12 The Golden Trio

The next day, the whole school was in an uproar after the troll incident. The rumor came from Gryffindors. Mainly, Lavender and Parvati. They are the famous gossipers in Gryffindors, and possibly the whole school. What comes out of their mouths will become the talk of the school. And the students being children, they'll obviously believe what they hear from the two.

According to them, Harry and his two friends were already missing by the time all the students went back to their dormitories. Lavender was the one who saw the three opened the entrance, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. McGonagall left and Ron being a loudmouth he is, revealed that the troll was knocked out by Harry. The news traveled all over their house, and the Weasley twins hailed Harry as the Troll Slayer.

'Good for them because I'll never want to be involved with them, at all.'

I decided to just ignore the noise and look forward to the end of the class. I'll be spending 'me' time there and form ideas about creating new spells and improve what I already have.

As I think of what I should work on later, Cho came with her friends and sat near me on the table. Her friends already knew me since we already met on the train, but they didn't bother befriending me especially when my status was revealed. They think that they should only involve people in their clique who are the same as them, and I'm apparently not qualified. Not that I plan to of course. Clique mentality is just immature and detrimental. People who refuse to befriend anyone different from them are doomed when they are exposed to the harsh reality of society.

"Hey, Fred." Cho greeted. I may have replied late as I was focused on what I am doing.

"Oh. Hey, Cho. I heard the Quidditch season will start soon." I said.

"Well the captain was forming training schedules now, and I think I will be busy for the week. What about you?" She asked.

"Well, I don't actually have anything important. I'm guessing I'll spend the time in the library again when the match starts." I lied. Of course, I will be in my private room. But no need to tell her that.

"I actually always go to the library myself, but I don't even see you there." She suspiciously said.

"if I'm not in the library, I'm either exploring the castle or in the kitchen." It's not wrong though. I'm exploring the castle, and found the greatest treasure I've ever seen. The Room of Requirement.

Her eyes narrowed at that. Seriously, do girls eat sneakoscopes for lunch?

"You'll go to my match, right?" She asked suddenly. Why would I even go? I'm not even a fan of the sport?

"You do know I'm not interested in that, right? And I am busy reading?" I questioned her.

"But you will, right?" She said while smiling. Why do I feel dread all of a sudden?

"I'll try?" I half replied, half asked.

"Please?" Cho said with puppy eyes. Well, I'll support her as a friend, I guess. Even as a Ravenclaw, everyone in the house was expected to support their own team.

"Yeah, alright." I sighed. My free time lost. I'll attend one match and that's it. My free time is mine again.

"Every match?" She just led me to a trap, didn't she? Damn girls and their honey traps. If I didn't know any better, I would think it's cute.

"Why am I friends with you again?" I asked in a helpless tone.

"Because only I will, " She said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Touché." I frowned.

Cho just giggled there like a little girl. I sighed left and went to the first class of the day, Defence of the Dark Arts.

Not until I was rudely pulled by none other than Granger.

'Grandfather will surely be disappointed with me. A Grindelwald was tricked by a woman. Good job, Fred. You are the best.' I thought sarcastically.

I was on my way to the class until I was dragged off by an 11-year-old, I recalled something I should have noticed and blinked at the realization.

'They noticed me!'

"What's with the pulling Granger? Confessing your love to me?" I joked. She glared harshly at that. Although her cheeks were slightly red.

She kept dragging me until I saw her two idiot friends.

"You!" Ron spoke first. Ah, he must be acting like a douche considering my history was revealed throughout the school. I am quite knowledgeable about his character, and he's still a brat. At least Harry is better.

"You were the one who knocked out the troll didn't you?" Harry said.

"The troll last night? I was sure you were the one who did that, right Mr. Troll Slayer?" I deflected the question back at him. Harry blushed a bit. Yeah, that nickname is embarrassing enough.

"But it's not me! If someone should be called that, it's you!" Harry argued.

"How would you even know it was me? I'm already in my room that night."

"I already asked your perfect, and he said you've been missing since the feast." Hermione.

"Well, I already went ahead after eating a few treats. They tasted good though." I said while reminiscing the tasty sweets I ate that night.

"But I saw white hair that night. And there were no other people who have the same as you!" Harry said.

"Maybe someone transfigured their hair? How can I even defeat the troll if I'm in the same year as you?" I asked them.

"Well, you could have been learning dark magic from your grandfather!" Ron voiced out. No matter how ridiculous his claim was, it was actually the truth. Not that I'll confess of course. Who knows what they're planning.

"Ron, I've never even met my grandfather. He was imprisoned remember?"

"Well, you could have access to a vault or something! I'm sure it's filled to the brim with dark artifacts." He argued back.

I froze at that, why haven't I thought about it? I'm sure grandfather has a vault or two. I won't be surprised if he has many separate vaults since he once became a world power. I'll ask him later.

"Ron, look at my robes. You do know I'm wearing a second-hand robe, right? Meaning, I don't have any access to my grandfather's vault. I would prefer buying new robes if I had the money." I corrected him.

Ron was stunned at that. Of course, how could I receive the key if I haven't even seen my grandfather?

"If you don't have anything else to say, then I will take my leave. I don't like being late in class you see. As much as I hated that you rudely dragged me off, I forgive you, Granger." I said as I headed towards the classroom.

'Phew, disaster averted.'

DADA became easy to endure after I mastered Occlumency. I can just tune out outside noise and focus on the book I've been reading. It's the book about countering simple curses. I've been thinking about countering Unforgivable curses ever since I mastered all of them. Sure I can conjure rocks or anything that can block the spell from reaching me but can there be a defense spell specialized on countering curses? Food for thought.

After the class ended, I fled the room and headed towards my sanctuary. While I was on my way there, I can feel someone was following me. I can feel more than one human presence. I thought that we were going the same way at first but after numerous turns in hallways, I confirmed that those people are in fact following me.

After a silent human revealing spell, I recognized the people stalking me.

'I wonder who might those people be?' I thought sarcastically as I stared at the direction of the golden trio.

I decided to confuse and mislead them by going in different directions. I eventually lost them when I climbed the moving staircases. Suddenly changing the path once I reached the end.

'Mission success' I smirked and continued pacing towards my private room.

'Ah, bliss.' I said as I passed into the room. There, I worked on my current projects while studying the Unforgivable curses.

I was thinking of working on my Fiendfyre spell until I can fully control the Fire Patronus. There was free time until evening since the Astronomy class is at midnight.

At the end of my training, I can already control what my Fire wolf should and should not attack. I'm also almost done in removing the recoil of my Giant repelling spell. There was already progress as I don't feel any reaction when I cast the spell in normal power. The recoil will only apply when a huge amount of magic was poured into the spell. My goal is to completely remove the recoil regardless of the amount of magic applied.

Even though I have made my original spells, I still study my grandfather's magic. He wants me to fully inherit his skills and improve it. I already modified his Protego Diabolica and made the Fire Patronus, and he was very impressed with that. I don't know why, but my grandfather is very obsessed with fire. Badly enough, I'm starting to pick up his habits. Grandfather was not good in flight. He prefers apparating or the Phoenix teleportation. He also said no wizard has achieved perfect flight. Unsupported flight was just like what Voldemort did when he was pursuing Harry in the Death Hallows movie. I don't have any idea how they did that, but I have two choices on how I can achieve unsupported flight. It's either I steal Tom Riddle's diary, or I go the long way and discover it myself. Discovering it myself is obviously more viable but time-consuming since I don't have any idea on how will I be able to steal the Diary before it possesses Ginny.

'Well, there is no true victory by doing things the easy way.' I thought.

Speaking about Horcruxes, I may have accidentally created a Horcrux-destroying spell. I remembered Crabbe casting Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirements, eventually destroying Rowena's Diadem.

'Wait, what the hell?!?! Why haven't I thought about it at all? I can just find Rowena's Diadem in this very room! How stupid could I be?' I facepalmed myself at that.

I remembered that Ravenclaw's Diadem can improve one's intelligence when worn. Now I definitely should have it. I can even understand unsupported flight quickly! I can just will the wolf to destroy only Voldemort's soul, so the tiara won't be affected.

'I'll just return it to the school when I'm done!' I grinned evilly.

'Room! Take me to the room where lost things are found!' I stated my wish to the room.

"It's time to clean some Horcruxes." My grin just widened.