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The second day of school.
Ian faced a blow worthy of a tale spun in the halls of Hogwarts.
"What did you say? I killed the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? How co I didn't know about it?"
Ian's legs weren't particularly short, but given his current height, he struggled to keep pace with Penelope's long strides.
"Don't fret too much; anyone with a decent amount of sense knows it couldn't have been you. I doubt the professors would be foolish enough to believe the drivel from a Slytherin brat."
"What a farce! It's utterly ludicrous! Only soone whose brain has been scrambled by a Troll would dare to slander a new wizard capable of taking down a powerful adult wizard!"
"He might as well claim that Professor Ehrlich was ambushed by a curse hidden away by Filch for decades!" Penelope defended Ian, though her dark jest hung in the air.
If caretaker Filch had been present, he would have found it rather grim.
"Who accused ?"
Ian wasn't overly anxious; he had only had a minor spat with Peeves the Poltergeist the day before. As long as it wasn't Peeves who had reported him, he felt it was a manageable situation.
But who would accuse him of sothing he hadn't done?
Could a re Slytherin brat pin this on him? His autobiography, 'Hogwarts: and My Head of House', was still in draft form, but that didn't an it didn't exist. After all, Snape wouldn't just stand by and let him be falsely accused and sent to Azkaban.
"Marcus Flint, a fourth-year student and Chaser for the Slytherin Quidditch team; his house is one of the so-called Sacred Twenty-Eight."
"He must be trying to curry favor with the Greengrass family because of Daphne Greengrass. Tsk, tsk, there isn't a single redeeming quality about these pure-blood families."
Penelope paused for a mont and added, "The Weasley family is sowhat better, but their twins are a right pair of troublemakers."
It was unclear who she was emphasizing this for.
"Daphne Greengrass's matter?" Ian chose not to ntion that he might also be a pure-blood, but he was sowhat astonished that he was being slandered because of Daphne Greengrass.
He hadn't interacted with Daphne Greengrass at all since the start of the term; even the gift he had prepared for her was temporarily set aside because she was still in a deep slumber.
"There are whispers from Slytherin that before Daphne Greengrass was Stupefied, the last na she uttered was yours. So suspect you cast a Jinx on her during the ferry ride."
"Your friend Aurora Grindelwald even taught a few people a lesson over this, but there are still fools who believe the professors can't discern the effects of a Jinx."
Penelope's voice carried a hint of exasperation.
Ian was hearing for the first ti that his reputation at Hogwarts was so tarnished.
He was just a new student!
"I didn't cast a Jinx on her. Even if Miss Greengrass insulted with the term 'mudblood' on the ferry, I rely wanted her to reconsider her words." Ian's words drew sympathy from Penelope, who had also faced prejudice due to her Muggle heritage.
"That is an extrely rude term; it's pure discrimination. Only those vile pure-blood Slytherins would stoop so low!"
"You are the victim, and they dare to retaliate; it's truly despicable!" Penelope empathized with Ian, her indignation growing on his behalf.
"I trust the wise professors will prove my innocence." Ian followed Penelope through the long corridor, ascending the continuously rotating staircase.
…
At the top of the West Tower.
In addition to a few house professors, several Prefects had gathered to assist in the search. Ravenclaw's male Prefect Dietrich was engaged in a heated argunt with a student who had prominent buck teeth.
"That's the one! I saw it with my own eyes! There's no mistake!" Marcus Flint, with a face marred by inbreeding and a prominent overbite, spoke with conviction.
Even with Snape standing beside him, his expression was dark.
He continued to insist.
"When the professors question you, just tell the truth, and then it will be alright." Penelope cautiously reminded him as she led Ian closer to the scene.
The body was discovered in the Owlery.
Due to a pile of straw covering Professor Ronnie Ehrlich's dismbered body, even the professors who had co to search earlier hadn't noticed anything amiss.
According to Penelope's account on the way, Marcus Flint claid he overca his fear to stand up and expose the murderer.
Otherwise.
The professors might have spent much longer searching for the body.
"Professors, I've brought Ian."
Upon entering the shed.
A damp and vaguely rotten sll assaulted them.
Snape was glaring grimly at Marcus Flint, Dumbledore was frowning at the pile of body parts, and Ravenclaw's Head of House, Professor Filius Flitwick, was crouched down examining the remains.
Ian hadn't expected that his first eting with his Head of House would occur in such a grim setting; Filius Flitwick didn't look up at him at that mont, focused on the grim task at hand.
"That's horrifying."
Penelope's face turned pale again as she beheld the assembled body parts, but she still stood resolutely by Ian's side with the male Prefect Dietrich.
The other three house Prefects were also present, their gazes towards Ian filled with uncertainty. Among them, Gryffindor's Prefect Percy Weasley looked sowhat frightened.
"That's him!"
Marcus Flint pointed an accusing finger at Ian.
Ian ignored him.
The bloody and brutal scene on the ground, with the assembled body parts, was swarming with flies, and Ian's gaze lingered on the corpse for only a mont.
At Dietrich's quiet reminder, Ian noticed a patch of dark red on the wall where the straw had been pulled away, revealing a line of twisted and shocking blood-written words.
"Prince"
It was a blood ssage that seed to serve as a warning, with droplets still trickling down, unmistakably pointing to Ian's surna.
"This is quite a clumsy attempt at framing ," Ian spoke softly, his tone calm.
"Mr. Prince, you are correct; a dismbered corpse cannot write. However, Mr. Flint claims he saw you murder Professor Ronnie Ehrlich."
Professor McGonagall stood there with a serious expression on her face, her authoritative gaze fixed on Ian. Her tone was not harsh, but it carried undeniable weight.
"Flint? You an that troll-faced dolt over there?" Ian glanced in Marcus Flint's direction, his words igniting Flint's fury.
Lies do little harm.
The truth is the sharper blade.
Marcus Flint did, in fact, bear an uncanny resemblance to a troll.
"How dare you insult ! You bloody murderer!" Marcus Flint bellowed in rage, attempting to lunge at Ian, only to be restrained by Snape's firm grip.
His two fellow Prefects made no move to support him, their heads turned as if suddenly fascinated by the floor.
"If you truly saw kill soone— especially a professor— would you really have the nerve to act as you do now before ?" Ian scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain.
"The professors are here; what can you do to ?" With his head lowered, Marcus Flint still raged at Ian.
"You'll be sent to Azkaban! You'll never get out!"
A pounding ache in his skull made the fourth-year student grimace, but he remained stubborn in his accusations.
"Stop spouting rubbish; Ian is just a first-year student. Do you think everyone in here learns Dark Magic from birth like so sinister cult?" Penelope stepped in, directly shielding Ian from Marcus Flint's verbal assault.
Snape's expression remained unreadable but he did not intervene.
…
(End of this chapter)
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