Chapter 344 – Paige Brings Bankruptcy News!!
Harry felt that Defense Against the Dark Arts had become his favorite class.
Of course, because of Lupin's kindness toward Darren, even Slytherin students rarely bad-mouthed him.
Except Malfoy.
Malfoy still occasionally mocked Lupin's worn robes.
Harry noticed that every time Malfoy said that, Darren would look down sadly.
He clearly wanted to argue.
But whenever Hagrid came to mind, Darren would just shut his mouth.
Quiet.
Melancholy.
Pitiful.
Sometimes Harry felt like going over to talk to him—
But Darren deliberately avoided him.
Harry believed it had to be Malfoy.
To him, Malfoy was exactly that kind of person.
Darren was too kind.
He had already sacrificed so much for Hagrid…
Harry almost started hating Malfoy outright—especially whenever Malfoy insulted Professor Lupin.
Because Darren would always look hurt.
And Defense Against the Dark Arts was also Darren's favorite class.
Professor Lupin was one of Darren's favorite professors.
Harry once overheard some Slytherins talking.
It seemed Lupin was worried Darren hadn't fully gotten over everything and was continuing special training with him.
Two days earlier, Lupin had even caught another boggart.
Of course, this time it didn't look nearly as painful.
Occasionally Harry saw Darren walking out of Lupin's office smiling.
Harry wanted to stop him and say hello.
But every single time, Darren would walk away the moment he saw him—
Before Harry could even open his mouth.
And as if that wasn't enough…
There were Hermione and Ron.
Hermione's Crookshanks had been constantly going after Ron's rat.
Scabbers had grown thin and bony during this time.
Ron was furious.
Hermione insisted that cats naturally caught rats, and if Ron left his rat in the dormitory, Crookshanks wouldn't even be able to get in.
Ron snapped back that Hermione had promised before school started that she wouldn't let Crookshanks roam freely—
And now she was acting as if that promise never existed.
They quarreled every single day.
The moment they met, they sneered.
It had escalated to the point where even Darren's previous anger had become ammunition for blaming each other.
Harry felt miserable.
They used to be so close.
How did it become like this?
And Darren's words kept echoing in his head.
He really felt ashamed.
He couldn't eat at Slytherin's table.
He couldn't step into the Slytherin common room.
He couldn't even greet Slytherin students openly.
Just thinking about it made him feel hopeless.
Darren would never forgive him again.
Harry couldn't do even one-tenth of what Darren had done.
He felt small.
Selfish.
Childish.
Ridiculous.
And as if that weren't enough…
Hagrid made it worse.
Hagrid looked depressed every day now.
After the very first lesson with Buckbeak, the hippogriff—
Every lesson afterward involved only those giant caterpillars.
Feeding them.
Watching them.
Again and again.
The Ministry of Magic still hadn't made any moves.
No dismissal.
No investigation.
Everything had seemingly been shelved.
Harry was almost sure—
Hagrid was only still here because of Darren.
But the thought that Darren had to be Malfoy's "follower" every day for Hagrid's sake…
It made Harry restless whenever he saw Hagrid.
They had warned him again and again—
But Hagrid still insisted on raising dangerous creatures with his own hands.
In second year, his spiders had nearly eaten them alive.
If Darren hadn't used Fiendfyre properly back then—
They wouldn't have escaped at all.
And because of all that chaos…
Darren had almost died in the Chamber of Secrets at the end of the year.
"Hagrid is always like this!"
Ron said angrily while staring at the fat caterpillars.
"They're disgusting!"
Hermione shot him a sharp look.
"You don't care at all how you'll ever even sit at the Slytherin table again!"
"If you keep acting like this, Darren will cut you off completely!"
"Even if he leaves Malfoy, he still won't come back to you!"
Hermione snapped.
"Oh, like you're any better!"
Ron fired back.
Bang!
Hermione slammed the basin holding the caterpillars to the ground.
Harry quickly repaired it and put them back.
"Hermione…"
"That's exactly why I'm upset!"
She glared at both of them.
"You two always pretend nothing happened!"
"Yesterday I tried to sit at the Slytherin table—"
"They chased me away!"
"They said there was no room for me!"
"Yes, I failed!"
"But you two didn't even try!"
Harry and Ron flushed.
They couldn't even argue.
They were afraid.
Afraid of being mocked by Slytherins.
After all, they'd fought with them for years.
Sitting there now felt impossible.
As for the Slytherin common room—
Snape wouldn't allow them inside.
He had made it very clear:
If they weren't discovered, that was one thing.
But if they were…
He would make sure they were punished heavily.
They knew full well that Snape had added those rules just to make things hard.
If they barged in and Snape happened to be there—
They might be expelled before even doing what Darren had asked them to do.
A perfect deadlock.
Still…
They had no choice but to find a way through.
Time passed.
Early October arrived.
Gryffindor resumed Quidditch training.
Wood was filled with enthusiasm.
He wanted Harry to captain Gryffindor to victory in his final year.
Then…
One afternoon during training—
Harry saw Paige.
Her eyes were red.
Tears streamed down her face.
She stood before Harry, trembling.
"Little Master…"
"We… we're ruined…"
"Completely ruined…"
Harry blinked.
That did sound terrifying.
But when he went to check the Potter vault—
And discovered there were still nearly five hundred thousand Galleons—
He relaxed.
"That's plenty."
"Darren and I don't live lavishly."
"Don't tell Darren. He'd worry for nothing."
Harry waved it off casually.
Then—
He saw Paige's eyes.
Filled with pain.
She produced a letter.
"The ancestral portrait of the Potter family…"
"Ordered me to hand this to you…"
"And… after that…"
"I am to be expelled from the Potter estate."
This…
Is a letter from the Potter family's ancestral portrait.
To you.
And to Little Master Darren."