Chapter 12: Beating Malfoy, the Devil's Parasite

As Crabbe's meaty hand reached for the Goldfish Vine, Malfoy's retreat halted. A cruel, expectant smirk spread across his face, eager to watch the show. Goyle, seeing Crabbe's interest, also licked his lips. The vibrant green sprout did look remarkably like a sweet treat, something that would burst with flavor when bitten into.

"I want some too," Goyle grunted, grabbing at Crabbe's arm. "Gimme a bite!"

In their minds, Ciel, Neville, and Hermione might as well have been invisible. Hadn't Malfoy just said the two boys were practically Squibs? And the girl was just a Mudblood. Besides, no one had learned any real magic yet. In a fight, size was all that mattered.

Hermione's face flushed with pure outrage. "How dare you!" she snapped. "That's completely uncivilised!" She drew her wand, her hand trembling slightly. She'd practised a few simple spells at home, but faced with the sheer bulk of Crabbe and Goyle, she felt a knot of fear tighten in her stomach. Would her magic even work on these two oafs?

Neville, on the other hand, didn't hesitate. He couldn't cast a spell to save his life, but he decisively moved to shield the Goldfish Vine with his own body. His eyes, usually so timid, now burned with a fierce determination. He would let them beat him bloody before he let them touch the plants his cousin had entrusted to him.

Just as the tension in the compartment was about to explode, a sharp click echoed through the space.

The sound of the door locking.

Malfoy froze, his smirk vanishing. He looked over and saw that Ciel had, without a sound, slid the lock into place. A flicker of confusion crossed Malfoy's face. Has this kid lost his mind?

But a split second later, a cold dread, an instinct honed by generations of Malfoy cunning, prickled at the back of his neck. The air in the compartment suddenly felt heavy, charged with a dangerous energy.

Ciel's expression had transformed. The calm, observant boy was gone, replaced by something cold and stormy. He stared at Malfoy and his cronies, his hands slowly clenching into tight fists.

"You came to my door, spouting your nonsense about Squibs and Mudbloods," he said, his voice dangerously low. "I can ignore that." He took a slow breath. "But you want to eat what I've planted?"

His expression twisted into a ferocious snarl, his mind flashing back to a primal, unbearable memory. Not a specific event, but a feeling—the soul-crushing rage of seeing his hard work, his creation, his very purpose, desecrated by the greedy and the ignorant. The faces of Crabbe and Goyle blurred, becoming one with every careless hand that had ever sought to destroy what he had so carefully nurtured.

The anger in his chest surged, hot as a furnace. He let out a low, guttural growl.

"You die."

His fists became a blur of motion. Before Crabbe and Goyle could even process what was happening, Ciel's knuckles connected with their jaws in a series of sickening crunches. The two boys, both a head taller than him, crumpled to the floor like sacks of potatoes.

Malfoy, witnessing the sudden, brutal violence, was paralysed with shock. When Ciel's cold, furious gaze fell on him, he began to stammer, his arrogance vaporising into pure terror. "I-I didn't… I wasn't going to eat it! It doesn't even look that good!"

Thump.

A fist slammed into Malfoy's eye, and his world exploded in a flash of white-hot pain. He hit the ground, hugging his head and letting out a strangled cry. A moment later, Ciel hauled him up by the collar of his expensive robes.

"Do you get to judge what I grow?" Ciel snarled, his face inches from Malfoy's. "Huh? Are you the expert here?"

He then casually dropped Malfoy back to the floor and took a long, slow breath, the fury receding as quickly as it had come.

"Ahhh," he sighed. "That feels better."

Neville and Hermione stared, shivering. He locked the door just to beat them up? Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

Malfoy was sobbing now, his cries sharp with a mixture of pain and hatred. "I'm telling my father! He'll have you all expelled!"

Ciel just sneered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three small, dark objects. Before anyone could react, he had forced one into each of the boys' mouths, making them swallow.

Malfoy's eyes widened in horror. "W-what did you make me eat?!"

Ciel's expression turned pitying. "Devil's Parasite seeds," he said softly. "Ever heard of them?"

Malfoy, whose knowledge of Herbology was non-existent, could only shake his head in terror. The name alone was enough to send a fresh wave of fear through him.

"It's a very rare and dangerous dark magic plant," Ciel explained, his voice a low, malicious whisper. "Even One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi doesn't mention it. Only my family has access to it. It's highly toxic, but its most wonderful quality is its germination process."

A cruel smile played on Ciel's lips. "It can only take root inside a living body. Its nutrients are flesh and blood. It particularly loves young wizards like you. Soon, you'll feel a strange, nagging discomfort, but no one will be able to figure out why. That will be the parasite sprouting, its tendrils slowly absorbing you from the inside. When it fully matures… it will burst from your chest with a pop."

Before he could even finish, Malfoy's eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted from sheer terror.

Ciel tutted. "Such a coward, and he wants to be a bully?" He unceremoniously unlocked the door and dragged the three unconscious boys out into the corridor.

When he turned back, he saw Hermione and Neville staring at him, their faces pale with horror.

Hermione found her voice first, though it trembled. "Ciel, what you did was wrong! Even if they were awful, you can't use such a malicious method on them! That… that will get you sent to Azkaban!"

Ciel blinked, then let out a sudden, hearty laugh. "You didn't actually believe that, did you? The story about the Devil's Parasite?" He shook his head. "I just made it up. Even if my family did have dangerous dark magic plants, my aunt would never give them to a student who hasn't even started school yet."

Hermione and Neville stared, their fear slowly being replaced by utter confusion. "Then… what did you make them eat?" Hermione asked.

Ciel reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of familiar-looking seeds.

"These," he said, offering them. "Just ordinary watermelon seeds. I toasted them for a snack."

He popped one into his mouth.

"Want some?"

***

(End of Chapter)

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