“What’s wrong?” Neville leaned closer to Julian.
“S-Sorry.”
Theodore clenched his fists tightly, his face flushed red, and his voice was squeezed out from between his teeth.
Since his birth, he had never suffered such humiliation.
Yet in front of Julian, he did not dare to act up in the slightest.
Malfoy, who had been bored and staring intently at Harry, noticed the situation over here and instantly perked up.
“Nott has apologized to Longbottom!”
“Goodness, a Slytherin student is actually apologizing to a Gryffindor student?”
“Julian Prewett, this is his good work!”
“It’s such a disgrace to Slytherin!”
Seeing this scene, the Slytherin students first felt a sense of shame and anger.
In their view, even though it was Nott apologizing, this also brought disgrace to Slytherin.
And the object of the apology turned out to be a Gryffindor student!
This made them even more furious.
“Sorry, Mr.
Longbottom, I shouldn’t have spoken rudely to you.”
For a moment, Neville couldn’t quite process it.
He widened his eyes and stared at the dejected Theodore Nott, feeling somewhat incredulous.
Having been bullied back and forth for so many years, when had anyone ever apologized to him?
Yet today, not only did someone apologize, but it was a Slytherin student.
It made him feel as if he were dreaming.
Giving Julian a dazed look, Neville knew in his heart that this was probably because of his friend.
“Alright, I forgive you.” Neville nodded, indicating that he accepted his apology.
The surrounding students let out an uproar.
A Slytherin apologizing to Gryffindor was truly a big deal.
Many clueless young Wizards hurriedly inquired of the classmates around them about what on earth had happened.
How could proud Slytherin students willingly apologize to Gryffindor?
Moreover, apologizing to Neville, a poor wretch who let himself be bullied.
How could that be possible?
“Let me tell you, I saw this incident with my own eyes!
Yesterday in the common room, Julian Prewett…”
A few young Wizards who knew about the matter smugly recounted last night’s situation to the classmates beside them.
Naturally, this process inevitably involved some exaggeration.
“Tch, what’s that?” a young Wizard lowered his voice and said, “I heard that even Prefect Rowle was scared out of his wits, and Prewett was originally going to kill him too!”
“Ah?” Everyone let out a cry of surprise, “Impossible!
Prefect Rowle is a fifth-year student!”
“How could a first-year student win against him?”
“I told you, he knows Dark Arts!”
“What Dark Arts, I clearly saw him use a simple Severing Charm.”
All kinds of miscellaneous voices mixed together, wildly guessing just how strong Julian’s power was and whether he knew powerful Dark Arts.
The entire classroom became noisy, and even Professor McGonagall’s aura couldn’t suppress it.
“Why is the desk shaking?” Harry glanced at the desk with some perplexity.
“It’s not the desk shaking, it’s me shaking.” Ron’s voice trembled slightly, “On the way here just now, we were still talking about him behind his back.
Later on, he won’t blast a Dark Arts spell right at my head, will he?”
“He doesn’t look like that kind of person…”
Hearing the discussions of her classmates, Hermione also looked at Julian in some surprise.
However, she didn’t care about those messy things, and instead asked rather nervously, “You weren’t hurt, were you?
What’s going on with you?”
“It’s fine.
Yesterday everyone practiced some spells, and then we all hit it off and became close.
Oh, this is a special way for Slytherin to welcome newcomers, which might be a bit different from other houses.
With everyone’s enthusiastic help, Mr.
Nott reflected on himself a bit and wanted to apologize to Mr.
Longbottom.”
[Silver-tongued: proficiency + 1]
This counts too?
Everything I said was the truth!
Hermione cast a rather strange look at Theodore.
Who would have thought, this guy is actually someone who can correct his mistakes once he knows them.
McGonagall on the podium calmly paid attention to the situation here.
Although those young Wizards inevitably exaggerated when talking about last night’s events, Professor McGonagall had also heard the general idea.
After listening, she believed that Julian was stepping up for a friend.
Although spells were used, Theodore only lost a bit of hair, and that couldn’t be considered much of a big problem, right?
Julian really was a good child.
How could a muddled Sorting Hat sort him into Slytherin?!
“Thank you, Julian.
Truly thank you.”
Neville was glowing with health, leaning half his body out of the desk, and reached out to pat Julian’s shoulder. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
In his memory, he had almost always been bullied by others, yet had never received a single apology.
But this apology wasn’t his greatest harvest; what moved and made him proudest was knowing that he had a friend like Julian by his side.
In his view, this was far more precious than an apology.
“Julian, you have to be careful.” Hermione looked back at the Slytherin students, “I feel like many of them harbor ill intentions toward you.”
“I really don’t know what the Sorting Hat is up to, why did it sort you into Slytherin?
Could it be that Professor Dumbledore forgot to clean it, and with so much dust, it became prone to muddlement?”
Hermione had a look of utter indignation.
She had always been harboring resentment regarding Julian’s sorting result.
“Don’t worry.
I’ve already hit it off with them and integrated well.
Nothing will happen.”
Julian, on the other hand, didn’t care at all; even with one’s toes one could guess that the people of Slytherin wouldn’t let the matter rest easily.
But precisely because of that, it was even more interesting.
Even if those pure-blood families had power and influence, with Dumbledore around, they couldn’t do anything to him, at most just hitting it off and interacting together.
Since that was the case, let the storm come more fiercely.
After all, the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish.
He only hoped these people could afford his asking price.
However, before that, Julian decided to thoroughly study various spells to improve his strength.
Relying solely on the spells recorded in the book “The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1”, was far from enough for him.
“Hermione, do you want to go to the Library with me later?”
“Of course!
In the first exam, I must beat you.”
“Then you’d better work hard.”
“Your confidence is greater than the hair on Merlin’s beard.”
The two looked at each other and chuckled.
Ever since elementary school, they had always been competing fiercely, with the first-place position trading hands back and forth between the two of them.
This was the result of Julian’s deliberate control; otherwise, always being second would shatter the young girl’s confidence too much.
Letting her win a few times would motivate her more and in turn force himself to progress.
This was a good thing for Julian.
Hearing that the two of them actually agreed to go to the Library together, Ron beside them found it somewhat unbelievable.
“Could anyone actually like a place like the Library?
Could it be that sleeping there is more comfortable?”
“Why don’t you go try and find out?”
“Forget it, I can experience it right here.” Ron slumped over the desk, “When the Professor comes later, remember to wake me up.”