Chapter 38: Internal Conflict

"…Of course, I also said that's only in terms of blood relation. In fact, nowadays not many people care about this anymore. You all can just call me Link as usual."

Link spread his hands and said with a smiling face, and upon hearing this, Harry also let out a sigh of relief.

He actually didn't mind calling Link "cousin," since the other person was indeed older than him. It's just doing so would indeed feel a bit too awkward.

With that, the topic came to a natural end, and the few of them chatted for a little while more.

To be precise, Link was only a listener, it was Harry who was constantly and excitedly talking about his experience that night.

There was no helping it; the night had been too exciting for Harry, and he was eager to share those feelings, only then could his excitement cool down a bit.

"…Peeves really is too hateful. He made a noise on purpose and brought Filch over, and then we got chased by Filch all the way up to the right-side corridor on the fourth floor…"

"What did you say? You went to that corridor?"

Hearing this, Link really couldn't hold back anymore, while Harry just laughed at his reaction.

He completely ignored Hermione, who was frantically signaling him with her eyes from the side, and directly said, "There's a wooden door in that corridor, and guess what's inside?"

"What is it?" Link responded cooperatively.

"There's a three-headed dog this big in there!" Harry spread his hands to show the size as he spoke, "I swear! It's definitely the scariest creature I've ever seen! And under that thing's body, there's also a trapdoor, inside there…"

"Enough! Harry!"

Hermione finally couldn't hold it anymore. She pulled Harry, who was still going to continue talking.

And at that moment, Harry finally realized something too. He scratched his head and gave Link an embarrassed smile. Unfortunately, he had already said more than enough.

Although Link had only seen a few of the Harry Potter movies, and his understanding of the series was limited to the characters' memorable stories and general plot direction, but with Harry saying this much, he naturally figured it out.

You have to know, the entire plot of the first Harry Potter book actually revolves around the Philosopher's Stone, which had been placed in a vault in Gringotts by Hagrid but mysteriously disappeared later. And now, the story had obviously officially begun.

Link's eyes flickered continuously, but what he said was, "It's alright, Harry. You don't have to feel sorry. Besides, it's getting late now, I think you all should go back and rest. How about it, do you need me to escort you?"

"Uh, no need to trouble you, Link."

"Alright then. Oh, right! One more thing! Didn't Draco Malfoy stand you guys up? A poisonous snake chickening out of fear of a lion and deliberately not showing up, I think your seniors would be very interested in such a story." Link said slowly, then gave Harry and the others a light smile before disappearing into the darkness.

But at this moment, Harry still hadn't grasped the meaning behind Link's words. After pausing for a while, he suddenly swung his arm.

"Right! If Malfoy's despicable behavior is made public, then everyone will surely look down on him."

"Don't go stirring up trouble with Malfoy again, Harry. Haven't you already caused enough problems because of this?"

Hermione held Harry's arm and suppressed her voice as she shouted. But Harry exploded upon hearing this, he suddenly flung Hermione's hand off and said emotionally, "What do you mean I'm stirring up trouble with Malfoy? It's clearly him who's always stirring up trouble with me, right?"

"Then you could go to Professor McGonagall, instead of choosing to have a midnight duel with Malfoy, that's against school rules."

"School rules, school rules. All you see are school rules." Harry frowned as he spoke, but then quickly realized something and smirked, "Since you care so much about school rules, then what reason do you have to stop me from spreading this matter? There shouldn't be any rule against that, right?"

"You…"

Hermione was so angry her face turned red. Seeing this, Harry also realized he had gone too far with his words.

"Sorry, Hermione, don't take my words to heart. I was just angry, after all, what Malfoy did really went too far. Don't you think so, Ron?"

Harry softened his tone and then nudged Ron with his elbow, hoping Ron would help comfort Hermione.

But Ron didn't speak, he just stood there with a grim expression. To be precise, ever since Link revealed his identity, Ron had been in that state the whole time.

And now, Hermione and Harry finally noticed Ron's strange behavior. Harry widened his eyes and asked with concern, "Ron, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"I'm fine, Harry." Ron lowered his head and said, "It's just… from now on, let's not associate with Link anymore, alright?"

"Why?"

Harry asked in surprise, and even Hermione showed a confused expression upon hearing this.

Seeing their reactions, Ron hesitated for a while, then finally summoned the courage and gritted his teeth to say, "Because his name is Link Flamel! Just like Malfoy, his father was also a Death Eater. The only difference is, Link Flamel's father already died in the war back then."

"Huh?"

Both Harry and Hermione exclaimed in shock upon hearing this.

And maybe because he had already spoken it out loud, Ron also became a bit agitated and continued, "Also, my mum warned me not to play with Link Flamel. She said Link Flamel is a very dangerous person."

"Uh…" Harry was completely stunned. In principle, he completely trusted Ron. After all, this was his first real friend after coming to Hogwarts, and also his closest friend.

And to some extent, Ron was also the one who guided him in getting to know the wizarding world, a lot of his basic knowledge about the magical world was told to him by Ron.

It's just… was Link really as dangerous as Ron said?

Harry fell into deep doubt, because from his observation, Link seemed like a pretty decent person, at least much better than Malfoy.

"How could you say that about Link? He just saved us!"

At this moment, Hermione's voice came over. Harry turned his head and saw that Hermione looked even angrier than before.

"I… I don't know either," Ron's head drooped again, and he said weakly, "That's just what my mum told me. And it's not just my family. Neville's family probably warned him about something similar too."

"Hmph! I finally see through you people. You're all the kind of folks who like to look at others through tinted glasses. Just because Link's father was a Death Eater, he should be a bad person too? That's just absurd."

Hermione raised her voice and shouted. After that, she didn't bother with Harry or Ron anymore and turned to leave directly.

Harry called out to Hermione a few times but didn't get a response. Ron had returned to a shut-down state again, so Harry could only stay where he was and softly comfort Ron.

After all, at this moment, Hermione's importance in his heart still couldn't surpass Ron's.

It's just that, Harry didn't know why, he felt that what Hermione had just said made a lot of sense.

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