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"I can blush if I want to! What's it to you?"
Hermione snapped.
She stomped hard on Ron's foot.
Ron yelped—but still managed to grin through the pain.
"Anyway," he wheezed, "Darren really landed on his feet this ti. Outstanding Character Award and Special Contribution Award? That's insane! He's brilliant!"
Hermione nodded with shining eyes.
She had always believed herself the smartest of their year. morizing, analyzing, planning—she prided herself on all of it.
But Darren…
Darren learned faster than she did.
He didn't just morize—he understood.
He connected magic with emotion, intention, morality.
And he was so genuinely good.
He reminded her of a little angel—not the cute, cherubic kind, but the legendary kind: radiant, fierce, and impossibly kind.
"Well," Ron muttered, "the way you're staring at Darren, it looks like you want to eat him."
Hermione turned scarlet.
"Don't glare at ! I'm just saying— I feel like… we're forgetting sothing?"
Darren blinked.
Yes. Sothing was missing. Soone—
"My brother!"
"Harry—!"
"rlin, we forgot Harry! After he caught the Snitch I got so worried about Darren that I forgot to celebrate, and I didn't even tell him—"
The three sprinted across Hogwarts, checking the Quidditch pitch, the corridors, the towers.
Finally—
They found Harry standing near the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Harry! Why are you here?"
"More importantly," Harry said loudly, "you wouldn't believe who I just saw!"
Darren already knew.
Harry must have overheard Snape and Professor Quirrell.
Hermione, in her panic earlier, had gone searching for professors but forgotten to look for Quirrell—leaving Snape alone with him.
Harry pulled them into an empty classroom and dramatically reenacted everything.
"So we were right!" Harry finished triumphantly. "Snape's trying to get past Fluffy using Quirrell! Darren, don't look at like that. It's obvious. Surely you don't still believe Snape is a good person?"
"I… I should ask him," Darren said quietly.
"My little ancestor—NO," Ron yelped, grabbing him. "You already punched Malfoy today and almost got expelled. If you go question Snape, you'll get kicked out of the entire wizarding world!"
Hermione nodded fiercely.
"And if you get expelled from the wizarding world, your uncontrolled magic might hurt soone. Darren, you don't want that, right?"
It was a trick—Dumbledore's trick, actually.
Hermione had learned quickly: Darren's weakness was his fear of hurting others.
Use that, and he would sit obediently still.
Darren smiled gently.
"Hermione, you're right. You really are the cleverest witch."
Hermione turned pink and tried not to glow with pride.
"Expelled? What? Hold on—WHAT HAPPENED? My brother almost got expelled and nobody told ?!"
Harry stared at them in disbelief.
Ron rushed through the entire story, waving his arms wildly.
Harry's face darkened like a gathering storm.
"What—he—WHAT? MALFOY TRIED TO GET YOU EXPELLED?!"
Harry grabbed his broom, ready to storm the Slytherin common room.
Ron and Hermione had to physically hold him back.
"He only bullied you because of ," Harry said, guilt-stricken. "It's my fault."
"Brother, no," Darren said softly. "I was impulsive. I'm sorry. I didn't think about how my wanting to drop out would make you feel. Or Hermione. Or Ron."
He lowered his head, voice trembling.
"I… I was selfish."
[Ding. Father Points 100]
[Ding. Father Points 100]
[Ding. Father Points 100]
[Ding. Father Points 100]
Even the Holy Father System sounded moved.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all wore matching helpless expressions.
"Darren, you're too nice," Harry sighed. "Who could bla you?"
"Yes, I won't let you get expelled either," Hermione said firmly.
"Sa here," Ron added. "If Dumbledore tried to fire you, I'd chuck a Dungbomb into Snape's goblet and make him kick out too! Then Harry and I could buy a house in Diagon Alley and open a shampoo shop! My mum says our granddad ran one!"
Ron sounded bizarrely excited by this.
Harry nodded vigorously.
He had zero intention of returning to Privet Drive.
"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione laughed. "They'd never expel Harry Potter and his lost brother."
"Exactly!" Ron said. "Did you see the way Lucius Malfoy reacted when he heard Darren's na? I swear I can laugh about that for a whole year!"
They all burst into laughter.
But it didn't last long.
Because the next mont—
They all rembered the Philosopher's Stone.
"What exactly did Snape threaten Quirrell with?" Harry asked urgently.
He was terrified Snape had already taken the Stone.
"It must an Fluffy isn't the only protection," Hermione reasoned. "The other teachers must have set spells too. Snape wants to know Quirrell's enchantnt so he can bypass it."
Harry shuddered.
"So if Quirrell caved… Snape could get the Stone. And then he'd have endless gold. And immortality."
Harry's eyes lit up.
"So… would that an Snape leaves Hogwarts?
And doesn't co back?"
Darren buried his face in his hands.
Harry was the only boy in the world who could make Snape's hypothetical immortality sound like good news.
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