An Interesting Routine

I'm back. Thesis completed. Highest grade. That's right, HIGHEST.

Chapter 40 – An Interesting Routine

In the Hogwarts library, Simon was reading some books about spells when a group of second-year Slytherin students approached him with arrogant smiles on their faces.

'Sigh, Again' Simon closed the book and stood up to face his housemates, and before they could say anything, Simon gestured for them to leave the library.

Since Daphne's 'confession,' Simon had been bothered by these pure-blood idiots constantly challenging him, aiming to humiliate him. Unfortunately for them, Simon was skilled and easily won duels against first and second-year students. There was also a third-year student who challenged Simon, but the duel ended in an embarrassing draw, with neither side winning.

This made the boy despised by his peers, which was good for Simon because third-year students, at least the pure-bloods, stopped looking for duels against him.

Fourth-year students and above also didn't challenge Simon, not because they didn't want to, but because they wanted to avoid being despised. Even if they won, in the end, it was just a false victory against someone much weaker, so instead of glory, they would receive contempt and mockery from their peers.

As for Simon, well, he really didn't care about these duels; in fact, he even found this break in routine fun. Besides studying Daphne's blood curse, he really had nothing interesting to do while waiting for the plot to advance.

Of course, he also noticed that all this was some sort of political game by Daphne, but he really liked that about her. Who doesn't like an intelligent woman who knows how to play with you?

Obviously, this doesn't mean that Simon would accept this forever. He allowed it because he found this game of intrigues interesting and harmless. However, if Daphne crossed the line, she would undoubtedly suffer a fate worse than death. What Simon felt for her was obsession, not unconditional love that would forgive her transgressions.

After putting the book back on the shelf and heading to an open area, Simon initiated the duel with the three students who came to challenge him. Two were first-years, and the other was a second-year.

Simon didn't bother memorizing their names; it was irrelevant to him. However, during the fight, he pointed out various mistakes and missed opportunities to his opponents.

Normally, if this were outside Hogwarts, Simon wouldn't bother with such actions and would just give the boys a good beating before playing with them to see what kind of experiments they might be useful for before moving on with his life. However, after a few duels, he realized that this could be a good opportunity to make some business partners.

Simon was rich, but he lacked contacts in the magical world. Being a Muggle-born in Slytherin, he was basically a pariah to everyone. If it weren't for his previous contact with Neville and Hermione and Heloise's presence, Simon would just be a lonely soul lost in Hogwarts.

Due to this, when the duels began, he used this opportunity to subdue as many students as possible with his strength and then started to get closer to them to make use of their connections. Most were half-bloods who wanted to defeat him to stay on good terms with the pure-bloods, with one or two being pure-bloods from lesser families, wizards of the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation.

Slytherin respected the strong, and although Simon was still a first-year student, his actions in defeating a troll, along with his constant victories and the enormous amount of money he had at his disposal, began to make many half-bloods who were previously despised and ignored by the pure-bloods slowly approach him.

After finishing the duel, Simon helped the three slightly injured students to the infirmary before leaving. It was almost lunchtime, and this warm-up had made him hungry.

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In the Great Hall, Simon became the focus as soon as he entered, whether from Slytherin members or other houses. Heloise noticed this and smiled happily for her brother, while Hermione in Gryffindor didn't know how to approach her friend.

Pansy, sitting next to Daphne, also looked at Simon, but unlike Heloise's pride or Hermione's confusion, Pansy only had anger as she looked at him.

She hated Simon for tarnishing the image of pure-bloods, but she hated even more Simon's strength, which was far greater than her peers. It was irritating that a mudblood was more powerful than her; it went against everything her parents had taught her, and she refused to believe her parents were wrong.

As for Daphne, she had been somewhat abandoned by her peers. Even her father contacted her, condemning her, threatening to strip her of the heir position or even disinherit her from the family.

Of course, none of this really scared her because she knew her father well and realized that it was all a performance and that he didn't really care much about her actions, although he also didn't approve and wanted to know what it was all about. She responded by saying she would inform him when she returned for the holidays.

As for her Slytherin peers, although she had been 'abandoned,' she didn't feel sad about it; on the contrary, it was a relief to be free from the pests constantly surrounding her in search of her family's help and name.

Half-bloods and lesser pure-bloods were still around, fighting for a chance to fall into Daphne's good graces and thus have some of the crumbs that came from the Greengrass family. Most of the pure-bloods, however, sought to distance themselves from Daphne, approaching her only out of courtesy to her family.

This didn't bother her much; in fact, it was a relief. Besides, these new pure-blood families didn't have the same economic or political power as hers, and even if they tried something, just a word would make different families come together in support of the Greengrass family and its heir.

Among the truly important members of the wizarding world's elite, and those who were really intelligent, who had a long friendship with the Greengrass family or who really knew Daphne, few were the ones who turned their backs on her. Even Draco, with his extreme arrogance and disdain for those not born wizards, still positioned himself close to Daphne.

This surprised Simon a bit, but he understood. Draco wasn't stupid; he was just a boy seeking his father's approval and had his grievances with Harry. Although the movies portrayed him as a complete idiot, that was just from Harry's point of view. Draco always had good grades, and like many, he had been raised to see a bigger picture, beyond external appearances.

Draco knew that Daphne wouldn't do anything to disgrace her family's name, so although confused, he didn't question her decision.

Simon calmly walked up to Daphne and sat down next to her as he began to serve himself.

"You're late," Daphne said softly while cutting the meat.

"Another duel. I had to take the other students to the infirmary," Simon replied, waving his wand slightly and serving himself calmly, to which Daphne nodded slightly and continued her meal while Simon began to eat.

Next to them, Pansy couldn't help but feel strange. In recent days, this type of interaction was quite common and reminded her a lot of her father's conversations with her mother at the table. They spoke little and didn't look much into each other's eyes. Now seeing Daphne act the same way as Simon, she couldn't help but wonder if her friend really liked Simon and saw him as a potential husband.

'Sigh I hope you know what you're doing, Daphne,' Pansy then resumed eating without noticing that for a brief moment, Simon observed her with some interest after she sighed.

'I really shouldn't pre-judge people based on my knowledge from the movies. Pansy seems nice and gives off a gothic girl vibe... does she fit the 'gothic hottie' type? Hm, I've never been with one, but this type of girl is undoubtedly a dream for every young person in their growing phase. Should I make a move on her too?'

After lunch, Simon called Daphne to the Room of Requirement; he needed new samples for testing. Upon arriving at his laboratory, he took a few more samples from Daphne, and then they chatted a bit before she returned to the common room.

Simon was alone again in the room, carefully examining the girl's blood. He had already identified what was wrong and how the curse worked. In simple terms, the curse primarily affected the neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that attacks both bacteria and healthy cells.

Normally, these cells should self-destruct after five days at most to avoid overloading the body; however, this does not happen in Daphne's body.

Instead, the neutrophils remain active, causing the body to expend more energy, which is only sustained due to her magical power. As a result, her cells, healthy or not, end up being constantly destroyed, while new cells are rapidly produced thanks to her magical power. It's as if the curse doesn't want the person to die quickly.

Weaker children might die prematurely, but that's not the curse's intention. Instead, it aims to destroy you daily, leaving you physically exhausted, and only after a long time do you die.

However, the more often she contracts a disease, the more neutrophils will be produced, consequently requiring more energy from the body to keep functioning, forming a perpetual cycle.

Moreover, since magical energy is used both to regenerate and produce more healthy cells and to keep the neutrophils alive, it means that the talent and power the Greengrass family currently wields is at most 40 or 50% of its normal state.

This doesn't mean they could have several high-level wizards, just that their family can produce wizards with more magical power than others, but even those are still rare.

'I'll ask Daphne for more information about this later. Right now, I need to sleep.'

Looking at the time and seeing that it was already past 11 PM, Simon left the Room of Requirement and headed towards the common room without worrying about hiding. He didn't care about Snape or McGonagall patrolling, not because he arrogantly thought he could evade them, but simply because he was too tired to think about hiding.

As Simon walked while reading his book, he suddenly saw a large shadow in the corridor ahead of him.

"Hm?" Looking in the distance, he saw a cat standing and staring at him as if judging him.

'Mrs. Norris, which means...'

"Well, well, a student out of his dormitory." Suddenly, a voice sounded behind Simon, and he felt someone grip his shoulders tightly. "You're coming with me, boy."

Turning around, Simon found himself face-to-face with Filch, who was grinning darkly at him, before dragging him to his 'office,' not noticing the amused look on Simon's face.

'I've just found another toy.'