Chapter 193: Hermione's Principles

The next morning, Harry and Ron unsurprisingly ran into Donna at breakfast. She seemed fascinated by the exchange students and greeted them warmly as soon as they met.

However, since they didn't encounter Hermione in Charms class, they left Cho and Donna to copy notes together, while Harry and Ron promptly skipped class and slipped away.

"We have two ideas," Harry said. "One is to find Donald and ask him where Hermione is. The other is to try our luck at the library."

Perhaps because the upcoming task made Ron feel slightly guilty, he didn't dare approach Donald and instead chose to head to the library first.

In fact, for Hermione, it was far more unusual for her not to be in the library. And fortunately, she sat alone—Fleur and Elina were nowhere near her.

"Uh, Hermione," Ron began awkwardly. "Are you by yourself?"

"Yes," Hermione replied calmly, looking him straight in the eye. "I'm gathering data on dragons. It's very important."

Harry and Ron fell silent for a moment, so she added, "If you want to help Harry, I think you should do the same."

"Can I see your notes?" Ron scratched his head.

"No, Ron," Hermione said seriously. "I accepted this job, so I must uphold professional ethics. Right now, Harry and Elina are competitors, so I can't show you my materials—you must look them up yourself."

"But did Donald say we can't help each other?" Harry probed.

"He didn't say that, but he wants me to cooperate as much as possible with Elina. Clearly, Elina's stance is that the champions should be wary of each other and compete fiercely." Hermione shrugged. "I think it's already inappropriate for me to suggest you look up data—I should be telling you and Harry to relax here, make new friends."

"But Hermione," Ron's eyebrows shot up—Harry recognized this as a sign he was upset—"the Triwizard Tournament only happened this year, but we've been friends since long before, and we'll remain friends afterward. Why are you acting so distant?"

"If you truly consider me a friend, you'd respect my work," Hermione said, slightly annoyed.

"Come on, Donald himself actually plans to secretly help Harry," Ron said. "Maybe he assigned you as Elina's advisor precisely so you'd help us gather intel?"

"I understand your determination to defeat the Dark Lord," Hermione replied gently. "But if you achieve your goals through dishonorable means, what's the difference between you and the Dark Lord?"

"Even setting aside that plan, don't you want to win glory for Hogwarts at all?" Ron's tone had turned sharp.

"First, victory gained through deception and leaks isn't honorable," Hermione replied, now also irritated. "Second, don't assume I'm particularly fond of Hogwarts."

Ron opened his mouth to say more, but Harry stopped him. "It's fine, Ron. We must respect Hermione's decision."

"I'm just curious—did you decide on gathering data yourself, or did Elina ask you to do it?" Harry asked as gently as he could.

"Of course she suggested it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have minded sharing the materials with you," Hermione's temper softened noticeably.

"Alright, then we won't disturb you," Harry said, pulling Ron to leave—but Ron resisted.

"I have one more question I must ask," his voice trembled slightly. "Do you really not like Hogwarts?"

"I wouldn't say I dislike it—but I don't like it much either," Hermione shrugged. "Not enough to make me violate my principles."

Ron repeated the word "principles" with force, as if spitting out gum, then let out a cold snort and shoved Harry toward the exit.

Hermione didn't follow or speak. When Harry looked back, she had already sat back down in her chair.

"I can't believe Hermione's become so distant," Ron grumbled. "She won't say a single word."

"Actually, we still got the crucial piece of information," Harry whispered. "If Elina were as confident as I am in handling all the dragons, she wouldn't need to gather data at all."

"That's true," Ron muttered unhappily. "But I can't understand why Hermione wouldn't like Hogwarts."

"It's normal, Ron," Harry said. "She's a Muggle-born. She naturally lacks a sense of belonging to Hogwarts. And since Donald plans to recommend her to a magical university in America, that further diminishes Hogwarts' importance in her eyes."

Ron looked depressed and irritable. Harry decided not to press the matter further and began thinking: if Elina didn't have full confidence in handling the dragons—that is, if her chance of injuring more than five dragons at once was negligible—then him and Cedric appearing after her would be perfectly feasible.

Harry now had a clear idea of the ideal order of appearance: ideally, Elina and Fleur should go first so Cedric could observe the tasks beyond the dragons; then him and Cedric—he would injure all the dragons, while Cedric would use his broom first, thus scoring higher than Krum.

But crucially, that night, Renata and Krum had overheard their discussion about brooms. Harry began to wonder: if he were Krum, he'd confidently claim he could fly better than Cedric, prompting Renata to agree to let them go after Cedric—which would be undeniably advantageous for him.

From last night's argument, it seemed Renata had no strong preference for order herself—she was merely targeting Elina. So Harry could use Hermione to set a subtle trap, making Renata naturally grab the final slot.

"Hey, Ron," Harry whispered. "Still upset about Hermione?"

"No," Ron snapped.

"Then can you do me a favor? Quietly tell Hermione," Harry said, "that I'm confident I can handle four dragons in one go."

"I'm not going near her," Ron rolled his eyes. "She'll just spout more nonsense about principles."

"You say you're not upset? You're not trying to pick a fight with her, are you?" Harry teased, nudging his arm. "Use this chance to make up."

"No, Harry, I'm not going," Ron hesitated, then added, "You want her to deliberately leak this to Elina so we can secure a favorable order, right?"

"Exactly," Harry nodded.

"But have you considered she might not want to do it? She'll think we're bluffing, manipulating her—because if she tells Elina, it'll seem more credible than if we tell Elina ourselves." Ron thought carefully for once. "And if you don't tell her this is meant to be leaked, she might, out of friendship, choose not to tell Elina at all."

"Huh. I didn't think of that," Harry rubbed his chin. "But what if we don't tell her it's intentional—and she still tells Elina because of her job?"

"Then our friendship is over," Ron said sadly. "I don't want to hear that."

"You're right. There's no need for this—it's torture for her too," Harry mused. "We need someone else… someone trustworthy enough to earn Elina's confidence."

"Oh, wait—we're at Beauxbatons," Ron reminded him. "Any random student here would favor Fleur and Elina."

"So if Donna slips a note to Fleur, it'll be more effective than telling Hermione directly," Harry nodded—he had an idea.

After dinner, when everyone gathered again in the open space beside Sarah's cottage, Harry spoke first: "Continuing yesterday's topic, after consideration, we agree to go second—but we require the team name to be decided first."

Elina and Renata exchanged glances. Though they didn't get along, neither wanted to go second—judges rarely remembered the second performer well.

"Fine." "I have no objection."

"Then our team name is 'the Order of the Phoenix,'" Harry said. "After you decide your order, be mindful of our team name."

Harry chose "the Order of the Phoenix" to further provoke Voldemort. For years, the Order had stood on the front lines of resistance—Voldemort would find it hard to suppress his anger. For Cedric, who knew Dumbledore's beloved patronus and familiar symbol was the phoenix, accepting this "seemingly reverent" name was effortless.

"Then our team name is 'ZZZ,'" Elina said challengingly.

"Then ours is 'ZZZZZZ,'" Renata retorted bluntly.

"Honestly, we don't need to keep targeting each other," Fleur said. "Since Harry and Cedric have chosen second, let's each consider from our own perspective: is it better to go before them or after?"

"Agreed," Krum added. "We don't know each other well enough to devise a good strategy. Constant arguing is pointless."

"But we don't know Harry and Cedric well either," Renata said without a hint of shame.

"That's simple," Harry said calmly. "I can explain our strategy for your reference."