The Greedy Frog
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HP: The Salazar's Heir Chapter 34
🕑 Added 2024-02-03 16:59:45 +0000 UTCChapter 34: They are dumb, aren’t they?
"A-Ah…" Harry groaned in pain. "My back."
All the while, Sebastian asked him to be quiet. "Hush."
Both of them were in a kind of pinch, pretty much dead if they were unaware of their surroundings.
Well, Harry was.
"Stop moving."
But Sebastian wasn't.
"It is getting t-tighter," Harry groaned as he felt vines wrapped around his waist and throat.
"The more you move, the tighter it will get, Harry," Sebastian explained, keeping himself calm. "These vines are called Devil's Snare."
A pit filled with Devil's Snare.
That was where they had fallen after escaping from the massive three-headed hound.
Harry found it difficult to keep himself calm, especially with the vines strangling his throat.
But that didn't stop him from asking, "D-Devil's Snare?"
One thing about Harry that Sebastian noticed was his curiosity—something that even he shared.
"Calm," he said. "Devil's Snare is a semi-intelligent magical plant that has a tendency to strangle anything to death."
This made Harry pale, almost trying to shake his body to break free from the hold.
"And it strangles people who keep moving."
That instantly made Harry freeze as the vines indeed got tighter around his body.
"C-Can't you use a spell to free us?" the boy asked, looking hopefully at the green-eyed heir.
"I can," Sebastian answered, "but I won't."
This baffled Harry. "W-Why?"
Sebastian looked at the boy, keeping his body as calm and unmoving as possible.
"Because of this."
And within a matter of seconds, Harry saw Sebastian falling deeper inside—through the vines.
"SEBASTIAN!" Harry yelled out in horror. He did not expect to see the boy in front of him being eaten up alive by a bunch of magical vines.
His heart dropped at the realization that Ron and Hermione might have met the same fate.
However, his heart was restarted with a single sentence.
"I am alive."
Sebastian's voice echoed, emerging from below him.
"Just stay calm, and you will be able to escape that vine pit."
Harry did not understand what Sebastian meant.
No, he understood that staying still would help him escape, but he couldn't figure out how that worked.
"I know that you are curious, maybe scared," Sebastian said, assuring him, "but don't worry. It is safe here; you just need to stay still to escape."
Harry closed his eyes, not daring to even take deep breaths.
"It should take…" Sebastian's voice echoed, "Yeah, it's working."
As Harry heard this, he suddenly opened his eyes and immediately found himself falling down.
"Ugh!" Unable to control his fall, he fell on his ass, bruising it, but that didn't hurt him.
What hurt him was Sebastian laughing. "All that Quidditch balance training ain't paying off, aye?"
Harry felt even more insulted when he heard Sebastian speak like most of them did—crudely.
And he was certain that the heir did that to make him annoyed.
"That wasn't very nice." Harry frowned, which only made Sebastian chuckle harder.
"You deserve it for dragging me into this mess." The heir extended his hand. "And you better start explaining now."
With an embarrassed look—mostly because he knew that he ended up dragging Sebastian—he accepted the hand. "Thank you."
And as the spectacled boy tried not to look any more embarrassed, he finally heard the voices that he was looking for.
"HARRY!"
A loud yell, and well, quite a familiar one too.
"I am here, Hermione!" Harry yelled back, trying to guide the girl towards him.
Which surprisingly worked, as both he and Sebastian saw a moving fuzz of hair walking towards them. It was too dark to make out the faces, but both of them knew who it was.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, rushing towards her. "Ron!"
The ginger didn't yell and instead simply followed behind Hermione.
'Such a nice reunion,' Sebastian sighed, unsure of what to think. 'Might have shed a tear if it wasn't a result of foolishly jumping in front of a damned beast.'
But he knew better than to childishly argue with the people. Moreover, it would only make the situation far more tense.
So, what did he do?
"Lumos!"
Just brighten up the place, just like their moods were.
And his mood instantly brightened up when he saw Ron, nearly making him burst out in laughter.
"Is that why you were so quiet, Ron?" He asked, intentionally biting his tongue to not laugh.
But while Sebastian managed to stifle his laughter, Harry couldn't.
“Shut up.” Ron frowned at the heir of Potter. “And I would rather not talk about it.”
Sebastian instantly turned to look at Hermione, who, as he expected, gave the answer.
‘She always has an answer, doesn’t she?’
“He was stupid enough not to stop moving, so I had to use Lumos Maxima to free him, and an Incendio followed by it accidentally burnt his face a little.”
The reason for their laughter was Ron’s ash-covered face, black as if burnt. His hair was also puffed, sort of burnt at the edges.
“I hope almost dying and getting burnt was worth coming here.” Sebastian commented, still waiting for an answer.
Ron and Hermione were both confused as to how the heir of Slytherin ended up coming together with their friend.
But that was when Harry decided to explain, mostly because he saw the confused faces of his friends.
“After you two got inside, I couldn't manage to follow.” He looked embarrassed, mostly because he promised them that he would manage. “And if not for Sebastian saving me, I might not even be here.”
“He was lucky that I was coming back from Professor Flitwick’s office.” Sebastian didn't care about being thanked; he was still focused on something else. “And so, I do hope you all can explain the situation.”
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, unsure if they should answer the heir. However, Harry had already made up his mind.
“As I told you, we are looking for the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“Harry!” Hermione tried to stop him, but Harry shook his head.
“He had saved my life, Hermione.” Harry showed a tired smile. “We should tell him.”
At this point, even Ron agreed.
“I think Harry is right.” The ginger said, rubbing his face. “He has helped us more than once. And now, he even saved Harry’s life.”
Hermione agreed with Ron; she knew that Sebastian had been nothing but helpful for them.
But she wasn’t sure if it was wise to reveal the truth to him.
And for that, she couldn’t be blamed either.
The things they were doing could end up getting them expelled, and she knew that Sebastian was on good terms with Snape, who just so happened to be the prime suspect for them –someone who was trying to steal the stone.
“We think that Professor Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone.” Harry explained, shocking Sebastian.
“Pardon?”
Ron nodded, “Yes. We read that the Philosopher's Stone can make a wizard immortal and can help to turn any metal into gold.” The boy frowned, realizing that he couldn't just hide the truth any longer. “And we think Snape is after it.”
Sebastian was left baffled.
He just wanted to learn potions and dueling; that was why he went around looking for the professors. Now, that led him to a scenario that sounded just as ridiculous as a kid beating a basilisk.
And just like the latter was true, there was a slight chance of the former being true as well.
‘The fact that they think a magic that can make someone immortal exists is already ridiculous, but for them to think Snape was after it was even more hilarious.’
“What makes you think that Professor Snape is after the stone?” While he found it ridiculous, he just didn't want to outright deny it. ‘After all the crazy things I have been through, this for all I know… could be true.’
Highly unlikely, but not impossible.
Harry rubbed his arm, unsure of how to tell the heir of Salazar about the recent events.
“Professor Snape has hated us since we joined.” Hermione answered, a frown visible on her face. “We did nothing wrong, but he always punishes us for absolutely the slightest things.”
‘That cannot be the only reason, right?’ Sebastian mused, recalling that it actually wasn’t a lie. ‘But I have noticed him treating these three a little differently.’
“And recently, during Harry’s match with the Slytherins…” Hermione’s frown grew deeper. “He tried to harm Harry by making him fall off the broom.”
“What makes you think that he was behind it?” Sebastian asked, amused at their story.
“Because he was mumbling some spells from the gallery,” Ron said, “And when we set his robe on fire, Harry’s broom went back to normal.”
“Wait…” Sebastian’s eyes went wide, “You all were responsible for burning his robe?”
He was horrified hearing this. He knew that if anyone else heard of this, the trio might be expelled.
“Nevermind,” He shook his head. “Just try not to tell this to anyone else.” He looked at them sternly. “Or you might just get expelled.”
They nodded, but they also had another question.
“So, will you help us get to the stone before him?” Hermione asked, “Sebastian?”
The heir looked at the trio, aware that the Philosopher’s Stone might just be a fake tale that they had fallen for.
And he was even more amused at them thinking Snape was after the stone.
‘But if I leave these three, they might end up doing something even more stupid.’ He had seen what they were capable of first hand. ‘And this time they might actually die.’
And if that happened, it would be him who was going to be blamed.
“This stone better not be fake.” He said, pretty certain that it probably was fake.
Harry and his friends nodded, “We know it is real.”
Sebastian sighed, “I know you three will do something stupid if I leave you alone. So, I have no choice but to follow you.”
Harry’s mood lightened up a little, “That means…”
“Yeah, I will help you.” He showed an unsure smile. ‘After all, this cannot go any worse than it already has… can it?’
A thought that he was going to regret.
After all, no one could be sure of fate or challenge it.
