HP North Star's Radiance

Praliss ignored Crabbe's blustering but ultimately weak words and headed straight for the stairs. Knowing the Slytherins as she did, she didn't believe Crabbe had the intellect or ability to pull it off. That threat would remain just that—a threat—and would never come true.

—If anyone thinks she looks down on Crabbe, they're absolutely right, but unfortunately there's no prize for it.

Crabbe, shuffling in his boots, also headed towards the stairs leading underground. He asked Praris rudely, "What's wrong with Draco?"

"What do you mean, what's going on?" Praris said, his expression unchanged, only glancing at him. "You talk as if he has anything to do with me."

Crabbe asked bluntly, "Aren't you two dating? Or have you broken up?"

Praris said coldly, "According to him, we were never together, so what's this talk of breaking up?"

Crabbe had one foot in Praris's landmine, but he was completely unaware of it.

Upon hearing this, he gave a silly, mocking look: "Looks like he dumped you?"

Prarese began to wonder if she had been too kind in her daily life, to the point that Crabbe dared to raise his voice at her.

She gave a cold sneer: "The Ministry of Magic should put your name after Flobbercaterpillar, otherwise it's not worthy of your trust. Otherwise, you wouldn't be unaware that if Draco dared to piss me off, he'd die a more gruesome death than a gutted toad!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tip of the wand slid out from Praris's sleeve, and Crabbe's toes immediately burst out of his shoes, growing wildly until each toe became as long as a baby's arm.

This terrified Crabbe, who collapsed to the ground, trembling with fear.

Praris sneered, dismissively looked away, and continued walking forward with his small bucket.

Before leaving, she added, "I think you deserve to stay here like this!"

When Prarese returned to the common room, Gore was curled up on the sofa reading comics.

Prarese disliked Crabbe, but Goyle was relatively well-behaved. Aside from following Draco around, Goyle spent most of his time engrossed in comics.

He had also once shared a comic book with Praris. Praris looked closely and realized it was a comic book version of the novel Heidi had shared with her.

Gore pulled himself out of the sofa, rubbing his stiff bottom: "Praris, did you see Crabbe when you came back from outside?"

“I saw it,” Praris said lazily. “He offended me, so he deserved to be punished.”

After saying that, she lifted the rag off the small bucket and gestured to Gore with her eyes. Gore obediently poked his head out and found that it was half a bucket of long-horned toads.

His eyes widened in surprise, and he stammered, "Wh-Which one of these is Crabbe? When are you going to turn him back?"

Praris laughed and said in a friendly tone, "What are you talking about? I've been doing some rather troublesome potion experiments lately. These are my test subjects!"

"what?"

Gore opened his mouth wide, frozen in fear.

Praris gave a wicked smile and left with a smile.

……

"What's going on between you and Draco?" Pansy strode in, followed by Milison, who was chewing on a lollipop and carrying a paper bag of snacks.

Pansy said in a strange tone, "What kind of show are you two putting on? Are you Agnès and he is Dido?"

As Pansy spoke, Praris was feeding snails to the longhorn toads. She needed to keep the toads healthy until her potion was created.

Praris replied casually, "How could that be? Panpan, we are clearly witches."

Millison asked hesitantly, "What kind of dido?"

"Just eat your food!" Pansy glared at Milison.

Milison smacked his lips as he quietly "moved" to his bedside.

Pansy then looked at Praris and said worriedly, "Don't try to fool me! Draco looks almost blue, and you look like an angry female warrior."

Pansy meant that Draco looked depressed and sad—which was his own fault.

Draco must always know that hurting a loved one's heart is never without cost.

Praris picked up the longhorned toads one by one, examining their bodies: "Is that so? But that's not my problem. If he understands, he won't need to be sad."

“Which one is Crabbe?” Pansy asked nervously. “Do you want to be put in solitary confinement? And you brought him… uh, him into the girls’ dormitory.”

Praris turned to look at her, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. "How can I tell which toad is different? They're all exactly the same."

Pansy rushed forward, squatted down in front of the bucket, and called out, "Crabbe? Crabbe! Can you hear me? Jump out if you can!"

She craned her neck to look into the bucket, and every long-horned toad was behaving itself, not responding to Pansy's advances.

Pansy suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "You didn't manage to raise Crabbe to death, did you?!"

Praris dared not tease Pansy any longer, or he would "get a beating" soon.

“I suppose,” Prarese said slowly, “that Crabbe is with Mrs. Pomfrey, getting some treatment for his minor ailments.”

Praris then looked at the small bucket: "As for these... I've already said, these are for my potion experiments. Please, I haven't gone so far as to experiment on people!"

Pansy, half relieved and half angry, said, "You scared Gore half to death! Do you think Crabbe can walk back to the common room by himself?"

Pansy means, "Does Crabbe still have a chance to come back alive?"

Praris pondered for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Perhaps?"

It all depends on whether Mrs. Pomfrey can restore Crabbe's toes! Otherwise, Crabbe might not be able to walk.

Praris thought it was probably possible, but he would inevitably suffer some hardships.

Pansy thought for a moment. Prareas was a steady person. In Prareas's principles, it was probably equivalent to a very high probability that Crabbe wouldn't die and they could just ignore him.

“If Crabbe can anger you, he must have made a big mistake,” Pansy said biasedly. “Let him suffer whatever he wants! I’m more concerned about you and Draco!”

“No need,” Praris said sincerely. “I understand that Draco and I are both people you love. You care about us because of our friendship. But Panpan, love is a matter between two people.”

“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity I’ve been waiting for for a very long time.” Praris’s tone was calm and gentle. “My relationship with Draco has been going on for almost three years now. We both need to step out of our current relationship, spend some time alone, and re-examine our feelings.”

Both Prares and Draco have things they hide from each other, and deep-seated conflicts that could surface at any moment.

Draco was accustomed to the concept of bloodline through his family education, while Prares was of mixed race.

It's common knowledge that true pure-bloods are actually quite rare, and the vast majority of them are around her. Whether it's Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic, most are half-bloods masquerading as pure-bloods.

Miss Stella told Prarese that Umbridge was just that kind of person, but Umbridge still thrived in the Slytherin network.

As long as the paper covering the window is thick enough, the slogans are loud enough, and the people are useful enough, whether someone is pure-blooded or not is not that important.

Taking this opportunity, Prarese laid her bloodline in the open. She wanted Draco to see it, to understand whether he wanted to love Prarese as a person, or simply need a pureblood.

Praliss didn't actually mind Draco's sharp tongue; she herself was quite adept at cutting to the bone. But Draco shouldn't have turned their relationship into a knife, stabbing Praliss in the heart.

She knew Draco hadn't meant it; it was just an inherent flaw in his character.

But Praris also needs to understand that even if the result is that Praris sheds tears with him, even if the result is that Praris suffers with him, it will only be a decision made by Praris himself.

Draco shouldn't have used his words to presume upon Pralis's choice and to hurt her feelings by robbing her of the opportunity to make her own decision.

Of course, there are many more problems that they both know about but have never solved.

In Prarese's view, her relationship with Draco was a case of two broken pots and a broken lid, a case of two peas in a pod, or a disaster and a source of trouble for each other—and bad things always come in a big way.

They both fell for a complete bastard who was utterly unsuitable for them and would only bring them trouble, and became so engrossed in the relationship that they willingly added some hardships to their lives.

In Slytherin, Draco had countless girls suitable for him, both in terms of bloodline and personality—even Pansy was a good candidate. She was pure-blood, willing to fawn over Draco, and had once liked him.

Within Slytherin, Prader also had a suitable boy. Miles, who had already graduated, didn't care about bloodlines, accepted Prader's assertiveness, and was generous in offering emotional support.

But no, neither of them had it.

Faced with a choice between a smooth road and a thorny, overgrown path, people of their character, without hesitation, chose the path with its bleak future.

Pansy was speechless. She was just too concerned to think straight; if it were her own feelings at stake, she wouldn't be happy for others to interfere.

She added, "Prime, do you know what Crabbe wants to ask you?"

Praris was puzzled.

Millison shouted from behind, "Draco has resigned as Quidditch captain and has also asked for leave from the next match!"

“I see,” Praris said calmly. “I understand.”

Draco's excuse for resigning and taking leave was that he was not feeling well, but a small number of Draco's close friends believed that this was just an excuse he made to cover up his heartbreak.

Within two days, the fact that Draco had been dumped by Prareas had become an open secret among Slytherins.

A young Slytherin boy gossiped maliciously, "Is it because Malfoy's father went to jail? It seems Prince is quite good at judging the situation."

“I pity you, Eric,” Astoria said with pity. “I suppose that’s why your father separated from your mother? Otherwise, why would you think so much about Praris?”

Eric, enraged, retorted, "What's your relationship with Prince that you're so protective of her? Or did she give you something in return?"

Astoria glanced at him and said slowly, "With such a poor command of language and a severe lack of upbringing—Eric, no matter how much you jump around, neither Praris nor I will have the heart to discipline you on behalf of your mother!"

At the other end of the table, Milison turned blankly to Daphne: "Is that Leah?"

Her impression of Astoria was still that of a well-behaved little sister.

"Otherwise what?" Daphne asked, somewhat bewildered. "You're missing a mother now, not a sister. Is Leah your half-sister, whom you've never met?"

Milison suddenly realized: "I was presumptuous! That's right, you two are sisters!"

"So eccentric!" Daphne complained. "I don't know what he's thinking all day long!"

Today is the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Draco found Harper, who was a year younger than him, to replace him as Slytherin's Seeker.

“I don’t think Harper can replace Draco,” Millison said, frustrated. “Draco is the only Slytherin Seeker to beat Porter in recent years.”

She sighed: "I'm the one doing the commentary today, and I don't want to personally announce Slytherin's defeat."

“There’s no good way,” Daphne said. “Unless Draco pulls his head out of Aphrodite’s bathwater.”

Even the Gryffindors thought so.

Harry insisted that Draco's leave of absence was a ploy to do something bad. But teenagers have their own ideas.

Ron was trembling with nervousness, muttering, "Although I don't think I can help everyone win, I have to thank Prince. Harper is a little easier to deal with than Malfoy."

As Milison cleared his throat on the commentary stage, Praris extinguished the flames in the cauldron and scooped out a spoonful of burgundy potion.

As the Slytherins sang "Weasley is Our King" in the audience, Prareus sharpened his silver knife to a fine point, trying not to make the toad suffer too much pain from losing its leg.

Ron saved the first ball, and Praris severed the leg of the struggling toad with a single stroke.

Gryffindor led 60-0, and Prareus fed the first dose of potion to the Longhorn Toad.

The long-horned toad spewed hot white steam from its mouth, and its other leg kicked wildly. Praris had to hold it down firmly to prevent it from leaping away.