit in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff because of my… reputation, so I ended up in Slytherin. It's a good house though."

The atmosphere became a little awkward as he mentioned his history, and Ethan, who was expecting it, said, "I'm fine with any questions, you know. Better deal with them now rather than later."

The two were quite surprised by his easygoing attitude about it, and after a second of silence, Daphne asked, "Have you ever met your grandfather?"

Ethan shook his head and replied, "My mother cut ties with him many years ago. I would like to meet him one day though, he might have been a maniac, he remains an interesting character, and I can't shy away from my family history."

Daphne nodded, as she went back to eating, while Theodore asked, "How do you deal with your identity? You don't seem bothered by people's attitude towards you."

Ethan titled his head, and replied, "Why should I care? The actions of my elders do not define me. Of course, when I was younger, I was a bit mad at people as they forced me into hiding for my entire childhood, but I guess they helped forge the person I am… So as long as they don't try to kill me, I don't really have a problem with them."