Orochimaru travels to Hogwarts

Chapter 40 Orochimaru awaits his first suitor

Silence spread through the auditorium faster than expected.

The Ravenclaws, who had been looking up from their books, all lowered their heads, as if the words held unparalleled wisdom.

The Hufflepuffs, who had been hesitant, stopped hesitating. They struggled with the pumpkin pies in front of them, afraid of being drawn into this horrific conflict.

As for the Slytherins, when they heard Orochimaru's threatening words, they all raised their heads and stared at this new student whom they both loved and hated.

Orochimaru's demeanor was arrogant and his words were flippant, but his confident expression made one suspect that he would kill one of the twins at any moment.

Such a blatant threat has not been seen among Slytherin students since the Dark Lord disappeared.

As for Gryffindor...

Even though Professor McGonagall was standing right there, they still drew their wands from their waists and stared at Orochimaru with ill intent, as if they were about to teach this insolent freshman a lesson with a curse at any moment.

After all, anyone would show a hint of fear and tension if pointed at by dozens of magic wands, let alone Orochimaru, who was just a first-year student.

The Weasley twins clenched their fists and glared angrily at Orochimaru.

"Professor, I know you want to stop our conflict," Orochimaru said, without even drawing his wand, simply watching the Gryffindors draw theirs with a leisurely air, "but frankly, you can't."

After saying that, Orochimaru walked straight to the Weasley twins, his leisurely gaze passing over them and landing on the dozens of Gryffindors behind them.

"Anyone who wants to fight me to the death can come to the Forbidden Forest at night." Orochimaru bowed slightly, mimicking a scene from a movie in this world, and pleaded gently, "We can bleed there, we can die there. I am prepared to die, so please don't disappoint me."

You're the real Gryffindor, aren't you...?

Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, Hermione's lips twitched involuntarily, thinking to herself that the Sorting Hat was definitely a fool.

Harry's eyes lit up involuntarily when he saw Orochimaru's green eyes. He wanted to applaud his partner, but then he glanced at the Gryffindors' current performance and forcibly stopped himself from doing so.

There's no other reason.

It's only because the silence of the Gryffindors is deafening these days.

After all, for these students who could at most break people's bones with curses, Orochi's casual and nonchalant invitation to fight him to the death was still too shocking.

They just wanted to bully Orochimaru for some fun, so why did Orochimaru want to fight them to the death?

Even if Professor McGonagall weren't there, the Weasley twins couldn't think of a way to respond to Orochimaru's words.

They wanted to tell Orochimaru to wait, but they couldn't bring themselves to say it; that would be too cowardly.

They wanted to turn around and leave, but that wouldn't be like being Gryffindor.

The two of them are the most awkward Gryffindors right now.

"Professor McGonagall," Orochimaru turned to the Gryffindor headmaster and asked earnestly, "could you be my witness?"

What are we witnessing?

Will you witness the Gryffindor students kill you, the wicked little wizard, or will you... throw a knife through their foreheads?

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, trying to make her tone as fair as possible.

"Twenty points deducted from Gryffindor!" Professor McGonagall looked at the Weasley twins. "How dare you gang up on a first-year student!"

At this point, Professor McGonagall turned around and looked at Orochimaru.

She did want to deduct some points from Orochimaru, because what he just said didn't sound like something a junior wizard should say.

he……

He just looked like a ruthless black wizard!

Just as Professor McGonagall was organizing her thoughts, a dark cloud drifted over at just the right moment.

Professor Snape, his black robes billowing, stood behind Orochimaru.

His sharp gaze first fell on the Weasley twins, then swept over the group of defiant Gryffindors, and finally settled on Harry Potter, who was at the very back of the crowd and dared not step forward.

You clearly have those green eyes too, so why don't you dare to stand up?

Snape seemed to smell lingering mold, and his expression of disgust deepened.

"Mr. Potter, I've heard you and Mr. Anguis are good friends. Why didn't you step forward at a time like this?"

Snape's tone suddenly turned cold as he said this.

"Gryffindor loses five points because Mr. Potter lacked courage."

After saying that, Snape's gaze slowly returned to Orochimaru, his pale and deep eyes filled with admiration.

But only Snape himself knew that besides admiration, he also harbored a hint of jealousy.

Why didn't he act like Slack when he faced bullying back then? What was he missing?

Snape's thoughts flashed through his mind, and unusually, he didn't give Slytherin any points, but instead gave Orochimaru a light pat on the shoulder as a show of defiance.

His meaning was self-evident.

That's the end of it. Everyone went their separate ways.

Orochimaru was of course willing.

Although he had other ways to resolve this little farce, both scaring the Weasley twins out of their wits with murderous intent and actually making small cuts on their necks were a bit too extreme.

As for the Gryffindors, they could only glance at Orochimaru a few times before turning away dejectedly.

Everyone came full of excitement, only to leave disappointed.

The retreating Gryffindor crowd, however, seemed to intentionally or unintentionally surround Harry, preventing him from speaking to Orochimaru.

Gryffindor and Slytherin must be inherently incompatible.

Orochimaru calmly watched as Harry was subtly pushed away by a group of Gryffindors before turning back and walking towards the Slytherin common room.

He had seen this scene many times.

That was how I felt when I stood at the gates of Otogakure in the first year after my defection, looking at the familiar Konoha headband.

Because for ninjas, betrayal is the last thing they have in abundance. Any ninja who would have a mental breakdown over something so trivial would have already perished on the battlefield.

Orochimaru moved slowly and calmly, and his threat to the Weasley twins spread rapidly around the Slytherin long table.

Those who witnessed it firsthand told others who came after, and those who came after told busybodies, who then spread the word throughout Slytherin as much as they could.

As Orochimaru reached the entrance of the auditorium, applause erupted.

Slytherins' applause differed from Gryffindor's; their applause was both cold and reserved, as if each additional clap would diminish their status.

But applause is applause.

Sparse, yet appreciative applause slowly rose behind Orochimaru, as if celebrating his achievement or inviting him to join Slytherin.

Several small groups have already shown interest in Orochimaru.

As someone who came from Slytherin and served as the headmaster for over a decade, Snape was well aware of this, and he grew increasingly envious as he looked at Orochimaru's retreating figure.

This boy had achieved a status that he usually didn't attain until his senior years, even without attending a single class.

but……

Orochimaru did not turn around. He simply walked out of the auditorium calmly and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the overly bright sun.

The sunlight was so bright that it could easily make people lose their way.

The same applies to invitations following appreciation.

If he were to turn back and follow the upperclassmen, asking them to accept him, then his influence would never be able to expand within Slytherin House.

Orochimaru was fully aware of this, but as he entered the Slytherin underground common room, a thought suddenly popped into his mind.

Could this be the scenario that Dumbledore would like to see?

Since she couldn't sever Harry's kindness towards her, she would let herself resent Harry, resent this partner who shared the same background as her.

The easiest way to create resentment is to sever one's connection with Harry.

Thinking of this, Orochimaru smiled sinisterly, increasingly feeling that Dumbledore's methods were somewhat similar to those of his former teacher, Sarutobi.

A woman's kindness makes her indecisive and always wants a win-win solution, but in the end she always loses completely.

"Slack... your smile is terrifying!"

Just as Orochimaru was pondering, Malfoy suddenly lifted his head off the bed. He had thick dark circles under his eyes, looking like he hadn't slept all night.

"You'll get used to it after a while," Orochimaru asked casually. "What class are we having today?"

Malfoy was taken aback by Orochimaru's question and frowned as he recalled what he had been doing.

"It's Thursday, and we only have one Transfiguration class this morning. We have to have this class with Ravenclaw."

Ravenclaw?

Orochimaru pulled out the book "Beginner's Guide to Transformation" from the pile of books and asked casually:

"What methods do you usually use to contact people in college?"