Chapter 236: Version Update

The egg-hunting event hosted by Gilmour lasted several days and was extremely fun, but once all the eggs were found, there wasn't much left to do in this werewolf town—after all, rabbits rarely survived a week here.

For the second half of the Easter break, they decided to spend it at Hogwarts, partly because Elina and Zhang Qiu missed the game consoles hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, and partly because Harry and Ron missed their friends in Gryffindor.

After splitting up in the corridor, Harry and Ron entered the Gryffindor common room, which was initially quiet, everyone absorbed in their own activities. Then, all at once, it erupted into chaos.

"Harry!" Fred shouted, "Harry's back!"

"And Ron, by the way," George added.

"You two can talk loudly now," Ron grumbled, "finally not bullied by girls?"

"Times have changed, Ron—we're a couple now," George cheerfully slung an arm around Fred's neck. "You'd better find a boyfriend fast, or start wearing a skirt."

"Otherwise you'll be the lowest rung," Fred added.

"What's going on? Where's Ivy?" Harry scanned the crowd and spotted his much-anticipated sister. "You tell me."

"Oh, being a girl doesn't cut it anymore—specifically, since Lavender got sixty howler letters first thing this morning," Ivy said, sticking out her tongue. "At first she still had some fight in her, rallying a good number of girls to argue back."

"They called Neville a manipulative bottom boy, constantly breaking his defenses; they called me and Ivy male-obsessed fringe women; when Panxi tried to speak up for fairness, they called her a marriage donkey and a mental boy-baby," Ivy's tone carried a hint of sarcasm. "Lavender became the de facto opinion leader among the girls—the battle was fierce—but it didn't matter, because Hermione stepped in."

"You mean that article in the Daily Prophet?" Harry said. "But that wasn't written by Hermione."

"Wasn't it?" Ivy looked puzzled. "Either way, Lavender went from a beloved opinion leader to a universally reviled bully."

"The girls rushed to distance themselves from her—because anyone who offended Hermione, Panxi, and me couldn't survive in the girls' circle," Ivy said proudly. "Those with boyfriends or pure bloodlines all went to Panxi; the rest naturally followed me, pretending to praise same-sex love."

"Of course, to adapt to every situation," Ivy said proudly. "I introduced the concept of LGBT—so every one of us could find a valid identity."

"For example, I'm bisexual—my relationship with George doesn't interfere with my feelings for Angelina," Fred said cheerfully.

"No, you're not—I'm a transgender person, so you should count me as a girl," George bluntly undercut him.

"No, I am—because Angelina's also transgender, and she's a guy," Fred stood up firmly. "Who are you to assume someone's gender?"

"What about you?" Harry gave Ivy a wary glance.

"My claim?" She shrugged. "I'm just a regular lesbian."

"I won't say anything," Ginny whispered. "I don't want to offend anyone—I just say I'm someone who gets her period."

"The real genius is Neville," Ivy said. "He layered himself in endless armor."

"Yeah, he says he thinks he's a girl, but also gay, so he likes Hannah."

"He says he has cross-dressing tendencies, so he has to wear the boys' uniform," the kids chimed in.

"He's a vegetarian, but has pica, so sometimes he can't help eating meat."

"Oh right, he's got issues with bloodline identity—he thinks he's a Muggle-born. But Slytherins say he's pure-blood, which troubles him so much he's developed autism."

"His autism is intermittent—it only strikes at night, and once he sleeps, he won't say a word."

"He says he supports environmentalism—that if we don't protect the environment, humanity will be doomed—but he has self-harming tendencies, so he keeps destroying it anyway."

"He's an animal rights activist, but he's also a necrophile, so he enjoys animal corpses with love."

"He says he's an orphan—oh, that one's actually true, sorry. But it gave him depression, though maybe that's not true."

"The depression is definitely real—he says he can still talk normally to everyone because he also has schizophrenia, and it's another personality that's depressed."

"Does he really have schizophrenia? That should be easy to refute," Harry questioned.

"He only has one personality now because his depressive personality, unable to accept the main personality as her mother, committed suicide. Yeah, now his main personality is a single mother who lost her child."

"He says Lavender's claims are all true—he's ugly and fat and deserves sympathy."

"That's going too far—everyone knows he's neither ugly nor fat," Harry challenged again.

"Hey! How can you keep viewing things through traditional single-standard aesthetics?" George laughed. "You have to support diverse aesthetics—and among those aesthetics, someone will always think he's ugly and fat."

At that moment, Neville slipped in through the portrait hole, grinning. "Oh, Harry, you're back! How've you been?"

"I'm fine, but you?" Harry punched his shoulder. "How did you get so many illnesses in the blink of an eye?"

"Let's talk inside," Neville whispered, waving goodbye to classmates as he pulled Harry into the dormitory.

"So, was that article really written by you?" Harry whispered.

"Pretty much. Lavender came at me like a shrew, so I decided to strike back," Neville said calmly, his voice tinged with regret. "I'm planning to go to America, so I wrote to Donald."

"So who actually wrote the article?" Harry suspected Donald had helped.

"Yes, I was the interviewee, but the content, the claims—Donald gave me a lot of suggestions and inspiration," Neville said. "Hermione was worn out in third year because of the Time-Turner, and she couldn't tell anyone the real reason—meaning she couldn't refute anything."

"And you thought Hermione wouldn't mind, right?" Harry asked, then remembered something. "Did Donald tell you Hermione wouldn't care?"

"Yes, he said that—and he also said this would completely prevent Hermione and Elina from actually getting involved," Neville said. "For Hermione, it's just harmless gossip—she's strong inside; it won't affect her much."

She was indeed upset for a little while, Harry thought.

"What truly makes me regret it is Lavender—she's just an immature girl who endured too much verbal abuse," Neville pressed his lips together. "Every morning she gets dozens of howlers, plus countless regular letters—all filled with insults and attacks."

"Now Lavender's gone home—she doesn't come to school anymore," Neville's voice carried a hint of guilt. "I'm not sure what'll happen to her. I feel like I might have destroyed her. I'm the real bully."

"If—if I may say," Harry tried to comfort him, "if Lavender becomes addicted to enjoying privileges within the girl group, and after graduation keeps organizing women in society to do the same, she'll grow into the next Dark Lord—or rather, the Feminist Dark Lord—harming even more people, and her end won't be any better."

"If a misguided person must eventually fall, being corrected by peers during school is better than being punished by the Ministry after entering society," Harry patted his shoulder.

"You're not wrong. I'm thinking of visiting her, explaining all this," Neville was swayed. "Let her change her name and transfer to another school—it'd be growth for her."

"Why did you say 'go back'… oh, you mean going back to before she dropped out?" Harry nodded. "Good idea. You can also tell her clearly: if it were any other time, fine—but this year Dumbledore's not at school, and Death Eaters could strike anytime. A unified voice among students is crucial, so you had to use extreme measures."

"Good idea—I'll tell her that," Neville accepted the advice, then opened the dorm door and shouted, "We should throw Harry a victory party—for his perfect performance in the second task!"

"Great idea—how about tonight?" George suggested.

"Really? Did Neville cure his social anxiety?" Fred teased.

Many students stayed behind for the Easter break—perhaps because Hogwarts' holiday was so short—so Gryffindor was packed. The Quidditch team was all present, and with Zhang Qiu and Elina joining, the Gryffindor students partied wildly all night.

The next noon, after Harry had slept in, he was about to go out when Ginny and Ivy called to him from the common room.

"Harry, since you're back," Ginny said, "would you like to meet the Torchwood crew?"

"Yes, hear about what we've accomplished—you'll be impressed," Ivy said with a confident smile.

"Alright, I hope so. When are you planning to get together?" Harry blinked.