HP: The Arcane Thief - Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Jealous Daphne

The next morning, in the Ravenclaw’s dorms, Daphne’s bedroom—

The morning sunshine fell on the few potted plants standing on the windowsill, pouring into a clean room containing a few more types of flora, lots of books, and some Quidditch posters.

-Yawn-

Daphne woke up, feeling her body sore all over. Axel had gone rather hard on her last night, not even letting her take any breaks. All she could do was grit her teeth and bear it, holding in her moans until they were finished.

‘If he doesn’t take responsibility now, I swear I’ll commit suicide,’ she thought, thinking of his promise.

Really, if he doesn’t fulfill her one wish after making her train so hard, she would feel really unreconciled.

Just as she was considering stealing a few more minutes of sleep, her Magi-mirror suddenly rang, making her sigh as she tried to find it.

“Astoria?”

Since it was just her sister, Daphne picked up the call without bothering to fix her groggy appearance. Astoria’s cute face popped up, holding the Magi-mirror too close to her face.

“Hey Tory, what’s—” began Daphne casually but her sister’s frantic voice cut her off.

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“Daphi! What the hell is happening at Hogwarts?!”

Daphne yawned, “What is it?”

“The forums, the internet, everyone is bad mouthing brother Axel.”

Daphne sighed, “Oh, that…” It has reached so far? This was indeed troubling.

“Yes that! It is sooo infuriating! It’s so unfair! Rose has been playing Quidditch for so long and big brother Axel hasn’t even played it. Why is it so unfair to big brother Axel?”

Daphne chuckled at Astoria’s anxious ramblings, “Tory, let me tell you one thing,” she said, making the blabbering girl pause.

“What?!”

Daphne lazily plopped her head back into the pillows. “That guy, there’s no way in hell he’s losing this,” she said with surety. Daphne didn’t know why she was so sure herself. She had never seen Axel play. But, after getting surprised by his specialties again and again, Daphne had developed this strong confidence in Axel that now she’s not worried about him losing at all.

“That guy won’t lose unless he wants to. So, don’t worry your little head over it.” she said to Astoria. “Now tell me how my plants are doing. Are you properly taking care of them?”

Astoria pouted, “I am, but is it necessary? I’m already healed, so why can’t we just have the house elves take care of it?”

Daphne put away her smile as she brought her face closer to the screen.

“Astoria, you’re a Greengrass. Nature is a part of your being. There’s a reason why you’re illness used to be stable when surrounded in greenery.”

Astoria rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, Whatever,” she said sullenly.

“Anyways, what are your plans for Halloween?” Asked Daphne with a smile, knowing exactly what would cheer up her sister. Halloween was coming up and her sister really liked cosplaying.

And her words had the desired effect since Astoria’s face lit up on that, “Of course! I’ll be going to a party with mom! You want to see my costume?”

“Of course.” Daphne smiled.

Astoria began enthusiastically showing off her costume. “See? This time the party is going to be so fun! Too bad you’re not going to be able to come,” said Astoria teasingly.

Daphne grinned mischievously at that, “Well, guess what? This time, Hogwarts is also going to step up its Halloween celebration.”

Astoria’s eyes widened, “You’re kidding!”

Daphne let out an evil chuckle.

“Hah, guess you were too focused on Axel to read the other news, Lil’ Tory. Instead of the usual feast, there’s going to be a Costume Party this time. Too bad you can’t be there.”

“What?! Nooooo!” Astoria screamed. “Why was I not born a year earlier?!” Astoria screamed.

And laughing with satisfaction, Daphne triumphantly cut the call.

“Sigh, what am I going to do next year?” Muttered Daphne, knowing that her sister would be here next year. That girl would not leave her side even for a minute, so how is she supposed to spend time with Axel at that time?

‘Well, let’s worry about the current problems first,’ She thought as she checked the Magi-hive for news related to the Rose-Axel fiasco. And soon, a frown slowly marred her face.

Nope, she wasn’t worried about people talking bad about Axel. She knew that guy couldn’t care less about these things. What she was worried about was a completely opposite kind of problem.

After this incident, Axel, who had always kept a low profile was once again pushed to the spotlight. His pictures and videos were being circulated on various platforms, and… it was starting to attract the wrong sort of attention.

Daphne read some of the comments.

[“So what even if he loses? At least he has the balls to face someone on pro level! I’m with Axel!”]

[“Yeah, I like his attitude. So what if it’s the girl who lived? He doesn’t simp for her like others.”]

[“Axel, please challenge me as well! I’ll lose and do anything you want!”]

Daphne: “….”

How to say it? Axel’s appearance was quite eye-catching. Usually, Axel has this effect that makes people not focus much on him or his appearance whenever someone is in his presence. But too bad, that mysterious effect doesn’t seem to work when his picture is seen through the screen instead of seeing it in person.

With his sharp and handsome features, accentuated with the light scars and the smooth and silky raven hair stylishly messed up, he gives off this bad boy charm that can hardly be ignored. So now, many girls are coming out to defend him, saying it needs balls for someone to challenge the Girl-who-lived herself without any fear.

But, that wasn’t enough. Daphne rubbed her face in exasperation as she read some other threads which were very popular right now.

[AXOSE SHIP]

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[Rose x Axel]

These kinds of posts were everywhere! Upon opening one of them, some infuriating shit popped up.

[Now that I look at it from another perspective, isn’t this like a scene from a romantic story? Rose calls out Axel due to jealousy when she sees him with other girls and they make a bet in which the loser will have to do whatever the winner wants.]

[Yes! I thought I was the only one who saw it that way. I’m shipping them so hard!]

[They both secretly like each other but are very resistant to admit it. I simply love this love-hate relation!]

Yep, this was the most infuriating thing of all to Daphne. Many people, who apparently had too much time on their hands, had begun to ship Axel and Rose, making Daphne want to say a few choice words to them. Why is it their business who pairs up with whom? And how the hell did they see this kind of scenario as something remotely romantic?! Axel and Rose clearly hate each other!

Daphne threw her phone away in annoyance.

“F#₹& ₹&#$¢¢ $$#₹ &√×√¶!!!! It’s not like that at all! Are these people blind? They clearly hate each other! There’s nothing like that between them!” She exclaimed in vexation. Her annoyance was immeasurable and her day was ruined. She’ll need some of Axel’s presence to wash this off. So, she was now looking forward to their next training meeting, and dreading it at the same time.

….

Somewhere inside Hogwarts, in a heavily warded room, a small diary remained opened on a desk, showing words from time to time.

The room was filled with different types of bizzare ingredients, and drawn with different kinds of symbols. There were also cages, big and small, with various creatures locked inside them..

“You think this is necessary? It could be dangerous” A person said, looking into the screen of the Magi-mirror held in their hand. In the screen, the image of a masked man in a dark cloak could be seen.

“It is. And you should do what you’re told. You’ve already angered the dark lord the death of the Basilisk,” replied the masked man, dark energy swirling around him.

The person became a bit annoyed, “You are not the one to talk, after getting your headquarters raided single-handedly by just one guy. And you’ve still got nothing on him. So, don’t tell me about what and what not to do. The task I’ve been given is too Insane.”

The dark magic around the masked man flared again. “The guy who raided us… I’ll find him one day. And as for giving you orders…well, these are Dark Lord’s orders, not mine.”

“But—” the person tried to protest, but the diary glowed at this moment and the person stopped protesting.

“Do you have enough sacrifices?” Asked the masked man.

The person glanced at the stacked cages in the room, “I do.”

“Good. Keep trying.”

…

—Time skip Halloween—

Just like this the days at Hogwarts passed. Axel trained daily with Akiko and the real training making him have some deep realizations. Not only for his attitude towards training, but towards life in general. And during this time, he continued to train Daphne as well, making her have some rather noticable improvements. Just like that, 31st October arrived.

It was a day that everyone had been looking for. Because with all the attention that was focused on Hogwarts, it had been decided that Hogwarts would host a Halloween Costume Party to celebrate it and make this event more exciting.

But surprisingly, the excitement for tomorrow was also not small as well. 1st of November, the day after Halloween. Because, tomorrow is the highly awaited Gryffindor vs Slytherin match!

The match has been so hyped up that they have had to expand the Quidditch stadium, in order to accommodate the growing number of people who were now going to come to Hogwarts to see the match. The security had been doubled, with Aurors and Ninja corps both being deployed.

So with these events about to be held, Hogwarts was currently abuzz with activity.

“What are you going to be wearing for the costume party tonight?” Asked Daphne after they had finished training.

Axel shrugged, “Not going.”

Daphne frowned, “Why not? It’s going to be fun!”

“I don’t have time. Besides, I don’t like parties.”

Axel really didn’t. He had only been to one party in his life, and it was thrown by the rich muggle boy he had beaten. In his mind, a party is a place where rich assholes gather.

“Oh, come on! You have to come! I want to see you in a costume!” Daphne protested. She imagined seeing Axel wearing a pair of cute cat ears and blushed.

Axel rolled his eyes, “Not happening. Don’t even think about it.”

Daphne blinked her eyes cutely at Axel, “Pleeaaase?”

Axel frowned, “Don’t do that.”

“Please?”

“I said, don’t do that.”

“Please?”

Axel gritted his teeth, “Fine. But no stupid costume,” There were two reasons he agreed, none of which were because he couldn’t deny her. Absou-fucking-lutely not! He was still a Sigma!

“Done!” Daphne jumped in joy. She knew better than to push her luck. Costumes weren’t compulsory. If you don’t want to put on a costume, you could just put on a mask.

….

A.N.: This interaction says a lot about how far Axel has come from his previous self. The walls are slowly coming down, though only for one person.

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It’s Halloween. And Halloweens at Hogwarts are always peaceful, right?

Anyways, how was the beginning?

Next Chapter: Halloween, raising the flag.

Next next: Special Mission: School in Danger.

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