The next morning, the moment our so-called savior opened his eyes, he was greeted by a face he'd rather not see.
"Nolan?" Harry frowned as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You're not hurt, are you? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Potter." Nolan responded coolly, his gaze flicking toward Harry's right hand. "It seems your bones have grown back. That's wonderful news. I must commend you—choosing to extract your bones entirely instead of enduring a mere fracture was quite the ingenious solution."
"That was Lockhart's doing!" Harry snapped, shoving his glasses onto his nose. "Are you here just to mock me?"
After a pause, he gritted his teeth and added, "If it weren't for that rogue Bludger, I would've caught the Snitch and won the match!"
"I don't doubt that, Potter," Nolan said with an air of indifference, "but Gryffindor lost. Which means the Hogwarts Cup is likely to return to Slytherin this year."
Harry huffed in frustration. "Try winning against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first! And by the way, this is the hospital wing. If you're not injured, you should leave. Otherwise, your admirers will flood this place with gifts, making it impossible for actual patients to get any rest!"
"I'm not here for you." Nolan swept the curtain aside, revealing the still, unmoving form of Colin Creevey. "Did you know, Potter? I spent the entire night studying the petrification spell on this Gryffindor, while you were snoring away."
"Colin…" Harry muttered, his anger fading into worry.
"I don't particularly enjoy the atmosphere of the hospital wing," Nolan continued, sounding almost bored. "So, I suggested to Professor Dumbledore that we cut off a small part of his body for research."
"You're out of your mind!"
"Unfortunately, Dumbledore refused."
"Of course he refused!"
"I don't understand your way of thinking," Nolan said coldly. "When faced with an unavoidable catastrophe, the best approach is damage control. The Colin Creevey incident has already happened—we should at least make use of it. Find the Chamber of Secrets, identify the creature, and develop a way to counter it. For that, I need a sample."
"That's the wrong way to go about this!" Harry yelled. "If Colin wakes up and finds part of his body missing, how do you think he'd feel?"
"I don't care how he feels," Nolan muttered under his breath, standing up. "Save your righteous fury for someone who wants to hear it, Potter. Unless you find a solution before I do, your moral high ground is meaningless. And a word of advice—lower your voice, especially when Madam Pomfrey is in a bad mood."
Harry turned his head in alarm—sure enough, he found himself staring into the furious face of Madam Pomfrey.
"Oh… Madam Pomfrey… Good morning…"
"NO SHOUTING IN MY HOSPITAL!" she barked. "If you make another sound, I will throw you out!"
Then she turned to Colin, her face softening in concern. "Oh, you poor child… What can I do to make you feel better?"
Harry and Nolan were promptly kicked out of the hospital wing. For once, they found themselves walking down the corridor side by side.
"Potter," Nolan said in a tone as cold as ever, "do you have a grudge against a house-elf?"
A shiver ran down Harry's spine.
A grudge? Not exactly. But that blasted house-elf Dobby had been interfering with him non-stop.
And he knew—the rogue Bludger yesterday had been Dobby's doing!
How was Nolan so perceptive? Did he already know?
Harry quickly shook his head. "No! I don't know any house-elves!"
Nolan stared at him for a long moment before narrowing his eyes. "You don't want to tell me the truth? Fine, Potter. But just so you know—I have ways of making people talk."
"I'M NOT LYING!" Harry snapped. "You shouldn't be suspecting me, Von Draugr!"
"Is that so?" Nolan gave him a cold smile. "Don't let me catch it, then."
With that, he strode away, his cloak billowing behind him.
…
When Cho arrived at the Great Hall, she found her friend Marietta deep in conversation with Nolan.
They seemed to be getting along quite well.
Of course, only the little witch was smiling. Nolan still wore his usual expression—the look of someone who believed the entire world owed him money.
"What were you two talking about?" Cho asked casually as she sat down beside Marietta, though her tone carried a slight edge. "I never knew you two were close. I thought you didn't like him?"
"That was two and a half years ago, Cho!" Marietta huffed, her face turning red. She shot Cho a reproachful look before puffing up with a hint of pride. "Nolan and I actually get along quite well now."
"Oh… really?" Cho forced a smile, stabbing at her cheese toast with her fork.
"That's because I'm your best friend," Marietta said helplessly. "Nolan talks to me sometimes because he wants to know more about you, you little fool."
"About me?" Cho blinked, her expression turning odd.
She thought back to all the times she'd gone on late-night walks with Nolan. During those moments, he had always been unusually bold…
Flustered, she shook her head and awkwardly asked, "What is there to know about me that he doesn't already?"
"Maybe because you've changed a lot in the past two years? Who knows?" Marietta shrugged. "So I just told him that girls go through big changes during their teenage years. No need for him to overthink things."
"And you just… said that?"
"Uh… well, maybe in a slightly more delicate way," Marietta admitted, looking a little guilty. Then she perked up and added, "But that's not the point! Nolan is investigating a house-elf. Did you know? The rogue Bludger from yesterday—it was tampered with by a house-elf! Nolan's absolutely furious because he hasn't been able to track it down. He's practically interrogated half the school by now!"
Cho glanced over at Nolan. The young vampire was currently at the Gryffindor table, questioning various students.
And, to Cho's irritation, he was completely surrounded by a group of shameless girls—Alicia Spinnet, Lavender Brown, and the like—all flocking around him, chirping away. Whatever Nolan had said, it had clearly set them off into a heated argument.
"Once again, we bear witness to Gryffindor's so-called friendship," Marietta sneered. "Their first-year got attacked last night, and today, none of them care. These girls are too busy throwing themselves at Nolan to even remember Colin Creevey exists."
"Not everyone is ignoring it, Marietta." Cho pointed to the small red-haired girl sitting alone at the corner of the Gryffindor table. "That Weasley girl looks really upset."
"That's Ginny Weasley," a first-year Ravenclaw sitting nearby helpfully supplied. "She was Colin Creevey's deskmate. They seemed to get along pretty well, since they were both members of the Harry Potter Fan Club."