Chapter 213: Complex Situation

After a slight hesitation, Harry decided to talk to Jin Ni and Eve first. Because he considered that one point was certain: the girls would not unite to attack Neville for no reason; something must have happened in the SPEW club.

He quickly found Jin Ni and Eve in the common room, immediately called them to a quiet corner, and asked seriously: "What happened to the girls' club? Why is everyone attacking Neville?"

"It's nothing; girls always need a common enemy," Eve said dismissively. "Talking about Neville's bad things won't do anything."

"What do you mean it won't do anything?"

"Because Neville is an upright person, he won't attack girls because of these things," Eve continued. "And, Neville's main advantage is that he is very good at dueling, and obviously, being attacked by girls won't make his dueling ability decline. On the contrary, perhaps he can have more time to improve himself."

"What kind of crooked logic is this? Should an upright person be attacked?" Harry felt very angry.

"To be precise, Neville has many problems, which determines that he can be an excellent fighter, but he cannot be an excellent leader," Jin Ni said. "This is Malfoy's objective evaluation."

"Malfoy?" Harry suddenly felt that he had found the root of the problem. "In other words, it was Pansy who started attacking Neville in the girls' club, and Malfoy persuaded you not to come forward?"

"No, he only told me about this matter, and I was the one who instructed Lavender to come forward," Eve pursed her lips and said. "On one hand, I really feel that Neville shouldn't have higher prestige in Gryffindor than you. On the other hand, Malfoy did a show of 'Muggle lives are equally precious' and praised me several times. I felt it was not very good to refuse him."

Harry suddenly felt his teeth ache a bit. He originally thought he had made sufficient arrangements before leaving, but he didn't expect that a wonderful reaction occurred between the arrangements, causing Neville to fall into the quagmire of public opinion.

"And if you think about it carefully," Jin Ni added, "has Neville ever cared about girls? He takes honor and confrontation too seriously, not knowing that many girls actually care more about those plain and certain little happinesses."

"Neville is right. If we don't kill the Dark Lord, where is there any little happiness?" Harry said helplessly.

"No, most girls, or most students, are actually not on the Dark Lord's persecution list," Eve said. "Neville intends to tie the whole Lion House to the chariot of revenge. I think this is a very risky and low-yield approach."

"The whole Lion House? Of course I didn't let him—" Harry shook his head. "Forget it, let's put this matter aside for now. Anyway, it's already like this. I have to talk to Malfoy again and think about how to break the situation."

"Break what situation? Isn't the situation just great?" Eve said indifferently.

"You don't understand at all!" Harry pointed at her nose angrily and said. "Where do you think our good days come from? It's what Deng Buliduo exchanged with his life! If he falls, and not enough people are willing to stand up, do you think you can still go to school freely at Hogwarts?"

"You two, get it clear!" Harry said impatiently. "You are Muggle-born, you are a pure-blood traitor, Malfoy naturally hates these two identities. Neville might be a less useful ally, but Malfoy is an enemy who is falsely cooperating with us. Who are we helping in the end?"

"But the leader of the Lion House..." Eve still wanted to argue a few words.

"Enough! Don't put your energy into internal friction!" Harry scolded angrily. "If you are unwilling to help me deal with the Dark Lord, then go do whatever you should do, write homework, go to class, do something students should do!"

"Harry, have you ever considered using political methods to reach a reconciliation with the Dark Lord?" Eve continued, unwilling to give up. "Malfoy is a very good bridge, isn't he? We can seek common ground while reserving differences."

"Seek common ground, my ass... Wait." Harry suddenly calmed down because he remembered a sentence he overheard. At that time, Voldemort had said in front of everyone that Harry could do whatever he wanted, and the Death Eaters could not make things difficult for him. From this point of view, reconciliation might not be an impossible option, or, just keep Malfoy's channel. Even if the plan to kill Voldemort this year fails, in the worst case, he could still use Malfoy's reconciliation to stall for time.

"I see. You are having a great time at Torchwood, so of course you are unwilling to be caught in the middle," Harry said. "It doesn't matter. I will talk to Malfoy first, and we will talk properly later."

"Of course, you don't have to be in a hurry," Eve smiled again. "Actually, Malfoy told me privately that he is not entirely toward the Dark Lord either."

Harry shook his head with a wry smile. He decided to ignore these two ignorant junior girls first and go talk to Malfoy. He actually guessed a little bit that all this should be out of Malfoy's ambition; he wanted to use public opinion and fame to become the uncrowned king of Hogwarts.

When he walked out of the Gryffindor common room and saw Zhang Qiu standing in the corridor, restless, Harry suddenly realized that since Malfoy's little actions had started, he would definitely not just aim at the Lion House.

"A piece of good news and a piece of bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" she said.

"You tell me the bad news first," Harry felt he could bear it.

"The Guardian has betrayed, and the Tyris Arcane Society is on the verge of dissolution," she said the bad news Harry expected as soon as she opened her mouth. "Penelope was discovered throwing the match; she took two hundred Galleons from the Snake House and deliberately lost to them. This immediately aroused public anger among the students."

"But the news was actually exploded from the Snake House, right?" Harry said helplessly.

"Mostly yes. In short, the students are very angry. They themselves felt that the infusion ceremony had a sense of cheating, and they didn't expect the Guardian to throw the match. Later, Penelope donated those two hundred Galleons, and the matter was barely calmed down," Zhang Qiu said. "And the good news is that the Eagle House finally found a Guardian who doesn't throw the match."

"It's Lu Na, right?" Harry suddenly felt that all this was so natural because it was all under Malfoy's instruction and manipulation.

"Yes, Lu Na managed to win a match with difficulty relying only on the infusion of several good friends when the Arcane Society was almost paralyzed," Zhang Qiu said. "Now some people have begun to restore the activities of the Arcane Society and elected Lu Na as the new Guardian. Of course, more people are watching, but I think the reconstruction of the Arcane Society may just be a matter of time."

"Great," Harry saw Hannah running over in a hurry at the other end of the corridor. "I can't wait to hear what kind of moth Hufflepuff is making."

"Harry, you're back?" Hannah said. She looked much more confident than before. "I originally wanted to find Neville, but perhaps you can help me think of a way first."

"Ernie proposed to introduce some Dark Magic with lower harm into the Defense Association. Although I strongly opposed it, many people are secretly practicing," her tone carried a trace of anxiety. "The main thing is that Professor Moody himself is also demonstrating Dark Magic in class. I really don't know what to say, but, it's been so long, and Neville hasn't helped either."

"I thought it would be better when Cedric came back, but where did he go?" Hannah asked.

"It's really a coincidence; Cedric went to Paris with his newly met friend for Christmas," Harry stroked his chin and bared his teeth. "I have to say, Defense Against the Dark Arts really cannot be separated from Dark Magic and just talk about Defense Against the Dark Arts, but discussing the content of Dark Magic in the student club, I really feel very worried."

"Right, but how should this be solved?" Hannah said helplessly. "I don't dare to be too tough, fearing to cause the students' disgust, but always turning a blind eye is not a way. I clearly promised Neville to run the Dueling Club well in each house, and now it's really—I feel he is also avoiding me."

"Your relationship shouldn't have any big problems, but these two clubs have indeed encountered big trouble, and I don't have a good way for a while," Harry spread his hands. "I'd better go test Malfoy again, understand the situation more comprehensively, and then think about where to start breaking the situation."

"Oh yes, my suggestion to you is to ignore the annoying things in the club first," Harry added. "If you still like Neville, you should talk to him seriously, talk about your own thoughts properly, and don't cause you to quarrel because of some small misunderstandings. The password is Light of Wonderland."

"Okay, thank you, Harry," Hannah squeezed out a smile and walked toward the Fat Lady.

On the way to the Torchwood headquarters, Harry took stock of the problems that needed to be solved urgently in his heart. The first is Neville being attacked by girls, followed by Eve and Jin Ni being too biased toward Malfoy, and then, the problem of Deng Buliduo's Army being infiltrated by Malfoy. Lu Na being the leader of Ravenclaw is actually the least important, because Harry felt that she was also a kind-hearted person and might be willing to walk on the right path.

Moreover, there is another more troublesome thing, and that is the relationship between Malfoy and Eve. Now it seems that he does have a subtle push toward an intimate relationship, but this is not what Harry imagined that he could use Eve to control Malfoy, because in this process, Eve also seems to be leaning toward Malfoy.

Harry didn't regret deceiving Malfoy, because the Muggle Lives Matter movement was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Death Eaters. But now Eve's emotional problems deeply caused his worry. He hoped that Eve could fall in love freely, but he didn't want her to fall in love with Malfoy.

Now, Cedric and Hermione are not in school, and the two biggest cards are not in his hands, Harry thought. However, Malfoy may not necessarily have many good cards in his hands. He must think of a way to scare him away before the situation completely falls into Malfoy's control. Yes, the attitude must be tougher...

Harry, who was thinking about problems while walking, didn't notice that a leaf that shouldn't have been stained was stained on the hem of his robe at some point. ===== CHAPTER 214 =====