No one would have imagined that before Remus Lupin and the others had even settled their battle, Draco would be the first to leave, as if it did not matter in the slightest who won or lost.
And no one could have predicted that the one to step forward and stop Draco would be neither Barty Crouch Jr., who had been enraged and ruined the plan not long ago, nor Ginny Weasley and the others, who wanted Draco to stay and help.
Instead, it was Ron Weasley, the same Ron Weasley who had repeatedly failed to learn his lesson after clashing with Draco.
Why him?
Who would have expected it?
Not even Harry Potter had the nerve to step out and stop Draco. After all, getting slapped in the face like that was hardly a pleasant experience.
And Ron Weasley had never once come out ahead against Draco, no matter how many times they had crossed paths. It really was hard to understand where he got the courage to do this...
"Something is definitely wrong."
As early as their last encounter, Draco had already started to suspect that there was something strange about the Ron Weasley in front of him.
Or rather, there was an unsettling aura coming from him...
Leaving aside those suspicions, which he had no way to confirm.
There was another reason Draco found this so baffling.
It was true that Ron's refusal to learn his lesson and his constant need to challenge Draco looked foolish, even laughably overconfident in the eyes of others. But the part that truly felt unnatural to Draco was precisely that.
That hatred for no reason.
And that explosive growth in strength.
Other than the fact that his increase in power was clearly unnatural, Draco was certain he had never actively gone out of his way to provoke Ron Weasley.
So why?
Why did the other man seem to want him dead so badly?
More importantly...
This guy's growth in strength is far too abnormal.
It was not arrogance, nor was it a lack of tolerance on Draco's part.
With Ron Weasley's aptitude, that kind of dramatic rise in strength in such a short time simply should not have been possible.
At that thought, Draco's gaze settled on the face twisted with malice before him...
Unsteady magical fluctuations leaked from Ron Weasley's body, and the wand in his hand was pointed at Draco without the slightest hesitation, as if Ginny and Luna sitting behind Draco did not matter at all.
No one noticed that the lake blue eyes that should have marked him as a member of the Weasley family were now tainted with a murky, miserable green...
A girl's intuition made Ginny sense that Ron Weasley was about to do something. Her eyes widened in shock and panic.
"Ron, what on earth are you doing?!"
"...You should understand me, Ginny!"
"I..."
"Crucio!"
"What?!"
What answered Ginny was Ron's twisted expression and that vicious, dangerous Cruciatus Curse.
The one who was always calling Draco a Death Eater was now the one using dark magic against him...
Draco, who had already been on guard against Ron's move, instantly pulled his Broomstick higher and fired back with the Sectumsempra he was so skilled with.
The clash came so suddenly that Ginny had no chance to stop it. She did not even have time to understand how things had escalated to this point.
If at first she had only felt hurt and angry because of Ron's behavior, then now she was completely unable to understand it, and deeply worried by the change in him.
Because this was not the Ron she knew.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that neither Ginny nor the rest of the family had noticed the changes that had appeared in Ron over the past few years.
Those changes included a sudden surge in strength that he had deliberately hidden from everyone.
And the way he ignored the feelings of family and friends, while showing no hesitation at all when it came to hurting others...
...
Things did not turn into the one sided fight everyone might have expected.
Ron Weasley was not instantly put down by Draco the way he had been the last few times.
And compared to those Death Eaters whose bodies had already gone cold, Ron Weasley's performance was surprisingly much better.
This red haired Weasley had not been taken out by Draco in a single move. He was actually trading blows with him.
Accelerating.
Turning.
Every flash of magic carved a deadly path through the air.
In truth, if Draco had not been carrying someone behind him, and if he had not also been stuck with the disadvantage of riding an older model Broomstick, then Ron Weasley's throat might already have been slit by Draco's superb flying and invisible, hard to detect Sectumsempra.
But the reality was that Ron was locked in a fierce struggle with Draco, and there was no ending this battle quickly...
"That is Ron? And that is Harry's Broomstick, isn't it?"
Ginny, who still had not fully processed what was happening, rubbed her eyes in disbelief, her face full of shock.
Whatever she had wanted to say to plead for Ron's sake died in her throat. She was even worried that saying anything now might interfere with Draco.
Then she suddenly remembered something and muttered, "Is this what you meant when you said something was wrong?"
"Yes... if he had flying skills like that, then how could your so called Savior ever have had the chance to become your house's ace?"
"..."
Ginny could not argue with him at all. After all, she was one of the people who knew best whether Ron truly had any talent for Quidditch.
He was not hopeless, no.
But Ron was definitely not the kind of genius who could be called exceptional, let alone someone who could catch up to a monster like Draco.
And yet now Ron was displaying genuinely impressive flying skills. Combined with the overwhelming performance of his Firebolt, he was actually suppressing Draco Malfoy, who had only just driven back all the Death Eaters in spectacular fashion...
"How is that possible? Ron, he..."
"Hmph. Are you really sure that is still the person you know?"
"....."
What did that mean?
After Pansy and the others, this red haired Weasley witch now got a taste of Draco's infuriating way of speaking too.
If she had not been worried about distracting him, Ginny might really have bitten this awful boy in front of her.
After forcefully suppressing that tempting urge, she refocused on Ron, whose figure had disappeared into the clouds and was now almost impossible to make out.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It is as if someone is controlling his body."
"Luna?"
A soft voice drifted over. Whether Luna understood or not, she still murmured something that sounded half aware and half confused.
As for Draco, after hearing that guess, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
To say Ron's body was being controlled was not quite right. It was more like something was influencing his soul.
And that sense of familiarity made Draco think of something.
Or rather, something he had experienced himself.
Could it be... a Horcrux?