Chapter 1284: The Second Step of the Counterattack

Harry was stunned, suddenly feeling an unfamiliar chill.

He also participated in the Magic Spell Study Group and knew the “Safety Regulations” were terrible. He knew they had to resist the enforcement of these regulations at the school.

But perhaps because the real harm and impact had not had the chance or time to appear, Harry’s understanding was vague. He even felt a bit sorry for Percy, who was collectively troubled by the students.

Due to his fondness for the Weasley family, Percy’s image in his mind largely remained that of the awkward young man, who, on a snowy day, was forced onto the playground for a snowball fight after being pelted with several snowballs by the twins.

He was also the student council president, who cheered and jumped with excitement after the Quidditch victory.

And he was that silly older brother who spent the whole summer writing letters to his girlfriend, trying to hide it from his siblings.

The battle regarding the “Safety Regulations” in his mind was also internal to the school and the system, almost like an alternative prank.

—Perhaps Percy just didn’t realize the consequences would be severe… maybe he was just impatient to establish his own authority…

In his heart, Harry had even tried to excuse Percy.

What Michael imagined, that this dispute would extend beyond the school, that someone might be forced to leave the school, or even end up in Azkaban, was already unbelievable to him.

And Vid’s words made his fingers feel cold.

Was Percy targeting the few of them?

“Dumbledore…” Harry murmured, “What does Dumbledore say?”

“Exactly!” Neville exhaled, feeling he had finally found a resonance: “Dumbledore wouldn’t let Percy do whatever he wants at school, right?”

Vid looked at them, and after a moment, calmly said:

“We all know that Professor Dumbledore is very powerful. If he wants, he can do many things—but what some people in the Ministry of Magic fear is precisely this.”

“So many things he cannot do, and contrary to us students, he is less free.”

“Because his every move will be imbued with numerous meanings, easily misinterpreted maliciously.”

“They will say—look, Dumbledore indeed wants to control Hogwarts, not even allowing the Ministry of Magic’s Security Envoy to intervene! What is he afraid of, what is he trying to hide?”

Everyone’s faces subtly changed.

“So… the headmaster probably won’t say or do anything for the time being,” Vid said. “When things are still controllable, he might want to see—what we can achieve on our own.’

Neville’s lips moved, but no sound came out, he just straightened his back a bit more.

Harry raised his head, with a focus on his face only seen when catching the Golden Snitch.

Everyone’s breathing became slightly more rapid, their eyes brightened, and their fists unknowingly clenched, as if they wished Percy would appear right now so they could prove their ability.

Although Vid used words like “probably” and “perhaps,” in their minds, this was Dumbledore’s attitude—

Albus Dumbledore was not indifferent; he stood behind them!

If they couldn’t hold on, the headmaster would step in to stop everything turning bad!

This thought was enough to give anyone confidence and courage.

But even with the headmaster as a fallback, they also wanted to prove they had grown up, wanting to solve the problem with their own strength.

Harry took a deep breath, the confusion in his eyes fading, and his voice more steady than before:

“Since that’s the case… we can’t wait for Percy to come up with ways to deal with us in two days, it’s best to seize the initiative.”

Michael smiled: “The counter-attack step we talked about before, I have already arranged it—all set up for Monday morning, we’ll see what we want in the newspaper.”

Vid nodded.

Seeing the faint smile on his face, Harry immediately recalled what Vid had mentioned at the Magic Spell Study Group—

“It’s not just the internal school, we also need to launch an offensive outside the school!”

“The Prophet Daily, Wizard Weekly, The Quibbler… any newspaper and magazine that can be seen can become our means of propaganda.”

“Let everyone see, let everyone in the Magic World know what the Ministry of Magic is doing at Hogwarts!”

“What conspiracies fear is not resistance, but being seen! They fear having that thin veil covering them ripped off, revealing the true ugliness underneath to all!”

“Some things are easy to do in the dark, but very difficult to do under the sun.”

“And we need to put their intentions under the spotlight, for everyone to scrutinize!”

“What I need to know now is—besides the Flow Mirror, who else has a way to get our articles published in other newspapers and magazines?”

In the dark, several hands were raised consecutively, high up, as if afraid Vid above could not see them.

…

“So…,” Theo said in a tense voice, “then later, we need to go to the House to tell everyone, after Monday, reports submitted must be cautious, avoid involving any potentially illegal parts.”

Theo’s voice brought Harry back to his senses, and he nodded, saying: “Almost forgot… we must remind everyone to put away stuff like Fred and George’s Nosebleed Nougat, so they can’t find them.”

“What about the already submitted ones?” Padma looked around and said, “The Ministry of Magic can make a fuss out of those too.”

Ron bit his teeth and said: “Leave it to me! I can sneak into Percy’s office and steal all the previous reports!”

“If found out, I can say… say I was delivering him candy sent by mom, he can’t arrest me for that!”

Hermione looked at him in surprise.

Ron asked angrily: “What?”

“She’s probably trying to say…” Michael said slowly: “Ron, how did you get so smart?”

The latter sentence, he imitated Hermione’s tone, mockingly.

Everyone burst into laughter, except Hermione, who rolled her eyes at Michael.

After laughing, Vid continued: “In the next two days, besides launching a media campaign, it’s best to have each house prepare for one more thing—a Student Representative Supervisory Committee.”

“What’s that?” Neville asked confusedly.

Vid explained patiently: “Didn’t we mention it? One of the biggest problems with that regulation is the unlimited decision-making power of the Security Envoy.”

“What’s ‘abnormal’, what’s ‘unsuitable to possess’, what’s ‘high-risk individual’, it’s all Percy’s call.”

“If we raise an issue here, they can justifiably say, let’s have the Ministry of Magic’s Education Department or more ‘Special Envoys’ to review it.”

“But we cannot give up the initiative, because who they bring will inevitably stand on the same ground as them!”

“Therefore, we must preemptively propose, for each house to elect representatives—including prefects and regular students, seniors and juniors, boys and girls, half-blood, pure-blood, and Muggle-borns—to jointly form a supervisory committee.”

“The more people, the more diverse the voices, the fairer the judgment.”

“If Percy or the Ministry of Magic refuses, we can ask—”

“Why not let students participate in supervision? Do they think students are unworthy of trust? Or do they know their judgments can’t bear scrutiny?”

“Are you really here to protect students? Then why fear being supervised?”

“Is it that you just want to control us? Want to be the Emperor at Hogwarts, so nobody can speak at all?”

Everyone stood with their mouths wide open, eyes widened, staring at him in a daze, as if seeing a new world opened before them.

Vid chuckled softly: “Labeling! The Ministry of Magic loves doing this all the time, why can’t we?”

“…Can we do this?” Ron gasped heavily, his voice cracking: “Can we do this? But… but… what Percy will do on Monday is just our guess, right?”

“Exactly,” Vid said: “but think about it, he just enacted the Safety Regulations, would he be humiliated enough to withdraw them after only a day?”

“Of course not!” Ron shook his head forcefully: “That would be too embarrassing. Percy would hold out no matter how difficult, unless he’s reassigned!”

“That’s right.” Vid leaned back against his chair and smiled: “So we have to plan various strategies on the premise that the Safety Regulations will certainly exist.”

“Otherwise… we can’t possibly wait until the slap is right on our face to decide whether to fight back, right?”