HP North Star's Radiance

Sirius rolled his eyes at the title "Dark Lord".

“So my headaches tend to be worse when I’m farther away from it,” Harry said, turning to Sirius. “But Sirius, my headaches were worse when I was in solitary confinement at Umbridge, is it possible—”

"Umbridge put you in solitary confinement?" Sirius asked.

After saying that, he glanced at Winnie, signaling the former Death Eater to answer Harry's question—it seemed that Harry suspected Umbridge was a Death Eater.

“Umbridge is not a Death Eater,” Winnie said calmly. “At least not fourteen or fifteen years ago.”

“But in my opinion, she’s more deserving than the other Death Eaters,” Harry muttered.

Sirius Black smiled wryly and said, "You're not wrong, but Harry, there aren't only good people and Death Eaters in the world."

The three children looked at Winnie Brown, their special training teacher of the past month, and felt a similar sentiment.

Then, the two of them went on and on about how bad Umbridge was, criticizing his policies and style.

Winnie chuckled beside her. "Kids, there are plenty of people like her in the Ministry of Magic. She's just a rather unique and individualistic witch. Perseus Parkinson even tried to pass a law banning marriage between wizards and Muggles. If it had succeeded—"

Winnie had said all she needed to say, and Hermione and Harry exchanged bewildered glances.

Harry thought, "Then maybe my mom wouldn't have been born?"

Hermione thought, then perhaps I will not become a wizard.

After all, many wizards from Muggle families have a Muggle ancestor who married a wizard, or who had a Squib.

Hermione whispered, "It seems the Ministry of Magic is still salvageable; it didn't pass such an absurd bill..."

They started talking about Hagrid again, Harry was worried, and Sirius reminded him to trust Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Sirius suddenly said, "By the way, when are you guys going to Hogsmeade for summer vacation this semester? I can—"

“You can’t!” Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

“Sirius, have you forgotten what Dumbledore said? Peter Pettigrew must have told the other Death Eaters that you are an Animagus,” Hermione said seriously. “You have no official identity; you’re not an Auror, not a Ministry of Magic official, and certainly not a Hogwarts professor. The Death Eaters’ most suitable targets right now are you and Miss Brown. Even if they did kill you, it wouldn’t cause much of a stir!”

Hermione's learning ability is no joke. In addition to her usual reasoning skills, she has also learned some of Prader's thinking patterns in politics and strategy.

The Death Eaters are now trying to conceal Voldemort's resurrection, which inevitably restricts their actions. Winnie and Sirius, who lack social identities, are the perfect targets.

“Oh, so what?” Sirius said nonchalantly. “Brown encountered a Death Eater before, and she’s still alive and kicking right next to me, isn’t she?”

“That’s called escaping death!” Winnie sneered. “How interesting, Blake. I can’t go out, do you think I’d be happy for you to go out and have fun alone?”

Winnie couldn't stand it anymore. Black was discussing their plans to sneak out in front of her? Did he really think she wouldn't tell Dumbledore?

"Then why don't you come out with me?" Sirius urged Winnie. "Don't you want to see your daughter?"

On the other side of the flames, Winnie said to Sirius in a mocking tone, "Come on, you big black dog! You're all alone, but I still have Prim watching over me."

"Alright, alright, I got it," Sirius said sullenly. "I thought Harry needed me, and you all wanted to see me. It's just a meeting, isn't it? The Death Eaters might not even know where I've been!"

Harry said solemnly, "Of course I want to see you, Sirius. But I need you safe and sound even more!"

The air suddenly seemed to freeze, and the only sound could be the rustling of Winnie turning the pages of her book.

Sirius finally spoke, his voice sounding somewhat cold: "I see, you and your father are quite different; he takes pleasure in adventure."

Harry was stunned.

“Don’t be so complacent. I’m terribly worried whenever Prim goes out. You’re making a fool of yourself, and you expect your child to be like you!” Winnie said sarcastically. “Look at your tone! You’re talking as if Harry Potter is a copy of James Potter, almost forgetting that he has a mother.”

"What does this have to do with you, a Death Eater!" Sirius abruptly turned to look at Winnie.

“Sirius! Miss Brown!” Harry started to say something anxiously, “I—”

“Alright, that’s enough for today,” Sirius interrupted Harry. “Mrs. Purnell should be done with her work by now. Maybe next time. I’ll tell you when we’ll meet, if you still have the guts to talk to me.”

Sirius's face disappeared in the flames.

12 Grimmauld Place.

“Ha, yes, I used to be a Death Eater,” Winnie said with a sneer. “And then? I moved on, while you stayed put.”

Winnie held Sirius Black's behavior of trying to find a shadow of his deceased friend's son in a completely unsustainable way.

The river of time keeps flowing forward, but Sirius lives in the past, stubbornly looking back.

"Do you think I'm as cold-hearted as you?" Sirius said, suppressing his anger. "Yes, you've moved on. Of course you can move on, but what about your best friend Sylvia? She's still in jail. I'm not like you, able to let go of everything! Not even my best friend!"

Sirius also looks down on Winnie, the witch who abandoned her best friend and can now continue living as if nothing happened.

Winnie laughed, grinning broadly. "Really? You're so great, aren't you? You leave your godson alone in the Muggle world and go to jail yourself. I couldn't do that."

Before she even knew Praris was Sylvia's daughter, she had already formed a friendship with the child. After that, she took on the responsibilities that Sylvia had failed to fulfill, and even though she had to live with the Order of the Phoenix, she made arrangements for the child's future.

But she felt a little embarrassed when she said that, after all, Sylvia had done the same thing as Sirius.

Winnie felt she hadn't let Prader down, nor had she let her friend down. This made her even more disgusted with Sirius's actions.

"That's because—"

Sirius was about to say something when the door to the room was pushed open.

Ms. Priscilla, wearing a white slip dress and an apricot-colored cardigan, stood in the doorway, holding a tray with two cups of hot milk and a few small snacks.

"Darling, are you talking about something?" Ms. Priscilla said gently. "It's getting late. Have some milk and get some rest. We can talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

Sirius felt a surge of anger with nowhere to vent it, but he couldn't take it out on the kind-hearted Ms. Purnell.

He frowned, stood up, picked up the milk on the tray, drank it all in one gulp, and stormed off.

As soon as Sirius left, Winnie started complaining: "Prim—I sent him to check on Harry Potter, and what did he do? That sarcastic kid..."

A few days later, at Hogwarts.

A report, a report about Umbridge becoming a “senior investigator” at Hogwarts, was published in the Daily Prophet.

“This will affect other classroom teaching,” Praris said in a low voice. “Other normal classes.”

Draco, unfazed, said, "Really? I think it's pretty good. My dad did his part in this too. Classrooms will be safer; there won't be any more unsafe professors or hippogriffs kicking people around. Isn't that great?"

“Draco,” Praris said carefully, “but you know, Potter wasn’t lying. We’ll likely get involved in the war, in whatever form. Umbridge’s actions will affect our normal school life. Learning without practice is a castle in the air; it’s empty.”

“Many spells, you can cast just by reading the book, can’t you?” Draco said, puzzled. “That proves Umbridge wasn’t wrong.”

Praris shook his head: "That's true for me, but is that true for everyone else? Is it true for Pansy? Is it true for Daphne? Is it true for Millison? Is it true for Crabbe and Goyle?"

Prarese added, "I was able to do this based on my talent and a lot of practice, not out of thin air. It's still inseparable from practice."

Through Winnie, Prarese mastered the connections and basic patterns between spells using a grueling practice approach. Faced with new spells, no matter how varied or difficult, she could quickly find the knack for learning them.

But this is just her, not all the students; education is for all students.

Draco blinked. "What are you trying to say? Do you want to oppose this education reform?"

He was originally sitting on the table, leaning to the side, chatting with Praris.

Now, his expression turned serious. He stepped off the table, turned around, and sat down next to Praris.

“No,” Praris said, somewhat exasperated. “We’re just having a brief discussion about current affairs and policy.”

“You're resistant to this from the bottom of your heart,” Draco said with certainty. “Perhaps I'm not as smart as you, but I understand you, don't I?”

Praris thought to herself, "I was careless; my emotions had blinded me."

Draco, sitting to Prareas's right, reached out and took the apple from Prareas's left plate, taking a big bite.

He took a few bites of the apple, chewing as if he were thinking about something.

After a while, he said, "If you don't like Umbridge—and her policies, then you should just leave it alone."

"Huh?" Praris looked at him, puzzled. "What is it?"

“All the things a prefect should do, as long as you don’t want to manage them,” Draco swallowed the apple in his mouth and said somewhat awkwardly, “I’ll do all the show-off stuff. You know, it’s not for any other reason, it’s just that I happen to enjoy doing these kinds of things.”

Chapter 104 Unveiling the Secrets and the Vow

Compared to people like Prader and Hermione, Draco clearly lacks exceptional intelligence. Unlike those who have experienced hardship and received strict upbringing, he was also spoiled by his parents, acting like a spoiled brat who never grew up.

He can be excessively willful, unreasonable, malicious, and arrogant at times—but people are not static.

Getting to know someone, loving someone, is also a process of souls colliding with each other. A person is not simply themselves, but is also shaped by everything they see and experience.

Although he still couldn't openly express his love in words, Draco didn't hesitate to show his favoritism through actions.

Praris paused slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. She was used to being bothered by Draco's misdeeds, but she had almost never seen him considerate of others.

Praris chuckled: "You're such a shameless guy."

How could he possibly think of such a thing!

Draco's lips curled up: "What can we do then? It's my fault for not liking principles."

Prareas initially thought Draco was joking. He seemed so nonchalant when he said it, no one would take what he said seriously.

But he was actually putting this into practice, even to the point of seeming to be "overstepping his bounds" and "vying for power."

"Prince!" a freshman rushed over. "Anderson and—"

“Wait here,” Draco said to Zabini, who was playing chess with him.

After saying that, he strode towards the freshman: "Kid, you're too easily frightened, aren't you? I guess you guys won't cause anything serious—Andrew, right? What happened?"

The freshman said somewhat awkwardly, "It's Anderson."

While speaking, he would occasionally glance at Praris.

Draco Malfoy's character is notoriously bad. On the first day of school, Prareas and his attitude towards the new students were worlds apart.

It's fun to provoke others with Malfoy, but when you do something wrong and need to find a "parent" to deal with it—Prince is obviously more reliable.

What's more, Malfoy even got the person's name wrong!

"Hey, not much different," Draco said lazily. "So, what trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

After saying that, Draco put his arm around the freshman's shoulder and led him out, with Crabbe and Goyle following closely behind.

The freshmen would occasionally turn back to look at Praris, their eyes filled with the words "Save me."

"Were we this timid in first grade?" Daphne asked, puzzled. "Why does Anderson look so much like a frightened quail?"

“His name isn’t Anderson,” Prarese had to remind Daphne. “His name is Thomas Johnson, and Anderson is his friend.”

Prarese added, "People in unfamiliar environments usually fall into three categories: hesitant, bluffing, or calm. Anderson's mistake was related to Johnson; he panicked."