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This is side story
From Kassandra's pov
Chapter 250 — Kassandra's Perspective!!
Kassandra hated one particular classmate.
His name was Darren Potter.
Ordinarily, she shouldn't have had anything to do with him.
The boy was an idiot — painfully so.
Before Hogwarts, someone like him wouldn't even have caught her attention.
She would've dismissed him instantly.
But for some inexplicable reason, she hated him.
She hated how stupidly loyal he was to Gryffindor.
She hated how he jumped three feet in the air whenever he heard news about Gryffindor's Harry Potter.
Especially the day Harry Potter walked to the Slytherin table to find him.
Kassandra's face had twisted in disgust.
A Gryffindor… coming to Slytherin for breakfast?
Was he dreaming?
That's what she thought — offhandedly.
But that idiot actually stood up.
What?
Was he really planning to walk over to the Gryffindor table?
Was he insane?
Kassandra grabbed him by the shoulders.
Hmph. Such a tiny body, and he still wanted to run into a nest of Gryffindors?
Was he not afraid of being hauled off by Slytherins on the way?
She looked at him with contempt.
He'd better behave, or else—
Then he looked up at her.
And Kassandra froze for a moment.
His green eyes were full of pleading.
He was begging her?
Kassandra felt her irritation spike.
She had known this idiot for months, and he had never looked at her like that — yet he showed that expression because of Harry Potter?
Infuriating!
She felt like killing him.
He deserved punishment.
He deserved to be taught harshly by those Slytherins until he cried.
Let him learn!
She thought angrily.
Then she overheard his background.
An orphanage?
Picking up rotten vegetable scraps to eat?
Unacceptable.
Kassandra slammed down her knife and fork.
She wasn't angry that he had "deceived" her somehow.
She hated that Muggles dared treat a wizard like that.
No matter how stupid he was, he was still a Slytherin wizard.
Even if he wasn't pure-blood.
She also noticed the looks from other Slytherins — they were upset too.
As they should be!
The idiot was pathetically stupid, yes, but he was one of theirs.
Slytherins didn't allow others to bully their own.
She thought irritably.
Back in the dorm, they held a discussion about how to "punish" the idiot.
Kassandra was the first to raise her hand, chin lifted proudly.
"I'm a first-year prefect. Give the punishment rights to me — I'll make sure he's disciplined."
"Leave it to you?"
Flint snorted. "You'll go easy on him. I say we all cast a spell on him together."
His brilliant suggestion was not met with enthusiasm.
Many Slytherins seemed… hesitant.
Kassandra narrowed her eyes.
Flint dared contradict her?
Hmph. She'd punish him later.
But she didn't say anything aloud.
She could clearly see that most of them didn't really want to punish the idiot.
Stupid as he was, he was unexpectedly well-liked in Slytherin.
Which annoyed her even more.
How could anyone like that?
Why couldn't he act like her?
Cold. Dignified. Untouchable.
The arrogant Slytherins quarreled for half an hour before finally deciding:
One person would cast a punishment spell on him.
Everyone else would "pressure him with Slytherin presence."
To scare him.
To make him take house rules seriously.
Kassandra had wanted to oppose it, but thinking of how incompetent he was, she ultimately stayed silent.
He did need to be punished a little.
Did he think Slytherin was his personal living room?
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Later that afternoon.
The idiot returned, practically glowing.
He carried a pile of… biscuits?
Or… something vaguely biscuit-shaped?
Kassandra honestly wasn't sure.
Had the Gryffindors dragged him off just to feed him this pile of garbage?
He should've just asked her — the sweets in the her family pantry were stacked like mountains.
Not that she would ever tell him that.
She held her tongue, preparing to help intimidate him as planned.
But before they even began, Malfoy started laughing at him.
Kassandra was about to laugh too — the idiot did look confused — when she saw the boy smile faintly, dismissively.
Ah.
Malfoy, the eternal "I'll call my father" brat, wasn't stupid.
He was deliberately derailing the intimidation plan.
Kassandra scoffed internally.
Slytherins weren't completely brain-dead, it seemed.
There was only one idiot among them.
Then Daphne Greengrass's older sister — Betsy Greengrass, the Greengrass heiress — suddenly stepped in.
She blamed the idiot loudly and changed the planned punishment from a mild spell to…
The Cruciatus Curse.
Kassandra frowned.
The Cruciatus?
How could she even suggest using that?
Didn't that idiot save her once?
Why would she cast an Unforgivable on her own savior?
Suspicious.
Kassandra pinched her chin thoughtfully.
She decided to just stand there and watch.
She wanted to see what ridiculous thing they'd try next.
Suddenly—
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The idiot's scream echoed through the room.
Kassandra jumped.
Had Betsy actually done it?!
The scream sounded too real.
If the idiot had faked it, she wouldn't have believed it.
But when she looked closely…
The idiot himself looked confused.
He tried to speak but couldn't form words.
Ah.
That was a Tongue-Tying Curse, not the Cruciatus.
Well done.
Kassandra decided she should learn that spell someday.
The idiot needed to be silenced sometimes.
Every time he talked to Harry Potter, she got a headache.
He looked much cuter with his mouth shut.
Some people were simply meant to be quiet.
Meanwhile, the other Slytherins were panicking, fully believing he'd been hit by the Cruciatus.
Honestly, did they have no observational skills?
Still…
For the sake of the idiot's acting — which was shockingly good for someone with half a brain cell — Kassandra generously decided to help.
She chased away several students who were thinking about casting even more spells on him.
Not because she wanted to help him.
Absolutely not.
She simply thought that for someone with his minimal brainpower, he was performing quite well today.
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