Chapter 641: Sun-Chasers: Did we really do this?

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Daphne, who had arrived just as Tom was discussing punishment, overheard Draco’s words and froze on the spot for a long moment.

"T-Tom, stay away from Malfoy from now on. I seriously think there’s something wrong with him." Daphne’s brain practically short-circuited before she finally managed to say that to Tom.

Astoria nodded too, still shaken. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

There was definitely something wrong with that guy. Seriously wrong.

Was he so desperate to become a corporate slave because he didn’t want to be locked up with Weasley... or because he was dying to be locked up with Potter?

Either way, it was terrifying.

"I... got it," Tom replied helplessly.

...

After sorting out the banquet arrangements, Tom left the common room with the two girls and headed out onto the lawns for a walk.

Daphne had completely forgotten about her grand post-match plan to "teach Tom a lesson." Ever since Astoria recovered, the young lady had been in an exceptionally good mood. She’d been smiling at practically everyone these past two days.

The weather was beautiful today. The temperature had climbed to twenty degrees, and when the damp spring breeze swept across the grounds, it carried the scent of fresh earth and flowers with it.

Quite a few students were already outside enjoying the rare sunny day.

Tom had no intention of squeezing in by the lake with everyone else. He disliked crowded places, and people tended to get uncomfortable whenever they saw him anyway.

Even though they were all technically students, aside from a few classmates he could actually chat with, like Nott and Zabini, most people no longer treated Tom like an ordinary student at all.

Besides, he’d been walking these lawns for nearly four years now. No matter how beautiful the scenery was, anyone would get tired of seeing the same thing every day.

So today’s destination wasn’t the lakeside. It was the garden deep inside the Forbidden Forest, the one that was nearly finished.

Ever since touring Beauxbatons, Tom had become deeply dissatisfied with Hogwarts’ infrastructure.

So, using the House Cup event as an excuse, he casually brought the idea up to Dumbledore.

Surprisingly, the old man was incredibly easygoing when it came to trivial matters like this.

So the job ended up being handed over to Hagrid.

And ever since that day, poor Hagrid had practically worked himself to the bone without a break. By now, the project was finally close to completion.

Hagrid had also taken the opportunity to frequently "consult" Madame Maxime about the construction. Every day was exhausting, but exhausting in the happiest possible way.

But the garden was only step one. After that, Tom planned to build an opera house, a theater, a swimming pool...

And all of it had to be completed while he was still attending Hogwarts.

Otherwise, if future students got to enjoy everything while he got nothing out of it, then what was the point of all this effort?

He was going to become Hogwarts’ very own Nero Claudius!

...

While Tom was busy indulging in these ridiculous thoughts, the three of them passed through a shaded trail in the Forbidden Forest and arrived at the garden.

A rich smell of roasted meat drifted through the air.

Daphne’s eyes lit up instantly. She let go of Tom’s hand and jogged straight into the garden.

"You finally made it." Hearing them arrive, Hermione turned around and waved Daphne over. "Come on, hurry up and try this. It’ll be ready in a minute."

"Mmm, it smells amazing!" Daphne stared eagerly at the grill, looking seconds away from snatching a piece for herself.

"Of course it does." Hermione lifted her chin proudly. "I only figured out the perfect timing after failing a ridiculous number of times. There’s absolutely no way this can go wrong now."

The other girls were busy too. Some were preparing side dishes while others stirred thick soup over the fire.

To celebrate Astoria’s recovery, everyone had unusually thrown themselves into the occasion and organized a full picnic. They had all prepared gifts for her as well.

"Astoria, congratulations."

Fleur stepped forward with a smile and handed over a small gift box. Inside was an exquisitely crafted silver hairpin. She even helped Astoria put it on herself before leaning back to admire the result.

A moment later, she nodded in satisfaction. "Your icy-blue hair is so beautiful. I’m honestly jealous."

Astoria smiled shyly. "Thank you. Your silvery-blonde hair is beautiful too. It even glows. I’ve always been jealous of that."

Fleur’s smile brightened even further.

Such a sweet and well-behaved little witch...

How on earth was she actually Daphne’s younger sister? The Greengrass family seriously needed to rethink how they "distributed talent" among siblings.

But then Fleur’s gaze drifted toward Gabrielle, who was currently chasing after a unicorn with complete abandon and had somehow already managed to cover herself in mud from head to toe.

Her smile stiffened a little.

...Alright, maybe the Delacour family wasn’t much better at "resource allocation" either.

Honestly, if they could swap sisters, that would be perfect.

"Stop standing around already," Penelope called out to the two of them. "Come eat. Fleur, your mushroom soup’s done too."

"Coming!"

...

While Tom enjoyed his peaceful school life over here, Andros was still hard at work gathering the rare treasures on the list while simultaneously building the Sun Chasers’ reputation.

In just two days, he had thrown the wizarding world of Africa into complete chaos.

Rich pure-blood families were practically wailing in despair after suffering catastrophic losses.

Mostly because Andros was a little angry.

At first, he had genuinely pitied the people of Africa because of the oppression and exploitation they had suffered. But after personally visiting several wealthy families, he discovered that many of them were major slave traders themselves.

They enslaved their own people, sold them off for profit, then turned around and cried about their tragic circumstances to gain sympathy from the wizarding world.

Even now, with slavery officially outlawed, many of them were still conducting private trades behind closed doors.

After learning all that, Andros decided to be far more ruthless. At the same time, he intended to use this opportunity to stir up even more hatred toward the Sun Chasers.

Also, besides the items Tom had specifically asked for, Andros was secretly building a private collection of his own as well: gifts for Ariana, along with future meeting presents prepared in advance for Ravenclaw and Morgan.

...

..

Meanwhile, thanks to the existence of the Codex, communication between continents had become dramatically faster. News spread quickly, and before long, wizards across other regions and countries had gotten the full picture.

Gringotts had suffered a humiliating defeat. The African pure-bloods had been looted nearly dry. And the Sun Chasers’ name had exploded across newspapers and magical broadcasts alike, hailed as the most vicious band of thieves of the century.

At last, the true Sun Chasers received the news as well.

Inside a strange ruin hidden within what felt like a crack between dimensions, several elderly figures stared at one another in silence.

After a long pause, one of them finally spoke uncertainly, "...Did we really do this?"

.

.

.