The morning sun is like a pair of hands caressing over thousands of tents on the steep slope, piercing the thick fog of the swamp and waking people from their sleep.

And that's probably not counting the toiling Ministry of Magic staff, who had a busy night, and all night long had people coming here from all over the world to watch the grand Quidditch World Cup.

The camp was very lively even at night, and the wizards who had just arrived here would inevitably have a little excitement, and because of the jet lag, they could not fall asleep quickly, so the members had to remind them to obey the order and not to make noise in the middle of the night.

Draco? Malfoy rubbed his brow, his face unusually pale, the sweat of the previous night slipping down his emaciated side face, he had a nightmare last night.

I didn't care about wiping, and hurriedly got out of my luxurious big tent, ignoring the intimate cry of the peacock at the door.

They seemed to be hungry, but Draco didn't want to bother, he just felt irritable, he hadn't slept well all night last night, and now the corners of his gray pupils and two dark circles under his eyes were enough to prove how tired he was.

Tightening his hand in the pure black tweed jacket, the thin sweater with a stand-up collar that was also black, the swamp morning was unusually cold, and all the cold air that had accumulated all night in the thick fog was released at this time, which inevitably made people feel that it was a winter morning.

Malfoy walked through small tents and walked alone into the dark forest on the edge of the camp, and within two steps of his journey, a dark blue lake appeared in front of him.

He quickened his pace to the edge of the lake, crouched down slightly—reaching out to touch the water, a biting chill colliding with his fingertips, and Malfoy came to his senses.

He put his other hand in as well, put his hands together, and took a handful of water and splashed it on his face, the cold ice water seeping into his veins as if it had flowed down the pale skin of his face, and with the blood flowing all over his body—Malfoy took a deep breath and spit it out in a long breath

"Whew-"

The coolness that soaked through his bones not only made him sober, but also made Malfoy's burning arm no longer hot, and he calmed down a little.

It wasn't because of the wizards who came and went outside the tent last night, the tent brought by Malfoy's house was so well insulated that he couldn't hear the noise at all, but even in his quiet little room, Draco? Malfoy was still so preoccupied that he stayed up all night.

Gently rolled up his sleeves and rolled up the thin layer of sweater inside, revealing a large black snake with teeth and claws on his right arm.

The snake is stout, hissing and spitting letters, and looks like it is ready to hunt other creatures at any time.

Malfoy's face grew paler, almost bloodless, and he held out his hand tremblingly, hesitated for a moment, and finally slowly touched the mark with his fingernails.

"Shhhh

The sigil glowed as if it had been burned by a fiery red iron, but Malfoy fell to his knees with his arms folded as if he had been burned.

This is the source of his distress, the Black Serpent Mark.

"Ning...... Ann ......"

The burning pain faded, and Malfoy half-knelt on the soft, dew-soaked green grass and whispered a name in fear.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed, and Malfoy had forgotten the name, the person, and the organization he had ever joined.

But just recently, the mark on his right arm, which had been blurred by the unspelling, became more and more clear, and when he arrived in this swamp, to the camp of the Quidditch World Cup, a strong burning sensation swept through his body.

From that day on, it was as if a soldering iron had hung on his arm, burning his skin in the slightest, and Malfoy shuddered whenever he thought about what that meant.

He threw a handful of water on his face, and his cheeks were numb from the cold water, which made Malfoy feel better.

"What people!"

Malfoy drew his wand from his waist, jumped up like a frightened rabbit, turned around and pointed his wand at the bushes and shouted:

"Who is it...... You...... Better get out soon! Because his nerves had been tense, Draco's hearing was so sharp that even the slightest hint of wind and grass could not escape his ears, and he could actually hear footsteps in the grass behind him.

"Calm down, Draco - look at you, like a nervous madman, what kind of body you have become."

An arrogant female voice sounded, and out of the bushes came a girl in a thin coat of dark brown wool, with a nice face, taller than Malfoy, and a little older.

Laurel...... Lands ......"

Malfoy squeezed a few words out between his teeth, his wand slowly drooping, and he inserted it back into his waist, looking coldly at the girl in front of him, perhaps one of the last people he wanted to see here, and the reason was perhaps only known to Draco himself.

"What? You're wary, is it the mark on your arm that burns you? So scared? ”

Laurel took a few steps forward, looked at Malfoy with a sneer, and said to the boy in a disdainful tone:

"You've lost all your face as a pure-blood, really, how could Mr. Lucius teach such a useless son of yours."

Malfoy clenched his fists, although he usually looked down on those half-bloods and mudbloods, but in purebloods, he was not without his own disgust, especially Laurel? Lanz was even more disgusting to Draco.

In the past year of his school career, Malfoy has been ridiculed by Laurel, who is three grades above him, and since Ning An was wanted, he seemed to have joined the Snake Letter to prove that he was really controlled by the Imperius Curse, and in this year he frantically bullied those students who were originally members of the Snake Letter.

These students were already outcasts from Slytherin House, and they were protected from bullying by joining Serpent Letters.

As soon as Kannin left, Parney was also wanted, and Samantha and Walter were imprisoned in Azkaban, which can be said to be a very heavy blow to the members of the Serpent at that time, and none of the remaining members could lead or convince others.

Malfoy remembers how he entered a classroom in a daze and was questioned by the Aurors.

His father had repeatedly told him to emphasize that he was controlled by evil magic, that everything was involuntary and manipulated, and Draco did the same.

Nearly every student with a background in the Ministry of Magic did so, and those who saw joining Serpent as an investment, as a means of networking, or even as a means of faking the Snake Letter, passed the interrogation with ease.

Malfoy still has his dad and Secretary of Magic Connelly in mind? Fudge laughed in the school hallway, "Minister, it's just a kid's joke - you know Draco is a good boy!" ”

Fudge patted Lucius on the shoulder and agreed, "Of course - Lucius, we're friends, Draco will be fine......"

That day, Malfoy heard the many promises made by the famous minister, and many of the students from all backgrounds, like him, were arrogant enough to exonerate themselves, proving that they were still good children and students who had joined Serpentine as a joke and were manipulated.

And those students who joined the snake letter because they were bullied because they wanted to be sheltered became real bad students.

Some of them were disgusting, some were ugly, or unkempt and unacceptable, and some were so poor that Dumbledore had to pay for their textbooks.

For the first time after joining Serpentin, these people had a taste of not being bullied, some of them were unwilling to quit, and some of them had no one to teach them how to deal with the Aurors, so they stupidly said that they had joined voluntarily.

In the end, although so many people were not expelled from the university, they were given stern warnings from the school and became the subject of serious surveillance by the professors.

Especially after Sirius was released from prison last year, because it was rumored that Ning An helped Sirius escape from prison, the Ministry of Magic once again took care of these "problem students", and they became "aliens" in Slytherin House.

They began to be humiliated and bullied more violently and excessively than before, and this time, no one had gathered them together, and the snake letter was gone.

Interestingly, the most vicious people who took revenge on these students were none other than those who were once members of the Serpent and now actively want to prove that they are "good students", and the leader of them is not Laurel? Lanz.

Even Malfoy was not less ridiculed by her, this woman took advantage of her senior year and her father's power, and co-opted a wave of pure-blood students who had joined Serpent's Letter, and was extremely arrogant in the academy, even boasting that it was she who resisted Ning'an's Imperius Curse in time to help Professor McGonagall capture the "crazy" Samantha.

"Draco, you're feeling pain in your arm too?"

Seeing that Malfoy looked at her without speaking, Laurel took another step forward, leaned closer, and asked him in her usual sarcastic tone.

Why does she seem to be fearless? Shouldn't this woman be more frightened, more frightened, so frightened that she can't sleep all night?

Malfoy was puzzled, but he still looked at the other party coldly, and said in a cold voice, "I know what that means"

He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly grinned and moved closer to Laurel, and whispered, "My father has a mark on him too, you know?" While...... When the Dark Lord approaches...... The mark will become unusually hot. ”

Then, in turn, he looked at Laurel sarcastically

"Now, guess who's here? Laurel? ”

Malfoy looked forward to seeing the girl's face pale with fright, but he was doomed to disappointment.

The eldest lady of the Lanz family just chuckled disdainfully, and said indifferently:

"Of course I know, but what if he came, I've already told my dad about the reaction of my arm, do you know how many Ministry of Magic officials are here?"

At this, Laurel turned sharply, turned her back to Malfoy, and said proudly:

"No matter what plot that person is planning, it's useless, do you know how many Aurors are spying on him, and if he dares to show up, he will be sent to Azkaban immediately? Who do you think he is? The Dark Lord? ”

Malfoy felt a suffocation in his chest and couldn't speak, Laurel was right, there were members of the Ministry of Magic everywhere, and in a grand event like the World Cup, there would definitely be no shortage of Aurors, and on such an occasion, even if Ning An came, he would only be imprisoned in Azkaban.

Thinking about his panicked appearance before, and looking at the disdainful smile on Laurel's face when she turned around at this moment, Malfoy only felt as if he was really a timid mouse in someone else's mouth.

"I can see that you have been imitating that person, imitating his speech, imitating his behavior, and I didn't even see you to bully those "snake claws" last year, why? Do you want to be their new leader? ”

The Slytherin students, in order to ridicule the non-pure-blooded and powerless students who had joined the Serpent's Letter, gave them the nickname "Snake Claw", because the Serpent did not have claws, so it was used to satirize the dispensability of these people, both in Slytherin and in the former Order.

These snake claws are now the most miserable group of people in Slytherin, and every new student is told not to get too close to them, lest they become the target of bullying.

"Don't forget that you were one of them!"

Malfoy gritted his back molars, he was told by Laurel again, this woman can always take advantage of her mouth, although she didn't think about leading those snake claws, but he did deliberately imitate Ning An, maybe not as strong as Samantha, but Malfoy knew that he admired Ning An in his heart.

So he rarely up with Crabbe and Goyle like he used to, and he doesn't look down on these petty fights, except with the annoying Harry? Potter doesn't change, everything else is changing.

"Oh no, don't forget, I'm just manipulated by that abominable evil magic, and you—too, Draco."

Laurel pretended to be surprised, smiled and pointed at herself, then at Malfoy, and whispered to him in the quiet dark forest:

"So—we're no different, Malfoy, what do you think Ning'an would do to you?

Aren't you a traitor to the Serpent's Letter?

We've never put you in the category of snakeclaws, have we? ”

With each of Laurel's words, Draco took a step back until the leather shoes on his heels stepped into the cold water, making a "whoosh" sound.

Malfoy pushed Laurel away and ran out of the forest, Laurel was right, she was no different from her, she chose to protect herself in times of crisis, and she never reached out to those bullied snake claws.

If Ning An appeared in front of him, there was no doubt that he would be regarded as a traitor, so he would be afraid, anxious, and sleepless at night, it turned out that Malfoy had long known in his heart that he was no longer a member of the snake letter, there was nothing to deny, and he was also one of the traitors.

He can't be like Daphne? Greengrass declared that he was attracted to Snake Letter by Ning An so brazenly, even if he was dropped out of school.

Malfoy ran out of the forest, he wanted to get out of the swamp, Quidditch didn't look at it, all just to avoid touching Ning'an, and in this respect, he was not even as good as Laurel, who had no fear.