HP North Star's Radiance

Before setting off, Marcus provided information about his late Aunt Ella, and Praris was responsible for compiling her personal profile based on this information, while Stella made the final additions and revisions.

The fact that Prarese was able to face the questionnaire without the slightest suspicious hesitation was due to her cheat-like memory, having memorized everything Marcus's "cousin" should know.

While Praris filled out the form, Stella and Umbridge chatted about work.

"...The discontent of other countries towards us has greatly diminished..." Stella whispered to Umbridge, "...As for the International Wizarding Federation..."

As long as they live, wizards need to engage in daily transactions. If the overt order is disrupted, people will naturally establish a covert order to maintain daily trading activities.

Take the vendors in Mundungus as an example. Most of them do not have licenses to sell magical items, yet they openly and brazenly sell things in Diagon Alley in broad daylight.

You don't know where these things come from, whether they're safe, or if there's any after-sales service. Substandard cauldrons could cause explosions, magical items that haven't undergone safety inspections might be imbued with dark magic without the owner's knowledge, and the potions you buy might be counterfeit or even deadly... All of these things are possible.

Scarce items are expensive, while common items are naturally cheap. Add to that the practice of ripping off customers based on their perceived value, and these vendors are often transient, appearing today and disappearing tomorrow, leaving victims with no recourse.

Stella's International Magical Cooperation Division doesn't handle these matters, but the chaos in Britain will affect other countries with which they have dealings.

Some wizards bought counterfeit goods in England and died from them in France; some foreign wizards produced counterfeit and shoddy products specifically for sale in England, but were bought back by unsuspecting foreign wizards; and Dumbledore died, and the British representative of the International Wizarding Federation is currently absent, and so on.

The position of President of the International Federation of Wizards is currently being held temporarily by the American representative, pending a new election. Stella is also currently representing the UK, and a new candidate has not yet been decided.

Stella inherited a mess.

Even with Stella as Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, she couldn't easily resolve these chaotic situations. It's obvious that under the Death Eaters' control of the Ministry of Magic, these matters were utterly unimportant; who would care?

The matter of trade order should have been the responsibility of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but the new director was the Death Eater Yaxley. He was preoccupied with figuring out how to deal with Muggle-born wizards and capture Harry Potter, and completely ignored these trivial matters.

In the past, when illegal business operations were encountered, the only response was a warning and eviction. Now, Stella has come up with a wicked idea: all goods caught operating illegally can be confiscated.

Upon hearing this brilliant idea, the Office for the Prohibition of the Abuse of Magic immediately took notice.

So she added that in the actual penalty process, fines could be used instead of confiscation to generate revenue for the ministry.

Now, the problem has been solved immediately, and the trade order has improved to some extent.

Praris deduced three or four parts of the truth from their conversation and suddenly realized the truth. It turned out that the reason Mundungus was caught by Umbridge for illegal business operations was actually due to a policy proposed by Stella to resolve protests in other countries.

Stella's idea did deter the street vendors from running rampant and protected the safety and interests of wizard consumers, but it was also a blow to the lower classes.

Who is Kristella? She's a pure-blood wizard, the kind who grew up in luxury. Asking her to think about all that is just wishful thinking.

Wizards' spending is safe, political achievements are made, the ministry generates revenue, and other countries have fewer complaints—this is undoubtedly a good policy!

"Minister Umbridge, I've finished writing!"

Prarese handed the questionnaire to Umbridge with both hands. Umbridge took it with one hand, quickly glanced at it, and then asked a few selective questions.

Praris scratched her head, pretending to think as she recalled her answer to the question. She also had to consider that there had to be a slight difference between the answer she came up with on the spot and the answer she wrote down after thinking, but it couldn't be wrong.

Umbridge nodded and, without any suspicion, clipped the survey form into one of the folders.

Stella led Prarese to say goodbye to Umbridge, and the two walked down the corridor again. Only then did Prarese spare a glance to observe the surrounding situation.

Stella frowned and gestured towards Praris to a room: "This is for printing brochures, propaganda brochures about capturing Mudbloods."

“Don’t call me that,” Prarese said in a breathy voice.

Stella shrugged and said nonchalantly, "It might be an insult to those people, but for me it's just a matter of position. I have to address them that way, otherwise I can't be the director."

Yes, Stella doesn't care about bloodlines.

After all, her close friend Aurora Sinesta, despite their age difference, was an African sorceress with a mysterious past, but she never delved into Sinesta's past. Their friendship stemmed from shared pleasures; like drinking, happiness was the only thing that mattered, and nothing else mattered.

But Stella is also a beneficiary of pure-bloodedness, so she would never hypocritically claim that she does not support the theory of bloodline.

She used the theory of bloodline more as a tool. If the theory of bloodline stopped working, Stella would openly change her tune and wave other banners.

“Have you been honest with me?” Stella put her arm around Praris’s shoulder. “Actually, you don’t really like this kind of thing in private.”

Praris whispered, “Many wizards from Muggle families are actually quite powerful—you know Hermione Granger? Maybe one day I’ll use that, but I’ll never believe in it.”

“Me too,” Stella said casually. “Anyone who blindly believes in a particular theory is a fool, unless it works really well. To be honest, this one works quite well in the Ministry of Magic right now.”

Praris paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you."

Stella didn't really need to help him, nor did Marcus. Praris only truly spent a few years with these two people during their school years.

As upperclassmen, Stella and Praris spent less time together. As wizards, Marcus and Praris didn't actually share the same close bond as witches.

But both of them subconsciously concealed Praris's identity, covered for her, and helped her fabricate a story.

"What are you saying!" Stella patted Praris on the shoulder. "Did you really need to lend me your books? Did you really need to offer advice on how to win the Slytherin Championship because of my ideas? Did you really need to listen to my complaints for years? Did you really need to secretly help Aurora get back at that old hag? You only have a relationship with Aurora outside of teacher-student because of me!"

“To be honest, I’ve always disliked those Gryffindor guys, saying we were just putting on an act, that they were being hypocritical, and that they were the ones with the purest friendship!” Stella said wistfully. “I don’t deny there were moments like that, but Praris, the sincerity of our student days is the purest and most precious.”

“Living better requires feigned sincerity,” Stella said sincerely, “but feeling better in one’s heart requires some genuine sincerity.”

Humans need anchors in life, they need to know why they live. The Malfoys placed these anchors in their family and loved ones, while Stella placed them in her friends.

This is the true heart of Slytherin.

Not many, but they truly exist.

Praris clenched his fist, somewhat uneasily, and said, "Are these surveys frequently read? Will they be used again in the future?"

“Hmm?” Stella said doubtfully. “Normally not. The questionnaires for pure-bloods are kept at the bottom of the drawer, half-bloods are only looked at when necessary, and Mongrel wizards are the main focus—unless that person is Harry Potter. Because of Marcus, you are now classified as a pure-blood.”

Praris breathed a sigh of relief, finally reassured that he wouldn't implicate them.

In order to win over more Slytherins and prevent them from siding with Voldemort, Praderne must return to Hogwarts, but she never expected that her two friends would suggest that she forge documents.

Praris couldn't find a reason to stop them, so he had no choice but to continue pushing the plan forward. Under these circumstances, Praris seemed less decisive than usual, simply going along with Stella's decisions.

Fortunately, the person in charge of this task was not a Death Eater, but Umbridge, who was holding the Death Eaters.

The truth cannot be spoken yet, and what has been done is done. Prarese will not pretend that she did not originally have this idea.

All I can say is that whenever Marcus and Stella need help in the future, Praris will not hesitate to repay these two friends.

In the days that followed, Prarese returned to Southend-on-the-Sea to prepare the medicine Dumbledore needed, awaiting the start of the school term.

Around the time the start of the school year was approaching, Prarese received news that Harry and his friends had broken into the Ministry of Magic.

“It was a chaotic day,” Stella said, her head aching. “He knocked Umbridge unconscious and let all the Muggle-born wizards go—I guess he was trying to create some kind of chaos.”

According to Stella, it wasn't very successful.

Just as the two of them used to have to flush themselves down the toilet to get to the Ministry of Magic, now the Ministry can't use Apparition. Staff have to use the toilet to get to work, while visitors have to use phone booths.

Therefore, Harry and the others had no choice but to go to the main hall on the eighth floor.

In the main hall, he was unable to escape immediately and was spotted by the wizard at the security checkpoint.

The wizards at security questioned whether these Malignant wizards were the ones Umbridge wanted to interrogate, while Harry, playing Albert, used his imposing manner to pretend that this was indeed Umbridge's order.

Stella happened to be nearby at the time.

She came down to pick up a package.

Yes, she is a good leader who does things herself and doesn't make things difficult for her subordinates.

With a leader present, the wizard at the security checkpoint immediately asked for her opinion. Stella hesitated and said, "Since...since it's Minister Umbridge's request..."

Harry immediately followed up: "Are you going to disobey Umbridge's orders?!"

Stella opened her mouth, then immediately turned to the wizard at the security checkpoint and said, "This is your security job, not my responsibility. You'll have to handle it yourself according to the rules! I'm in a hurry to go to the mailroom to get a letter from the German Ministry of Magic!"

Stella's indifferent attitude led the security checkpoint staff to pretend to be oblivious and let Harry go.

The problem was that Harry and his group were still playing the same old trick of covering the rear, letting the Muggle wizards run ahead. Before those Muggle wizards had even finished running, Yaxley noticed something was wrong and chased after Harry with two assistants.

“I don’t know what happened after that,” Stella said.

Praris quickly asked, "Did they hold you accountable?"

“I thought you'd be concerned about Potter’s safety first?” Stella said casually. “I picked up the package and went to Umbridge’s office to find her. Of course, I couldn’t find her. The people on the first floor told me she was in the interrogation room on the tenth floor, so I went down to the tenth floor…”

Stella was waiting for the elevator on the first floor, but it was occupied by Axley, who was in a hurry to chase someone, so she continued to wait for the elevator without any qualms.

When Stella went down to the tenth floor to find Umbridge, Yaxley was already chasing Harry Potter.

Stella, who spent the entire time looking for Umbridge and another half waiting for the elevator, was busy but didn't help at all.

“What can they blame me for?” Stella said matter-of-factly. “Did I ask them to release him? I already told them to follow the rules!”

She said in a strange tone, "I just think we should first confirm with Minister Umbridge whether it was her order before making a decision—that's all!"

Praris burst out laughing: "You're something else! There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Your first priority should be protecting yourself!"

“Praris, listen to what you’re saying!” Stella said with a laugh. “Teach a Slytherin to protect himself? I think you should protect yourself first!”

“I will,” Prarese said.

As soon as Stella left, a gentleman sat down opposite Praris. Praris said cheerfully, "Did you hear that? What great news—would you like some chestnut cake?"

“Of course,” Dumbledore said gently. “Harry and the others did a wonderful job, even better than I expected.”

After ordering, Praris shook his head and said, "They should run first. Whether they can save those Muggle-born wizards is a secondary matter. Right now, Harry's life is much more important than that."

“No, Praris, I will not deny Harry’s choice,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “That is what makes Harry so admirable; he doesn’t value his own life more than anyone else’s.”

"Ha!" Praris scoffed. "Sounds noble enough! He'd better not fall into the hands of the Death Eaters!"

This is the difference between Prasris and Dumbledore. Prasris cares more about gains and losses, and the lives of his own people, while Dumbledore occasionally cares about these intangible things.

Chapter 214 Return to School

"dumb--"

"dumb--"

In the shadow of the church, two dark figures suddenly appeared amidst the tombstones in the cemetery with a thud. Startled, the crows perched on the branches spread their wings and fled like arrows into the sky.

"let's see--"

Voldemort's voice was as hoarse as the cawing of a raven. He slowly walked toward the tombstone engraved with the name "Albus Dumbledore" and immediately saw the gold-painted inscription "Resurgam".

“Resurgam?” Voldemort sneered. “Dumbledore, the sun has set and will never rise again!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Voldemort lightly waved his wand. With a loud bang, a whole clump of ground in front of the tombstone was lifted up, and the marble coffin lid slammed heavily onto the clod of earth, sending up countless plumes of dust.

Some of the wizarding inhabitants of Godric's Hollow must have heard the commotion, but Voldemort paid no heed.

The Ministry of Magic is already under the control of the Death Eaters, and Hogwarts is also being looked after by Snape and the Carol siblings.

As for those few wandering Order of the Phoenix members and Harry Potter? In his eyes, they were no longer a threat!