Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 288 Whispering in Hermione's Ears
Apart from Tierra, who got two Bombtails as pets, everyone who finished the Magical Creatures Protection class looked pale and sickly.

Clearly, no one was very satisfied with Hagrid's first lesson.

However, Hagrid no longer cared; something rather pleasing seemed to have made him stop focusing on the young wizards' opinions of his teaching—

Tierra speculated that it might be because of the successful cultivation of the blasting snail.

Of course, it's also possible that Hagrid knew in advance that the first match of the Triwizard Tournament would be against a fire dragon, allowing him to get up close and personal with the fire dragon he had been dreaming of for a period of time.

After the first day of classes ended, Tyrell spoke with Hermione—

Regarding the matter of liberating house-elves.

Although Hermione is a clever and gifted little witch, she still seems too naive in some things—

“Then, Hermione, let me ask you something,” Tyella said, “why did you release the house-elves?”

“I just feel so sorry for them…” Hermione said. “Think about it, Tyella, think about it, house-elves work all year round without rest, and they are not only not allowed to rest, but they are also subjected to beatings and abuse.”

“That’s so sad, isn’t it?” Hermione said. “Um… Tyella, I… I’ve been thinking… I’m thinking of starting a house-elf rights advocacy association… could you…”

“No.” Tierra refused decisively.

"Why?" Hermione almost shouted. "Don't you have any sympathy for the house-elves?"

"Didn't you rescue a house-elf when you were in second grade?" Hermione pressed on.

“But not out of sympathy,” Tierra said, “but out of a sense of crisis.”

"A sense of crisis?" Hermione asked, puzzled. "Why?"

"Since you want to free house-elves, I believe you must have some understanding of them, right?" Tierra asked.

“Oh…yes, yes…” Hermione said, “House-elves are creatures created by wizards, and they must serve wizards generation after generation; that’s the meaning of their lives—”

"Pfft—" Before Hermione could finish speaking, Tyella suddenly burst out laughing, a laugh that was extremely sarcastic and mocking.

"What's wrong? Am I wrong?" Hermione asked.

"You don't actually believe that wizards from hundreds of years ago created house-elves, do you?" Tierra asked.

“But in the book…” Hermione argued.

“Forget what you know from books, Hermione!” Tyella said, “especially what you know from history books.”

"You mean the information in the book is wrong?" Hermione asked incredulously.

“Why not?” Tierra said. “Books are written by people, and people will write anything biased for all sorts of subjective reasons. This bias will gradually intensify with each generation of editors.”

“You know what? Hermione, you’re an incredibly clever witch. I’ve never seen a witch as clever as you,” Tyella said.

"Th...thank you," Hermione said, blushing.

“But you know what?” Tierra said, “your only flaw is that you’re too superstitious about what’s in books.”

“Use your common sense, Hermione,” Tierra said. “They are intelligent beings just like us, they can think, they have feelings, and even…”

"soul!"

Tiera uttered the word.

"This is far beyond the capabilities of any wizard; no wizard can create a completely independent soul."

“Those wizards rewrote history,” Tyrell said. “You know, Hermione, before Hogwarts was founded, Muggle-born wizards were considered to have unparalleled talent, so the Slytherin pure-blood theory seemed inconceivable at the time…”

“But tell me, Hermione, why?” Tyella asked again, “why are we now advocating for pure-bloodedness?”

"This..." Hermione thought for a moment, but couldn't give an answer.

“It’s definitely not because it’s right,” Tyella said. “Think of Hermione, think of her, think of you, think of me, think of all of Hogwarts, among all those so-called pure-blood wizards, who is more divine than us—”

“Cough, think about those pure-blood wizards. Apart from Dumbledore, who is more talented than us? Who is stronger than us?” Tierra changed her tune and said, “But there is only one Dumbledore every few hundred years, but in just the last ten years or so, the two of us have appeared.”

“That’s true…” Hermione hesitated, but straightened her back and raised her head.

This is her beginning to show signs of pride—

The behavior of starting to feel proud and expressing agreement.

"And as far as I know, Harry's mother, Lily Evans, was a powerful and talented wizard, just like you and me. She could even use a spell that Voldemort didn't know about and couldn't resist to protect Harry, and even kill Voldemort."

"Doesn't that prove anything, Hermione?" Tierra said. "Use your clever and wise little brain to think about it. The wheels of history should be rolling forward. There's no reason why, in the understanding of wizards hundreds or thousands of years ago, Muggle wizards had unique talents, but now, not discriminating against Muggle wizards has become politically correct. That doesn't make sense, does it?"

“Someone is deliberately covering up history!” Hermione exclaimed. “Someone is rewriting history!”

“Yes, Hermione, yes.” Tierra nodded in satisfaction. “And you know what? Even Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders, didn’t promote the pure-blood theory to discriminate against Muggle wizards, but to ensure the safety of the wizarding world.”

"How so?" Hermione asked.

“I don’t deny that Salazars-Slytherin was a great wizard,” Tiera said. “But he was just a great wizard from over a thousand years ago. He didn’t have that kind of foresight. He proposed the pure-blood theory only to prevent Muggle wizards who had been brainwashed by religion from entering schools and betraying wizarding society, thus causing irreparable consequences. Moreover, he was still a wizard who was responsible for his students and had a strong sense of justice.”

"Then Hermione, can you tell me, under those circumstances, when the conflict between Muggles and wizards was at its most intense, when the war had reached a fever pitch, and even to the point of being a fight to the death, if you were in Salazar Slytherin's position, would you have risked recruiting Muggle students who might have been brainwashed and whose heads were filled with fanatical religious beliefs?"

“I…” Hermione thought for a moment, then answered decisively, “I won’t!”

Hermione's voice was extremely firm, as if she had pierced through the fog and seen the truth of history—

"So those so-called pure-blood theories were just a temporary theory put forward during the war!" Hermione concluded. "This theory was aimed at the influence of the family background on Muggle wizards, not on their bloodline or physiology!"

“Someone has distorted this theory!” Hermione said fiercely. “But why?”

“To seize power,” Tierra said. “Look at those so-called pure-blood families, they’ve amassed enormous wealth through countless wars, and that’s what…”

Tierra raised an eyebrow, signaling Hermione to continue.

"This is the rudimentary form of capitalism!" Hermione suddenly realized. "Capitalism came into this world oozing dirty blood and sweat from every pore! Those pure-blood families made their fortunes from war after war!"

"Yes, and then these pure-blood families intermarry to consolidate their position, thus forming conglomerates." "In order to consolidate their rule, these conglomerates suppress dissidents and divide the lower classes."

“That’s why they’re so hostile to Muggle people,” Tierra said. “With their wealth and connections, they could easily build an extremely stable pyramid-shaped society. A small number of pure-blood families, or rather, conglomerates, would intermarry to form the very top of the pyramid. Other ordinary wizarding families and Muggle wizards would form the middle part, and house-elves and other magical creatures would form the bottom. They’re like that, layer by layer, sucking the blood of house-elves and other magical creatures, and then those conglomerates suck our blood. We can generally call it—”

“Exploitation!” Hermione said.

“Yes, very good,” Tierra said. “It seems you didn’t waste your time reading last year’s Christmas present.”

“This was originally a fairly stable structure,” Tiera said, “but it’s clear that Muggle wizards are more talented, have more potential for development, and are more likely to challenge their dominant position than pure-blood wizards. To put it bluntly, wizarding society is not Muggle society; the differences between individuals within wizarding society are enormous, so—”

"That's why they discriminate against us!" Hermione said angrily. "They discriminate against us to suppress us, to prevent any Dumbledore from emerging from among us!"

"Yes, they developed a wartime provisional theory of Slytherin into what they called 'truth,' and used it to suppress us, discriminate against us, and exploit the resources we deserve!"

"Today they only discriminate against us, only say that we Muggles are of inferior blood, but what about tomorrow?" Tiera asked. "Tomorrow, in order to further consolidate their rule, will they reduce us to the same status as house-elves?"

"This...this...this..." Hermione trembled all over—

She wanted to find a reason to refute it, but she discovered that everything Tiera said was possible.

Tierra may have lied, but history will not.

The history of the wizarding world has proven this trend.

“I know you like me, Hermione,” Tyella said suddenly. “I’m not stupid, I can tell.”

"I..." Hermione's face instantly turned bright red.

“But I can’t accept it,” Tierra said. “We can’t be together.”

"Why...why?" Hermione asked.

“Honestly, Hermione, you are perfect—smart, beautiful, and powerful. It’s the greatest honor of my life to have you like me, and I really want to be with you,” Tyella said. “But I’m a responsible person.”

“But I love someone, and I hope to grow old with this person, so I have to think a lot about our future, our future… children,” Tyella said. “In today’s distorted wizarding society, the union of two Muggles is the worst choice. Our children will forever be treated as second-class citizens, whether at Hogwarts or in the wizarding world in the future. Children of two Muggles will always be at the bottom of the hierarchy of discrimination. Think about it, Hermione, think about how many times you and I have been called Mudbloods? Do you want our children to suffer the same discrimination?”

“We survived thanks to our own abilities, our strong character, and the help of others, and we didn’t grow up to be an autistic, sensitive, and fragile wizard. But what about our children? Can you guarantee that they will receive the same help as we did?”

“Neither of us can guarantee anything,” Tiera said. “As long as this distorted society exists, our union is the worst possible choice. The best way is for me to find a pure-blood witch and you to find a pure-blood wizard. This way, we, and our children, can have the same resources as other wizards in the future.”

“Isn’t it ridiculous?” Tiera chuckled self-deprecatingly. “We are all so talented, we are all so smart, we are all so hardworking, but in the end, we still have to rely on nepotism to get the same resources as other wizards.”

“We deserved better!” Hermione said.

"Yes."

Hermione took the bait.

Tierra thought to herself happily.

“So I think the wizarding world needs a reform,” Tierra said. “Simply rescuing house-elves is too narrow-minded, don’t you think?”

“Moreover, if we don’t dismantle this entire grotesque wizard pyramid, we will never truly liberate the house-elves,” Tierra said.

“Yes!” Hermione said excitedly, as if she had suddenly found her pillar of support.

"So you're going to implement reforms?" Hermione asked. "Wait, no, not you. So Mr. Lockhart is going to implement reforms? And Mr. Lockhart is willing to liberate house-elves?"

“Yes,” Tiera said with a profound smile. “Gidrolockhart had the world in his heart; he believed that all intelligent life should live equally under the same sky.”

“Mr. Lockhart is amazing,” Hermione said.

“First, we must identify who our enemies are and who our friends are,” Tierra said. “We must distinguish the principal contradiction.”

“There are three main types of conflicts facing the wizarding world right now,” Tierra summarized. “The conflict between pure-blood conglomerates and other wizards over the uneven distribution of resources; the conflict between the entire wizarding community and magical creatures, including house-elves; and the conflict between the entire magical world, including wizarding society and magical creatures, and Muggle society.”

……

Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat in his office chair, on the desk in front of him a crystal ball the size of a head and a music box the size of a palm.

Inside the crystal ball was a withered, aged face, almost like a zombie—it was Nicolas Lemaître. At the same time, Thiella's voice came from the music box—

"The conflict arising from the uneven distribution of resources between pure-blooded conglomerates and other wizards..."

"The conflict between the entire wizarding community and magical creatures, including house-elves..."

"The conflict between the entire wizarding world, including wizarding society and magical creatures, and Muggle society..."

Then Dumbledore, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty, continued listening to Tiera's voice coming from the music box—

"...We must establish a united front between wizards and magical creatures..."

"...Power comes from the wand handle..."

"...to build a disciplined organization with popular support..."

"...Unite all forces that can be united, and mobilize all forces that can be mobilized..."

"...Now, Hermione, I formally invite you...to join the Tarot Club..."

"Bam—"

Dumbledore slammed his fist on the desk, his beard bristling and eyes wide with fury—

"That little fox!" Dumbledore exclaimed angrily, slamming his hand on the table so hard it startled even Fawkes, who had been standing on the bird perch. "He's been lying to me all this time!"

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