The setting sun's afterglow shone on the Quidditch pitch. Draco controlled his broom to hover about half a metre high, jumped down from it, and enjoyed the cheers from his teammates around him.
"Ten minutes to catch the Snitch! Draco, you truly are a natural-born Seeker!" Captain Marcus patted his shoulder, his expression looking as if he'd seen some rare treasure.
"I admit, I originally let you join as Seeker because your father sponsored our team. But now, you've successfully proven your ability!"
Smiling slightly, Draco accepted Marcus's praise on the surface, but his facial expression was somewhat unnatural.
If one looked carefully at his eyes, they would notice that Draco's pupils gleamed with an unnatural golden tint, larger than they should be, giving his gaze an almost predatory intensity.
These changes all came from the Eagle Eye ritual that diary had taught him. With this ritual, his probability of finding the Golden Snitch in the sky would greatly increase.
However, his broomstick riding wasn't particularly good. At least compared to Potter, he was still far behind.
Currently, he could only barely catch up to the Snitch within ten minutes with the help of that ritual. He was still far from surpassing Potter.
Moreover, using external force to defeat Potter... even though this ritual wasn't in Quidditch's rule book... still gave him a strange feeling.
The contemptuous expression Potter had shown him during Potions class surfaced in his mind again.
Even if he could defeat Potter using this ritual, would he truly gain Potter's respect?
Shaking his head, Draco covered his head, feeling some fatigue from his mind.
Last night in the bathroom, he had been dazed for several minutes again, so much so that he didn't even know how he had completed his agreement with the diary.
But after that, the handwriting in the diary did appear faster, and it could answer more questions.
However, his condition had been getting worse lately. Should he reduce his study load a bit?
Draco thought this way. He felt he had already worked very hard. Relaxing appropriately wouldn't have any impact.
After all, Crabbe and Goyle, who had started studying with him, still hadn't even memorised History of Magic clearly and would even sleep in class.
He needed to find a way to supervise those two. Compared to them, he was working so hard...
Cheers erupted from the nearby Gryffindor pitch, cutting through his thoughts.
"Well done! Harry! Seven minutes. Although no one was interfering, this time would earn cheers even on the world stage!"
Hearing those cheers, Draco felt the fatigue in his mind instantly swept away, and fighting spirit rekindled in his eyes.
No, he couldn't reduce study time. He had to keep pushing himself!
His Potions grades still hadn't surpassed Potter's. How could he be content with that?
Moreover, winning matches through cheating methods like the Eagle Eye ritual made him feel somewhat bored.
If he didn't win against Harry Potter through his own honest efforts, how could he consider himself Potter's rival?
People of the noble Malfoy family would never be such underhanded villains!
Thinking this way, Draco rallied his fighting spirit again and looked at Marcus Flint beside him.
"Flint, can we go one more time?"
In the dark sewers, an inconspicuous water pipe suddenly twisted and enlarged. Lucius Malfoy's figure emerged from it, looking disdainfully at the surrounding environment.
The smell in Muggle sewers was really too strong. How did those Muggles endure such odours?
Lucius pulled out his wand, preparing to cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, but after thinking, he put away his wand and searched for a way out of the sewers with a furrowed brow.
People of the noble Malfoy family wouldn't care about such formalities and grievances!
A few minutes later, having emerged from the sewers and smelling the surrounding air that hadn't improved at all, Lucius's frown deepened.
This was the slums of the Muggle world, completely outside the Ministry of Magic's jurisdiction. For precisely this reason, it was a perfect hiding place.
For Muggles, this was a criminals' paradise. For wizards, as long as they were willing to condescend to hide here, they would never be detected by any other wizards.
After observing the surroundings, Lucius walked directly toward a withered old man by the roadside who looked and acted like a beggar, his eyes full of disdain.
That a wizard would willingly let himself fall to such a state was truly contemptible.
When the withered old man saw Lucius approaching, his eyes lit up and he spoke in a trembling, slurred voice:
"Lucius... friend... good person..."
A flash of impatience crossed his eyes. Lucius said: "Follow me."
With that, he turned and left on his own, not caring whether the person behind him was following.
Only after leaving the slums and arriving at an empty area with no one around did Lucius impatiently turn back, roll up his sleeve, and reveal a somewhat faded mark to the person behind him.
The next second, the originally confused old man suddenly became lucid. His hunched body straightened up, and those cloudy eyes regained their brightness.
"You're late," the old man said, his voice carrying deadly coldness.
"Getting this thing for you was already difficult enough. Push me further, and I'd rather let you face Dumbledore's dogs yourself."
With that, Lucius pulled out a large jar of pink, somewhat sickly-sweet-looking potion from his chest and handed it to the man.
"The Polyjuice Potion you wanted. Half a month's worth. After half a month, if you still need it, figure it out yourself."
Taking the jar from Lucius's hands and opening the lid to smell it, the old man frowned, his expression looking very dissatisfied.
"Very disgusting smell. It looks fine, but it smells putrid."
Having said this, he carefully pulled out a photo album from his chest. Without paying attention to the fat woman on the album, he opened the back cover, put the jar inside, and carefully placed it back in his chest.
Watching the old man put away the album, Lucius asked softly:
"When do you plan to act?"
"A month from now. That place is, after all, the most heavily guarded location of the Ministry of Magic. Stealing things there isn't that simple."
With that, the old man looked deeply at Lucius again, his tone carrying some coldness.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you'd better consider... if the Master truly returns..."
He stopped speaking. The clarity in his eyes gradually became cloudy, and his cold expression became kind again, like a somewhat confused old man.
Looking at Lucius, the old man showed a sunny smile.
"Hehe... Lucius... friend..."
"My friend..."