Chapter 1283: Targeted

Staring at the words on the notice, Lee Jordan refused to give up. He went up to the door, pushed it, and knocked for two minutes before finally confirming—Percy Weasley was indeed not in the school.

“This…”

The students with their bookbags, ready to “complain,” looked at each other in dismay.

Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff speculated, “Could it be that he couldn’t take it anymore and ran away?”

This conjecture quickly spread, and the students at the back of the line took it as fact, raising their arms and shouting as if they had scored a goal:

“He ran away! Percy Weasley ran away!”

“Woo-hoo—”

Some students bounced, high-fiving each other in celebration.

“Only one day!” someone exclaimed with a gaping mouth, then burst into laughter, “He couldn’t take it after just one day!”

“How could this be!” someone shouted in frustration, “I bet he could last a week!”

His shout provoked even greater laughter.

Someone else half-jokingly reproached, “I told you all went too far, not even leaving him time for a meal. Otherwise, he could have lasted another two or three days!”

“Goodbye, Mr. Percy Weasley!”

Lee Jordan said loudly, bowing exaggeratedly toward the office’s closed door, his voice echoing down the corridor:

“Thank you for the joy you’ve brought us! We’ll miss you—well, probably for a day or two!”

The students laughed with abandon and didn’t linger in the corridor, quickly dispersing with this good news, spreading the word that “Percy Weasley ran away in embarrassment” everywhere.

…

“I really didn’t expect it; he ran away after just one round.”

Theo said subconsciously, then came to his senses and looked apologetically at Ron.

“Sorry, Ron, I shouldn’t speak about your brother like that.”

Ron twitched the corner of his mouth, shrugged nonchalantly, “No need to apologize; I hope more than you that he’d leave school sooner!”

Michael tapped the table, saying, “They’re celebrating too early; didn’t the notice say? Continuing on Monday morning!”

Padma tilted her head, “By then, will he have strategies to deal with the current situation, being overwhelmed by reports? But I can’t think how he could handle it.”

She looked at Vid, then at Hermione, asking, “If it were you, what would you do?”

“If it were me…”

Hermione pondered for a moment, biting her lip, “Those deliberately disruptive reports are actually easy to identify, so I’d require students to submit paper documents, so they can’t take up my time in large amounts.”

“Secondly, I’d casually handle the reports that are clearly just joining in, like ‘I’ve been informed, but further verification is needed, please wait for the next update’.”

“For uniform replies, an automatic quill could finish quickly.”

“If I were an official from the Ministry of Magic, I doubt students would chase me for the ‘roommate stole my socks’ small issue outcomes.”

“And I’d request the reporting students to provide more details, like time, place, and witnesses. If they can’t provide them, I wouldn’t need to rush to a conclusion.”

“As for information logging… we can completely assign some students to assist, as I need to handle more important work, not just sit in the office as a recorder…”

Michael shook his head, “That’s the upright way, Hermione. But if I were Percy, I’d blow the problem out of proportion—”

“‘Stealing socks’ isn’t just ‘stealing socks,’ it’s ‘theft’;”

“Talking poorly behind someone’s back is ‘slander’;”

“Insulting a classmate is ‘discrimination’;”

“If there are mental issues, send them to Madam Pomfrey or even the healers at St Mungo’s, requiring a recovery certificate before returning to school;”

“Moreover, some pranks, strictly speaking, are crimes. If pursued, a few months in Azkaban are possible.”

He glanced around solemnly, “When the cost of fooling around becomes severe, retaliation will naturally be easily broken, and no one would dare take trivial matters to Percy unless they’re genuinely reporting someone.”

“Would Percy… Percy really do this?”

Harry worriedly looked at Ron, stating unbelievingly, “Wasn’t he here to oversee safety? The way you put it… it’s as if he’s specifically targeting Hogwarts.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Vid looked at Harry—over the years, Harry had been well protected by Sirius.

Although he occasionally encountered troubles related to Voldemort or life-and-death situations, he hadn’t endured the pain of misundstandings and betrayals from the original story.

Adding to his carefree, well-fed, and thoughtless disposition, Harry appeared much more naive than the original.

“Percy might not be here to target Hogwarts, but he surely wasn’t stationed at school solely for safety. Instead, he had a clear target to focus on,” Vid began.

Everyone’s eyes fell on him.

He leaned back in the chair, spinning a quill unconsciously in his fingers, saying:

“Think about that ‘Safety Regulations’; under the guise of concern, it controls students, turning everyone’s relationship from trust into mutual surveillance, and slightly strips away our freedom, instilling a fear of making mistakes…”

“Put these series of tactics together, if left unchecked, it’s a frog being boiled in warm water. He isn’t managing the school or protecting our safety but domesticating Hogwarts students.”

“Several regulations work together to form a strangling environment. On the surface, he targets no one, but he’s crafting a context where targeting anyone is legal and compliant.”

“Then, with a little guidance, the domesticated students will quickly discern who his real target is.”

“Driven by fear or interest, they’ll lose their rationality, swarming to monitor, restrict, and record that person, with any mistake being blown out of proportion until it becomes an inescapable predicament.”

“It’s an unresistable, lawful violence.”

“And the person he’s targeting…”

Vid looked at Harry and slowly said:

“Mildly arrogant to say—it could be me.”

“It could also be you.”

“Or more likely Dumbledore.”

“That’s the real target he’s out for.”

“As for other students… I’m sorry, they’re merely collateral damage caught up in the scheme.”

“But it doesn’t mean they’re safe in the process. Harry, freedom taken in the name of safety is never voluntarily returned!”