Auden was walking down the hall after classes alone. The students in the hallways were pointing at him while whispering in low voices, but he decided to ignore it. They had been doing that ever since he began earning points in every single class since the start of the term. To make sure the teachers were able to give him lessons quickly, he was very quick in showing his comprehension of each spell.
The problem was he got too excited, and instead of showing it after five or six minutes, he started to show it instantly after the professor explained the spell. It was only after a few weeks that he realised what he was doing.
Therefore, right now he was walking through the hall while trying his best to ignore people talking about him as they saw him. The only thing he was thankful for was the lack of nicknames, since he had not done something unique enough to earn one.
Suddenly, Auden felt that the tone of the rumors changed to something fearful. He didn't understand it until he saw the other person at the end of the corridor.
Harry Potter was walking with his two friends. Auden realised why the whispers around him had now turned fearful.
Even without the Horcrux diary, Harry's luck was rock bottom. Lockhart had managed to start the duelling club to boost his standing amongst the students, since he was unable to teach them any real spells during his classes. Plus, he used most of them to set up plays with himself acting as the protagonist, saying that this way the students would learn from his adventures.
Thankfully, Auden had escaped from all of this by using the same charm the professors used to teach him secretly during class time. After watching them do it so many times, he had asked and learned the spell from them, which he used every time Lockhart's class started after attendance. He had managed to escape from being pulled into even one of the play shenanigans.
Anyway, back to the duelling club—since there were no petrification attacks, the students were more relaxed compared to the original canon timeline, and the duelling club went on without any problems. But that was before Halloween, when a surprise gathering of the club happened and Malfoy and Potter battled each other.
The end of the duel resulted in Malfoy summoning a snake and Harry revealing that he was a Parselmouth. And wizarding England, being one of the most backward and superstitious places in the world, decided to compare him to a few dark wizards who had the same gift.
Hearing about it had actually brought Auden a lot of headaches, as even he was able to see how wrong they were just by researching Parseltongue for a few days. He was able to find out about it in a few foreign books he had copied from Diagon Alley. It seemed that in countries like India, being a Parselmouth was a straightforward ticket to being an A-list celebrity in the wizarding world. There were many Indian healing spells that required a Parselmouth to use them.
Plus, in countries like Japan, they were treated respectfully, with most of their Parselmouths focusing on exorcisms and many rituals all year round.
Even Americans used them for the care of magical creatures. Just hearing the Europeans treat them as a plague was making Auden feel a bit annoyed. And seeing the Muggle-born wizards easily accepting it because their seniors were talking about it was also making him a bit annoyed.
'Salazar Slytherin is hailed as one of the greatest wizards of the ancient era. Everyone knows he is a Parselmouth as well. Yet when comparisons are made, they only look at the dark wizards of history.
Damn it, and I had decided not to interfere with those guys at the beginning,' Auden thought with frustration as he passed by them.
But just as he passed them, he used silent casting to send a piece of paper to Hermione's pocket. The paper contained the location of a set of books in a corner of the library where most people did not venture, as it was not useful to them in any way. But Auden was able to find similar books to the foreign ones he had taken before.
As he passed the golden trio, they didn't notice him putting a paper in Hermione's pocket, but they still noticed the person not looking at them with fear.
"Hey, Ron, do you know who that was? He did not seem to be distant like the others," Harry asked.
"Ah, well…I don't know, but I think I heard about a Ravenclaw kid who was a bit different," Ron replied.
"Don't be rude, Ron. That's Auden H. He is regarded as the smartest Ravenclaw of the year. Don't speak about him like that," Hermione immediately admonished him.
"Wait, Hermione. Do you know who that is?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded and explained everything she had heard about him.
"Blimey, learning the spells instantly without even failing once!" Ron exclaimed in surprise as he heard Hermione's explanation.
"Are you sure about it, Hermione?" Harry asked again, as even he felt it was unbelievable.
"Yes, the twins talk to each other every day, and I had heard from the twin in Ravenclaw about him. There are even rumours that the spirit of Ravenclaw, who normally ignores everyone, is keeping an eye on the boy due to him being a genius."
This made them think for a moment before they went on their way. But during the evening, Hermione managed to come across a folded piece of paper in her pocket. Confused, she took it out and read the information within it.
'I have never read these books before… and who put this in my pocket?' Curious, Hermione went into the library to check out the books written in those locations.
As she read through them, her eyes started widening at the information present within.
A/N- hope you like it.