The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 87 The Cruel Reality

At the bustling entrance of Flourish and Blotts bookstore, Ino watched Ginny's receding figure, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside her.

He shook his head helplessly, then squatted down again to tidy up the parchment on the ground. Although the person was gone, he couldn't leave the things on the ground unattended.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Hermione's voice rang out, her gaze following Ino's line of sight to Ginny's back.

Hermione had witnessed everything that happened, especially when Ino opened the box and took out the stationery set. She had an indescribable feeling of unease and inexplicable unhappiness.

"Pretty?" Ino was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "She's only a little bit old, at most she's the kind of cute girl next door."

"Yes! That's right! Just like a little sister." Hermione nodded emphatically, her tone revealing a hint of joy.

"Hermione, do you think someone's stupidity is really innate?"

Although she didn't know why Ino asked that question, Hermione still answered seriously:

"I don't think so. Very few people are born stupid. I feel that most stupidity is shaped by their environment, whether it's their personality or their behavior."

"So stupidity is a moral flaw!" Having tidied up the scattered parchment, Ino slowly stood up:

"Foolish people cannot be truly kind, because they cannot distinguish right from wrong, and they act solely on their emotions! Therefore, foolishness itself is an incurable evil."

Suddenly, Ino felt a bit bored; arguing with a fool would only make him a fool too.

"Forget it! Let's not talk about this anymore. Do you still want to buy books? We might still make it if we queue up now."

Upon hearing this, Hermione glanced at the thronged Flourish and Blotts bookstore with a troubled expression.

"Let's buy it in a few days; there are still two weeks until school starts."

After saying that, she glanced at the suitcase next to her and then asked somewhat casually, "Did you buy that set of stationery in Hogsmeade? I've never seen it in Diagon Alley."

"Stationery?" Ino suddenly turned around, only to see that familiar body language again in her sight.

Hermione's toes lightly touched the ground, wearing a pair of white sandals. Two black straps wrapped around her arches and fit snugly around her ankles, then met at the instep and tied into an exquisite bow.

And yet, these beautiful shoes kept inadvertently kicking a pebble on the roadside.

"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade? I'll take you on the wizards' private bus; it should only take about fifteen minutes."

……

Tuesday, September 1, 1992, light breeze.

The Hogwarts Express departed from King's Cross Station in London once again, as scheduled.

In a compartment at the back of the train, Ino sat quietly, her head resting gently against the window, watching the pastoral scenery rushing past.

Across from him, Pansy was telling Daphne about all the interesting things she had seen and experienced during the summer vacation.

Hearing the occasional bursts of cheerful laughter coming from the other side, Ino also fell into a brief reverie.

For the rest of the summer vacation, aside from occasionally taking Hermione to visit Hogsmeade, he seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle, constantly revising his thesis, sending letters, revising his thesis, sending letters...

Of course, through a chance encounter, he also learned that Professor McGonagall actually lived in Hogsmeade, and not far from his house.

Although they knew the address, without receiving an invitation, they could only communicate through owl letters.

Fortunately, on the last day before the start of the semester, Professor McGonagall finally took pity on the paper and did not send it back. Instead, she replied that she would help send it to the editorial department of "Transformers Today".

"Bang!"

The door to the cubicle was pushed open from the outside.

"Something big has happened! Hahahaha." Draco walked in from outside, said only one sentence, and then started laughing nonstop.

"If you don't want to talk, then please go outside and laugh. Can't you see we're having a conversation?"

Pansy looked at Draco with displeasure. She was having a pleasant conversation and was almost at the most exciting part when she was ruthlessly interrupted.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Lots of people on the train saw it: Potter and his Weasley henchmen, driving a flying Muggle car, just passed right over our heads."

As Draco spoke, he gestured with his hands, seemingly trying to describe the shape of the car more realistically.

"Then they're doomed!" Daphne said thoughtfully. "If they can be seen on a train, they'll probably be seen by a lot of Muggles too."

"Yes! They're finished!" Draco exclaimed excitedly, as if a tickle had been tickled.

Ino, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, asked in confusion, "Why did you finish shouting? Even if Muggles saw us, isn't there the Disaster Management Agency?"

"Let me speak!" Daphne interrupted Pansy before she could say anything.

From the moment she boarded the train until now, she had been listening to Pansy talk, and she didn't want to interrupt, but now she finally had a chance.

"Mr. Svenburn, you probably don't know much about the Ministry of Magic. My brother works in the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, and they arrested 176 wizards for violating the Statute of Secrecy in just one summer."

At this point, Daphne adopted an exaggerated tone:

"Of these, 120 people were punished with fines of less than 100 gallons for minor offenses, while the remaining 56 people were punished with fines of more than 100 gallons, or one month of imprisonment in Azkaban, or both, for more serious offenses."

"The worst off is a Ravenclaw girl who just graduated this year. She was punished with both, and it's said that Professor Flitwick was alarmed. Apparently, it's because she conjured a bouquet of flowers at her mother's grave, and many people accidentally saw it, and then they started spreading rumors about the devil and witches..."

Hearing this, Ino stopped paying attention to Daphne, who was beaming with excitement, and focused all his attention on the secrecy law.

A girl who has just turned 17 is facing imprisonment in Azkaban simply because someone saw her conjure a bouquet of flowers? Even with Professor Flitwick's intervention, it's not guaranteed to happen, but the verdict itself is absurd enough.

Perhaps... all the storylines have been embellished, which is why he never considered things outside the story.

In the original story, after the flying car incident, Arthur seemed to only face suspension and investigation, and didn't even get a fine.

Harry and Ron, the two involved, only lost credits, with Ron in a worse situation, receiving an extra yelling letter.

And then nothing more happened, as if everything had come to an end and the past was forgiven.

But today, after hearing Daphne's description, it seems that the cruel reality hidden beneath the fairy tale of the magical world has truly been revealed.

If the Harry Potter story ends in the future and everything returns to normal, without the filter of the story, does it also mean the beginning of suffering?

For the first time, Ino began to think about the future; before that, his attention had been focused on the storyline.

But it's clear this isn't a fantasy world you can simply leave once the story ends.

……

Time slipped by quietly, and the sounds of conversation in the cubicles grew fainter and fainter, until…

"Ino, are you alright?" Draco asked with some concern.

Upon hearing this, Ino's thoughts were pulled back to the present moment.

When he came to his senses, he saw three puzzled faces in the cubicle, looking at Draco, Pansy, and Daphne.

"I'm fine! I'm just wondering, do we really need to be this afraid... What are we learning magic for? Living like a rat in a sewer, or even worse than a rat."

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(End of this chapter)