HP North Star's Radiance

“No,” Praris asked in a low voice, “but there is a connection. Are you going to get a immunity by reporting me, Leah?”

Astoria's mind was in turmoil; she couldn't believe Praris was connected to the Order of the Phoenix. But once things were out in the open, everything became clear.

Prairie is a half-blood who opposes pure-bloodism, helps her little sister find out the whereabouts of a Muggle-born person, and refuses to serve Voldemort... but her mentor is Headmaster Snape, and her boyfriend is Draco Malfoy!

These were two enormous smokescreens, perfectly concealing Praris's true identity.

“No!” Astoria shook her head firmly. “You have taught me and helped me countless times. In my eyes, Praris, you are already my family and friend. I cannot trade one friend for another.”

As the Sorting Hat suggests, you might make true friends here. Slytherin loyalty is unconventional; pure-blood loyalty is one manifestation of this unconventional loyalty, as is love for family and friends.

A snake's vision is so narrow that it can only see the person in front of it. This narrow-minded love and loyalty may seem too selfish, but it is not without its flaws.

Praris smiled gently—Astora's choice was within her expectations.

Does it stem from feelings and trust for Astoria?

Yes, she is. She is not heartless.

But Prarese is not the kind of person who would let emotions override rational choices.

From observing Astoria, to nurturing her initial opposition to bloodline theory, to proactively revealing his mixed-race identity, to teaching her practical spells and cultivating their relationship, and then providing her with tangible assistance.

After taking so many steps, Prarese only chose to reveal his connection with the Order of the Phoenix when he was forced to rest in bed and incapacitated.

There are too many extreme pure-blood ideologies and useless people in Slytherin; not everyone is suitable for development.

If Praris were to try and develop Daphne, it would be a waste of time. But Astoria's existence offers the opportunity to drag Daphne into the mess.

Developing the children of Death Eaters—Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle—would be suicidal and would also implicate Professor Snape. The former at least had some talent, while the latter two were utterly useless.

If they were to develop Zabini? She's not crazy!

Yes, if Prader were alone, she could certainly take the risks, slowly strategize, and persuade more people. But the reality is that she can't; her position is sensitive, she's walking on thin ice, and she can't risk Professor Snape's life.

But it is precisely because of these relatives and friends that Praris ended up on the path she is on today; otherwise, she might have already been working for Voldemort.

Astoria possesses advanced ideas, a reasonably intelligent mind, and magical talent, making her worthy of Praris's gradual cultivation and eventual acquisition.

The other is Meryl's boyfriend, Evan. Although he is not particularly resilient or capable, his thinking has been wavering under Meryl's influence, and he has been secretly being developed by Praris—almost making Draco jealous.

But Draco quickly convinced himself.

He firmly believed that Praris's judgment couldn't be that bad!

Meanwhile, Astoria continued her report: "Prarez, you asked me to keep an eye on the Quidditch matches and the South American Sports Daily."

Praris immediately looked at Astoria.

"The Quidditch match proceeded smoothly, with six international observers present. The observers all reported that the match went well, security was adequate, and they did not see any of the possibilities that Lopez had mentioned earlier." Astoria paused here before continuing, "However, some tabloids reported that Quidditch player Roxburgh went missing after the match."

"Muggle-born?"

“Yes,” Astoria said in a low voice. “Roxenberg originally planned to leave the country immediately after the competition, but his team had a ranking and needed to attend a celebration banquet. The next day, the key to their round-trip ticket malfunctioned, so they were stranded in the country waiting for repairs.”

Therefore, it is estimated that Locksberg spent more time in the UK than Stella had requested protection for. This led to his being taken away by the Muggle Registration Board and the search party as a result.

Stella truly did her best in this matter. It was cruel, but she had to protect her own position first; Locksberg's life or death was secondary.

Praris asked, "What was the Ministry of Magic's response?"

"Miss Stewart said that the Ministry of Magic is deeply saddened and concerned about what happened to Rocksburg, and understands the feelings of his family and the Quidditch team."

"But his disappearance occurred more than 48 hours after the match and was unrelated to the event itself. It should not be used by conspiracy theorists to smear the British Quidditch movement."

"The Ministry of Magic is taking Mr. Rocksberg's whereabouts very seriously and has ordered the Department of Law Enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter."

After saying that, Astoria asked a naive question: "Plares, since Miss Stewart said so, then Rocksberg will be able to return to the team alive, right? At least... for the sake of the Ministry of Magic's prestige?"

"Ask me?" Praris chuckled. "Silly girl, his life is over after the Quidditch match. If you really want to know, let's see how his luck runs out!"

Astoria exclaimed in surprise, "Then... what Miss Stewart said in that interview?"

“This is just repainting the walls of a dilapidated house—painting a facade,” Praris said calmly. “Stella’s power isn’t as great as you think. As a wizard who isn’t fully controlled, it’s already a miracle that she can stand in that position. And Locksberg isn’t worth all the favors and effort she’s put in.”

Most Ministry of Magic officials had been soul-stealed and were now acting entirely according to the Death Eaters' will. But Stella's political value dictated that she couldn't be treated like an ordinary official. If she had been soul-stealed, she wouldn't be able to act as flexibly as she does now.

To be able to act like this technocrat—capable of both speaking in official jargon and getting things done, as well as meticulously handling Death Eaters from various Ministries of Magic and media outlets both domestically and internationally—one must bear a responsibility no less significant than Professor Snape's.

The intricacies involved here are far too complex!

Astoria felt that she had come with Praris to broaden her horizons.

Feeling a sense of shared fate, the little girl was genuinely grateful that Grace hadn't become an unfortunate soul like Lockseberg.

“And then…and then there’s Anna Lopez, the one you wanted,” Astoria said lightly. “She’s gone missing too. Anna went to work at the newspaper as usual. That evening, Mr. Lopez reported her missing to the Brazilian Ministry of Magic, and the investigation is still ongoing.”

When did you go missing?

Seven days ago.

This was within Praris's expectations. Anna, the journalist, risked being hunted down by Death Eaters for publicly criticizing Voldemort's government.

The three women have written to Milison, warning her not to leave Castelobuscher. Seven days ago wasn't a school holiday, Anna disappeared while at work, and Milison was involved anonymously, so she's unlikely to be implicated.

But it's only a high probability... Man proposes, God disposes, Praris prayed silently for Milison's safety.

Astoria didn't ask Prares why she was paying attention to reporter Anna; she simply continued, "Finally, there are the two Professors Carlo."

“This morning I had a Muggle Studies class taught by Professor Alexio Carlow, but she didn’t come! Headmaster Snape arranged for Professor Sinesta to substitute, and the topic was something like—a comparative study of Muggle and wizard astronomy.”

The choice of a substitute teacher wasn't surprising. Other professors had their own classes during the day, but Professor Sinister's class was at night, so she had time to substitute during the day. The only problem was that she had to teach from day to night.

Astoria's tone became more lively: "The atmosphere in class is much better now, although it's turned Muggle Studies into half an astronomy class! But to be honest, it's really boring to keep talking about the bad things about Muggles. I'd rather hear something else."

“It’s fine if you say it to me,” Praris warned Astoria, “but if Crabbe hears this, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Praris set up earplugs here so that the two of them could have a moment to rest and talk about dangerous things.

"Where is Professor Snape?" Prareas looked up, barely managing to conceal his worry. "Did he show up today?"

“Of course,” Astoria said firmly. “He was indeed in the principal’s seat when we ate in the auditorium.”

How does he look?

"I didn't pay attention to this... It should be the same as before!" She scratched her head, racking her brains but couldn't remember. "Otherwise, I would definitely have taken a closer look."

Astoria had already made a great effort to obtain so much external information from Hogwarts and bring it to Praris in its entirety.

She wasn't Praris with a permanent memory, so she couldn't recall everything from the past. She had to cut out some newspaper articles and stuff them into her boots to barely complete the task.

Praris finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the blame had been successfully shifted entirely onto the Carol siblings, making them suffer Voldemort's punishment, while Professor Snape was largely unharmed.

Training Astoria was an absolutely correct decision. She has good talent, strong initiative, and is flexible and adaptable, making her a valuable assistant to Praris.

Astoria used magic to set the newspapers on fire, immediately destroying them to avoid being caught by Alecto and becoming the first Slytherin with incorrect ideas.

Chapter 267 Because of Love, Therefore Love

All students injured at Hogwarts for reasons other than normal are sent to the school infirmary. Therefore, this provides a glimpse into the overall situation at the school.

Punished by Voldemort, the Carol siblings became increasingly insane, frantically seeking reasons to torment their students.

They demanded that the other teachers hand over all the students who had made mistakes to them. The Hogwarts teachers obviously didn't want to do this, but there were times when they couldn't avoid it.

The students who were taken away were all placed in solitary confinement.

But the confinement at this time was very different from that before.

A younger student, released from confinement, tearfully told Madame Pomfrey, "Alector Caro wanted Neville to use the Crucifixion on me! Waaah, Neville refused, and she tortured him madly!"

Some people say that the Carlo siblings brought students who had been confined to the classroom and asked other students to use the Cruciatus Curse on them.

Under such pressure, stupidity, error, hatred, and sin... the hatred between people sprang up like maggots on a rotting corpse.

Some people claimed they were forced to attack their classmates, some felt the fault lay not with themselves but with the environment of Hogwarts, some began to enjoy the environment and joined the side that hurt others... and some even tried to find an object of hatred to make the environment worse.

The people who deserve to be hated are not the Carlo siblings who directly caused the harm, but Praris and Neville.

"Honestly, who knows what she's up to behind the scenes!" a male voice said resentfully. "Didn't Neville say he did it to thwart Prince's plot?"

"If Prince hadn't been up to any tricks, would Neville have needed to go to such lengths to deal with her? If Neville hadn't gone after her, the explosion wouldn't have happened, and Hogwarts's rules wouldn't have become so strict!"

"How interesting! So, the victim is the perpetrator?" Pansy shouted. "Why don't you push this a little further? Since you're so good at getting to the bottom of things, why don't you go back a bit and talk about Professor Carol, Headmaster Snape, and... that one!"

Pansy wasn't one to hit someone and run; she was good at chasing and killing: "What are you looking at, Macmillan! I think you've miscalculated! You should blame your father and mother! If Mrs. Macmillan hadn't given birth to you, you wouldn't be here arguing about who's right and who's wrong right now!"

“You think I wouldn’t dare?” Ernie wasn’t one to back down either, and retorted angrily, “Hogwarts has become like this because of you Slytherins!”

Ernie hit the nail on the head: Voldemort was a Slytherin.

Pansy wanted to go back, but Mrs. Pomfrey stormed out, hands on her hips, pointing and shouting, "What do you think this is? This is the school infirmary, not a place for you to argue! If you keep arguing, get out!"

Mrs. Pomfrey's appearance was perfectly timed. She didn't step in when Ernie was retorting, but she did when Pansy was about to speak up.

Unable to vent her anger, Pansy was very unhappy. She glared at Ernie and Mrs. Pomfrey, then ran into the school infirmary with a resentful look on her face.

She sat down angrily at the foot of Praris's bed and said sarcastically, "I think McMillan is just trying to get back at them!"

Praris blinked and said calmly, "He was saying it to me, but I don't care. Pansy, he only gets more enthusiastic when we care."

“The ‘place’ I’m talking about isn’t this!” Pansy said with a sneer. “It’s those idiots!”

"Oh?"

Some felt that Prareas was the one who caused all of this, while others felt that Neville was the one in the wrong—Professor Snape's words had a dividing effect.

"Everyone's saying Prince's doing something shady, but I just see her fiddling with her own things in the classroom! She hasn't done anything to anyone!"

"Exactly! It's Neville who caused the explosion in the castle's basement. Hogwarts Castle is so old, what if it collapses due to some accident?"

"I thought he hated Prince for using the Cruciatus Curse on him, but wasn't that a requirement of Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"In other words, that's his personal grudge, why should we share the consequences!"

"Prince didn't really do anything to him, did he? He still has the strength to blow up the castle, doesn't he? If he wanted revenge, he didn't have to go this far, injuring both of his hands. No wonder they're getting stricter and stricter these days."

“They’re all arguing,” Pansy chuckled. “At least we Slytherins are united; the only one in the wrong is Longbottom. I think McMillan is just using these words to stab you! What do you think?”

Praris fell silent; the complexities of human nature were sometimes beyond even her comprehension. After a moment's thought, she said to Pansy, "I think what you said earlier is correct."

"Which sentence?" Pansy frowned, trying to recall.

Prarese looked incredibly casual, saying with ease, "The first thing I said to McMillan."

Pansy was stunned. She was stunned not because she couldn't remember, but precisely because she remembered.