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HP: Bloodraven Chapter 210 - Cheat Code Denied
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 08:45:35 +0000 UTCEvery year, Hogwarts enrolls an average of a hundred or so students, and this year was no exception. As Maverick went through the roster of this year’s 107 new freshman, he noticed a name that piqued his interest.
Astoria Greengrass—the younger sister of Daphne Greengrass. He had seen this little witch a few times during his visits to the Greengrass manor, but at the time, he hadn’t really paid her much attention.
Seeing her in his class now, he suddenly remembered from the original story that this girl was born into a cursed bloodline—one that made her physically weak and left her with long-lasting magical issues. It was the result of a blood curse that had affected the Greengrass family for generations.
At a glance, he saw no sign that anything was wrong with her. Even a quick scan of her magic showed nothing unusual. But curses were like that—like cancer. You couldn’t always see the damage from the outside.
Still, he made a mental note to take a proper look at her later, just to see if she suffered the same fate in this universe as well. Even though this world was a chaotic blend of several others, most major storylines still seemed to follow the pattern he remembered.
That said, plenty of things had turned out differently too—so it was entirely possible that her bloodline curse didn’t exist here at all.
And speaking of things that didn’t exist, one of the biggest no-shows this year was, in Maverick’s opinion, the ultimate cheat code of the entire Harry Potter universe—the Time-Turner. According to the original timeline, it should have made its debut around now.
If he could get System Daddy to replicate its time-travel characteristic, it would have handed him an ability that bordered on broken. He had very much been looking forward to experimenting with it.
But that hope didn’t last long. Hermione never received such an item. And when he poked around out of curiosity, he found no mention of it anywhere—not in the library, not in any records, not even as a concept. As far as this universe was concerned, the Time-Turner had never existed in the first place.
And honestly, that made sense. This world leaned more toward the Marvel side of things—and anything involving time was... sensitive. If underage students could casually travel through time just to squeeze in extra classes, then the Time Stone—and every other time-related magic or ability—would be reduced to a complete joke.
Anyway, it was just a temporary disappointment. Even if Time-Turners didn’t exist here, there was still the Time Stone. Sooner or later, he would get his hands on it.
“Good morning.”
Sitting lazily on the corner of his desk, he addressed the class, instantly silencing the buzz of chatter. Hopping off, he walked to the front, and from the corner of his eye, he spotted Jean seated dead center in the front row—her books neatly arranged, and her alchemy set placed carefully to the side.
Since it was the classroom, he gave her no special attention and simply carried on with the lesson. As was customary at the start of every year, he began with a brief introduction—but judging by the looks on their faces, it was hardly necessary. Even the Muggle-borns, as far as he could tell, already knew exactly who he was.
Seeing the undisguised admiration—which they weren’t even trying to be subtle about—Maverick could only sigh inwardly. Several of the young witches were staring up at him with the sort of wide-eyed awe usually reserved for famous Quidditch players or singing stars.
Alas. I pray to the One Above All I don’t end up a Lockhart 2.0, he thought dryly.
Next, he had the students do the same—introduce themselves one by one. Today was more about getting to know each other, and by the time every witch and wizard had taken their turn, there was very little time left before the end of the lesson.
Classes at Hogwarts were two hours long, and he usually managed to finish all of that with at least an hour to spare. But for some reason, the students this year were particularly enthusiastic, and by the time they were all done, more than an hour and a half had passed.
Because of that, he skipped the introductory alchemy activity he usually taught in the first lesson of the year, postponed it to the next class, and allowed the remaining half hour for the children to do whatever they liked—which, of course, resulted in him having to answer a barrage of silly questions.
And during this leisure time, while quietly casting an illusion spell over the entire class, Maverick managed to perform a thorough diagnosis on the younger Greengrass witch—and finally confirmed that she, in fact, had no problems with her physical body.
Another inconsistency with the original story—and fortunately for the girl, this one turned out to be a good thing.
"Professor..."
After Maverick dismissed the class, little Jean lingered behind, clearly wanting to speak with him.
"Jean... how was your first day? Hope you got some good sleep last night."
Jean nodded with a quiet um, stepping up to his desk. "It was good. Gryffindors are very friendly."
"They are, aren’t they? Trouble-makers too," Maverick said with a small smirk. "Don’t go picking up bad habits from them."
Jean bobbed her head, though Maverick had a feeling the little lions were going to spoil her sooner or later.
"Right then... what is it you wanted to ask?"
Jean chuckled sheepishly, then said, "I know you’re doing special magic training for Hermione and Harry. I was wondering... if I could join?"
Maverick raised a brow. "Did they tell you that?"
"No... I sort of... accidentally... overheard them talking."
Maverick frowned slightly. Accidentally? He wondered if she might have used her powers to read their thoughts.
"It was back at the mansion, the day we first met," she added quickly. "I didn’t think much of it then, but now I guess it’s kind of a big deal... being personally trained by you."
Maverick sighed inwardly and thought for a moment before saying,
"You can join… but next semester. You’ve only just started school, so it’s better to settle in without anything extra on your plate. For now, focus on the basics in your regular classes, alright?"
The little redhead looked a bit disappointed at first, but then brightened. "Okay. Next semester, then."
Maverick gave a nod and a small approving smile. "Good. Now off you go."
He watched the girl smile back and walk out of the classroom, then checked the watch on his wrist. Since there was still some time before the next class, he decided to head to his office first to clear his head.
Even an Archmage needs a break after surviving a barrage of bizarre questions from a hundred eleven-year-olds.
---
Time passed slowly—and as a teacher, it could feel especially so. At eleven o'clock, Maverick taught Muggle Science to the NEWT students; at one, it was the same subject for the sixth-years; and finally, his last class of the day was Alchemy for the second-years.
Each subject for each grade had at least one day off per week, and today it was the third-year Alchemy students who had no class.
With his classes done for the day, Maverick decided to spend the rest of the day in the Chamber of Secrets—before more students showed up at his office, wanting to “clear doubts” from today’s lessons. He’d had quite enough of that for one day.
Besides, there were still books left to go through down there. Most of the material wasn’t exactly new, but every now and then he stumbled across something odd or unexpected, so it wasn’t all bad.
But before that, he made a call to Jameson to hear how the fallout from today’s article was unfolding—particularly how the fat Minister had taken it. After all, the entire exposé had been Maverick’s doing.
Last night, right after the feast, he had gone straight to Lord Greengrass to set everything in motion. Together, they paid a visit to the chief editor of the Daily Prophet and “convinced” him to run the story.
It wasn’t as if the article was false or fabricated, so it couldn’t exactly be called coercion. Besides, Maverick was now a small shareholder in the Daily Prophet and perfectly entitled to flex a bit of decision-making power.
Of course, Maverick had also assured the man that he would stand behind him if Fudge tried to pull any strings. And Lord Greengrass, who was no small voice in the Wizengamot these days, had given his word as well.
With an Archmage and a political faction leader backing him, Barnabas didn’t put up much of a fuss and had agreed to run the article.
"She's his undersecretary. The woman’s demanding he come to the Ministry to give an explanation or publish a public apology in tomorrow’s headline—otherwise they’ll make things very difficult for him."
Hearing the public’s reaction to today’s headline, and then the fat man’s retaliatory antics over it, Maverick couldn’t help but chuckle down the line.
Honestly, he would almost prefer it if Fudge went completely off the rails and did something stupid, like arresting Barnabas. That would give Jameson the perfect card to play.
"Can you handle things?" Maverick asked.
"I can... unless the idiot sends a Greatmage to knock on his door, I’ll take care of everything from here."
“Good… Barnabas has my ring too. He knows how to reach me if it comes to that. Until then, keep the pressure on and see how desperate Fudge gets,” Maverick said. “Also, arrange a meeting with Bones and Shacklebolt for next week. It’s time they decided whether they’re boarding the ship or not.”
"Understood, Leader," came Jameson's voice from the other end after a brief pause.
Maverick hung up the phone and gave some thought to his own last remark.
For his plan next year, he needed a loyal and obedient leadership. Spectators—or the so-called no-faction people like Bones—would only be a variable, and he had no place for them in the blueprint. Either they got on board or stayed out of the way for good.
After all, this was about bringing down the Statute of Secrecy, and not just killing off a Dark Lord.
With that thought, he made his way toward the Headmaster’s office, where the new, more convenient access to the Chamber of Secrets was located.
Comments
QuantumServer
Thanks for the chapter
Mohamed Rayyaan
I actually re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban over the last two days, which caused a bit of a delay... 🙏 but it definitely helped refresh some things I wanted to play around with in the story. Thanks for your patience 😁
Dark_pheonix
Thanks so much for the chapter! It felt like a long wait, but it was definitely worth it. Always looking forward to seeing what happens next!
