Chapter 305

"Tonight, at this meeting, I have something important to say." As the torchlight glowed, Draco began his speech with calm authority before the Torchwood members.

"Over three hundred years ago, the International Statute of Secrecy was signed and enacted, ending the wizards' era of exile and allowing us to live openly within our own communities; one hundred and ninety years ago, the Ministry of Magic was established, granting our British magical community a new order and ushering in an era of harmony and goodwill. Today, we can proudly say we do not live in a wizarding community or a wizarding nation—we live in the wizarding world, possessing a brilliant wizarding civilization."

"Yet today, shortly after the death of the greatest wizard of this century, shortly after time itself paused in reverence for wizarding might, just as our wizarding world stands on the brink of flourishing prosperity and boldly stepping into its next age, we must confront the tense situation within our own borders—we must notice how the adults, driven by their own ambitions and unnecessary interests, have split into two factions spreading hostility, and how countless individuals standing on opposite sides, who are about to scream the Killing Curse, are unfortunately none other than our own parents or the parents of our classmates."

"In a certain sense, we ought to have chosen to oppose each other based on our family allegiances, shouting slogans and fighting like the adults expect. But we will not. Each of us, as free individuals, has the right to choose our friends and our stances. We refuse to be born into a world already divided into enemies and allies, then forced by ancestral hatred and prejudice to turn swords against peers who could have been our closest friends; nor do we wish to see our own parents and the parents of our dearest friends clash violently, even to the point of death."

"First, we must thank Mr. Tom—his diary gave Torchwood its first chance to gather. It was through these meetings that we came to know one another, exchanged views, realized that the theories our parents held as sacred might be merely one side's opinion, understood that two identities once thought irreconcilable were in essence identical, and recognized that people could set aside prejudice and together enjoy a mutually beneficial, loving, and harmonious life in our material-rich wizarding society. Had we not first become friends capable of equal dialogue, had we not established the principle that all conflicts must be resolved through negotiation, had Torchwood never formed, we would have been trapped in endless insults and quarrels because of our parents' opposing stances—we would have hurled venom at each other today and been ready to kill tomorrow, just as the divided adults are about to do."

Originally, we could not convince the adults to return to the negotiating table with weak arguments or powerless pleas, nor could we prevent the children on the brink of adulthood—or even ourselves—from being drawn into this tragedy. We cannot force a man to abandon the burning hatred and rage born from the murder of his loved ones and choose reconciliation. But we must once again thank Mr. Tom—his diary is an object both sides desperately crave, and it happens to be in our hands. This gives us the power to rise up, no longer as ignorant children, but as the side holding the leverage, and to speak out before it's too late, to the adults whose eyes burn with desire and obsession.

"Torchwood was formed by students who love their school and their campus life. This means Torchwood members must forever believe in ideals, believe communication can be a bridge to reconciliation, believe interests are not the sole determinant of stance, believe human greed can be controlled, and believe a harmonious utopian society still exists in theory—and is not impossible to achieve. These are precisely the things the adults have abandoned, mocked, and called 'naive' and 'childish.'"

"Yet we are grateful they so fiercely deny this innocence—because they know how rare it is for a person to still believe the world is beautiful, and because they tragically discarded this quality and now regret it bitterly. So now that we have the power to speak loudly, we must tell them this: their current cruelty and laziness stem from losing the innocent ideals of their student days; their greed and arrogance arise from futilely trying to fill this spiritual void with other things; their envy and lust are merely mistaken substitutes. We must force them to admit that the innocence of student years is the vital quality that makes the world better—and that the difference between the adult world and school life is not our ignorance or inadaptation deserving ridicule, but their shame for having made the world worse."

"We will take this moment of gathering to cast a stronger protective charm upon Mr. Tom's diary: unless all of us agree to retrieve it, no one may possess this diary."

"Thus, we can stand proudly before the adults and present an undeniable truth: violence must never be used to achieve one's ends."

"We will show them that our parents cannot decide whom we choose as friends—or lovers; whether we become close to a peer or remain strangers depends solely on our own character."

"We will show them that even between a pure-blood child of a Muggle and a pure-blood child of a wizard, resonance can still arise, and they can sit together joyfully dreaming of a bright future."

"We will show them that faced with a world filled with misunderstanding, prejudice, hatred, and conflict, we cannot wait for our parents' handover—we must begin building bridges, fostering friendly communication, erasing hatred, and resolving conflict right now; we must force the greedy and hateful older generation to accept and begin building together the better future we envision."

To be fair, Malfoy's speech was decent enough, with phrases carefully polished. Ignoring the sensitive issues he deliberately sidestepped, it was still acceptable to the students present and the factions behind them.

Aside from Lucius, whom the speech clearly targeted, the other parties should not find it hard to accept this. But the problem is, if Bellatrix truly intends to sit down and negotiate with the Order, their irreconcilable differences will inevitably lead to collapse.

More deeply considered, Draco's act of keeping the diary in Torchwood's hands cannot truly serve as a deterrent, because he cannot threaten the Order. The Order only needs to ensure the Horcruxes are not gathered by the Death Eaters; if Torchwood holds it, they would welcome it.

Conversely, if the Order begins to press further, and Torchwood wishes to mediate, what would they say? Threaten to hand the diary to the Death Eaters? If they did, it would only provoke total war. Unless the Order surrenders the ring or admits it has been destroyed, Torchwood cannot equally constrain both sides. But the Order will not agree—they'd rather believe this is a Death Eater trick to steal the Horcrux.

Leaving aside whether Draco even considered this, even if he thought this was a gesture toward Harry, Harry would not take it as such—because Harry and the Order are not entirely one and the same.

On the surface, the Order appears to heed Harry's opinions. But in truth, Harry finds the loud, simplistic young members of the Order deeply exhausting: they act recklessly, even without regard for consequences, convinced they are doing what is right.

Moreover, if decision-making power were truly handed to the Order, any pretense of dignity would vanish—resolving hatred does not mean allowing one side to utterly crush the other. Besides, Harry believes that if properly leveraged, this natural opposition and its influence could guide British wizarding society toward healthy competition, elevating magical proficiency.

Though the plan clearly had many flaws, Harry still clapped along. Where the diary was held didn't matter; Torchwood's stance didn't matter—what mattered was that Draco had used the diary to confront Lucius and severely damaged his prestige.

Meanwhile, once the diary surfaced and Bellatrix learned the whereabouts of all the Horcruxes, she would immediately seek total war. Lucius, whose prestige had already crumbled, would have to seek help from Regulus and Hufa—or he alone could not hold back the Lestrange. If he was willing to cede some assets, the smaller families upstream and downstream in the supply chain would naturally begin considering switching allegiances.

Therefore, no matter how naive Draco's idea seemed, Harry had to express full support—and not just support, but enthusiastic support. Only then could he confidently step into the Death Eater meeting. Of course, perhaps the one actually standing there would be Pansy.

"Then let us begin," Draco said. "First, let us ask Mr. Tom: is there a powerful protective charm that can be cast jointly by multiple people?"

The original protective charm they used was not difficult—it was simply each person casting their own protective spell, so unbinding required each person to cast their spell in turn. This was sufficient to prevent students from privately accessing the diary, but if an adult possessed enough magical power to break a student's charm, they could simply break it repeatedly until the entire protection collapsed.

The new charm, modified under Mr. Tom's guidance from the Fidelius Charm, greatly strengthened its power: only if Harry, Ernie, Pansy, and Luna all reveal the secret to one person can the charm be undone; even if Dumbledore himself returned, he could not forcibly break it.

When this day ended, Harry could hardly wait to sit at the Malfoy Manor's long table as Hufa, witnessing firsthand Lucius's stunned, comical reaction.