Sean was lucky. When he returned to the Slytherin common room, he spotted Barrett in the lounge, talking with two sixth-year Slytherin students.
Without engaging them, Sean went straight to his room, changed into clothes suitable for moving around, grabbed his potion kit, fed Kurkan some snake food, and slipped on the Invisibility Cloak. He quietly left his room and returned to the Slytherin common room's lounge without a sound.
Standing in an empty corner, Sean kept an eye on Barrett while opening his system panel to check the prompt he'd received after borrowing the Invisibility Cloak from Harry.
[Ignotus's Invisibility Cloak: Magical artifact, Deathly Hallow. Blocks all magical detection, conceals all sounds from the user, and renders the user invisible.
Contains the authority of Death. Possessing all Deathly Hallows grants mastery over Death.]
Reading the panel's prompt, Sean raised an eyebrow. Based on his past-life memories, he'd always thought the Deathly Hallows were just three exceptionally powerful magical artifacts. The idea that they were created by Death seemed absurd—Dumbledore himself doubted it.
The legend that collecting all three Hallows would make one the Master of Death had also seemed far-fetched to Sean. But now, it appeared the claim about gaining the authority of Death and becoming its master was true. Unfortunately, acquiring and keeping all three Hallows for study was no easy task. Still, his instincts told him that if he could gather all three, something extraordinary might happen.
For now, Sean decided to let things play out naturally. He'd wait until Harry had all three Hallows and then borrow them for research, hoping to uncover something useful.
While lost in thought, Barrett stood up, said goodbye to the others, and left the common room with one of them, heading straight to the boathouse.
Hogwarts' boathouse, used mainly to welcome first-years at the start of term, was rarely visited otherwise. It was a dark, damp, slippery place no one bothered with.
Sean trailed Barrett and his companion from a distance, following them into the boathouse.
There, he found three others already waiting for Barrett's group. Among them were two fifth-years and one seventh-year. One of the fifth-years was a male prefect who had joined the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserves at the start of term.
Sean vaguely recalled his name was Dickey, though he couldn't remember his surname. He hadn't paid much attention to him during the Brotherhood meetings.
Now, though, Sean was paying attention.
"Barrett, we just heard from Dickey about the meeting," one of them said. "Those people claim to honor Slytherin's name by forming this group, yet they've forgotten the greatness of the Dark Lord, Slytherin's heir. They deserve to die!"
Barrett nodded. "Rest assured, those opportunists will face their punishment in time. But first, we must prepare for the return of our great master!"
"Exactly!"
"I agree!"
Seeing their enthusiastic agreement, Barrett smiled and said, "Those people have forgotten the Dark Lord's greatness. So, we must take matters into our own hands to prepare for the Dark Lord and his Basilisk!"
"What do we need to do?"
"The Dark Lord and his Basilisk aim to cleanse Hogwarts of those unworthy of magical education—Muggle-borns and children of Squibs. As Slytherins, the closest to the Dark Lord, we must start by purging those unfit to remain in Slytherin!"
At Barrett's words, the seventh-year's face twisted into a cruel grin. "That's music to my ears. I've long been sick of certain people. They're children of Squibs or Muggles, yet they dare to be in Slytherin. It's intolerable!"
Barrett nodded to him. "Exactly. That's what I'm saying. So, I've chosen three targets: fourth-year Andy Morgan, third-year Ryan, and second-year Sean Bulstrode!"
Hearing this, Sean's pupils narrowed slightly. He had a gut feeling that Barrett's real target had been him all along!
Shocked but silent, Sean listened as Barrett continued. "These three have parents who are either Muggle or Squib. Sean Bulstrode's parents are both Squibs. We might tolerate such people in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or even Ravenclaw, but he had no right to enter Slytherin and call himself one of us. He's not worthy to live and witness the Dark Lord's return!"
"I agree with Barrett. He's not worthy!"
"Dickey, isn't Sean Bulstrode from the Bulstrode family?"
The Twenty-Eight Pure-blood families held significant status in Slytherin, especially families like the Malfoys and Bulstrodes, who wielded influence—open or subtle—in the wizarding world. Their power commanded respect.
Dickey looked at the speaker, his expression serious. "The true Bulstrode heir is in Slytherin—Miles Bulstrode. He has the purest blood, carrying not only the Bulstrode lineage but also that of the Fawley family, another of the Twenty-Eight Pure-bloods. He is the real pure-blood, not Sean, whose parents are shameful Squibs!"
His words convinced everyone present.
Barrett nodded to Dickey and said, "Our targets are these three for now. We'll take them out one by one. I'll let you know when it's time to act, so be ready to give it your all.
If there's nothing else, let's head back. This is still Hogwarts, so we need to keep a low profile.
Dickey, stay a moment. I want to discuss something about the Slytherin Brotherhood."
Following Barrett's orders, the other three left the boathouse. After they were gone, Barrett suddenly drew his wand and cast a detection spell to ensure no one was hiding nearby. Satisfied, he turned to Dickey and said, "Dickey, what did Mr. Bulstrode say? He won't go back on his word, will he?"
My dear uncle again?
Hiring someone to kill me the old-fashioned way?
Can't he come up with something new?
Barrett, though, has a bit of originality. He's found two guys using their status as Voldemort fanatics to gain influence, rallying actual Voldemort zealots. Using the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk as an excuse, he's spun a plan to "cleanse" Hogwarts and Slytherin, all to target me in a roundabout way.
As Sean suspected, if he hadn't noticed something off about Barrett at the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserves meeting, if he hadn't decided to deal with Barrett once and for all and borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak to overhear everything, he might never have realized his dear uncle was behind this.
No wonder his uncle threatened him before the school year and then went quiet. He'd already made his move—Sean just hadn't noticed.
Over there, Barrett and Dickey discussed their plan a bit more before leaving the boathouse.
Watching them go, Sean returned to Hogwarts castle. In a secluded spot, he stowed the Invisibility Cloak and headed back to the Slytherin common room.