HP North Star's Radiance

She had expected Neville and Ginny to escape. But when she learned that Neville hadn't managed to escape, she felt relieved.

From burning herbs to more thorough sabotage experiments, Ginny and Neville have been actively pushing forward while secretly seeking Praris's approval and cooperation to minimize DA losses.

Ultimately, Neville couldn't ignore the safety of his companions. Therefore, without Prareas's approval, the operation would be extremely difficult to carry out.

It was because of Prarese's approval that this operation took place, and it was also because she asked the house-elf to put the sodium cube in the medicine box at the Room of Requirement.

With prior planning, the Slytherins would have little time to react, and the Death Eaters could easily escape. But if they escaped, it would mean that none of the Death Eaters had been captured.

With Prareas injured and the vandals still at large, Professor Snape will likely be blamed for mismanagement—even though Prareas has shifted almost all the blame onto the Carol siblings.

To Praris's surprise, by a twist of fate, when she was forced to "lose" her mobility, Astoria, whom she had personally trained, successfully broke Ginny's magic, directly leading to DA being relentlessly pursued.

Professor Snape also reasonably punished Neville in public, making an example of him to deter others.

Of course, this makes perfect sense. Astoria acted for Praliss's sake. And it would be highly unusual for Professor Snape to show no reaction to her injury, whether from the perspective of a Death Eater, a headmaster, or a mentor.

Prarese couldn't help but lament that while she was doing her best to minimize DA damage, she was also indirectly contributing to Navee's arrest in some ways.

Man proposes, God disposes. Praris naturally hoped that everything would be perfect, ideally with only the Carlo siblings suffering bad luck, but everyone knew that was impossible.

No matter how cunning Praris's schemes were, they could only stop at the moment they left the abandoned classroom. In the ensuing chase, she could neither ascertain the number and capabilities of the final "pursuers," nor could she escape in DA's place.

There's a saying: you can't truly understand a person unless you wear their boots and walk like them. At this moment, Prarese deeply understood Dumbledore's difficulties—people are the greatest variable.

After Praris woke up, Pansy and Daphne took turns telling him about what happened afterward to distract him from the pain he felt after drinking the Bone Elixir.

Visiting time was limited, and the two girls left promptly, leaving the remaining space to Draco, who hadn't spoken a word.

Draco gently placed his hand on Praris's arm, his eyes lowered as he looked at the scabbed wounds from her burns. He said, "There's something I think only you can answer for me, isn't there?"

“Tell me about it,” Praris said calmly.

Draco bent down, took a wooden box from his satchel on the floor, and gently placed it on Praris's sheets: "Last night, I discovered that something was missing from the box—that's terrible, isn't it?"

“Perhaps I should report this to Headmaster Snape. Longbottom stole my treasure and used it for shady things. He must be punished more severely.”

He was waiting, waiting for Prareas to give him an explanation, an explanation of why she allowed DA to hurt herself in such an extreme way.

When Daphne's little sister told Draco that Prader was injured and unconscious, he felt a familiar fear. The last time he felt this way was when he was forced to point his wand at Dumbledore, standing on the edge of murder, and before that, when his father was imprisoned.

To Draco's surprise, Praris said with certainty, "Sure enough, you open it every night to check."

This is a cute little secret.

Praliss discovered that Draco counted his mineral box every night like a Muggle child counting his allowance. So, she decided to steal Draco's sodium cube on the morning of the day in question.

She guessed that Draco probably hadn't noticed anything unusual about the ore box by the time she woke up from her unconscious state. By the time Draco discovered it, curfew had already begun.

Even if he were perceptive enough to discover the connection between the explosion and the sodium block, he couldn't immediately run to report it; he had to wait until dawn.

After a night of thought, Draco, with his sharp mind, must have realized one thing: only one person knew of the existence of the mineral box and could easily take the sodium block.

That was the victim himself, Praris.

Prareas just stared at Draco with such composure, like a cat that reached out and knocked over a glass of water and then acted as if it were perfectly justified.

Draco was utterly devastated, his hands clutching his head, elbows resting on his knees. He practically blurted out, "You've been in contact with them, after...that person died?"

"Yes."

"why?"

“I don’t think I need to tell you that,” Praris said calmly. “You clearly know about my relationship with Winnie.”

Yes, that's right.

Draco thought that Winnie Brown had been a Death Eater, and was now in exile as a traitor and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. This witch had once walked hand-in-hand with Praris, like family.

Draco knew all of this, or had witnessed it firsthand.

If he asked, Praris would always tell him, or he would simply say, "I don't want to lie to you."

"What about Headmaster Snape?" Draco asked.

Praris said, "He is a respected elder and professor to me. Without his guidance, I would not be who I am today."

"what about me?"

"I love you."

Pralis had told Draco herself that she didn't intend to continue Voldemort's mission. But Draco never imagined that it would be by joining forces with DA, intentionally inviting trouble, and even harming himself.

Draco felt a great deal of anger, inner turmoil, and confusion when facing Praris.

He felt like an eagle, and Prarese was skilled at training eagles. The witch seemed perpetually confident, deeply believing Draco would never betray her.

Draco, in turn, backed down as she pushed his luck, doing far too many things that a Death Eater, a pureblood, should not do.

Prareas never hid her unusual behavior from Draco, and even invited him to read Muggle books with her on several occasions.

"If a woman cannot make her mistakes charming, then she is merely a female animal," Mrs. Windermere replied.

"The times and her environment limited her, making her views shallow." Prarese shook her head as she read this passage. "In my opinion, if a woman can admit and correct her mistakes, then she can be called a responsible and capable woman."

Draco had no interest in what Muggle women thought, but Prarese was different. She always believed that even foolish opinions needed to be understood. People often don't lose to the clever opponents they're always wary of; rather, they're often the ones who are tricked by fools.

"The more you look down on Muggles, the more you look down on wizards born in Muggles, the more you need to understand them," Praris said slowly. "Understanding them will prevent you from failing in unseen ways, and it will allow you to utilize them. What do you think?"

At this moment, Draco felt that he agreed with a small part of what Mrs. Windermere, a Muggle, said.

Whenever Draco thought he understood Pralis, he discovered that she was more powerful, more mysterious, and more unfathomable than he had imagined.

This mystery made Draco feel powerless, tormented, and forced to endure contradictions, yet it also lured him like the digestive juices of a pitcher plant attract insects, making him unable to resist wanting to get closer to her and understand her.

In Draco's eyes, Prader was simply captivating. This captivating quality lay not in her ability to make mistakes charming, but in her capacity to acknowledge her entire self, just as she herself said, and her capacity to resolve all the problems she encountered, whether difficulties or errors.

This is something Draco could never do. He never felt he was wrong, and he would never admit his mistakes, even when the facts were laid bare before him. He was adept at avoiding problems until there was no way to avoid them, and in his helplessness, he would finally unleash his last bit of potential and manage to find a solution that could hardly be called a solution.

It's hard for people to fall in love with someone similar to themselves, but they are more easily attracted to someone who is the opposite of themselves.

Draco avoided Praris's gaze and said hesitantly, "You...you know exactly who I am! Aren't you afraid I'll expose you?"

"Would you do that?" Praris said gently. "Draco, I don't think so."

Draco lowered his head and covered his face with one hand.

After a long silence, he whispered, "Yes, you're always right—I love you too."

Hearing this, Praris forced a smile and smiled at Draco.

“That’s an ugly smile,” Draco said, completely oblivious to her feelings. “Are you feeling unwell? If you are, then stop smiling.”

Praris blinked: "No, it's alright, it's just that the taste of Bone Spirit isn't very pleasant."

People are different. Some people put on a brave face in front of strangers, but whine and complain about pain to their own family; some people don't pretend in front of strangers, but don't want their own family to worry.

Prarese was the latter. She believed that telling a therapist about one's pain was for the sake of easier treatment, to get herbs and medicine. But telling Draco would do no good; it would only make him worry.

Draco looked a little annoyed and said with a long face, "Your hands are shaking, you can barely speak!"

“Okay.” Praris was trying to complain to her lover for the first time. “I feel terrible, it hurts so much. Baron won’t give me any rosemary or lemon balm for pain relief, and he’s even stingy with a little bit of Dreamless Sleeping Pills. I’m going to strike as soon as I get better!”

“That nurse?” Draco said, stroking his chin. “If your throat is sore, don’t say anything. Rosemary, lemon balm, and Dreamless Sleeping Pills, is that right? Wait, I’ll go get them for you!”

When he said this, Draco was just like his troublemaking father, showing the early signs of a troublemaking parent!

“Don’t go!” Praris instinctively reached out to pull him, but then remembered that his hand was injured and quickly stopped. “This is a complaint, you know? I’m telling you this not so you’ll cause trouble in Barron… I just want to tell you.”

Draco didn't understand, but he respected.

He sat down again and said to Praris, "Since you've drunk the Bone-Generating Elixir, let me speak..."

Draco and the other Slytherins watched as Headmaster Snape punished Neville. They had never seen the former headmaster with such an angry and gloomy expression, except when Potter got into trouble.

They all knew that the real punishment behind the scenes had probably already ended, as evidenced by Neville's disheveled appearance and dirty clothes.

The current punishment is psychological; Snape and the Carroll siblings have used every possible means to humiliate Neville.

"Enough!" Professor McGonagall finally couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward. "Headmaster Snape, you've already punished him, haven't you?"

"Yes and no," Snape said coldly. "Ah, I really don't understand. Professor McGonagall, is it something you can easily forgive for almost killing your classmate? Miss Prader, she still hasn't woken up."

Alecto said sarcastically, "Professor McGonagall, as a professor, dean, and principal, your ideas have a very profound influence on the students' thinking."

"Longbottom impersonated Professor Amycus, deceived his classmates, and committed murder... You are also to blame for such flawed thinking!"

"If we don't give Longbottom a thorough education and make him completely abandon his erroneous ideas, what will he do tomorrow after injuring Miss Prince today! Merlin, I don't even want to think about it!"

……

Just as Draco was vividly "rebroadcasting" Neville's punishment, a familiar voice came from the doorway of the school infirmary.

Praris winked at Draco, and then in an instant, he became countless times weaker than before. The whole process was nothing short of miraculous, leaving Draco completely dumbfounded.

Swah——

Professor Snape lifted the white curtain that was covering the room. Standing behind him were the Carol siblings.

"Awake?" Snape asked curtly. "Tell me what happened."

Snape was asking Prareas the question, but Draco spoke first: "Sir, she just drank Bone Spirit not long ago, so she probably can't say much..."

Snape glanced at Draco and nodded slightly to indicate that he understood.

“Ahem!” Praris coughed weakly, his voice hoarse. “Professor, yesterday… I was focused on my experiment. Suddenly, Professor Carlo—Professor Amicus Carlo—knocked on the door…”

Amicus said viciously, "It's that kid Longbottom!"

"You opened the door when he knocked?" Alecto questioned.

“I wasn’t planning on opening the door… cough, the experiment was at a critical moment, and I had just completed the second-stage potion, though it wasn’t perfect.” Praris dropped this bombshell, his face and lips deathly pale. “But Professor Carlo said he had urgent business and had to come in, cough, I never expected that everything would be ruined…”

Chapter 264 The Liar

As Prarese said, the experiment was at a critical juncture, and she had no time to think about anything other than her work.

At this moment, a "colleague" suddenly knocked on the door, indicating that he had something urgent to discuss. Moreover, the visitor was not alone, but rather the "Carlo siblings" came together, creating an atmosphere of urgency.

Regardless of their abilities, Death Eaters are not supposed to talk loudly in the corridors, so letting them in was perfectly reasonable.

"You did it!" Amicus's previous despair vanished, replaced by boundless excitement. "Where's the potion? Can you submit the finished product and report?"

“It’s done,” Snape said coldly, “and ruined.”

Lying in his hospital bed, Prarese nodded gently, indicating that Professor Snape was right—the explosion had destroyed everything.