HP North Star's Radiance

Anyone who didn't know better would think Winnie had separation anxiety!

Upon hearing Prares's words, Draco picked up the book, then put it down, then picked it up again, then put it down again.

After a long pause, he stammered, “Brown isn’t related to you by blood—I mean, there are some things you don’t know, but—a friend like her can be dangerous for you.”

“What?” Praris said, looking puzzled. “Come on, you’re making it sound like she has some kind of enemy. But what does that have to do with me? I know her because I used to help out at her friend’s shop—tell me, who did she mess with?”

Draco secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly resumed his sarcastic tone: "My dad said Brown has a smart but stupid brain. When she makes a decision, her stupid side takes over. So, someone like her—will always make the wrong decision."

Draco mumbled something, speaking in a tone like Professor Trelawney giving a divination.

Praris tried to extract information about the Death Eaters' plot from him, but got nothing out of him.

Perhaps Draco had only heard rumors.

Praris had no choice but to continue writing, but she wasn't writing to any of the people she had written to before.

"Headmaster Dumbledore."

Praris paused for a moment, then added "dear" before it.

Be polite; she's not alone anymore.

"Barty Crouch Jr. is still alive. He stole Professor Snape's African tree snake skin, made Polyjuice Potion, and used it to impersonate..."

Prarese ultimately left the name blank, even though she desperately wanted to write Moody's name.

Next, she wrote down all the reasoning process, leaving only the part belonging to the person being impersonated.

Finally, she signed it "Your student, Talia".

Praris put away the unfinished letter, waiting for her to finish it.

Prarese ruled out most people through subsequent observations and reasoning, but Moody's suspicions grew.

When Professor Snape was searching for the intruder, Moody was the first person to appear besides the Squib Filch. Moody always carried a curved bottle, which seemed consistent with his need to constantly replenish Polyjuice Potion.

Some time ago, Hermione told Prader that Harry and Krum witnessed old Crouch going mad, claiming: It's all his fault... It's all his son's fault... Vader has become powerful. Harry immediately went to find Dumbledore, but Crouch knocked Krum unconscious and left.

Hermione said that the treasure Harry had that could reveal names was taken by Moody, but Moody failed to catch the missing old Crouch.

One suspicious point is a coincidence, but so many suspicious points are another form of answer.

This is what happens when you solve a lot of puzzles. After a long period of reasoning forming a habit, even without a rigorous proof, you can skip steps and guess the answer. It's like how some veteran police officers might use their keen intuition to suspect someone who seems impossible.

Murder requires disposing of the body, and if it's not handled properly, the Aurors could discover Moody's corpse, which would be a huge problem. Furthermore, making Polyjuice Potion requires something from the imposter, and impersonating someone also requires understanding their habits.

Moody's pursuit was one of the reasons Barty Jr. went to jail. If Barty Jr. really hated Moody, he would have preferred Moody to suffer a fate worse than death rather than die a quick and painless death.

Barty Crouch Jr., a fugitive in exile, certainly couldn't possibly have anywhere to hide a living person for long. Especially not a powerful Auror. If Moody escaped, Barty could be exposed at any moment, causing the plan to fail.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the most dangerous place is the safest place, and the real Moody is right under Barty's nose—in the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.

Prarese began to understand Harry Potter's reluctance to seek help from adults. When what is discovered is merely a "suspicion" without concrete evidence, even if it is Moody who speaks up, others will assume he is being paranoid.

The only solution is to find the real Moody himself.

This explains why the fake Moody targeted Professor Snape. As a Death Eater, Professor Snape lived perfectly well under Dumbledore's nose and even became the Head of Slytherin House.

In the eyes of the fake Moody, the professor may have already betrayed Mystic! So he repeatedly tested the professor and attempted Legilimency on the professor and her.

While Praris is trying to find out who the fox is, he also wants to find evidence of the professor's betrayal!

"What are you worried about?" Draco rested his chin on Praris's book, his light-colored eyes staring straight at her. "You're not worried about your exam results, are you?"

Praris scoffed, "I don't care about that. Is there anyone my age who can beat me?"

Prarese really doesn't care about that anymore; she's long past the stage where she needs to prove herself with her achievements.

"Hmph." Draco chuckled. "You call me arrogant? I think you're the most arrogant one."

“Then you’re wronging me. I’m just being honest.” Praris gestured for him to lift his chin and pulled a book from underneath.

Ok?

She saw the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, which hadn't been touched for a whole semester.

"I've got it!" Prarese thought, the perfect moment, a moment when a fake Moody would never be in the office—after the start of Game 3 of the Triwizard Tournament.

Only at this moment can we ensure that Moody's won't be in his office; only at this moment can we ensure that Praris's sudden intrusion into Moody's office won't be discovered.

This plan is dangerous, but there's no better way. No one wants to live more than Praris; she's only been enjoying a good life for a few years!

Prader is a Slytherin student, and if his deduction is wrong and Moody catches him red-handed, it will certainly implicate Professor Snape. But if the fake Moody is not exposed and allowed to continue in Dumbledore's group—the professor's stance will eventually be revealed, and Dumbledore's plans will be tipped off by spies!

If she's fast enough, she can find the real Moody in time, expose the fake Moody's identity, alert Dumbledore, and protect Potter.

Prarese wondered, why couldn't Voldemort just accept death? Why did he have to keep popping up and ruining other people's happiness?

Some people bring joy to others wherever they go, while others only bring joy when they leave. Voldemort was the latter.

Chapter 94 The Lockpicker of Hogwarts

The time for the third match of the Triwizard Tournament is drawing near.

Bad things are like final exams for most students; no matter how much you don't want them to come, they will always arrive as scheduled.

Taking unnecessary risks is never Prarese's style. She prefers to stay far away from the main battlefield, manipulating others' actions through various means to place pieces in her desired positions and make predictable choices. Just like how she manipulated Draco to win the championship.

But this time, simply influencing Potter through Hermione was no longer enough to achieve her goal; she had to do something herself.

"Oh dear, you scared us to death!" Pansy slapped Praris's arm angrily. "Why did you provoke Moody?!"

Pansy couldn't help but recall the scene from the class just now.

Moody's lesson typically involves teaching methods to combat a form of black magic.

This is a type of dark magic called "Niflheim's Embrace," also known as the Heart-Sealing Curse.

Niflheim is an extremely cold place in German mythology, shrouded in mist all day long. This black magic was created by an evil German sorcerer and has the power to shut down a person's mind from the outside world.

The Imperius Curse controls a person, the Cruciatus Curse torments a person, and the Killing Curse kills a person. But what about the Niflheim Embrace? It imprisons a person.

Niflheim is a frigid ice field that stretches out its vast arms, sealing one's soul beneath the ice.

It's not fatal, but it's enough to prevent a person from ever experiencing joy again. It dims the brilliance of life, making the world seem alien and absurd to people. It also means a wizard can no longer cast most emotion-related spells, such as the Happiness Charm or the Patronus Charm.

The caster must find pleasure in tormenting others in order to cause the person under the spell to close the door to their heart forever.

Just as Moody was about to explain how to deal with this kind of dark magic, Praris suddenly raised his hand and asked, "Professor Moody, can the Joy Potion make a wizard under the Heart-Sealing Curse happy again?"

Moody dismissed her idea with a gloomy face.

At first, everyone treated it as a minor incident, but Prarese suddenly seemed like a different person. She raised her hand frequently as if possessed by a know-it-all, but unlike Granger, she didn't answer questions, only asked them.

This newly born "Miss 100,000 Whys" is quite outrageous. She has a new question for almost every sentence Moody says, and they are all reasonable, logical, and impeccable.

Moody's face grew increasingly dark, his eyes fixed on Praris with a sinister glint.

Even if he were stupid, he could tell that this Slytherin girl was deliberately causing trouble, let alone the fact that he was not stupid at all.

He glared at Slytherin with his menacing eyes, deducted ten points from her for disrupting class, and put her in solitary confinement.

Praris crossed his arms and strode forward, raising an eyebrow at Pansy with an air of nonchalance: "Putting everything else aside—aren't you happy to dislike him?"

Pansy rolled her eyes, then quickly covered her mouth and laughed: "Since you've said that, it's impossible for me not to be happy!"

"That settles it!" Praris waved his hand dismissively. "As for the grades—next class is a spell class, we'll make up for it later."

Her nonchalant tone almost made one doubt that she was asserting that Professor Flitwick would definitely give her ten points, but merely that she could finish a slice of bread.

But among those who stand by her side, not one of them questions her statement, nor does anyone think she can't do it.

“But Moody’s going to put you in solitary confinement!” Pansy tugged at Praris’s arm, somewhat worried. “He’ll definitely make your life miserable!”

Praris gently patted Pansy's hand and smiled slyly: "I couldn't be happier."

Pansy thought she had misheard, but Praris didn't explain what he meant and just walked up the stairs.

That's exactly what she wanted—Moody to take the initiative to ask her to do after-school services! Otherwise, she would have to find a reason to check out Moody's office!

Achieving your goal doesn't necessarily require you to do everything yourself; you can also ask others to do some things for you.

“What does Moody mean!” Pansy quickly caught up with Praris. “We have something much more fun here! Did Draco tell you? We…”

"We're here," Praris said. "Let's start class!"

Pansy and Draco have been messing with Gryffindor lately, and they've been leaking a lot of Saviour gossip to Rita Skeeter. But Prareas doesn't seem interested in finding out anything, and is busy with something else all day.

Draco was a little annoyed and yelled at Pansy, "She's giving me the silent treatment! Does she think I can't live without her?!"

Pansy chuckled: "Does she really need you? When have you ever seen Pray doing nothing? You're nobody to her, why are you meddling so much!"

Draco scoffed, avoiding the previous topic: "What's she busy with? Final exams?"

Pansy stammered, "Uh, maybe there's something else going on?"

"Professor Snape hasn't asked her to do anything for almost half a year, has he?" Draco said sarcastically. "When she had a full load of electives, she still had time to argue with me, but now she only has time to brush me off."

Pansy recalled what Prares had said a few days ago—when a girl finds a boy cute, that's the beginning of her downfall.

"But she praised you in private—no, only she can tell you that herself."

June 24th arrived, the last day of exams. Students had their final exams, and the brave warriors also had theirs—it was fair.

As night fell, the third match of the three-way battle was finally about to begin.

"Play, aren't you leaving yet?" Millison urged her from the dormitory door. "The competition is about to start!"

“You guys go ahead!” Praris said, seemingly engrossed in his work. “I just thought of an improvement—”

"Ah! I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it! The exams are all over!" Millison screamed, shaking her head repeatedly. "Um—Pansy is waiting for me, I'm leaving now!"

Praris remained motionless in his writing posture, and after about seven or eight minutes, there was no more sound of footsteps from any student in the dungeon.

Pralis closed the book, nimbly climbed into bed, opened the small box Draco had given her, took out a few things, and put them in her bag.

Meanwhile, on the field, Bagman blew his whistle, and Harry and Cedric, who were currently in first place, were the first to enter the maze.

Prarese hurried toward the door of the Slytherin common room.

"Why are you so slow?" Draco's lazy voice came from the sofa in the middle of the lounge. "I was almost falling asleep waiting for you—let's go!"

Harry and Cedric parted ways at a fork in the road and went their separate ways.

“You go first.” Prarese gripped the backpack strap tightly, without turning around. “I suddenly have an idea for an experiment.”