If Ryze truly wanted to ruin Malfoy's reputation, there were plenty of ways to do it.
The simplest method would have been to go directly to the Gryffindor Prefect and blow the matter out of proportion. Gryffindor had been suppressed by Slytherin for six or seven years already, and resentment had accumulated like dry tinder waiting for a spark. If Percy Weasley didn't dare to take action, there were still other Prefects in Gryffindor House—especially the female Prefect, who might be more than willing to step forward.
After all, which of the older Gryffindor students wouldn't want to seize the chance to give Slytherin a taste of their own medicine?
If things escalated, the plan would be simple. The Prefect could take Harry and the others to the Trophy Room at night. Prefects were allowed to patrol the corridors after curfew anyway. If they were spotted walking around with a few younger students, it could easily be explained as supervision.
And if Malfoy actually showed up?
That would be even better.
It would mean the duel invitation itself violated school rules. Hogwarts forbade private duels between students without supervision. If Malfoy appeared, the Prefect could immediately call him out for breaking school regulations and insist that the duel be rescheduled at an official time.
Hogwarts technically prohibited unsupervised dueling, but the school still had a small Dueling Club consisting of about ten members. The club was managed by Professor Flitwick, and Hogwarts even had a dedicated dueling practice area.
As long as someone joined the Dueling Club, they could practice dueling under proper supervision.
Anthony had already looked into the details. If a Prefect acted as the referee, the duel could easily comply with school regulations. Joining the club itself wasn't difficult either, and it would conveniently revive the tradition of honorable dueling at Hogwarts.
After that, arranging private lessons for Harry Potter would depend on their own initiative.
With Harry's natural talent for dueling—and his obvious dislike of Slytherin—it wouldn't be difficult for him to defeat a first-year like Malfoy, especially since Malfoy wouldn't dare use dark curses openly.
Of course, the chances of Malfoy actually showing up tonight were almost nonexistent.
Ryze mentally compared it to rolling the perfect sequence of Hextech runes in the soul fight arena: choosing Transmutation: Gold as the first Silver rune, watching it evolve into Transmutation: Prismatic, then upgrading again into Transmutation: Chaos, and finally receiving Pandora's Box that rolled into Gambler's Anvil with endless stat stacking.
In other words—virtually impossible.
But if Malfoy failed to appear, the situation could still be exploited.
With a Prefect acting as witness, Gryffindor could spread the news the next day with great enthusiasm: Slytherin had backed down from a duel. They would say that Slytherin would rather abandon its honor than keep its word.
The beauty of the strategy was that they wouldn't even need to mention Harry Potter or Malfoy by name.
All they needed to say was that Slytherin was afraid of Gryffindor.
Once that rumor started circulating, the Slytherins themselves would scramble to investigate the identity of the coward who had dishonored their house.
Considering how much Slytherin valued pride and reputation, Malfoy—who would have shamed the entire house—might very well end up writing home to his parents overnight, begging for a transfer to Durmstrang.
However, Ryze had no intention of escalating things that far.
Instead, he simply reminded Hermione that she could use the opportunity to recover some prestige within Gryffindor.
At his suggestion, Hermione's eyes widened in sudden realization.
"You mean… Malfoy is deliberately plotting against Harry and the others?" she asked. "Slytherins really are cunning. If it's a battle of public opinion… I think I know what to do!"
She stood there for a moment, thinking rapidly. Then she turned to Ryze with visible gratitude.
"Thank you," she said.
Her expression looked far more relaxed than before.
Without wasting another second, Hermione hurried off toward the Gryffindor common room.
Ryze watched her leave, then shrugged slightly.
He had no idea what Hermione would ultimately decide to do.
But whatever it was, he could simply wait for the results tomorrow morning.
Ryze returned to the Great Hall.
The moment he sat down, Michael leaned toward him with obvious curiosity.
"Ryze, you didn't go soft on her, did you?"
He lowered his voice and added teasingly, "Even though that Granger girl does have a pretty cute face, her personality is terrible. She always sticks her nose into other people's business."
Michael shook his head.
"Even if you're the only person in the entire year who can beat her academically, I'd still suggest keeping your distance. Otherwise you'll keep getting dragged into troubles that have nothing to do with you—just like today."
Ryze calmly poured himself a bowl of broth and took a sip before responding.
He shook his head.
"I already said it before. As long as Malfoy doesn't actively come looking for trouble with me, I'm too lazy to get involved in his affairs."
He paused for a moment.
"And besides, there's a high probability he won't even go to the duel tonight."
Anthony, who had previously volunteered to act as the referee, blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Ryze continued calmly.
"If Malfoy really wanted a proper duel with Harry, he could simply find any quiet corner of the castle. There's no need to schedule it so late at night."
"A duel at midnight in the Trophy Room?"
Ryze chuckled faintly.
"It's honestly impressive that he could even come up with something so suspicious."
His tone grew slightly colder.
"Doesn't that basically prove he's planning some kind of trick?"
"And even if he does show up, I'm willing to bet he'll bring several 'methods' that wouldn't normally be used in an honorable duel."
Anthony froze for a moment.
Then, after thinking it over, his expression darkened.
"You're right…"
He clenched his fists in anger.
"Malfoy calls himself a pure-blood aristocrat. If he's using a wizard's duel as a trap, then he truly has no shame."
Ryze waved his hand dismissively.
"Honestly, once he got Crabbe to do his dirty work last week, you shouldn't have expected any aristocratic elegance from him."
He shrugged.
"Anyway, I've already warned the Gryffindors. Whatever happens next is their business."
"There's no need for us to get involved any further."
Terry immediately gave Ryze a thumbs-up.
"You really do see through people," he said admiringly. "You figured out Malfoy's plan in an instant."
He grinned.
"Let the Gryffindors and Slytherins fight it out. We Ravenclaws can just sit back and enjoy the show."
The group laughed quietly.
After exchanging a few more comments about Malfoy's lack of honor, they quickly dropped the subject.
Talking about house rivalries wasn't nearly as enjoyable as eating a warm meal and returning early to their dormitory to read.
The next morning, Ryze entered the Great Hall as usual.
At first glance, everything seemed perfectly normal.
However, he soon noticed that several younger Gryffindor students were pointing toward the Slytherin table while whispering among themselves.
Something had clearly happened.
Not long afterward, Hermione appeared.
Her hair looked even messier than usual, as if she hadn't slept properly.
She dropped heavily into the seat beside Ryze.
Across the table, Michael discreetly nudged Anthony and Terry. The three of them immediately perked up, pretending to eat while secretly listening.
Unexpectedly, the first thing Hermione said had nothing to do with Malfoy.
Instead, she sounded furious.
"I can't believe Professor Dumbledore would place something that dangerous inside Hogwarts!"
Ryze raised an eyebrow.
"Are you talking about Fluffy?"
Hermione blinked.
"Flu… who?"
"That cute little fellow in the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor," Ryze said casually. "You know—the one Professor Dumbledore warned everyone about during the start-of-term speech."
He glanced at Hermione.
"If you went to the Trophy Room on the fourth floor last night, and you're reacting like this… it can only be him."
Hermione stared at him in disbelief.
"Cute… little fellow?"
What exactly was cute about a three-headed Cerberus that was nearly as tall as the ceiling even when sitting down?
"When did you even—"
Ryze interrupted calmly.
"You might not know this, but Hagrid's first task every morning is feeding Fluffy and cleaning up his droppings."
He spoke as if discussing something completely ordinary.
"Thanks to Hagrid, I'm already quite familiar with Fluffy's favorite foods."
He added thoughtfully:
"I've also learned that both his saliva and his droppings can promote the growth of certain magical plants."
Hermione stared at him speechlessly.
It was Hagrid again.
Hagrid truly was the absolute GOAT.
To be fair, Ryze hadn't deliberately tried to extract secrets from him.
The real problem was that every time Ryze started a conversation with some random topic, Hagrid would simply start talking—and talking—and talking.
Information just poured out naturally.
There was nothing Ryze could do about that.
All he had done was act enthusiastic about magical creatures and express curiosity about the magical world.
In return, Hagrid had happily shown him around.
Thanks to that, Ryze had already unlocked the achievement of feeding Cerberus.
Fortunately, Hagrid had taken one look at Ryze's small size and decided not to ask him to shovel Fluffy's droppings.
That would have been far less enjoyable.
Still, Cerberus truly deserved its reputation as the legendary guardian of the underworld in Greek mythology.
Its curse energy was astonishingly strong.
When Ryze had visited before, he had nearly filled his entire energy reserve simply by standing nearby and humming softly for about ten minutes.
It was no wonder that a potions master like Snape would limp for a while after being bitten by such a creature.
Finally, Ryze returned to the present conversation.
"Actually, it's not much of a secret," he said casually.
"In fact, during the first week of school, quite a few older students already snuck over there to take a look."
He paused.
Then he turned toward Hermione.
"So," he asked calmly,
"What exactly happened last night?"
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