HP North Star's Radiance

"It's her first time being a prefect—" Praris said cheerfully, "Is our little Leah nervous?"

At night, Praris sat on Milison's empty bed—closer to the window—gazing intently at the magical creatures swimming by in the water.

“It’s a bit quiet today,” Praris said.

“Indeed, without Milison chattering away here,” Daphne sighed. “Milison has already received notice to return home to study.”

“What did she say?” Praris turned around immediately.

Pansy poked her head out and said, "They've already left, of course they're not coming back! When Aunt Becky came, she arranged for Milison to take a leave of absence from school. Her friend introduced Milison to Castelobsch as an exchange student."

Chapter 217 Lydia's Transformation

Castelobusch is a magic school in South America that specializes in teaching herbalism and magizoology.

Millison took a course on protecting magical creatures, so he must have had a good time there.

Although the Ministry of Magic requires all eligible young wizards in the UK to be educated at Hogwarts, not all wizards studying abroad return.

Those who usually return to the UK to study are those whose parents are still in China. For a wizard like Millison, whose father is deceased, who has many conflicts with his mother, and who fled the country with his aunt, it is impossible for him to return to suffer.

Aunt Becky's political acumen was admirable; the two of them successfully escaped the chaos at home.

Were the three Slytherin girls heartbroken when Millison left Hogwarts?

I'm still heartbroken.

But the thought that Milison could continue pursuing her dreams peacefully in South America made the girls feel less sad.

On Monday morning, Praris looked at the schedule and found that there was only one Potions class.

After breakfast, she walked through the foyer with her bag on her back and noticed the new school rules hanging on the wall, as well as portraits of Principal Snape and the Caro siblings—how unlucky, what right did the latter have to be hung with a professor?

"It's her! The Slytherin prefect!"

A rough male voice came from behind Praris.

Prareus turned around and saw a broad-chested, short boy—Jimmy Perks, a third-year student and Gryffindor batter.

That's right. In the year that Perx enrolled, Prareth became a Slytherin prefect.

When Prareus turned to look at him, Jimmy and the two Gryffindors beside him immediately puffed out their chests, looking fearless.

Among them, Perx shouted at Praris, "What are you looking at? Are you going to kill us too?!"

From Percus's use of "also," Prareas sensed his unspoken meaning—are you going to kill us too? Just like your Dean killed Dumbledore?

Praris had anticipated this, but her gaze still sharpened in an instant.

Unfortunately, before she could even make a move, Ginny ran out of the auditorium: "Percussions, Briggs, Gallagher, what are you three doing here!"

Ginny, the new prefect of Gryffindor, stood with her back to Praris, blocking the way of the younger students, and shouted at them with great authority: "Class is about to start, what are you dawdling here for? Get out of here!"

"Gryffindor takes three points!"

Ginny's plan failed. Astoria appeared beside Prareas at some point, and in a mocking tone, she called out, "For Mr. Perks's disrespectful remarks to Headmaster Snape!"

“When did I—” Perks immediately retorted.

Astoria raised her chin and said, "I heard you—and you, Praris?"

“Not bad.” Praris chuckled softly.

Seeing Astoria exercise the powers of a prefect for the first time gave her a subtle feeling of her own child growing up.

Ginny glared at Praris with displeasure, but said nothing. Instead, she said to Perks and the other two, "Aren't you going to class?"

The prefect cannot deduct points from the prefect, and since Prareas didn't say a word, Ginny couldn't find a reason to deduct her points either.

Percussion and his two friends left defiantly at the prefect's request, and Ginny also turned and left without hesitation.

“This isn’t like Weasley at all.” Astoria crossed her arms, her tone full of doubt. “Is she holding back from starting a fight here? Is there something she’s worried about?”

Prareas extended his hand, rotated his wrist, and said gently, "Ginny Weasley did a great job."

"Huh?" Astoria looked at her, confused.

“If she had been a little slower…” Praris smiled as she looked at her hands, “she would have been visiting those three Gryffindors at the university hospital.”

Praris actually wanted to teach those three Gryffindors a lesson. The last time he beat someone up was two weeks ago, when he was beating up Death Eaters, and now he was itching to do it again.

Ginny had seen Prader discipline Harry. In her eyes, the three lower-year Gryffindors were simply asking for trouble by yelling at Prader.

Unsure if she could protect the three younger students on her own, she quickly decided to send them away, interrupting Praris's actions.

Although Ginny didn't like Prader, she knew that this Slytherin was more inclined to seek revenge than to cause trouble. The fact that Prader had dared to offend her was undoubtedly due to Percus and his companions provoking her.

Therefore, Ginny had no intention of getting revenge for them afterwards.

However, all of this is predicated on Ginny not knowing that Perx was mocking Snape. Otherwise, because of Dumbledore's death, she would also have supported Perx and his companions' actions.

"Let's talk as we walk." Praris placed his left hand on Astoria's left shoulder, gently putting his arm around her. "What do you want from me?"

In an instant, Praris felt a subtle sense of familiarity with the scene before her. It seemed that a few years ago, Stella had also been walking with her arm around her in the corridors of Hogwarts Castle.

The Sorting Hat was right—

"Perhaps you will make your true friends in Slytherin."*

On the lawn in front of the castle, Praris and Astoria sat side by side.

September in Scotland is a rare treat; the weather is clear, and the distant mountains are a brownish-green color.

Astoria hugged her knees and told Praris that she hadn't received a letter from Grace for a month.

“To be honest, I don’t care what happens to the other Muggle wizards—what does that have to do with me?” Astoria lowered her head, her long, light-colored hair falling down to cover her profile. “But I should have realized that if something happened to the other Muggle wizards, how could Kiki have escaped?”

The Greengrass family wouldn't let the two children go out, so Astoria could only communicate with Grace through letters.

As the morning sunlight streamed through the glass window, casting a long shadow of the plaster statue in front of it, Astoria would open her window and wait for her dear friend's owl to arrive.

Grace's owl was a Little Owl, which preferred to eat large insects and rodents. Astoria kept a bunch of beetles in an empty box on the windowsill every day, making Grace's owl as heavy as a weight.

Grace's parents ran a handicrafts shop, and Astoria's windowsill was filled with Grace's works, including a plaster statue of a girl holding hands.

Astoria sat at her desk, chin resting on her hand, doing her summer homework for Potions class while occasionally brushing the statues with the quill of her quill pen. Sometimes she would gaze out the window, waiting for the hooting of an owl.

That day, the owl didn't come until sunset. Astoria angrily said to the little girl statue, "Just you wait, I'll replace today's letter right now!"

She tossed the original letter aside, angrily wrote another one, and muttered, "I'm really angry!"

The owl still didn't come the next day.

On the third day, the owl still did not come.

……

Astoria ate at the long table on the first floor, her mind in turmoil, and she ate absentmindedly.

Mr. Greengrass scolded Astoria: "Lia, don't think about other things while you're eating, concentrate!"

"Dad—" Astoria pouted and said, "Then you're not allowed to read the newspaper either!"

Mr. Greengrass said helplessly, "Alright, alright, Dad has been taught a lesson by our Leah!"

Daphne couldn't bear to see this scene of fatherly love and filial piety, so she coughed twice and said, "Dad, what's in today's newspaper?"

"Isn't it all about the Mudbloods?" Mr. Greengrass said nonchalantly. "We just took some Mudbloods for questioning based on those questionnaires we filled out earlier."

Mr. Greengrass pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and slowly wiped his mouth. "Now, our streets are finally a bit cleaner, aren't they?"

“The Ministry of Magic has finally done something decent,” Daphne said cheerfully, looking at Astoria. “What do you think, Lydia?”

Astoria's cheeks immediately lost their color.

She remembered it all; it was the survey form that everyone in her family had filled out, which mainly asked for personal information and her parents' information.

Astoria didn't think too much about it, quickly filled it out, and then happily ran upstairs to write a letter to Grace. Little did she know that that thin piece of paper was changing the fate of countless wizards.

“That’s it,” Astoria sobbed. “I can’t do anything, not at all. Praris, you’re so smart, do you have any good ideas?”

Astoria tugged at Praris's sleeve, saying sadly, "It's all my fault, Grace! I should have let her leave with her mother! I should have let her go back to the Muggle world! It's all my fault!"

"You're so smart."

Praris had heard this phrase countless times from different people. Each time, she became increasingly aware that she wasn't smart enough or strong enough.

Human strength has its limits. She herself only managed to return to Hogwarts safely thanks to the efforts of Stella and Marcus, so how could she possibly help Grace Jones, whose fate was unknown?

Praris closed her eyes, remained silent for a moment, then opened them again. She said, "Lia, to be honest, I don't have any good ideas."

Astoria's head slumped heavily, buried in her palms.

“The only thing I can do is write you a letter to our senior, Stella,” Praris said softly, gently stroking Astoria’s back. “I heard that Potter apparently released a group of Muggle-born wizards at the Ministry of Magic.”

Astoria immediately looked up, her eyes glistening with tears and full of expectation.

Praris hesitated for a moment, then decided to be frank: "Lia, prepare for the worst. Nobody knows if Jones is in there, so you'd better not have too high hopes."

“Thank you, Praris!” Astoria’s tears finally streamed down her face. “I understand, I understand all of this! But at least I still have some hope, don’t I?”

The wind swept through the forest, shaking the branches and making a rustling sound.

Astoria lay on the lawn, her voice filled with confusion after her grief: "Plares, I don't know if I can say this... I think Duffy and Mom and Dad were completely wrong."

Praris lowered his head and asked gently, "What do you mean?"

“You should know that most people in Slytherin are pure-blood advocates and reject half-blood and Muggle-born wizards,” Astoria said slowly. “But there are half-blood and Muggle-born wizards in Slytherin too! If Slytherin is a complete pure-blood advocate, why are there half-blood and Muggle-born wizards among us?”

"So, you think Slytherin doesn't represent pure-blood ideology?" Prareas gently stroked her hair. "Is that so?"

“Yes, I believe that’s true,” Astoria said without hesitation. “Duffy and my parents look down on half-blood and Muggle wizards and won’t let me play with Kiki. But Kiki is clearly a good girl and very talented… Why should we judge a person’s worth based on their bloodline?”

This is a very good opportunity, even though it comes at the cost of Grace Jones's uncertain fate.

If Prareas wants to guide Astoria away from pure-blood ideology, she can now instill her desired ideas and pull the girl into the rebellious ranks.

But Astoria was a girl she had watched grow up, and their relationship went beyond just shared ideals.

Prarese hopes that if the transformation is achieved, it will stem from Astoria's own thinking.

“Lia,” Prarese said, “because for many people, an ideology is actually a business. Only those who believe in the same idea will come together and share their interests.”

She calmly said, "Pure-bloodism is also an ideology, so it can also become a business and a political resource. It forms an alliance of all pure-blood wizards who adhere to this idea. If you don't support this idea, you will be excluded by this alliance and become an outcast."

"Under such a premise of mutual benefit, good or bad, strong or weak, are not important. Unless you are strong enough to break through this limitation and become a new source of benefit."