Rhys's gaze pierced through Scabbers' beady black eyes and saw straight into his soul.
The story behind this rat left Rhys shocked.
But it wasn't the betrayal of friends that surprised him—he'd seen plenty of that. Back when Asgard fell, there had been no shortage of fathers and sons turning against each other among the Norse gods.
What truly stunned him was that this rat had come from Gryffindor House? That really caught Rhys off guard. He had always assumed only the new Slytherins were capable of doing such things.
Though he was deeply reluctant to admit it, under the lingering influence of Voldemort's legacy, Slytherin House had become a den of corruption.
Like Hogwarts' garbage bin, it had taken in countless troubled youths and, on its own, had contributed more than half of all Death Eaters.
What made it worse was that after Voldemort's downfall, the Ministry of Magic's purge of Death Eaters hadn't been thorough. Combined with the Sorting Hat's biased placements, Slytherin still remained a hub of villains, rife with pure-blood supremacy.
In this kind of context, nearly every terrible deed seemed to trace back to Slytherin. And yet today, Rhys had caught a Death Eater from Gryffindor?
Seriously? Even Gryffindors had bad apples?
"Ahahahah!!! Take that! Godric! Hahahaha!!"
Rhys suddenly burst into laughter, the longer he laughed, the happier he got.
Scabbers: "?"
Why is this little wizard suddenly laughing? So creepy!!!
After laughing for a while, Rhys composed himself and stuffed the rat, Scabbers, back into the cramped little cage.
Scabbers: "?!"
He struggled fiercely, making his desire not to be caged abundantly clear, but Rhys paid no attention to his opinion.
He needed to seriously consider how to deal with this rat. Letting him roam around freely like he did in the Weasley household was out of the question. Killing him outright felt like a waste. After reading his memories, Rhys had developed a strong impulse: he wanted to show this creature to his friends, and then revise the Sorting Hat's method of house placement.
No more dumping every emotionally unstable pure-blood wizard into Slytherin!
By now, the Sorting Hat's placement system had strayed completely from Rhys's original intention. It had turned into this: brave pure-bloods go to Gryffindor, wise pure-bloods to Ravenclaw, gentle-tempered pure-bloods to Hufflepuff, and all the remaining pure-bloods—those who didn't pass the first three filters—get dumped into Slytherin.
After being sieved out like that, what kind of quality students could possibly be left for Slytherin?
Fortunately, the Greengrass sisters were still preserving a shred of dignity for the house!
If not for them, Rhys might have snapped and summoned the Basilisk to carry out a full purge of the very house he had once founded.
Of course, Helga and Rowena might not support his idea. In their eyes, the Sorting Hat's system was still fairly reasonable...
If you really want to blame something, Salazar, go blame pure-blood supremacy instead! Rhys could almost hear the two of them speaking in his ears.
At that thought, Rhys grew even more frustrated. Reforming the house culture wasn't something that could be achieved overnight. For now, he would just have to endure—it would get better in time.
At that moment, Scabbers began squeaking noisily in his cage, slamming against the bars, clearly expressing his displeasure with his current predicament.
The chaotic noise only made Rhys more irritable, and he quickly came to a decision: Scabbers would remain in the cage indefinitely.
If he didn't like it..
Rhys would make sure he learned to like it!!
Rhys drew his wand.
Seeing this, Scabbers immediately quieted down. He didn't know what this young wizard intended to do to him, but it was obviously not a good idea to provoke him further.
"Stupefy." Rhys cast a simple Stunning Spell to put an end to Scabbers' noisy antics. Then he swiftly pulled out a cauldron and several crystal vials and began brewing potions for Scabbers.
Unstable emotions? A potion will fix it. That was Rhys's approach.
Rhys could brew a potion for Scabbers that would keep his emotions permanently stabilized and reduce his desire for activity to the lowest point.
Under its effect, the rat would do nothing all day except sleep. The potion would have severe side effects on the body, but Rhys didn't care—after everything this creature had done, it deserved every bit of the suffering it would endure.
Besides the calming potion, Rhys had many other peculiar experiments in which Scabbers could be involved. A specimen like this was extremely rare—an opportunity not to be missed.
Once Scabbers' value had been completely squeezed dry, Rhys could entrust Mr. Jamison Henry Greengrass to hand him over to the Ministry of Magic, thereby giving the descendant of the Black family his freedom back.
At this thought, Rhys felt much better. He pushed open the door and stepped outside.
…
In the days that followed, he continued staying at the Greengrass residence.
The entire Greengrass family—from the head of the house, Henry, down to Daphne and Astoria—welcomed him warmly. Rhys enjoyed a very comfortable time there.
Midway through the holiday, an unexpected visitor arrived at Greengrass Manor.
That day, Rhys was lounging on the terrace, sunbathing, when he saw Mr. Henry walking into the garden below with a hunched, elderly wizard. That wizard was also someone Rhys knew well—Mr. Borgin from Knockturn Alley.
Back when Rhys had first awakened, he'd earned his initial funds through Mr. Borgin. Honestly, he still felt like the prices he'd gotten for those items had been a bit low. But he didn't really care—after all, they were just some unimportant trinkets.
Mr. Borgin seemed to have something important to discuss with Henry. The two of them walked over to a stone table in the shade and sat down.
"What is it that made you come all the way to my house to talk?" Henry asked bluntly, skipping the pleasantries and getting straight to the point.
"I recently acquired a set of rare treasures, absolute masterpieces… Only you, the head of the Greengrass family, are worthy of owning them…"
Mr. Borgin's face was full of flattery as he pulled out a box wrapped in black leather from inside his robes. "They're relics left behind by the founders of Hogwarts."
The word "founders" drifted into Rhys's ears and immediately piqued his interest. He stood up from the lounge chair, intending to go take a look.
At that moment, Daphne also walked over. With her sharp eyes, she immediately spotted her father and Mr. Borgin in the garden.
"What are they doing?"
"Borgin is trying to sell your father some treasure supposedly left behind by the founders of Hogwarts."
"Eh?!" Daphne's curiosity was instantly hooked by the mention of legendary founder relics.
Watching the two enthusiastic figures below, Rhys stroked his chin.
He figured it was best to go down and observe—after all, who knew more about the Four Founders than he did?
_______
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