Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 175, Section 174: The Twisted Squib and Hermione's Fighting Spirit

Dumbledore had planned everything out.

“I will select some as apprentices, but not all of them,” Harry gave Dumbledore a strange look. “What do you take me for? My ideal is the revival of the elements, to bring about the full arrival of the magical age, not to save everyone in this world.”

Harry planned to leave the Squibs alone for the time being, observe their patience and sincerity, and then conduct one or more trials to select those with a peaceful mind and a firm will from among them; age was not really important.

These Squibs, who are guarding outside Hogwarts and refusing to leave, are people who do not want to enter Muggle society. The pain of being born into a magical family but having no chance to use magic has always tormented them, and they refuse to give up. Therefore, they have an extremely strong obsession with magic.

Those who are truly open-minded have long since lived as pure Muggles and distanced themselves from the magical world.

Such people, once given the opportunity to master magic, will cherish it more and work harder than the children at Hogwarts who are born with magical abilities—just like how, among Harry's current apprentices, the most hardworking and diligent is not Hermione but Filch.

Things that come too easily are often taken for granted.

Harry believed that the most steadfast shamans of the Earth Ring would emerge from these Squibs. They would learn everything about shamanism with tenfold enthusiasm, and since the only spells they could use were shamanic spells, these people would undoubtedly be more eager for the true revival of the elements than ordinary wizards, and more willing to work hard for this ideal.

Harry only needs to pick out those who meet his requirements.

"The great Headmaster Dumbledore" suddenly turned his head, and Harry said to Dumbledore, "As the professor of Shamanism, may I request that some of the selected Squibs audit my classes? Classes for first-stage apprentices."

"This lesson will probably bring you a little... well, a little pressure from the Ministry of Magic."

“Oh, my great Professor Potter,” Dumbledore chuckled, “it is truly an honor to hear such praise from you, an old man like myself.”

"so?"

“I think my old bones can still handle a lot,” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “Remember what you promised me, Harry.”

"Thank you," Harry said sincerely.

....................................

The process was no different from last year; the new Professor Potter needed to select a new group of apprentices.

The older students had already given the first-year students the first lesson of the Shaman Club many times, so before the lesson actually began, students of all grades were nervous—everyone was worried about whether they could establish a connection with the earth element.

Instead of using the shamanic altar far from the castle as the location for classes, the students have moved to a new Hogwarts site: the grassy area beneath the massive totem building, spacious enough to accommodate students from all seven years.

Before Harry appeared, the students looked curiously at the group of people who shouldn't have been in Hogwarts, sitting neatly on the far right. Many of the older students had already recognized a few familiar faces in the group; they were the Squibs who had come to Hogsmeade in the past few days.

With a mindset of "better to have none than something bad," Ha spent two days observing these duds. The ever-present wind would bring their most authentic behavior to him, showing how they were when alone, their attitudes when interacting with others, and so on.

Those with extreme ideologies, those intending to gain power for revenge against someone or something, those who wallow in self-pity, those who are resentful and cynical, and those whose views from an astral perspective are unfriendly or unhealthy...

In short, after two days of initial screening, Harry selected a group of Hogsmeade Squibs to observe the class.

Honestly, Hagrid's imposing physique was a huge help, allowing Harry to safely escape the crowd—once the first person saw the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead and called out Harry Potter, these Squibs who had come to Hogsmeade specifically for Harry rushed over like madmen.

Whenever Harry recalled the expressions and looks of those who weren't chosen after he announced the list of chosen ones and prepared to leave under Hagrid's cover... even he got goosebumps.

It's so permeable.

Despair, hatred, resentment, malice, anger... It's hard to imagine how those weak bodies and minds could erupt with such extreme negative emotions, but it was precisely this extreme mindset that made Harry not choose them.

Especially for those Squibs who have lived in the corners of the magical world for decades, this morbid mentality has become an inseparable and unchangeable part of them.

Given Hermione's ambition to change the situation of Squibs in wizarding society, Harry brought along a few of his friends—but even Hermione, with such ambition, found it somewhat difficult to accept this horrific sight.

Those who were rejected even followed Harry and his friends all the way to the border of Hogwarts. Even though Hagrid rudely pushed them away, preventing the excited crowd from entering the Hogwarts area, Harry and his friends, who had already gone far away, could still hear the malicious curses behind them.

Hermione was saddened for a long time because of this. She couldn't accept that the group she wanted to save was actually in such a... terrible state.

After much hesitation, Hermione still chose to use the less harsh word "bad" to describe the situation.

"Why? Harry? Why did they act like that?"

Harry still remembers the little girl sitting by the fireplace in the Gryffindor lounge, hugging a cushion and looking completely bewildered.

She didn't understand. "Actually, this is the most common state of Squibs in wizarding society," Harry said calmly, pulling up a chair to sit next to Hermione. "You can't throw a piece of paper into the mud and then take it out and expect it to still be as clean as it was originally."

"Those Squibs who choose to fully integrate into Muggle society are better off; they will find their own place and value in Muggle society and have a new life. But for those Squibs who are unwilling to give up magic and cannot leave wizarding society, every day is incredibly torturous."

“Rita’s article contains many descriptions of the Squirt’s past life, and I can tell you that she did not exaggerate in any way—in fact, she even embellished and concealed it to some extent in order to save face for the Ministry of Magic and the wizarding community.”

In Hermione's eyes, everything Rita Skittles wrote was unworthy of attention, fake, and exaggerated.

“I remember that article,” Hermione’s voice was already trembling with tears, “Those things Filch himself admitted to, jealousy of a young wizard who could cast spells at will, but I never expected…”

“I didn’t expect them to be even more extreme than Filch?” Harry suddenly laughed. “I have to say Filch’s condition is actually quite good. His thirst for magic, the discrimination from ordinary wizards, even the hatred and discrimination from his own family, the pain of not being accepted… it’s all like a pool of filthy, stinking mud that has been soaking them for years.”

“Rita wasn’t lying about that part. Many years ago, families like the Malfoys or other dark wizarding families… well, you know, those Slytherin wizarding nobles, if they had a Squib, they would quietly get rid of it themselves,” Ron muttered. “They would just make up some excuse, like it died of illness or fell and died or something. They were that kind of bad people.”

“It’s not just the Slytherin wizarding nobles,” Neville suddenly spoke, sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest. His face was very pale, as if he had been frightened by those people, and his voice was very soft. “Almost all wizarding families, whether it’s Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff—or even Gryffindor, all families are the same.”

Noticing the surprised looks on everyone's faces, Neville quickly added:

“As you all know, I’m very stupid. My grandma always said I was definitely a Squib, until when I was eight years old, Uncle Algi accidentally dropped me out of the window and I bounced up on my own,” Neville grinned, a rare moment of happiness for him. “She kept bringing it up, and the fact that I wasn’t a Squib relieved her. Well, anyway, I know a fair bit about Squibs.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, Neville,” Hermione said, her face also pale, but she remained calm. “You’re not an idiot—is the Weasleys like that too?”

At the end of the conversation, Hermione suddenly asked Ron a question.

“The Weasleys?” Ron didn’t immediately understand Hermione’s meaning, then said angrily, “Our family is certainly not—uh, I don’t think so?”

He looked a little hesitant.

“Mom once mentioned one of her cousins, who was incredibly crazy and even thought Dad had tainted the family bloodline… Well, Dad and Mom cut ties with the other Weasleys a long time ago and stopped associating with them. If it were those Weasleys… they probably wouldn’t have given Squib a friendly look.” Ron suddenly sighed.

"But I have to say, if I were a Squib, my mom and dad would be very sad... I'm pretty sure of it."

Only this last sentence was spoken with absolute certainty by Ron.

“So you’ve seen the dark side of the Squirts, many of them are no longer even considered kind or gentle,” Harry suddenly asked. “What are you going to do, Hermione?”

“I…I…only a part, right? I mean the Squibs we saw today.” Hermione forced a pale smile as she looked at Harry. “I mean, it was because of their burning desire for magic, to the point of being twisted in their minds, that these Squibs came to Hogsmeade the moment they saw the newspaper.”

“But from another perspective, those who are more easygoing, less eager for magic, and less extreme Squibs—even if they saw what was in the newspaper, they wouldn’t be in a rush to come to Hogsmeade, would they?” Hermione became more and more determined as she spoke.

“We’ve only met the most desperate people for magic, and the people we’ve met today don’t fully represent the Squibs,” Hermione took a deep breath. “I still believe there are many more Squibs in the world who deserve help—only when the whole pond is clear will a piece of paper thrown in not get stained, right?”

“It’s not their fault,” Hermione said, her eyes shining brightly. “They were born into a rotten environment, corrupted by the twisted world of wizarding society. They are innocent.”

"I believe that if wizards stop discriminating against Squibs and the Ministry of Magic starts paying attention to their plight, then future Squibs will not be like those people are today—at least that's what I think!"

Hermione held her breath, casting an expectant glance at Harry, as if searching for something.

“…Well said.” Harry’s serious face suddenly broke into a smile. He even sat up and ruffled Hermione’s hair. He did not hold back his praise. “Very good, really—for someone your age to have such knowledge, and even to have your own thoughts and understanding, is beyond the reach of most people.”

"Oh, thank you." Hermione's face turned bright red, and she even forgot to swat away Harry's hand that was ruffling her hair. She stammered, "So, so, um, you're willing to help me? I mean, continue to help me?"

“Of course,” Harry said without hesitation. “You’re doing the right thing, and if it’s the right thing, you should stick to it. Even though many wizards don’t care about Squibs and will say that the world has always been this way, their opinions don’t matter at all.”

“If it makes the world a better place, then we should keep going,” Harry said with a smile. “If you can stick to this idea and no difficulty can defeat you, then you are already a hero, Hermione.”

Harry gave her high praise, and he truly admired the willpower Hermione displayed at that moment.

With such fighting spirit, Hermione can no longer be considered a child, but rather a person capable of independent thought.

"A hero?" Hermione's eyes welled up with tears as she was surprised that Harry would call her that. "Thank you, thank you, Harry—I will never give up, absolutely not!"

Ron and Neville, sitting next to each other, exchanged a glance. They wondered if it was just their imagination, but even though there were four people sitting there, for some reason, they felt like they couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Is this reasonable?

(End of this chapter)