HP: The Arcane Thief
chapter-116

Summary for those who have forgotten after a long break: Axel didn't show up at the match against Ravenclaw, just to fuck with everyone. Patricia gave a wonderful speech whose key words are saying Axel does not need Quidditch, but the other way around. Now read ahead.

....

While Patricia left the commentary box with a light heart, the same was not the case for other people.

If there was to be a list of people most outraged about his absence, a certain group of seven people would come pretty high on that list.

—The Ravenclaw Team—

"That bastard…"

"This is hippogriffshit!"

"All… all that planning and training…"

"No way…"

"Haha... I want to murder someone…"

They had been preparing for a match against Axel for months. They had been racking their brains to come up with ways to counter his skills, coming up with various tactics and plans, and then practicing those tactics to perfection.

And now… they are finding out that they did all that they did grueling hard work… for nothing?

"Haah… I don't want to live anymore," murmured the Ravenclaw captain, searching for the meaning of life. Of all the times the guy could quit… he really had to do it right before their match.

Truly, this was much, much worse than thus losing to Hunt. Because now they would never be able to put all those strategies to use. And now they'd never know how well they worked against Hunt.

"Axel Hunt... Fuck you!"

...

But even higher on list than the poor Ravenclaw team... was someone else.

Ludo Bagman.

Or you could now call him, Ludo Deadman

Even though he was finally free from his petrification, the man still sat frozen on his seat, unable to fully even comprehend what had just happened.

The Captain of the Slytherin team had just waltz into his commentary box, petrified him, and shoved him into an even deeper shit than he was previously in.

"I'm dead…"

Overall, the girl had stated, in no uncertain terms, painted him as one of the main reasons why the boy had quit the sport.

"Darn it!" If only the girl hadn't come, he could have still spun it at least in a way that did him minimal harm and painted Hunt in a bad light instead. But what could he do now?

!!!!!

With no conclusion to what was happening, the restless audience began to cause a commotion. Everyone was yelling, talking or whispering, and some were even crying.

Bagman stopped ruminating on how bad he fucked and decided to first do his job. "Ahem… everyone, I don't think what Miss Afonso just was completely acu—"

Before he could even finish his sentence the door to the commentary box burst open for the second time this day, as Professor Mcgonagall stormed in, looking absolutely furious.

"I think that will be enough Ludo, you have done us enough harm already," she stated coldly, as the microphone shot out of his hand and came into hers.

"Lee. do your job," she said, handing it to Lee Jordan, who had followed the Professor into the room.

"At once, ma'am." Said Lee, taking the microphone.

"Professor Mcgonagall?! What is the meaning of this?! I'm the head of the Department of Games and Sports. You can't just—"

Do not Forget, Ludo, this is Hogwarts. Your authority can only get you so far. Once you make mistakes, I still hold the authority to give you punishment... just like the old days," she said strictly, making Bagman feel like a kid all over again.

In the face of Mcgonagall's fierce momentum, Bagman could do nothing but be thrown out of the commentary box.

"Hah... I'm back..."

Jordan reclaimed his seat, looking a bit emotional. Taking a deep breath, he turned on the mic.

"Witches and Wizards, this is Lee Jordan, the new host of the match Slytherin vs Ravenclaw."

"A heartfelt apology and empathy to those who were here to see Hunt play. It would indeed be a great loss to the Quidditch world if someone of his caliber quits." he said solemnly.

"But... I can't really blame Hunt for quitting. It is our fault for not seeing things through his perspective. He was just a reserved and guarded 13 year old, trying out a new thing. As far as he is concerned, he has only received disappointment from the sport." said Jordan sedately, making the audience feel regretful.

It was indeed like this, wasn't it? Hunt never really cared about the fame and the game. He had only wanted to try out the sport. And if he really quits, they'll never get see those skills again. Then they have to question: Was it really worth it digging out his past and criticizing him on every minor action? Was it worth it seeing him as a source of entertainment and selling his gameplay as a hot commodity to make money?

"I agree with the Slytherin Captain's words. Axel Hunt may not need Quidditch. But Quidditch definitely needs Axel Hunt. So, I hope I speak for the majority when I say, Axel, I'm deeply sorry for the past, but please don't quit."

"Those with me, let's raise a wand to that," he said, raising his wand.

In the ensuing silence, wands instantly began to be raised everywhere in the stadium as a signal of apology. Very soon, in the cloudy day, hundreds of thousands of glowing dots of light could be seen all around, produced from the raised wands.

"Come back, Hunt!" Someone yelled, and everyone else joined as well.

"COME BACK HUNT!"

""COME BACK HUNT!"""

"""""""COME BACK HUNT!""""""

Soon each and every wand was raised, as the whole stadium was only filled with only one cry. Whether they liked him or not, no one wanted to see the prodigy quit.

"Everyone, I'll have to stop this here. After all, we have a match to start. Once again, we apologize for Hunt's absence. But the game must go on. So, those who want to leave can leave now, or watch the match. It's your choice."

….

Meanwhile, in the vip box, Rose sat with her family, watching the events unfold.

"Guess you can rejoice now." said Sirius. "He's gone. You are once again number one at Hogwarts."

Rose shook her head, her face marred with a troubled frown. She recalled what had happened of their bet after she had lost. That guy… he had completely ignored her existence. As if she didn't even exist at all. She was then stuck between wanting to confront him and hoping that he never brings up the bet.

But, as prideful as she was, she had been unable to take it and went to confront the guy on her own. But even that was difficult, as she found a line of witches wanting to meet him.

Only after one week did she get the chance to actually meet the guy, and… after doing that only made her wish she hadn't…

"Hey, Hunt! Wait!" She had called out directly after the class. Everyone else had already left, and Hunt, who had been with Daphne at the time, had the nerve to look at her in puzzlement, as if wondering, 'What does she want?'

"Sup?"

He had asked casually.

Rose was frozen for a few moments, unable to think how to actually broach the subject that had been bothering her for the rest of the week.

"What about the bet?" She had asked at last.

She had expected him to smirk, or to make fun of her, or react in a hundred other ways. But, out of her expectations, the guy had just tilted his head slightly in confusion. "What bet?"

"....."

Rose had no words to say to the guy anymore. That had somehow actually felt worse than him taking proper revenge on her and making her his slave. It made her realize how little her existence mattered in his perspective.

Hunt then seemed to recall the bet he had made with her. "Oh… that bet about the match."

Rose nodded, gritting her teeth. "Yeah. That one. I don't want it hanging over me forever, so ask what you want from me quickly," she said haughtily, trying to preserve her remaining dignity.

But Hunt just frowned. "Well, just don't bother me from now on. You're annoying," with that, he was off, and Daphne followed him, after giving Rose a sympathetic glance at her destruction.

From that day, Rose had made it a point to not speak to the guy at all, no matter how frustrated she was.

Though, today, after witnessing all this, she really wanted to go bother him again.

"That guy… how can he just stop playing like this?!"

So many people would kill to have what he already has. And that idiot… how can he throw that all away so casually?!

….

The match on without Axel, and needless to say, the Ravenclaws crushed the Slytherin team without any problems.

After all, the Slytherin team was already made out of amateurs to begin with. And after seeing Axel play, they had completely stopped training. As long as they had Axel on their team, they could literally win the game with their eyes closed.

They had only begun practicing magic after knowing about the Unrestricted format, which was useless here. Hence, the match was going pretty one-sided, despite the Slytherin teams best attempts.

Overall, it was a good match, something that'll usually be very well received. But…

"Hey... isn't this...?"

—Yawn—

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"It's no fun at all..."

After watching Axel play, all this seemed pretty basic in comparison. It was not much different from a hole that has been pistoned by a superior rob, The smaller and weaker rods simply can't compare.

It seemed like... Axel had ruined Quidditch for them.

…

In the VIP box, the Greengrasses.

Daphne looked at the scoreboard, her brows furrowed.

Astoria pouted. "I didn't get to see him."

Evelyn sighed, "Well, if he doesn't want to play, then it can't be helped."

Daphne, who had been in a bad mood, looked at her mother and sister suspiciously. "Since when did you two begin caring so much whether he plays or not?"

Astoria shrugged. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"You—Why would I be jealous?!" Asked Daphne in annoyance. "I'm not even his friend! Everything was just rumors!"

Astoria shook her head. "Daphi, you are once again explaining too much."

"...."

Daphne glared at Astoria. "That mouth of yours has been fapping too much lately. Do you need a spanking?"

Astoria shut up while pouting. Shaking her head, Daphne looked back at the scoreboard and clenched her fists. Even though her house had won, she didn't feel like celebrating at all.

'He shouldn't have quit.' she thought, because no matter what, as a Quidditch enthusiast, she did enjoy seeing him play.

And, after hearing Patricia, and getting a feel of things from his perspective. it did feel like he had it tough.

So, Daphne really felt bad for him.

'Though, that's it. It's nothing more! I'm not some brainless fan girl like others!' she thought. But still, for some reason, the scene of him holding her while being shirtless kept flashing in her mind.

…..

The news of Axel quitting raised an even bigger storm than his previous stunt of leaving a middle finger in the middle of the stadium. Those who had been criticizing him and forcing him to apologize were blamed for the loss of the Legendary Prodigy.

The internet was once again brimming with videos, articles tweets, and comments, all somehow related to Axel.

Though most were bemoaning his premature retirement and coming up with ways to bring him back, there were also those who were happy about it as well.

Basically, their argument was: Hunt is too good. He's like a cheat existence in Quidditch. In a normal format, whichever team has him will be guaranteed a win.

And of course, there was another category of people as well. Those claiming Axel quit because he was afraid to lose against Mahoutokoro.

A particular article had gotten especially viral.

"AXEL HUNT, SCARED?"

"Following the Quidditch prodigy Axel Hunt's withdrawal from the team, people can't help but speculate that there might be more to the story than what's upfront.

And one of the viable speculations is: He got scared. Yes, dear readers, Axel Hunt scared. It is a known fact that the team Slytherin is going to represent Hogwarts in the match against Mahoutokoro in an unrestricted format, meaning Magic would be allowed in the match. And as it is going to be an international event, with even more coverage than all previous matches, the players of both the teams, as the representative of their school, would be under immense pressure.

Though Hunt has a considerable amount of skills, but those are mostly feasible in the normal format. And since his next match was going to be an unrestricted format against the Mahoutokoro's best, according to most experts' opinions, Hunt will face major difficulties in the next match if he were to play.

So, his best option would be to withdraw from the team for now by mentioning his early retirement from the sport, dramatically increasing the values of the contracts he was offered, and then signing with the Major League team that gives him the best offer. This is a completely viable option, as Hunt can technically return any time he wants, and the Quidditch world will only thank him for it. Now all that's left is to see if this speculation is correct or not."

….

No matter who read the article, whether they were Axel's supporters or haters, the amount of times it was shared only increased. Because even if it was not in praising Axel, it did give his supporters the hope that Axel hadn't quit and he might actually return very soon, and as a Major League Team member at all.

Despite everything, this was definitely a good news for them. And as for the fact that he might not be able to contend against Mahoutokoro, that became a major source of debate, only spreading his name further.

And while the whole Wizarding world was busy thinking and talking about him, Axel himself was still completely unaffected by everything, keeping to himself. He had been a bit troubled because even after taking the Valentinos help, a few ingredients that were still left on the list of things he needed to get Daphne's memories back.

Axel looked at the names of the two ingredients.

'System?'

[No.]

Useless fucker.

Axel sighed. Other than this like a problem with the ingredients, everything else was alright.

Somehow, he now had a group of students at a distance from him, who called themselves the "Savage Army". These runts would always keep others from approaching and bothering him, which was quite helpful.

"Haah… Patricia definitely got a lot better, huh?" He murmured to himself. He had just asked her to deliver his message but with all the extra nonsense she added, no matter if it was true or false, it had definitely made people more accepting of him, something which he could definitely appreciate, especially with all the trouble he had been having after his background was released.

While previously, there were a variety of negative emotions directed at him on a daily basis, now, for some reason, people's response towards him was highly positive, even though he had just blue-balled them by quitting.

So he had to accept, Patricia had definitely improved. From someone who wanted to hand out punishment to him and tried using things like blackmail to get him to join her team, she had become someone who is very aware and mindful of what he wants and doesn't want.

He had even decided to forgive her earlier actions from when she was still just an ignorant Slytherin Leader drunk on her power.

So, life was peaceful for Axel as he prepared for the Organization to arrive. Now his only problem was, from what he had shown, it was quite difficult to estimate his level, since he hadn't exactly shown any exact limits or boundaries in his abilities. If those buggers get extra cautious and send out high-level individuals to handle him, it would make things troublesome for him.

But whatever. Since he had been so high profile due to those skills, at least the Organization wouldn't miss him now.

Now all he had to do was train and wait. Though, the peace didn't last long.

"Mr. Hunt, you've been called to the Headmaster's office."

In the middle of the class, Flitwick got the message of the summons. And Axel, who was lost in his own world, snapped back to reality.

'What is it now?' He thought in exasperation. He hadn't done anything Darklordish lately, and he had been living very peacefully as well. And as for quitting Quidditch, Dumbledore should be happy about it, right?

Then what the hell?

"Sherbet Lemon."

Following his previous route, he climbed the stairs which led to the Headmaster's tower, once again keeping his guard up.

*Knock*

Once again, the door swung open on its own, revealing the familiar interior. But this time, the Headmaster was sitting right behind his desk.

And, sitting on the opposite side of the table, with his back to Axel was another person. All Axel could make out was a bald head, which was a good enough indicator of his identity.

On his arrival, the person turned around, revealing his face, and confirmed Axel's guess.

Yamazaki fucking Hiroshi. The Headmaster of Mahoutokoro.

Axel had to tone down his Arcane Eyes due to the sheer amount of brightness the two of these old fogies were emitting.

"Come just us, Mr. Hunt. The two of us had something important to discuss with you about the upcoming match."

Axel's eyes twitched.