Fame

I'M BACK, DAMMIT!!! Sorry for the lack of chapters, how long has it been? Almost a month? Well, sorry about that. I ended up having some family and health issues towards the end of the year. Also, as I mentioned before, this story is just a way for me to relieve my growing stress at the end of the course. One more period and I finally get my diploma.

I took advantage of this end of the year to rest a bit, and man, it was good. Took a few good days off. No university, no worries. Spent a few days in the hospital, but nothing serious. Reinstalled Minecraft after about 5 years, and damn, did that relax me. Anyway, I'm back.

Chapter 29 – Fame

Simon averted his eyes from Hermione, who seemed eager to know more about his so-called alchemy and looked at the fallen body on the floor. The Troll's blood was spread on the ground, leaving a putrid smell in the bathroom, which started to bother both of them.

Shortly after, he saw Harry and Ron appear at the bathroom door. Both looked at the dead troll and quickly recoiled due to the sight and the terrible smell. Ron ended up vomiting, and Harry forced himself not to do the same.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione and Simon on the other side, trying to ignore the troll's body in front of him. Hermione looked at Harry and Ron and suddenly felt relieved that someone had come looking for her.

"I'm fine," she replied with a muffled voice, covering her face to try not to smell the foul odor. "Simon killed the troll before it could hurt us," she said, looking at Simon and then at the troll. Harry was a bit stunned. Of course, he knew that either Simon or Hermione had killed the troll; it was the only obvious explanation.

But still, Simon, like him, was just a first-year student, yet he managed to defeat, or rather, kill this monster. Although he didn't know that the troll was a creature with a XXXX danger level, Harry knew it must be a dangerous monster.

While still a bit stunned, Ron recovered a bit and stood next to Harry, looking at the troll's body on the floor, trembling slightly and looking somewhat scared in Simon's direction. A few moments later, hurried footsteps were heard as the teachers approached quickly.

Seeing this, Harry and Ron shrank a bit, as they had disobeyed the teachers' orders to return to the dormitories. Simon just stood there; neither he nor Hermione had been warned about the troll, so they couldn't receive punishments, at least technically.

"What's that smell?" suddenly Professor Minerva's slightly anxious voice was heard. "It smells like... troll blood," another voice replied, this time belonging to Professor Snape. Both then saw Harry and Ron standing in front of the bathroom door, but before Minerva could say anything, she saw the decapitated troll's body on the floor.

"What happened here?" Minerva asked as she and Snape stared seriously at the students present. Her voice sounded more serious than usual, but Simon noticed a slight touch of concern and fear in her words. Perhaps because four students were at the scene, her protective side emerged due to the fear that any of them might be hurt.

Harry and Ron lowered their heads a bit, while Hermione looked a bit nervous. Simon, a bit calmer, spoke lightly to the professor.

"Professor, I came looking for Hermione. She has some of my notes, and she was supposed to return them today, but since I didn't find her in the dining hall, I came looking for her." Snape then pointed to the fallen troll and said, "And what about the troll? Don't tell me you killed it."

"Yes, I killed it," Simon replied calmly without changing much, while Minerva and Snape stared at him, and he continued, "Although I don't know much about the different magical creatures, I know that the troll is a dangerous creature. It surprises me that it managed to invade the school unnoticed. Anyway, I didn't think much and just killed it."

Snape and Minerva remained silent for a while as Simon turned his eyes back to the fallen troll. Frankly, he was a bit disappointed. While training with the chimeras and hybrids he had created, they at least provided some morbid entertainment for him, but the troll... it was too simple.

Suddenly, while everyone seemed a bit lost with Simon's statement, a faint scream was heard, and turning around, they saw Professor Quirrel looking scared at the troll's body. Minerva sighed lightly.

"All right then. For now, return to your dormitories; dinner will be served there for you," Minerva said with a slightly calmer voice before turning to Simon. "Simon, for your courage and ability to defeat the troll, 40 points for Slytherin."

"Thank you, Professor," Simon just thanked lightly before being guided back to the common room by Snape. Neither of them said anything during the time they walked together, and after reaching the door, Snape just turned and left.

"Better go to the infirmary, Professor," Snape stopped when he saw Simon look slightly in his direction before turning and entering the room. "A bite like that can get infected." Seeing Simon enter, Snape remained silent before going to the infirmary and then heading to Dumbledore.

There was no need to say this, but Simon wanted to seem like he knew where Snape had been injured; it was part of a small plan he had devised. If it worked, the living Dumbledore would be his little lapdog. If it failed... well, Dumbledore wouldn't be there to stop him, so it didn't matter much.

Entering the common room, Simon looked around and saw that the students were enjoying the good meal while talking to each other. No one seemed to notice that he hadn't been present, not that it bothered him, so he went to the table where the food was laid out and grabbed some before going to take a shower and sleep.

The next day, after heading to the Great Hall, Simon noticed that many people were watching him. Not surprisingly, the story of him killing a troll had spread. He didn't know who started it, Hermione, Harry, or even Ron, but he didn't bother to find out.

The treatment from the Slytherins towards him for the next few days was kind of... strange. Many just congratulated him or something similar, but there were some, mostly half-bloods in Slytherin and even some pure-bloods, who talked a bit with him but always kept a certain distance between them and Simon.

Of course, there were also those who disbelieved it, mostly the staunch supporters of pure-blood ideology who didn't believe that a first-year student, especially a Muggle-born, could kill such a dangerous creature. However, the fact that no professor spoke against these rumors in the following days, coupled with Slytherin gaining 40 points in a single night, made most of them shut up.

As for his acquaintances from Hufflepuff, they were surprised and congratulated him strongly for the act. Heloise ended up complaining a bit to him, but nothing serious, and once again, he felt her concern for his well-being.

The Ravenclaw students didn't talk much about it; although they were a bit curious about him, that was it.

As for the Gryffindors, they didn't say much. Of course, they thanked Simon for saving Hermione and talked a bit better with him, but they weren't very welcoming. Whether they liked it or not, the division between Slytherins and Gryffindors was something complicated to resolve and needed a lot of time.

Thus, the days passed, and the month of November passed as quickly as it came. There weren't many events during November, apart from the first Quidditch match of the year. Normally, this month should have been a milestone in Hogwarts' history, with Harry being the youngest Quidditch player at the school and achieving a surprising victory over Slytherin by catching the Golden Snitch.

Unfortunately for him, Simon, unintentionally, destroyed that. This ended up leading Slytherin to win the match by a margin of 20 points.

In December, the cold weather was well-received by the students who took the opportunity to prepare to go home for the Christmas holidays.

Simon was also going back; he needed to check on some things with Envy, who hadn't given him answers for some time. Besides, being once again a "Homeless Orphan," he would be forced to live in some orphanage, and after deliberation, it was decided that he would return to Little Garden.

To be honest, Simon didn't want to go back; he feared that returning to that little paradise would make him a bit too sentimental. Simon thought of a few reasons to avoid going, but the need to check on Envy and take a step forward to create another homunculus was stronger.

"Frankly, why the hell didn't I tell Envy to pretend a trip with a child or something," Simon thought as he finished packing his things and prepared to leave.