Chapter 1238: Hermione’s Concern

Chapter 1238 -54: Hermione’s Concern

The compartment fell silent for a moment.

Theo forgot his earlier blunder and exchanged a worried glance with Leian.

Michael winked at Vid, mouthing silently, “Heartbroken… definitely.”

Vid recalled Cho and Cedric always going in and out together and, feeling sympathetic, silently pushed the paper bag on the table towards Harry.

The train rocked, and the fields outside the window were gray and receding.

After a good while, the compartment door was knocked again, and Harry instantly sat up straight, his lips tight as he looked towards the door.

This time, appearing outside the door were Ron and Hermione wearing Prefect badges. They looked exhausted, their hair a bit disheveled, embodying the overwhelmed look of people surrounded by countless chores.

“Harry!”

As soon as Ron walked in, he saw Harry and immediately complained:

“Didn’t you promise to help us save seats? We’ve already been looking all over the carriage for twenty minutes, and in the end, you…”

His words trailed off abruptly.

Harry mustered up some energy, apologetically saying, “Sorry, Ron, I…”

“Never mind, that’s not important!”

Ron interrupted him, eagerly squeezing Harry further inside, disregarding his good friend becoming squished, his eyes bright as he said:

“Anything’s fine! Can you spare a pie? I’m so hungry I could chew the table!”

“Of course!” Leian enthusiastically said, “Help yourself! Do you like foie gras toast?”

“I like it all!”

Ron practically lunged, grabbing a toast and taking a big bite, only to be choked and quickly look for water.

Hermione also accepted Michael’s invitation to sit down, took a sandwich, thanked him, and started eating.

Ron swallowed the entire toast, then took a long breath and said:

“It’s terrifying; a Prefect’s job is practically inhumane!”

“A first-year brought a cat that was running everywhere in the carriage because a few other students had brought mice and hadn’t properly secured them…”

He grabbed a beef pie and said through mouthfuls:

“Two third-years fought over the window seat;”

“And there was a Slytherin who was practically a little demon. He almost threw his classmate out the window.”

“I have to say, Malfoy would definitely like him… ah, this pie is really good… we definitely didn’t have that kind of guts back then…”

Ron ate with no grace at all, but his wolfing manner made everyone watching hungry.

Vid also took a sandwich, having just eaten two bites when Ron finally finished ranting about all the strange encounters he had, leaving Hermione a chance to say:

“Vid, did you see the Flow Mirror news this morning? That urgent bulletin?”

The girl slightly furrowed her brow, with a few of her unique focused expressions when facing a dilemma.

Vid nodded, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, “I saw it.”

“What news?” Leian raised his head in confusion: “I left early today and didn’t have time to watch it.”

The others had similar expressions.

Vid took a sip of water and simply said:

“If you’ve been reading the international section of the Prophet Daily recently, you should have noticed, the American Magic Congress’s upper ranks have exposed a series of serious illegal activities.”

“This includes the principal of Ilvermorny Magic School, Agilbert Fontaine, and the former assistant to the Congress president, Laira Piqueley.”

“Especially recent investigations show, the principal and some faculty of Ilvermorny have been leaking information about Muggle-born or even Half-Blood students to external forces—I mean Muggle Influence—over a long period.”

Theo was so shocked that the pie fell from his hand: “The principal personally selling student information, why would he do that?”

“Because they’re just like the Malfoy Family,” Hermione bit her lip and said: “They believe Wizards with Muggle blood are impure, an insecurity in the Magic World, needing to be completely eliminated.”

“… Merlin!” Theo said numbly.

He himself was Pure-Blood, but in this room, except for him and Ron, the others were all Half-Blood or even Muggle.

According to those from Ilvermony, the theory is that the others shouldn’t even exist?

—What a crazy idea!

For the first time in his life, Theo actually found the Slytherins quite decent.

Because they only looked down on people, talked behind backs, or made trouble face to face, instead of crushing their classmates like bugs.

“In conclusion,” Vid added: “This matter has caused quite a stir, the scope is wider than expected; it’s rumored the victims are not only from the United States but even includes underage Wizards from other countries.”

Hermione said seriously: “So the Ministry of Magic suggested—there are catastrophic loopholes in some institutions protecting students from targeted threats!”

“They also said they would track down underage Wizards who haven’t arrived at school on time!”

“This…” Theo hesitantly opened his mouth: “Isn’t this a good thing? I mean, protecting all underage Wizards’ safety is the Ministry of Magic’s responsibility!”

Harry nodded and said: “With something so big, looking into it is only right.”

He didn’t understand why Hermione looked so serious.

Hermione knitted her brow and slowly said: “There’s indeed a need… but I’m worried this may mean the Ministry of Magic will start intervening with Hogwarts.”

The compartment fell silent for a moment.

Everyone couldn’t help but think of Cornelius Fudge.

Especially Harry, his meetings with the former Minister of Ministry of Magic were far from pleasant, leading to some distrust towards the Ministry of Magic as a whole.

But Harry didn’t see how ‘the Ministry of Magic investigating the safety of underage Wizards’ could negatively affect them.

“Don’t scare yourself too early.”

Michael leaned against the seat back, speaking calmly:

“My dad said Sinclaire is different from Fudge, he’s a peaceful person, not fond of causing trouble.”

“Rather than sweeping reforms, he prefers maintaining a superficial peace, especially keeping a good relationship with Professor Dumbledore.”

“So even if they do investigate, I suppose they’ll just look through school records, check on students who rejected admission letters, and those who dropped out midway.”

Theo understood and optimistically said: “So it has nothing to do with us?”

Michael nodded: “It should have nothing to do with most of us, at most just some strangers strolling around the school for a few days!”

“Perhaps.” Vid set down his water glass and said: “But even a completely correct decree can have wildly different results when executed by different people.”

He looked towards Hogwarts, at the moment only a patch of gloomy clouds could be seen, neither distant mountains nor the castle beyond.

Ron had almost finished the pie, with some grease still sticking to the corner of his mouth.

He had buried his head in eating just now, completely missing the turn of the topic, at this moment only confusion saying:

“By the way, what was the news content again?”