HP: The Arcane Thief-Chapter 73: A bet

Chapter 73

"What did you say?!" Akiko couldn't help but ask. Because… the organization that could threaten someone like Axel, and it's from Atlantis… there was only one that fit the bill: Kraken.

Axel's brows furrowed at her surprised reaction, "I said, it's in Atlantis. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

So, she didn't hear it wrong. It IS Kraken. The very same organization that she wants to destroy. She so much wanted to nod her right now, and tell him that yes, she did know about it. But alas, she had no choice in the matter.

"I…" Akiko paused in her reply, "I was just surprised," she lied with a heavy heart.

She was feeling incredibly conflicted right now. The information about Atlantis and the Organization is even more restricted than the Forbidden Jutsus. She had only obtained it after signing an advanced secrecy seals. She couldn't even revealed the information by mistake. So, no matter how much she wanted to tell Axel, she couldn't say anything.

But… since she knew that the organization was their common enemy, she COULD help him out in a lot of other ways. For example, by giving him the best training she could. Previously, she had been hesitant to share the knowledge with him, especially since she was being blackmailed into it. But now, things were different. The Kraken. This organization was so dangerous that she is unable to deal with it even with it by herself.

'But, if it's him…'

At only 12, Axel is already so dangerous. If trained properly, they would have a Kraken-doomsday machine at hand.

"Axel."

"What?" Axel was a bit disappointed by the fact that she didn't know anything about the organization, but it's not like he expected her to know anything anyway. The girl can't see anything past her revenge.

Akiko looked Axel dead in the eyes. "Let's begin your training," she said seriously. "Tomorrow morning, be here at the same time."

A grin came on Axel's face. "Now we're talking."

…..

Later that morning, Axel sat at the Slytherin table eating his breakfast.

Sitting beside him was, surprisingly Daphne, surprising because this was the Slytherin table. It had always been an unspoken rule for the students to always sit at their own House table. But, after the start of their exchange program, with the nins sitting with them, some of the students had started to sit at the other house tables, claiming they did not have enough space.

There was some degree of resistance from professors like Mcgonagall, but Dumbledore, the ever-eccentric man he was, instead approved of its saying it promoted unity between houses. After that, the students had kind of started to sit wherever they liked.

So, this is why Luna was currently sitting with Martina at the Ravenclaw table and Daphne was currently sitting beside Axel.

"Can't I eat something more edible?" She asked, looking down at the plate of boiled ingredients that was supposed to be her breakfast.

Driven by Axel's promise of fulfilling her one wish, Daphne had been training hard under Axel's instructions. And of course, diet was an important part of her training as well, which was going to start from today. But… this food, it's really difficult to eat for her! As a pureblood heiress, she was used to the delicious food carefully cooked by the house elves. Even when her father restricted her food intake, whatever she ate was still delicious. So, it was a bit difficult for her to eat this boiled, unprocessed food.

Axel shook his head. "No, it's important to eat if you want the benefits. Do you have a problem with it?"

"Of course I do! This shit tastes absolutely revolting. How the fuck have you been eating this kind of stuff all this while?" She demanded, lowering her voice so that only he could hear her, so as to keep her pureblood lady image in front of others.

She had thought that the physical training was the worst part, but when she had first tried some of the "food" that Axel had been eating for more than a year, that was when Daphne truly began to realize the extent of hell Axel had been living for the past year.

No wonder he always used to be so grumpy. He had to work so hard, maintain that diet, and also deal with all the pain his almost crippled body was causing him at that time.

Axel frowned, "Even if it doesn't taste well, it's still expensive and nutritious food, right?"

Daphne nodded hesitantly, "But, that doesn't mean you can eat it like this. I can't understand how can you not throw up after eating this." She said, gingerly moving the ingredients in her plate around with her fork.

Daphne didn't know why, but Axel looked incensed after listening to her words.

"That's right. You won't understand it unless you have struggled to even get something to eat, unless you've felt happy to even be able to eat a motled loaf of bread. I was being unreasonable."

"I…" Daphne felt like an absolutely spoiled, insensitive and immature brat right now. But more than that, she felt her heart aching for Axel. She knew that he had had a rough childhood, but since he had always been rather closed off about this topic, she didn't know it was to the extent that he didn't even have enough food to eat. Oh how she truly wished she had met him earlier!

She wished she could have helped him when he was hungry, she wished she could have helped him when he got those scars, she wished she could have helped him when he was getting tortured to the point of being crippled. And most importantly, she wished she could have been there when he was getting these emotional scars that have yet to heal.

'But, I'm here now, aren't I?' She thought. She was here now, and things were getting better. Today he shared another detail of his past with her. Isn't this progress? And she would be damned if she were to fuck it up now.

'My wish, this for you.' She thought, grabbing of forkful of ingredients.

Then, glancing at Axel, she slowly put it in her mouth.

....

Meanwhile, sitting on the other side of the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table, Rose Potter, the Girl-who-played, was also quite exhilarated. Sitting at the Great hall with her group of friends, she relished the attention she was getting as everyone pointed to her and talked about her instead of finding it uncomfortable like she usually does. She had done it! She was finally being recognized for something she had achieved herself instead of the whole Girl-who-lived thing.

Because, all those Girl-who-lived rumors? They are all bullshit.

Rose recalled the conversation she had had with Dumbledore at the end of last term. Waking up in the hospital wing, she had panicked as soon as the events of the previous night had come crashing down on her. She had so many questions!

What happened?! How was Voldemort still alive?! Why did he say he died because of her mother? Why did she suddenly pass out when Voldemort had her? And more importantly, what did he mean when he said he'll kill her AND her mother? Isn't her mother already dead?

But thankfully, Albus Dumbledore himself was there when she woke up, to answer all her questions. At first, she was quite surprised and reticent, seeing Dumbledore in the flesh right after waking up. But the old man had calmed her down and given her some answers.

Turns out, Voldemort never truly died that Halloween night, and whatever had happened, she certainly didn't play any part in it. It would seem that her mother had used a very obscure ritual, something which even Dumbledore didn't know of, to give her some very powerful protection. And was the reason why she was able to overcome the Killing Curse.

And that's why she disliked it even more whenever someone called her the Girl-who-lived lived. Her mother, while praised by everyone who knew her personally as the brightest witch of her time, never got any credit despite everything she had done.

"Isn't this great? We're now allowed to sit at whichever table we like," said Susan, who was also sitting with her at the Gryffindor table.

"Um...I'd rather we sat at our own table," said Hannah to Susan, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention Rose was attracting their way.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Come on, Hannah. It's so rare for all of us to be able to sit and talk like this. Classes have been so busy," she said, getting nods from the table.

"Well, not everyone," said Neville, looking pointedly at the Slytherin table where Daphne had chosen to sit. "It's like she's no longer our friend at all."

Looking at Daphne, Rose's face darkened. This was the same friend who had gone through life and death with her at the third-floor corridor last year. The same friend whom she has known for years. But, ever since Rose's and Neville's conflict with Axel on the train, Daphne has distanced herself from this group. And of course, she knows why. And now she's always skipping classes as well.

"She's gone as well. It's what he does. Bewitching witches," she said, glaring at Axel. No, she can't let him take away Daphne as well.

Hermione, who was also sitting with them, looked surprised, "Does he really do that?" She asked, realizing why Martina paid so much attention to him.

Rose nodded. Both of her Aunts, Daphne, Martina Valentino, Patricia Afonso, all seem to have been bewitched by him.

"Maybe, he Bewitched me as well," said Susan, breaking the heavy atmosphere.

"You are bewitched by every handsome boy," said Hannah as everyone laughed.

Their group finished their breakfast after that. But as they were exiting, the two groups happened to meet at the door. Seeing the two talking among themselves and completely ignoring them, Rose couldn't take it anymore.

"Daphne," she called, attracting the blond girl's attention.

"What is it?" Asked Daphne, looking impatient.

"Why have you been skipping classes?"

Daphne shrugged, "...Just cus. Do you have anything else to say?"

Rose was annoyed. "It's because of him, right? What has he done to you? You used to never miss classes."

Axel frowned, they were beginning to attract a crowd here, "What do you want?" He asked, stepping forward, getting away from Daphne, so as to avoid getting attention on the two of them.

Rose glared at Axel, "What I want? I want you to stop bewitching witches all around!" She shot back, stepping up as well.

Axel was a bit annoyed. He knew that he couldn't clear up whatever misunderstanding this girl had of him even if he tried. And he was tired of her annoying him all the time. "Fine, let's make a bet. The match is coming. The loser will do whatever the winner asks."

"....Fine!" Rose hesitated for a moment before agreeing. She had been training very hard. She was now at a level where even pro players were praising her. Of course she can now easily beat Axel.

And that's how, the biggest bet in Hogwarts was made.

…..

Meanwhile, in Netherworld —

—Continuing—

In the room where Icitra and Lily were present with two mirror, two images appeared in the mirrors. Even though they were physically present, just their virtual image was enough to tell that these were not ordinary individuals.

"Oh, if it isn't the fallen Queen," said one of the two individuals, looking at the Dark Elf queen as he began to chuckle in a deep, hoarse voice . The appearance of this person was different from humans. He had a large and buffed stature, his teeth were sharp, his yellow irises were bigger than human with black pupils, and his face had a beard that resembled wolf fur. He was the king of Lycans, Fenisúlfr.

"Fenisúlfr, you shouldn't be mocking others when you have become a lapdog of an outsider yourself," came a low seductive whisper from the other mirror. The mirrors were placed in a way that they could see the other mirror as well as Icitra, who was sitting on her throne.

A low growl escaped Fenisúlfr's mouth as he glared at the other mirror. "I'm no one's lap dog! I'm his ally. And why is SHE here?!" He growled, looking back at the Dark elf queen.

"I would like to ask you the same, Icitra," asked the person in the other mirror, flicking her white hair back. This was, of course, the Vampire Queen: Celeste. She was an ageless beauty, with pale skin and red eyes. Whenever she smiled, two sharp canines could be seen in between her red lips.

Icitra sighed. She was very well aware of the unending feuds between Lycans and Vampires. The two races were like fire and water, always conflicting. They were already at war even when Voldemort started his takeover. But, seeing them still at odds even to this moment made her disappointed.

"I had thought that getting your race conquered by an outsider would have made at least made you change, even by a little. But you two haven't changed," she said with some frustration.

But her words ended up offending the other two rulers.

"The Vampires have not been conquered. We've simply changed our allies," proclaimed Celeste.

"That's right. The Lycans haven't lost as well! Matter of fact, things are better now than they were in your rein. At least we don't have to lose our people to monsters all the time."

'Sigh…' things were not going as she had expected. It looks like these two don't even want to rebel. But, she can't really blame them. Netherworld is not really an easy world to live in. There are various monsters living in the wild. And these monsters constantly attack all the Kingdoms in hordes.

And Voldemort had somehow allied/convinced/enslaved these monsters to march under him. Now when he offers the rulers of the various kingdoms, "be allied with me, the monsters won't attack you anymore, or be destroyed," the choice is of course obvious.

At this moment, Lily, who had been silent until now, spoke up, "Bullshit."

?? 3x

"You said something?" Asked Fenisúlfr, glaring at Lily.

Lily raised her head fearlessly, "Yes I did. If you really think you're his Ally, that's bullshit. That person only takes followers, slaves, pawns… pieces he'll sacrifice in a heartbeat. So, you are not his allies."

"How dare you?!" Snarked Fenisùlfr, crushing the armrest of his throne.

On the other hand, the Vampire Queen was far more civilized.

"Who are you?" She asked, studying Lily curiously. Her skin wasn't pale enough to be a Vampire, neither did she have sharp teeth. Her ears were different from dark elves. This was, undoubtedly, a species she had never seen.

Lily stepped forward.

"I, am a Human. Just like Voldemort. I am what you call, an otherworlder. And the reason I said—"

"Halt!" interrupted the Lycan King. "Do you take us for fools? You have a nose!"

"....."

Lily was honestly at a loss for words for a moment.

….

A.N.: Lycan King did have a point 🤥. Anyways, : Akiko's Proposal and Incoming danger

Next : Halloween I (Will be as peaceful as any other Halloween at Hogwarts)