Hogwarts: Don't Starve in the Forbidden Forest Chapter 36 36: The Alchemy Engine

"Malfoy, save !"

At Bolein Anrela's desperate cry, Draco Malfoy—who had been perfectly content watching the drama from the sidelines—suddenly flinched.

He knew staying here was a bad idea. On one side was Kane, the person his father had explicitly told him to befriend; on the other side was his reputation as the "Big Brother" of the first-year Slytherins.

As the student with the best pedigree, the most talent, and—frankly—the most "human" appearance in his year, he had naturally beco the group's leader.

If he let his lackey get pulverized without stepping in, his leadership would be over before the first week was out.

But if he chose friendship over loyalty and scolded Anrela, the consequences were even worse.

In the brutal social hierarchy of Slytherin, if a follower "eats a spoon" for their leader, the leader can't just tell them they didn't eat it fast enough. He had to stand his ground, or he'd have no ground left to stand on.

"Ugh, I really don't want this responsibility," Draco muttered under his breath, stepping in front of Anrela.

"Kane, Bolein is my friend. I hope you'll... give so face," Draco said, trying to summon his most authoritative "Malfoy" voice.

"Tell him to promise he won't contact again and that he'll walk the other way when he sees . That's it," Kane replied. He wasn't looking for a fight; he just wanted a peaceful life at Hogwarts.

Draco turned to Anrela. "Can you do that?"

Anrela nodded like a woodpecker. "Of course! Of course!"

"One more thing," Kane added, his eyes narrowing. "Mr. Anrela, how many Galleons do you have in your pocket right now?"

Anrela clutched his robes. "What do you want? Malfoy, help ! If he robs , I'm not calling you 'Big Brother' anymore!"

Draco fell silent. This was a true dilemma. If he let Anrela pay, his status took a hit. If he paid for him... well, that felt wrong too. He could buy Kane treats for the sake of friendship, but paying him off in a confrontation was a total surrender.

"Kane, I said give so face," Draco's voice grew cold.

"And why do you think I'm still standing here talking? We were friends on the train, and I have no reason to target you. Just step aside," Kane said calmly.

Before school, he had built a Science Machine, but that only unlocked basic survival tools. If he wanted to climb the "Constant" tech tree and use real magic, he needed an Alchemy Engine. And an Alchemy Engine required Gold.

It was a stroke of luck, really. He had a demand, and Mr. Anrela had appeared with the supply. The boy was a literal walking treasure chest.

Draco did the math. Between a vague friendship with Kane and the century-old alliance between the Malfoy and Anrela families... the choice was clear.

"I can't do that." Draco drew his wand. He wasn't a talentless hack like Anrela; he wasn't going to be shoved against a wall so easily.

Kane raised an eyebrow. Without a second's hesitation, he slashed his wand. A crystalline blue bolt of light erupted, slamming Draco Malfoy squarely against the wall alongside his friend.

Magic is wonderful like that—it turns the impossible into the inevitable.

The mont Kane moved, Harry and Ron were on it, their wands out and ready to back him up. Malfoy's two other "bodyguards," Crabbe and Goyle, lacked the reaction speed to even process what was happening.

Under the stunned gaze of the hallway, Kane relieved Anrela of nearly fifty gold Galleons. He left Draco's coins alone, though—consider it a refund for the Willy Wonka chocolates on the train.

As the Gryffindors sauntered away, Snape finally erged from the classroom to see the wreckage.

"So? You picked a fight with Gryffindors and lost?" Snape asked, his face darkening.

"Yes, Professor," Draco said, picking himself up and hanging his head.

"Go ho and copy the Potions board work three tis. And I want the nas of the Gryffindors who did this to you."

"Kane Heath," Draco answered.

"And who else?"

"Just Kane Heath."

Hearing that na—a na that seed destined to haunt his dreams—Snape pinched the bridge of his nose. All these Slytherins versus one boy, and the result was two of his house on the wall and everyone else just watching?

The perpetrator had treated the hallway like his own personal bathroom.

"Copy it six tis... no, nine. Nine tis!" Snape barked, storming off and leaving behind a mountain of spiteful howork.

Gryffindor Common Room

"My dad says Galleons are enchanted by Goblins. They don't lt easily," Ron warned, looking at the pile of gold in a small cauldron.

"Don't worry, this isn't a normal fire." Kane channeled his Shadows, tossing a flickering, dark fla into the cauldron.

Ron's mouth ford an 'O'. The fifty Galleons lted like ice cream in July, turning into a shimring pool of liquid gold. Harry quickly helped pour the gold into molds, and Ron used tongs to drop them into a basin of water.

Finally, after days of waiting, he had his two gold nuggets.

Kane snatched them out of the water with his bare hands (a perk of his peculiar constitution) and ran to his Science Machine. His hands moved in a blur—twisting, clicking, and assembling—until he had produced two Electrical Doodads that looked suspiciously like small motors.

The hardest part was done. He had leftover boards; all he needed now was Cut Stone.

The sun was setting, and it was too late to go out and "mine" rocks. Fortunately... Kane looked at the stone floor in the corner of the dormitory.

"Hogwarts, I love you."

Like a toxic lover, he whispered sweet nothings while literally prying a stone slab out of the floor.

Harry and Ron, who were in the middle of a ga of Wizard's Chess, looked up at the sound of heavy construction.

"What is that... round, rusty-looking machine made of scrap tal for?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Kane patted the cold iron of the massive contraption. "This? I call it the Alchemy Engine."

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