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"What story?" Ian had a bad premonition.
"Miss Greengrass said you had a great fight with three hundred adult wizards in the Forbidden Forest and killed them all..." The Chocolate Frog boy clearly did not fully believe this claim.
The other Ravenclaw wizards felt the same.
How could their little professor kill someone? This little professor was the one who repeatedly reminded them not to hurt others when teaching them some not-so-dangerous Jinxes, after all!
"Not all people in Slytherin are bad, just a majority of them!"
"I heard the version that you fought against Grindelwald… and chased him away like a dog with his tail between his legs. I think since Grindelwald has a tail, he might be a male Succubus."
"Eh? How did I hear that the little professor was chased by Grindelwald riding You-Know-Who? They said You-Know-Who was reborn as an ostrich in the Forbidden Forest!"
"The Gryffindor twins even said they saw you sneaking out at night, saying that when you were unhappy at night, you would go to the Forbidden Forest to catch a few Centaurs or Unicorns to eat."
...
With the Chocolate Frog boy speaking, the other Ravenclaw wizards could no longer hold back, chattering and adding some things they knew.
Ian was becoming increasingly bewildered, his eyes nearly bulging out like E.T. the extraterrestrial.
One could only say, good heavens!
'How long has it been since the events in the Forbidden Forest occurred?:
Rumors had already taken on so many bizarre versions!? What the hell was this about Grindelwald riding You-Know-Who? The Gryffindor twins had even spread more outrageous versions?!
"Nonsense! It's all nonsense!" Ian felt overwhelmed. And seeing him loudly refute, the Ravenclaw wizards all showed expressions of "as expected."
"Don't worry, little professor, we all believe you; the evil Slytherin students are just slandering you."
"Yeah, yeah, William said he saw the truth, and we believe William's words."
"You definitely didn't get involved with the dark wizards; we understand; you were just raising dozens of dragons in the Forbidden Forest. Once the dragons grow up, can you sell some meat for me to eat?"
...
The little wizards' comfort did not make Ian feel any better. He looked around and did not find William's figure. Looking ahead, he discovered that William had run to the Hufflepuff long table.
The green-haired boy even held a microphone he had found from who knows where.
"You all know, our House's Ian Prince, he is simply a legend; the dozens of dragons he raised are as big as houses."
"Perhaps they will grow even larger than our school's castle; those dragons are breathing fire, and Ian is riding these mutated dragons chasing the dark wizard Grindelwald!" William seemed completely unaware that Ian had entered the Great Hall; he was vividly fabricating a stitched-together version of rumors to the badgers.
"But there shouldn't be any dragons in Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest?" A little badger still maintained some intelligence, but this bit of intelligence was ruthlessly taken away by William's response.
"Exactly because there aren't any. That's why Ian must be raising them. I think he must be doing it so that we can live in a diverse environment where we can see live western dragons." William's tone was serious, and his voice was firm, causing several little wizards who were about to question him to lose their confidence.
"I saw it with my own eyes; how could I be wrong?" William even patted his chest to guarantee it, not realizing that Ian had already stood behind him.
"Should I call you Eagle-eyed William?" Ian's voice carried a hint of gritted teeth, and he saw William's whole body suddenly shudder as if startled.
"You scared me to death!"
When the green-haired boy turned around, his face was filled with excitement. "Ian! Quick! Tell us about the dragons you raised! Can you take me out tonight to touch their butts?"
He still loved dragons so much.
And had a unique hobby.
Ian wondered if his obsession with wanting to transform into a Western dragon in Transfiguration was also due to this.
"Hogwarts has no dragons! I don't raise any dragons! That was transfiguration! You utter Idiot!" Ian snatched the microphone from William's hand as he spoke.
"So, was it really you? The one who caused such a commotion in the Forbidden Forest?" William only paused for a second, then his eyes widened as if he had grasped the main point.
"..."
From the emotional feedback he sensed from William, Ian realized that this guy was not actually all-seeing; he was just fabricating stories. Perhaps from the beginning, this guy had seen nothing at all.
"Didn't you say you saw it?!"
Ian felt like he was about to bite his own teeth off.
"It's not my fault! It was Professor Lockhart! Our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor said that if I publicized your achievements, he would give Ravenclaw ten points!"
William immediately caved, directly revealing the truth.
"?????"
Ian was stunned again.
"I actually think this is a story that Professor Lockhart made up on the spot; it might have been improvised?" William chuckled awkwardly, trying to brush off the nonexistent dust from Ian's robes.
"What the hell!"
Ian was one of the two wizards who knew the true identity of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and he found it absurd that this man, once referred to as the First Dark Lord, had become addicted to role-playing.
"Where's Greengrass?"
Ian thought of another rumor-monger the little wizards had mentioned. He looked towards the Slytherin long table, but not only was Greengrass absent from the Great Hall, but Aurora was also nowhere to be found.
"She's at the castle entrance." A little wizard pointed the way for Ian.
Ian immediately grabbed three chicken legs from the Hufflepuff long table and, before the badgers could react, he quickly dashed out of the Great Hall while munching on the chicken legs.
…
"Did you all know? Ian discovered the founders' treasure in the Forbidden Forest and released dozens of dragons that guarded the treasure."
"This student, you might want to know about the commotion this afternoon; it was actually Ravenclaw's Ian Prince who broke an ancient seal in the Forbidden Forest."
"Please stop for a moment, fellow students; I want to praise our other student, Ian Prince, who successfully scared off the Centaur coalition in the Forbidden Forest with his western dragons."
...
As soon as he approached the castle entrance.
Ian heard Daphne Greengrass's weak voice; she was indeed promoting various fabricated stories to every passing student wizard.
She looked somewhat parched and hoarse, yet she still firmly stopped every passerby with stories spilling out of her mouth that were all different.
"I really want to know... what are you doing... Miss Greengrass..." Ian noticed that as he passed by, the dazed Daphne Greengrass even wanted to grab him and promote the "gospel" story about Ian Prince.
"Sorry! Sorry! This... this really isn't what I wanted to do!" After realizing that the person she had grabbed was Ian, Daphne Greengrass was like a startled deer.
She stumbled back a few steps and then suddenly bowed deeply to Ian, apologizing profusely, her relatively pretty little face filled with panic and fear.
"Let me guess, it was Professor Lockhart?" Ian's gaze lingered on the red book in Daphne Greengrass's hand. The stories this Slytherin Witch was telling likely all came from this book; after all, Daphne Greengrass had been looking down at the book while stopping others, and her tone sounded like she was reading words.
"That's him, that detestable... terrifying professor." Daphne Greengrass's voice carried a hint of tears as she mentioned Grindelwald, only daring to use a voice as tiny as a mosquito's, her pale face darting around cautiously, as if afraid Grindelwald would suddenly appear from somewhere.
"He said that before tonight, I must tell at least five hundred people about the contents described in this book, or else he would make me kiss a Dementor in the next class." After confirming that Grindelwald would not suddenly attack, Daphne Greengrass finally spoke about her ordeal in a terrified and fearful tone.
"..."
Ian had never thought that Grindelwald would have such a twisted sense of humor. He looked again at the red book tightly clutched in Daphne's hands, and the open pages seemed to be automatically weaving different stories.
This was clearly an Alchemical Artifact.
It could freely create numerous stories featuring Ian Prince as the protagonist. However, likely due to the creator's lack of care, the stories produced could be said to be increasingly outrageous in quality.
"No professor would dare to do anything that would harm little wizards; Dumbledore would not agree." Ian was quite certain that Grindelwald would only be scaring the little children in front of him.
This Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, due to Dumbledore's "constraints," would not even dare to kill a malicious Muggle blocking the road, so how could he possibly lay hands on the little wizards in the school?
Ian felt that his judgment was unlikely to be wrong.
(To Be Continued…)