CH 72: Good Lady

{[Last Time in Tainted Desire]}

Even more importantly, she was vicious and vindictive, and she would have not to rest before Nott reached an ignoble end.

Luckily for him, I was a possessive bastard, and didn't want Daphne to be soiled by his pathetic touch.

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{[Now]}

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So, I quickly cast a ward around myself to keep their attention away from the corner of the room. It was a simple ward that would have never worked if it wasn't for their attention fixated on Daphne's plight. I quickly removed the cloak, before conjuring a simple chair in front of the window and took a seat.

Another wave of my wand, and I dispelled the ward, and started slowly clapping. "Bravo, Nott," I said, a lazy smirk appearing on my face as everyone turned their attention my way, their expression ranging from shock to absolute fear, trying to reach their wands.

But only two of them managed to arm themselves immediately, while one of the sixth years had his wand slid away, and it rolled toward me.

I stomped the wand lazily, and a noticeable crack filled the room, anger joining their fear. I didn't bother to cast anything as every single wand turned toward me, their expressions were incredulous.

They were clearly shocked me daring to destroy the wand of one of them despite being alone. What I had done was no different than declaring all-out war, even worse than directly killing him, because it implied the utter contempt.

The lazy way I had done it, without even bothering to stand up, was just the cherry on the top.

"Malfoy, how kind of you to come to your funeral. You saved me from finding you later on," Nott roared, and the rest of the students picked their courage, other than the one who just lost his wand in the most pathetic way possible.

No matter the outcome, unless he killed me alone in an honor duel, he was done for, and even before my new outlook, Malfoy was still a powerhouse among his peers.

"You were searching for me?" I said with a smirk, without the slightest hint of fear despite a dozen wands pointing at me.

I found it hard to take it seriously when their fingers were still trembling due to sudden adrenaline rush.

"What do I owe the prestige of getting the attention of the little Dark Lord of Slytherin house," I said, Nott's face reddening further at my mocking tone.

Meanwhile, Daphne had gained her freedom when Goyle's attention turned to me.

Not surprising, as Goyle's most impressive display of multitasking was walking and chewing gum at the same time — assuming there were no stairs.

Daphne was no less shocked than Nott about my presence, but she wasn't stupid enough to miss the opportunity, ready to swipe Goyle's wand to join the fray. I didn't want that.

Since my plan to stay under the radar was ruined, I was going to go with overwhelming power, and didn't want Daphne's involvement to weaken the impact.

I met her eyes and shook my head negatively. A confused expression appeared on her face, but she still took a step toward the wall, pulling herself away from the line of fire.

"Posturing is useless, Malfoy. Your family lost Dark Lord's support due to your father's endless failures and your cowardice, your allies deserted you, and even Snape doesn't care about you. You're helpless." He pointed out the broken pieces of the wand before continuing. "And with this, you inflicted a grievous injury to my ally, giving me a reason to retaliate. Your arrogance is going to be your end, Malfoy," he finished, his wand starting to glow, and a sickly purple spell came out, suffocating the room instantly.

I recognized the curse. It wasn't deadly, but with its long term effects, it would make any target wish that they were dead.

Shocked by Nott's dangerous spell, no one other than me paid attention to his sudden exhaustion. "Not bad," I said even as I waved my wand.

Nott had used his strongest spell from the start, betting on the fact that the distance wouldn't allow me to dodge. A decent plan to regain control over the crowd.

It was a pity that all it took was a wave of my wand for it to disappear like an overinflated balloon.

Just like that, the shock in the room was renewed with greater intensity, freezing the occupants. I could have attacked them, an area spell enough to remove most of them off the board, but I just waited, still lazily holding my wand. "Attack," Nott ordered in panic.

In their confusion, everyone followed his order, but a flickering shield had been enough to neutralize all of them without a problem.

"My turn," I said when the assault stopped due to sheer shock, hitting them with an area-effect disarmer of my own design. Even with the Elder Wand, it was little more than a schoolyard jinx, but in their distracted state, they failed to resist.

With their wands flying around like confetti, they were helpless against my basic body-binding hexes.

In the end, the room had a dozen immovable bodies, and Daphne Greengrass with her reputation for calmness shattered completely, watching me with wide eyes.

I gave her a smirk before giving an exaggerated bow. "My apologies if my little scuffle had caused you annoyance in any way, Heir Greengrass."

Daphne tried to look match my mock calmness, but the wild look of her eyes belied her attempts. Still, she managed to stammer her answer. "Not a problem, Heir Malfoy. Your esteemed self couldn't be blamed for the actions of low-grade riffraff," she managed to stammer, her tone higher than usual.

"I'm relieved. It would have pained me to learn that I had caused any discomfort with such an outstanding lady, both in skill and in beauty." Daphne wasn't able to prevent a blush from spreading to her face.

It was nice to see that even her coldness wouldn't survive when a hero saved her from a dozen villains.

Daphne looked at the collapsed bodies around, clearly thinking about her next actions. Once again, I met her eyes, and shook my head negatively.

She was a smart girl, and she understood my intention, even if she wasn't able to understand the full implications. Leaving them here helpless but otherwise unharmed was worse than hurting them more.

I couldn't do anything permanent to a dozen scions of Death Eater families without getting Voldie's attention, and others would be cured in a few days at worst.

Leaving them alone would tell everyone that I didn't care enough about them to do anything other than the bare minimum, which was much worse.

Nott's plan to dominate the school was dead just like that. He was lucky to maintain control of his little clique.

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