A certain broken Hogwarts

Chapter 15 Chess Players and Chess Pieces

Thursday arrived in the blink of an eye. The weather outside was sunny, but there wasn't a ray of sunlight in the Slytherin common room, which made Owen somewhat listless.

Since there were no classes in the afternoon, most of the Slytherin first-years gathered in the common room. Unlike at night, when everyone needed to be quiet, the common room was bustling with activity during the day, filled with lively chatter and play.

Owen curled up in the armchair in front of the fireplace, lazily warming himself by the fire, letting the heat drive away the damp chill that perpetually lingered in the castle's underground. But his mind was on the cat he hadn't touched since that night.

Well, he met Mr. Filch, the castle caretaker, yesterday and discovered that the skinny gray cat was none other than the infamous Mrs. Lorris, as the upperclassmen had been talking about.

Upon seeing Owen, Mrs. Lorris excitedly cornered him in the hallway, meowing and practically wanting to jump up and scratch his face. This aroused Mr. Filch's suspicion that Owen was carrying some contraband, and after a long and arduous struggle, he finally let him go with a warning look on his face.

But as I said before, what bad intentions could a kitten possibly have? It just wanted to help Filch.

Owen yawned, turned around and glanced behind him, seeing Harry and Draco playing wizard chess, with several people cheering them on. Harry Potter was very popular in the school, at least among most people, especially as he gradually showed his exceptional magical talent.

Perhaps not wanting to disappoint many people's expectations—though he himself didn't want those expectations—Harry had been working extremely hard these days. Coupled with his already considerable talent, he consistently ranked at the top of his class, undoubtedly becoming one of the professors' favorite students.

Well, the other two students who were very popular with the professors were Owen and Hermione Granger; good students are always more favored.

Slytherin House is a school that values ​​honor, pursues strength, and prioritizes victory. Students are very united and protective of each other when facing outsiders, yet maintain a perfectly balanced competitive atmosphere within the school. Influenced by his surroundings and classmates, several conversations with Owen, and the absence of Ron Weasley, who used to lead him astray, Harry decides to become a top student.

After Harry demonstrated abilities that, while not quite matching his enormous reputation, were still quite remarkable, the little snakes, who always admired strength, didn't hesitate to cultivate relationships with him early on. Although a small group, represented by Theodore Nott, remained indifferent, it was clear that no one wanted to offend him, especially now that rumors were circulating that Harry would become a powerful dark wizard.

Similarly, Harry hasn't forgotten to go to the library to look up information and brush up on his knowledge of the wizarding world these days.

For example, he found out a lot about himself, as well as things from the Voldemort era.

He was already prepared for the fact that some of his classmates' families had supported Voldemort, but he didn't plan to ask. After all, Voldemort had fallen; what good would it do to keep pressing him? Was he going to take his anger out on his classmates because of their parents' past and curse them?

For example, he learned about the issue of bloodline theory, which was highly regarded in Slytherin House. Harry strongly disagreed with this tradition, which had been passed down since the Slytherin era, of not accepting wizards of Muggle origin, especially after he found out about his parents.

Fortunately, he discovered that the conflict over bloodlines within the academy didn't seem particularly acute; it was just a matter of each person having their own clique, which put him at ease.

If Owen knew this idea, he would definitely tell him he was overthinking it. Slytherin House maintains harmony because there are no Muggle-born students; all Slytherin students have at least one wizard as a parent.

The Sorting Hat never places Muggle-born wizards or wizards of unknown lineage into Slytherin House, no matter how well the wizard's character meets Slytherin's standards. The purpose of Sorting is to select the most suitable environment for students to grow up in, and clearly, Slytherin House is definitely not a suitable environment for Muggle-born wizards.

As for Voldemort at the time, the fact that he spoke Parsley itself proved his lineage, which is why he, as an orphan, was assigned to this house.

Although the Sorting Hat may seem unreliable, it is actually more like an elder who cares about the students. Well, it would be even better if it were a little cleaner.

In short, this kind of conflict that has lasted for thousands of years is inherently difficult to resolve, otherwise it would not have given rise to Voldemort, the Dark Lord.

……

Owen rolled a gold coin idly on the back of his hand, while Daphne sat in the chair next to him, resting her chin on her hand and watching Harry and Draco play chess across the table.

"Why don't you come over and play together?" Daphne tilted her head and looked at Owen.

"It depends on my mood." Owen held the gold coin in his hand, his lips twitching slightly. To be precise, he was a bit frustrated by his father's tendency to cheat at chess. Their games always ended up with situations where one of them would steal the queen while the other hid the king. He wondered how old Mr. Shafik had gotten.

"I always feel like you're keeping a distance from Harry and the others," Daphne said, looking into Owen's eyes, her deep blue pupils shimmering like ripples on water. "To be honest, I thought you two would become good friends. It's clear that Harry trusts you a lot, but you seem to want to avoid getting too involved with him?"

Owen glanced at her with some surprise, then flicked the gold coin in his hand into the air with a "clink": "You're very perceptive. It's not that I don't want to get involved, I just want to let things take their natural course."

Getting too close to the Savior would only put him under Dumbledore's watchful eye, and Owen didn't want to become a pawn in the Savior's growth plan, being manipulated and manipulated.

He should walk his own path, and even if he has to get involved in certain events, it should be a choice he makes himself, not a character in someone else's script.

In reality, Irving prefers to write his own script, and even if things go wrong, it's his own doing.

While the savior story was somewhat interesting, it was best to observe from afar. Owen was always very clear-headed, understanding that his current task was to learn magic and seize the time to grow rapidly.

"I always felt that you were as mature as my father," Daphne said jokingly.

"Hehe, what a coincidence. I always felt that I was much more mature than my father," Owen replied with a gentle smile.

Just then, they heard a loud commotion behind them.

"Harry, is this really your first time learning wizard chess?" Draco's tone was somewhat skeptical.

"Yes, you just taught me today." Harry looked at the chess pieces on the board that moved on their own with great interest.

"That's impossible! I've never lost a game of chess with my mom, dad, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy!" Draco watched helplessly as his king was once again cornered. He angrily slammed the chessboard, only to have his fingertip pierced by a spear from an angry piece. He jumped up with a cry of "Ouch!"

He had lost six games in a row, and his mind was completely blank. The black pieces he controlled also dropped their weapons and jumped up and down, cursing this unreliable commander.

That's the downside of Wizard Chess; even the pieces will AFK and flame your teammates, and losing too many times can easily make you lose your temper.

"Why don't you consider whether they're letting you win?" Theodore, flipping through his book in the back row, said without looking up, "Or perhaps their chess skills are actually about the same as yours."

"No, I think you have an exceptional talent for wizard chess, Harry!" Draco persisted.

Harry coughed lightly, offering an awkward but polite smile. Admitting to being a wizard chess prodigy? That would be shameless. To argue would be to openly admit your chess skills are terrible.

"Admit it, Draco, you're a terrible chess player," Blaise added, delivering another blow.

"Believe in yourself, Draco, you're no worse than anyone else!" Pansy firmly supported Draco, her little face tense as she cheered him on.

"Okay, let's do it again!" Seemingly encouraged, Draco embarked on a new round of torture.

Irving gradually became interested and strolled over to join the group of people who were laughing and offering suggestions.

(End of this chapter)