Draco’s Dilemma

The world of Harry Potter.

Time flew by, and two months had passed since Chu Yang entered Hogwarts to study.

Ever since Chu Yang’s conflict with the older Slytherin students, those upperclassmen had harassed him in private more than a few times.

The outcome was obvious.

Hogwarts’ School Hospital had remained overcrowded for so long that Dumbledore had no choice but to personally warn those upperclassmen and some of their parents to settle down.

Chu Yang had become famous because of it.

In Hogwarts’ nearly thousand-year history, there had never been a case of a first-year beating up older students.

Partly because they had been frightened by Chu Yang’s beatings, and partly because of Dumbledore’s stern warning, the Slytherin students had restrained themselves considerably.

Chu Yang’s school life gradually settled down as well.

It was worth mentioning that Draco still did not dare share a room with Chu Yang. For the past two months, he had been cramming into Goyle and the others’ dormitory.

That was until Draco’s father—Lucius Malfoy—heard about it from someone else.

Humiliated and enraged, Lucius stormed into the school and gave Draco a vicious dressing-down, berating him for disgracing the Malfoy family.

Draco, who had feared his imposing father since childhood, trembled so badly that he could not even form a complete sentence.

Seeing him like this, Lucius was suddenly overwhelmed by disappointment. What his son had shown—

This anger was immediately redirected toward Chu Yang.

If Chu Yang had not been a Hogwarts student, he likely would have died for no apparent reason in some dark wizard hideout in Knockturn Alley.

Afterward, those Dark wizards might have received a generous reward from the Malfoy family.

But Chu Yang happened to be a Hogwarts student, and an exceptionally gifted one at that, constantly watched by all the teachers and students.

Lucius Malfoy could do nothing to him.

He had once tried to cut off Chu Yang’s full scholarship, only to be stopped by Dumbledore. Afterward, he received a warning from Ollivander, whose manner was no longer as friendly as before.

Ollivander’s exact words were, "If Mr. Chu Yang loses his full scholarship at Hogwarts, then Ollivanders Wand Shop will fully support Chu Yang financially until he completes his education."

Lucius was greatly surprised that Ollivander, who had always refused to involve himself in disputes, had taken such a firm stance.

Driven by anger and curiosity, Lucius learned that Chu Yang occasionally worked as an apprentice at Ollivanders Wand Shop and had displayed remarkable talent.

It had led the elderly Ollivander to consider training him as a successor.

Lucius found this strange and sensed something unusual.

Under normal circumstances, the school would not allow students to take part-time jobs outside school. That rule had never been broken, yet Chu Yang had received special treatment.

Out of caution, he began gathering information about Chu Yang. He had people visit most of the professors and ask about their impressions and evaluations of Chu Yang.

The results stunned him!

Lucius had heard of and met many people known as geniuses, but Chu Yang seemed different from the geniuses he knew.

At Hogwarts, every professor and teacher who had taught Chu Yang could not stop praising him whenever his name came up, including even the notoriously demanding Snape.

Though their personalities clashed, Snape had no choice but to acknowledge Chu Yang’s talent.

In Charms, Flying Class, Potions, Transfiguration Class, Herbology, Divination Class, and more, Chu Yang always held firmly to first place. Everyone else was merely competing for second.

The more outstanding Chu Yang was, the more average and incompetent Draco appeared by comparison. As a father, Lucius felt not only rage but also a trace of jealousy.

How could a Mudblood born to Muggles be more outstanding than a Pure-blood family?

Anyone with eyes could see that the heads of all four Houses favored Chu Yang greatly. If Hogwarts had not always had a rule against changing Houses, those four heads would likely have begun fighting over him long ago.

Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff, was still upset with Dumbledore over Chu Yang going to Slytherin.

Before this, she had always been known as the most mild-tempered professor at Hogwarts.

After fully understanding Chu Yang’s situation, Lucius, who had always been skilled at reading the situation, gave up the idea of teaching him a lesson.

No matter how powerful the Malfoy family was, it could not bear so much hostility at once.

Paying such a price over a little Muggle-born wizard simply was not worth it.

Interestingly… Lucius not only gave up on making things difficult for Chu Yang, but also began considering recruiting him.

He had his eye on Chu Yang’s talent.

So before Lucius left the school, he specifically instructed Draco to find a way to repair his relationship with Chu Yang.

His father’s sudden whim instantly put the bewildered Draco in a difficult position.

Accustomed to obeying all of his father’s orders, Draco did not dare defy him. Compared with his imposing father, Chu Yang seemed easier to deal with.

Over the following days, Draco’s attitude toward Chu Yang made a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.

The other students often saw him arrive at the Great Hall early to prepare breakfast for Chu Yang, who slept in late.

From the perspective of onlookers, Draco, constantly running errands for him, looked more like a lackey than Goyle and Crabbe did.

Even Draco, whose family background was the most illustrious, acted like this. The others naturally found themselves a head shorter than Chu Yang.

Chu Yang turned a blind eye to Draco’s attentiveness.

He firmly believed that unsolicited favors always concealed ulterior motives. The Malfoys clearly meant no good.

So after two months, Draco still had not managed to close the distance between himself and Chu Yang.

Draco desperately wanted to give up, but Lucius sent letters every week or two asking about his progress, which drove him to the brink of collapse.

To deal with his father’s questioning, Draco had no choice but to lie and tell him that he and Chu Yang had already become good friends. Only then did he escape the terrifying bombardment of letters.

But to Draco, that did not mean the problem was over, because a lie was still a lie.

Draco did not want to be scolded by his father again, so he made up his mind to become Chu Yang’s real friend.

The arrival of Halloween delighted most of the teachers and students, but Draco remained gloomy and dejected.

Along with his happiness, Chu Yang also felt a little excited, because just the day before, Dumbledore had finally agreed to let him enter the Restricted Section. It was a goal he had achieved only after two months of effort.

Because of Voldemort’s past example, Dumbledore was especially cautious when educating gifted young wizards. Over those two months, he had examined not only Chu Yang’s learning ability, but also his character.

(Thank you, brothers, for your support. We made it onto Sanjiang. The premium release will be tomorrow afternoon. There will also be two free updates tomorrow as thanks to everyone. Then, on the first day of the premium release, there will be an absolutely crazy wave of updates. I won’t say anything else—see you in the updates…)