Chapter 262 Ron And The Rumors

"I didn't detect any abnormality. He looked as upset as before," Ron raised his head and looked ahead. "He must be up to something!"

Malfoy was leaving the Great Hall among a group of Slytherin students, and before leaving, he turned back with disgust towards the three, malice in his eyes.

"I can sense that something is wrong with him," Harry said confidently, "He rarely comes near us now, it seems like he's afraid."

"Malfoy is afraid, this is truly amusing!"

"It's not amusing, Ron," Hermione picked up the note sent by Hagrid and said disapprovingly, "Harry is right. Malfoy is truly scared. However, he's not afraid of the three of us, but he's afraid of Evan."

"Why should he be afraid of Evan?" Ron asked.

"Because..." Hermione hesitated, unsure whether she should tell the truth. Finally, she vaguely said, "You know, Malfoy tried to pick a fight a few days ago, and Evan taught him a good lesson."

"Just for being scolded, Malfoy is so scared?!" Harry was astonished. "I never knew he was so timid."

"There must be something wrong, Malfoy wouldn't be scared unless..." Ron looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation before lowering his voice, "I think I know why, have you both heard that rumor?"

"What rumor?" Hermione asked curiously, as she had been busy with her studies, rarely interacting with others lately, and hadn't heard anything about it.

"Evan is studying dark magic!" Ron's voice gradually became lower. "He must have used dark magic on Malfoy to scare him. He must have..."

"Ron, we've talked about this before, and there's no evidence that Evan is studying the Dark Arts. It sounds utterly ridiculous," Harry quickly said, "Do you really believe in such lies?"

"But Malfoy's reaction... and the rumor..." Ron argued.

"That's just a rumor. Evan's magic has always been powerful. It may have caused misunderstandings among others. He must have used other methods to make Malfoy feel scared," Harry said, "Remember the incident with the snake last year? At that time, everyone thought I was a descendant of Slytherin. Even the Hufflepuffs said that I was more evil than Voldemort. They've always been like that. When they have free time, they love to imagine and spread baseless rumors..."

Upon hearing Harry mention Voldemort, Ron visibly shuddered.

"These are not just rumors. I've seen Evan's notes with my own eyes and there was a dreadful pattern in them. It was of a mad and twisted man whose soul is splitting," he said.

"Perhaps you misread it, even if not, a picture cannot explain anything."

"That's his research notebook. Apart from the pattern, there were many esoteric words that cannot be randomly drawn," Ron breathed unevenly and said, "Evan has been studying something in secret, and it must be dark magic. I asked Colin, and he's gotten up many times in the middle of the night to see if Evan was asleep. He was reading a magic book in his bed."

"None of this proves anything..." Harry said stubbornly.

"That's why we need to investigate further evidence," Ron raised his voice slightly, trying to persuade Harry and make his friends understand the importance of the matter. "Malfoy's reaction is a clue, and we can use it to uncover the truth. Believe me; Evan's recent behavior is truly suspicious. He might be exploring out of mere curiosity some magic he can't master. We must stop him. It's for his own good."

"You don't want to join forces with Malfoy to investigate Evan?" Harry said amazed.

"I'm just giving an example. We need to determine what Evan is up to. If he is truly delving into dark magic, we can say..." Ron said anxiously.

"In the last two years, Evan has proven to have nothing to do with dark wizards. I believe in him. Besides, I want nothing to do with Malfoy," said Harry irritably. "Ron, you must also believe in Evan, right?"

Upon seeing Harry staring at him intently, Ron's eyes briefly dodged and then returned to normal, whispering, "Yes, I believe in him!"

"Well, in that case, let's not dwell on it. You can join us for Quidditch practice in a minute, and then you can ride the Firebolt," Harry seemed relieved and turned to Hermione, who hadn't spoken. "Hermione, both you and Evan need to relax and get some fresh air, you've been putting too much pressure on yourselves lately."

Hermione unconsciously nodded, still pondering over what Ron had just said.

"I'll go call Evan. He must be either reading books in the library or sorting out newspaper articles," Harry handed the Firebolt to Ron and continued. "After breakfast, you two can head to the Quidditch pitch and wait for us."

With that, he hurriedly turned around and left, looking slightly puzzled.

The conversation with Ron left Harry with a foreboding feeling.

He didn't know how the baseless rumors of "Evan studying dark magic" had arisen. He was very concerned because Ron had already discussed this with him before. Ron had also suggested investigating Evan, to which Harry had disagreed.

He had tried to persuade Ron to drop the idea, and Harry wondered if Ron had truly listened to what he had said.

Doubting his friends made him feel uneasy.

Just as he did with Sirius, Harry believed unwaveringly in Evan. He couldn't fathom how things would have turned out without him over the past two years, facing the basilisk serpent, Tom Riddle's diary, Peter Pettigrew, and the like.

Although Evan may have delved into dark magic, as Ron claimed, Harry believed he had sufficient reasons and would not do anything nefarious with it.

Harry discussed this once with Ron, and since then, the latter never brought it up again.

But it wasn't long before rumors began circulating around the castle.

This was not a good sign; Harry didn't want anything bad to happen.

Ever since Sirius was proven innocent and became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at the school, Harry was content with his current state of life.

Sirius mentioned that Harry could move in with him during the summer holidays.

Harry could scarcely imagine leaving the Dursleys, without any regrets, to go to his godfather's house, where they could invite Evan, Ron, and Hermione.

He had never been happier than at that moment. He didn't want any setbacks to occur.