HP North Star's Radiance

“Let’s review the plan again,” Ginny said through gritted teeth. “We must succeed this time.”

As Prarese said, the plan to create a disturbance to lure Snape away was not feasible.

This wasn't because the plan was too old, but rather because Snape never handled these matters personally unless they were truly significant. School administration and discipline were mostly handled by the Carol siblings.

So they came up with a good idea.

Ginny said seriously, "The plan needs to be carried out while the Carol siblings are in class, so we can deal with two fewer people."

“And the classes they take should ideally be lower-level courses,” Neville added. “This way, we can maintain our fighting strength to the maximum extent.”

“That is—” Ginny took out the textbooks that the DAs had pieced together for each grade and house, “In this section, Amicus Carlo is a second-year student in Upper Hufflepuff, and Alecto Carlo is a fourth-year student.”

Neville then elaborated on the plan: "Next, we need to make sure Snape isn't in the headmaster's office."

Chapter 225 Failed Sword Theft

“According to the two plans we discussed earlier,” Neville began flipping through the DA meeting minutes, “the first one is still to create chaos, but we need a lot of trouble to happen one after another, keeping them busy.”

Voldemort wanted to use Hogwarts to control both students and parents, so he needed to maintain a semblance of order. Whether through feigned appeasement or outright brutality, Hogwarts couldn't afford to descend into chaos.

Whenever Dumbledore's army caused trouble at the school, Snape would have to do everything he could, just like Umbridge, to suppress the students.

“Try to stay as far away from the principal’s office as possible.” Ginny tapped her fingers on the table. “The first-floor corridor, the lobby, or the basement.”

“Underground won’t do,” Seamus objected. “That’s Slytherin territory!”

“That’s Hufflepuff territory too!” McMillan couldn’t stand such talk.

Only after Simo raised his hands in surrender did McMillan turn his gaze away.

Neville continued, "The second way is to find a reason to get Snape to leave the office voluntarily."

They considered impersonating Harry and forging traces of the trio's appearance at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

In order to capture Harry and gain merit, Snape would definitely leave the castle and search for Harry's traces in the forest.

“Some of us disguised ourselves as Harry, while others used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Snape’s confidants and report to him that there were people in the Forbidden Forest who looked like Harry.”

Compared to the first method, which Prares had rejected, the second method required fewer people and had a higher chance of success.

The only problem is, who will they impersonate, and who will impersonate and deceive Snape? This choice is crucial; a misstep could expose the entire operation.

On the other hand, Slughorn finally understood how difficult Snape's life had been.

The Carlo siblings were not careful with their punishments, often resulting in students being hospitalized. The students, harboring resentment, caused damage everywhere, and the number of students being punished increased.

As a result of this cycle, the number of students needing treatment at the school clinic is increasing, as are the number of herbs, potions, and various elixirs required.

Slughorn's suggestion was that Hogwarts should try to source supplies from off-campus pharmacies. He was too old to handle such a heavy workload.

The problem is that things aren't peaceful outside either. The market is generally in short supply of potions, and the price of potions is soaring. Some are even unavailable.

"Poppy!" Slughorn couldn't hold back his complaint any longer. "Did Headmaster Snape have this much workload back then?"

After Dumbledore's death, Slughorn found it difficult to address his once-proud student with the same affectionate tone as before.

Dumbledore was his colleague of many years and someone he admired. He couldn't understand why Severus killed Dumbledore, but Minerva said that Harry witnessed it himself.

Slughorn was conflicted. He didn't want to choose either the option that Harry was lying or that Severus was really the murderer.

The only thing he could do was to take up the position of Headmaster of Slytherin again and prevent the Death Eaters from taking over the job—but is the position of Potions Professor really something a human can do?

Last semester, with Dumbledore in charge of the school, there were few incidents that could cause injury except at the end of the semester, which Slughorn handled with ease.

"It's not much different from when I was at Hogwarts!"

Slughorn thought optimistically and didn't understand why Snape always seemed so busy.

Who would have thought that before Halloween even arrived this semester, Slughorn was already at his breaking point, spending his time either teaching or brewing potions.

He should even be thankful that he was the Head of Slytherin. After all, students from the other three houses were causing trouble, and the heads of the houses had to run around for them.

Among the Slytherin students, none of them caused any problems that required his attention; Crabbe and Goyle were even rewarded for actively informing on the student organization.

“He has Praris to help him,” Mrs. Pomfrey said, wiping her hands with the hem of her skirt. “That boy is worth several of us.”

Mrs. Pomfrey highly recommends it; everyone who uses it says it's great.

hiss--

Slughorn suddenly realized, "That makes sense!"

Prareas is the student with the best talent in potions, Snape's assistant, and a Slytherin!

On the eighth-floor corridor, Snape had just finished reporting to Voldemort and returned to Hogwarts. Now, he was going to find the Carrow siblings to convey Voldemort's latest instructions.

“Uh, Headmaster Snape!” Crabbe called out, “I have something to report to you about—”

Snape stopped and said calmly, "Crawb, just report this to Professor Carlow."

It seems Snape has gotten used to Crabbe and Goyle tipping off the Carroll siblings.

"Headmaster, both Professors Caro are still teaching!" Crabbe said urgently. "Goyle and I saw someone who looked like Harry Potter on the edge of the Forbidden Forest!"

"Oh?" Snape turned around abruptly, a sharp glint in his eyes, and said sternly, "Where? Take me there!"

Crabbe walked in front, and Snape followed behind. They went downstairs and out of the castle.

As soon as the two stepped out of the castle, Ginny, Luna, and Ernie received the news through the disguise of the fake Galon and rushed out of the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor to the door of the headmaster's office.

“Dumbledore!” Ginny called out.

The stairs behind the statue soon appeared. Ernie stayed behind to keep watch, while the two girls strode up the stairs, their hearts pounding faster than when it was match point in a Quidditch game.

Before they even reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Snape suddenly stopped.

He squinted and asked, "Crawb, what's the password for the common room today?"

"Pureblood".

Crabbe's cloak was soaked with sweat.

They had already considered who to impersonate, ruling out Praris first, as she was utterly inhuman—in terms of intelligence, fighting ability, and all other aspects.

Secondly, Malfoy can be ruled out. This semester, he has been taciturn and has not participated in the Caro siblings' persecution of the students at the school.

That leaves only Crabbe and Goyle. Relatively speaking, Goyle is a bit dumber than Crabbe. Crabbe is more cunning and more active in persecuting the DA, causing them a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Neville was tasked with impersonating Crabbe to lure Snape out of the castle. Seamus was to impersonate Goyle, pretending to be guarding the edge of the Forbidden Forest where Harry could be seen.

There are also several DAs who are responsible for impersonating Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

To be honest, Neville didn't know if Snape would have any doubts, or what those doubts would be about. All they could do was prepare thoroughly before the operation and adapt to changing circumstances during it.

The DA certainly doesn't know Slytherin's password, and Praris would never reveal it to them.

But Neville believed that Snape wouldn't bother memorizing the ever-changing passwords for the Slytherin doors. As long as he was confident enough that the passwords were reasonable, he could get away with it.

During this period, DA and the Carlo siblings' guerrilla warfare greatly honed Neville's strategic thinking and adaptability.

He was so afraid of Snape, yet he managed to maintain a calm facade.

Neville's performance was flawless, but Snape sneered, "Immediately imprison him!"

In the principal's office, the appearance of Ginny and Luna startled the portraits on the wall, and the principals whispered among themselves about what they were up to.

Principal Devon was the first to ask, "Children, what brings you here?"

Ginny didn't respond. Her gaze swept around the office and soon landed on the glass case containing the sword.

Ginny raised her wand and decisively shouted, "Shatter to pieces!"

With a loud crash, the box containing the Gryffindor sword shattered, revealing the longsword inlaid with rubies inside.

The portraits on the wall were startled and scattered in disarray. Phineas immediately warned Ginny, "You Weasley girl, you've made a mistake! Put the sword down right now!"

"Put it down?" Ginny retorted without hesitation. "Do you expect me to leave Gryffindor's treasures to the Death Eaters?! You old fool, you're dreaming!"

After saying that, Ginny ran to the glass box, picked up the sword, stuffed it into her bag, and pulled Luna along to run out together.

Both of them knew very well that now was not the time to celebrate victory. Obtaining the sword was only the first step; keeping the sword and giving it away was the final step!

They hurriedly ran towards the stairs to the principal's office, quickly descending the stairs towards the stone statue at the exit, but before they had gone down two steps, they were forced to stop.

One step, two steps...

Ginny and Luna swallowed hard and involuntarily backed away.

Before them, Snape stood coldly at the end of the stairs to the Headmaster's office, with Neville and Ernie, bound hand and foot, floating behind him.

Snape drew out his words and said sarcastically, "In our second year, someone impersonated Crabbe and Goyle and entered the common room, where they overheard Slytherin's commands."

“From then on, especially after Draco became a prefect, he never allowed ‘pureblood’ to be used as a password again. This habit continued with every prefect after him.”

Ginny couldn't help but recall Prader's words: "Harry, Hermione... they've narrowed their path."

It's funny how this happened. In their second year, Draco let Harry and Ron, disguised as humans, into the Slytherin common room and chatted with them at length.

Prareas, who was not particularly close to Draco at the time, ridiculed Draco severely, making him lose face and causing him to hold a grudge.

Draco went to Marcus specifically to ask him not to use the word "purebred" when setting a new password.

Don't ask—it's too cliché and easy to guess.

Prarese, who was working as an underage laborer in the office, told Snape about it as a joke. Snape sarcastically replied, "If you keep focusing on these trivial things, you'll be going to go backwards."

Neither then nor now could Snape have imagined that such trivial matters among students would actually be of great importance!

Shortly after leaving the castle, Snape noticed someone entering the Headmaster's office. Unsure if it was a professor, Snape randomly asked a question to confirm their identity.

Neville's answer immediately revealed that he was not Crabbe, and those in the principal's office were undoubtedly the group of students who were eager to die.

Snape immediately turned back and caught Ernie at the office door, then waited at the end of the stairs to intercept Ginny and Luna.

Dumbledore's army didn't even need to deploy their forces at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, because Snape wasn't even tricked into going to the designated location and turned back on the lawn outside the castle.

Taking the Gryffindor sword from Ginny's bag, Snape looked at the four students and said sarcastically, "How amusing, planning to steal the sword for your friend, is that it?"

“What a pity—” Snape said softly, “your remaining wisdom cannot match your courage.”

"I think you probably dislike Slytherin and me, and naturally you don't know enough about Slytherin. If you really understood your opponents, you wouldn't have responded so poorly."

Ginny struggled fiercely, but to no avail. She said angrily, "Yes, we can't stand you! We can't stand despicable people like you! If Slytherin deserves respect, then we will naturally understand Slytherin!"

Snape said coldly, "Miss Weasley, this isn't the first time you've been put in solitary confinement, and it seems it hasn't worked on you. From today onwards, you are forbidden from going to Hogsmeade—go and reflect on your actions!"