Embarrassments and Intrigues at Hogwarts

Chapter 39 - Embarrassments and Intrigues at Hogwarts

In the corridors of Hogwarts, Simon walked with Daphne by his side, pondering the girl's action.

'I am willing to be yours.'

A simple phrase, but one that undoubtedly would disturb Simon's little peace in Slytherin.

"Why did you speak in front of everyone?" Simon asked the girl walking beside him.

"I thought you'd like everyone to know that I'm yours." She replied with a sincere smile on her face.

Simon looked at her and simply continued on the way to the astronomy tower. Was he angry? Not exactly, it was more of a slight embarrassment. Being 'confessed' in front of a crowd wasn't exactly comfortable. Although he had to admit it was amusing when the fanatical defenders of Slytherin's pure-blood beliefs heard what Daphne said in front of the entire hall and almost fainted with it. When did the Sacred 28 start mixing with Mudbloods? Would the Greengrass family become the new Weasley family?

'Damn, this will spread throughout the school in the blink of an eye and undoubtedly beyond too, if that damn Rita even writes an article about it: a young pure-blood in love with a suspected Muggle-born murderer.'

Simon scratched his head a bit, thinking about future problems. Although he had submitted to Legilimency, he was still the prime suspect or at least the one with the greatest motivation to massacre the Stagrove family. He wouldn't be surprised if, under pressure, the ministry pointed him out as guilty to pacify the wizarding world, besides that damned minister was a greedy pig, undoubtedly he would want a piece of Simon's inheritance.

In fact, it was taking too long for this to happen, which bothered Simon a little. Of course, none of this really worried him, instead he was more concerned about something else.

'Worst of all, Hermione might start ignoring me. Damn it, I want Daphne, but I want her too.'

For someone who never had a minimally healthy relationship, involving anything beyond sex with prostitutes and an unhealthy obsession with one of them. It was a true hell trying to get a girlfriend, let alone two.

Moreover, being from a different house, moreover from a house completely contrary to Gryffindor, Simon and Hermione were destined to be possible enemies. Although they had a good interaction at first, since the beginning of the school year, Simon and Hermione had interacted as friends only a handful of times.

Whether he liked it or not, a distance had already been created between them and now Simon feared that with Daphne's action, Hermione would drift even further away.

'Well, it doesn't matter. I've marked you as mine, Hermi. No matter your decision I will make you mine.'

While Simon continued to think about the consequences of Daphne's words, she was completely calm. Daphne was smart and cunning, like a Slytherin student and more importantly, the future heiress of a noble house, she knew how to navigate through intrigues. Although she lacked experience, the same could be said for most new students and even some older ones.

Even Simon, compared to her, was a complete novice in matters related to power games. Not that he cared about these kinds of games, in his view as long as he gained absolute power, he would stay on top, simple as that.

That said, although Daphne's choice may seem stupid and quite impulsive, driven by a sense of desperation, it was actually the best possible scenario. After feeling the 'aura' or whatever that strange sensation was, she knew Simon was dangerous, at the same time she knew he was powerful.

The story of how he discovered his situation was almost unreal and honestly, she wasn't completely convinced if that was the truth, but as someone who grew up in the magical world, she knew that relying solely on logic was foolishness. There were several things she didn't know, so for now she allowed herself to believe in Simon.

The fact that he was interested in her made him somewhat dangerous if she decided to refuse, so she decided to make that 'stupid confession' in public. Although for some, it was a way of saying that she genuinely was surrendering to him, the truth was different.

She only did it as an extra form of protection. Letting everyone know that she belongs to Simon is the same as putting him against all pure-blood families, especially the most radical ones. In fact, she wants to see how he would fare against them.

If in the end Simon managed to prevail against the pure-blood families, then even if he didn't cure her, she would still have an extremely strong and wealthy supporter by her side. As for the pure-blood ideologies, although it wasn't relevant to her, getting too involved with Simon could still tarnish her family's image, which wasn't what she desired. Fortunately, there was still her sister.

Although she still had fragile health and was beginning to show signs of the blood curse, it was almost guaranteed that she would reach adulthood. As long as she married and gave birth to a son, the Greengrass family would still maintain its position as one of the Sacred 28, while all she had to do was distance herself from the family, at least superficially.

As for feelings? Daphne felt nothing for Simon at the same time she was sure he felt the same. As he said himself, he didn't know if he wanted her to be his wife, lover, or pet, he just wanted her for himself.

For some, this possessiveness, this desire of Simon to have Daphne for himself could be seen as love, a strange and quite repulsive form to not be described as sick, but it was still love. But she didn't see it that way.

Of course, this could change in the future, but due to the current situation, and the way this 'relationship' started, Daphne didn't have many hopes, all she could hope for was that Simon at least treated her well. For now, all that was between them was this strange, and unethical, agreement.

"Where are we going?" Daphne asked.

After walking a bit they both reached the seventh floor of the astronomy tower. Simon looked at both corridors until he found a large tapestry where a man was trying to teach some mountain people to dance... ballet?

"I'll never understand the peculiarity of some wizards," Simon said as he turned to the other side of the corridor, but specifically the wall in front of the tapestry.

"What are you looking for?" Daphne asked again as Simon just smiled a little.

'If I'm not mistaken it was here, but I remember a video saying that it could appear in other places. Well nevermind let's try here'

"Simon..."

"Just a moment, I need to concentrate now, Daphne" Simon said seriously and then... he walked down the hall. Then he came back, and then once again he walked to the other side.

"What are you doing-"

Suddenly a door appeared on the wall where there was nothing before, Daphne looked at it surprised and then looked at Simon who had a relieved and content smile.

"Let's go." Simon pulled Daphne and both crossed the large door.

"Where is this?" she asked as she looked around the room.

"This my dear Daphne, is the Room of Requirement."

Simon said as he approached a bench and began to check the equipment placed on it. Meanwhile, Daphne just wandered around the large space.

"What is the Room of Requirement?" Daphne asked

"'Hogwarts will always help those who seek it' the Room of Requirement is basically the personification of that phrase. It always appears in times of great need to assist those who need it. If you need a bathroom, it becomes a bathroom, if you need a greenhouse? no problems either. Basically as long as it doesn't violate the laws of magic, this room is capable of anything"

Listening to Simon's explanation, Daphne nodded still lost in admiration with such a place and confused about how Simon knew about this place. When she was about to ask him about it, she saw that he was messing with some small knives and then trembled a little.

'What did he wish for? A place to hurt me?'

"Daphne come here, I need your help" Simon still with his back turned said as he adjusted an old microscope from the beginning of the century.

"This crap, I hope it works" Still afraid, Daphne approached Simon. Turning to the girl, he waved for her to sit down and then tied a band above her arm. "Close your hand"

Daphne, still a little scared, did as she was told and then closed her eyes.

"Don't move. It will hurt just a little" Suddenly she felt a slight sting in her arm and then...

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Hearing Simon, she did as she was told and saw him looking at her with a strange face, trying not to smile as he went to the bench.

"Frankly. I didn't know wizards were afraid of needles, hahahaha"

Listening to Simon's words, she looked at her arm and saw that there was nothing wrong with it, just a tiny hole. Simon approached her and dabbed a little alcohol on the spot and put a small piece of cotton while closing her arm.

"Stay like this for 3 minutes."

"What did you do?" Daphne asked.

"Just taking a sample of your blood. I need to check if there's anything different in it." Simon replied as he took a bit of his own blood and stored it next to Daphne's. She watched him perform this operation calmly while wondering what he would do with a bit of her blood.

'Is he going to cast a spell?'

As she pondered these things, she saw Simon picking up some tools and then he turned to her.

"This will take a while and it's going to be boring. If you want, you can go and enjoy Saturday with your friends."

Daphne stayed silent before nodding.

"While I don't regret my choice, perhaps a bold declaration in front of the entire school wasn't the best decision. So for now, I'll stay here."

"Hm. It's good to know that you don't regret it, and even better that you noticed it was an unnecessary act to expose yourself in such a way. I can already see your father wanting to meet me during the holidays," Simon replied with a smile as Daphne froze.

"By Merlin, I forgot about that," Daphne said, feeling a bit embarrassed upon hearing Simon's words, while he just smiled a little and then began to work. However, when he turned around, his expression returned to normal..

Amidst the silence, Daphne watched Simon working calmly with her blood. According to him, he wanted to check if he could find something different compared to his own. Seeing him working so focused made her feel more at ease and confirmed that he would indeed make an effort to find a cure.

Time passed and in the midst of the silence, at some point, they began to talk about various subjects. Daphne wanted to use this opportunity to find out more about Simon and was surprised that he answered all her questions honestly.

Of course, they were only simple things, but he didn't hide anything from her and told the story he had told Heloise. His escape from the orphanage upon discovering he was a wizard, his encounter with the old abortionist who raised him and gave him the inheritance she had read about in the newspapers. Simon had told this story so many times that even he believed it was true.

Simon was an open book to Daphne, of course, only because she didn't ask the right questions. If she asked if he had ever taken a life, honestly he didn't know exactly how he would respond, and that bothered him.

'What is this? Remorse? Shame? What a joke. I've never cared before and it won't bother me now... but why don't I want her to know?'

Simon stopped thinking about it and took out his silver watch to check the time.

"Daphne, it's almost lunchtime. You should go."

"And you?"

"I need to finish this. You can go ahead."

Daphne remained silent for a moment before leaving. Watching the door close, Simon glanced at it for a while before leaning over the countertop.

"The blood seems common, no difference compared to mine. In that case..." Looking at the microscope, Simon set it aside and removed the band that covered his left eye.

"Hm. It's still uncomfortable. I should start using it more often."

Simon then took his blood sample and Daphne's and observed both with his God's eye. Looking at both vials, he smiled before discarding his sample and starting to jot down his findings in the notebook.

"Small 'runes', I guess, seem to act directly on the leukocytes... that explains the low immunity, but there must be more, otherwise Daphne would also be affected?"

Simon was excited, although it wasn't something on the level of a Maledictus, where apparently all the DNA is modified, this was still an interesting curse. At least it could serve as a gateway for him to study others. Simon checked Daphne's sample as much as he could with his God's eye before it started to overheat.

He tried to use magic to interfere with the 'runes', but nothing happened. And when he tried to use his alchemy, the sample was destroyed when the blood literally exploded.

"These 'runes'... I'll have to read some books about runes, well I guess for now that's it," Simon said to himself as he wiped the blood that splattered on himself. After cleaning up he checked the clock and saw that he still had some time so he went out to have lunch.

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In the Great Hall, many tables still had people eating, so all the tables were quite noisy. Well, all except one. At the Slytherin table, Daphne had a calm expression as she ate, while many students stared at her and whispered something. Although bothered, she remained with a neutral expression and enjoyed her meal until someone sat next to her.

"Daphne what the hell was that this morning? You know that because of what you said, many students are angry."

"Since when do you care about me, Pansy?"

Daphne asked impassively as the girl just huffed.

"I don't care, if you were any other pure-blood I wouldn't give a damn, but you're more than that, you're the future heiress of the Greengrass family. By Merlin, Daphne you represent one of the Sacred 28," Pansy said angrily.

Being a staunch defender of blood purity, Pansy was visibly irritated with Daphne. Of course, more than that, she was confused. Although both were not friends, they were still known, so Pansy knew that Daphne, like her, was being raised to be an heiress.

(NOTE: I couldn't find anything about a brother or close relative for Pansy or Daphne, so both will be portrayed as Heirs of their families.)

Usually when a woman marries she ends up taking her husband's surname, of course, this can change in some cases. The current generation of the Parkinson family and the Greengrass family are composed of women, which means that when Daphne and Pansy get married, to avoid their family names being lost, it will be their husbands who will take their surnames.

Such a person, although young, was not stupid, so Daphne's action intrigued Pansy.

"You don't understand, Pansy..."

"You're under the effect of a love potion?"

"No."

"Then explain it to me." She said as she looked around. "Daphne, I know Simon is intelligent and rich, he may even be a bit talented and a little handsome, but he's still a mudblood. No matter how much you love him-"

*Creak*

Hearing the sound of the doors of the Great Hall being opened, Pansy saw Simon entering and walking towards Daphne. Upon arrival, he glanced slightly at Pansy before sitting on the other side and started to serve himself. Simon felt the looks on him, but completely ignored them and just ate.

The students looked at him and then at Daphne, but in the end, they just remained silent. Although some of the blood-purity supremacists wanted to attack Daphne, they couldn't do it. Whether they liked it or not, this was a problem of the Greengrass family. No matter how much they wanted to, they couldn't speak against one of the Sacred 28, at least not in front of them.

However, this did not extend to Simon, so seeing him so indifferent, made many of them start planning how to mess with him later.

As for the other students, after hearing about what happened, they just let it go. Although Slytherin was pointed out as the most xenophobic house among the 4, and it was, it doesn't mean they couldn't separate things. When it comes to benefits, the last thing a Slytherin will want to know is your lineage, well at least the normal ones are like that.

Although they didn't understand Daphne's actions, most of them were smart enough to know that there was much more involved than just 'love'. While they didn't know what it was about, they didn't dare underestimate a member of the Sacred 28, foolishly believing that she would be driven by pure love.

As for the other houses, well: Hufflepuff saw no problem, Ravenclaw didn't care, and Gryffindor just made some jokes about it, but those were just some more irritable students. Most Gryffindors remained silent and just wished Simon well. They still remembered that he was the one who saved one of theirs, and although they were impulsive, they were not ungrateful idiots.

Meanwhile, at the teachers' table, Dumbledore smiled a bit at all the 'drama' unfolding before him. Daphne's 'confession' had spread throughout the school, so the teachers were also aware of what had happened. After a while, he turned to look at the Gryffindor table and became somewhat concerned. Though he wanted to train Harry, time was ticking away, and he was still far from where he should be.

'Even with assistance, he hasn't made significant progress yet. If it weren't for the girl, he would still be holed up in the library trying to figure out what Fluffy was guarding. Should I intervene?'

Dumbledore pondered as he glanced at Quirrell and then at Hagrid, beginning to plan how to accelerate the savior's training, completely ignoring Simon's future problems.