Chapter 307: Isolated Black

Back in the dormitory, Harry thought of another question while lying in bed: if Snape and Lu Xiusi didn't intend to let the diary be exposed, couldn't they just use threats and inducements to stop Draco and Pan Xi?

In Harry's original scenario, the Death Eater meeting was held at Draco's house. The best dramatic effect would be for him to push the door open halfway through the meeting and interrupt Lu Xiusi's confident speech. Now, he had to admit that the success rate of this scenario was not high; Lu Xiusi had already taken precautions against this.

So why didn't Lu Xiusi choose to stop Draco in advance, instead of letting Snape make up new lies?

If one simply inferred this from the surface, one could guess that there were Bella's eyes and ears among the students, that Bella already knew about the diary, and Snape was forced to make repairs. The most direct suspect would be Pan Xi, because the Parkinson family still stood firmly on the side of the Lestranges. Of course, one could also guess that Draco and Pan Xi had accidentally left traces during their investigation, causing some Slytherin classmate to notice their movements.

Harry felt that things might not be that simple.

Thinking deeper, what if Lu Xiusi and Snape had long realized that the diary would eventually be exposed to Bellatrix and had already made preparations? Then, Draco and Pan Xi's actions might have been within their expectations.

Harry couldn't help but start to ponder. This series of events seemed like simple moves and counter-moves, but he had a vague feeling that things might be even more complex than he had previously thought. Perhaps he could ask Snape directly, but whether he was willing to leak it was one thing, and his evaluation of Harry in his heart would drop, which was another. Harry certainly hoped to deduce Snape's real thoughts and plans through his own thinking. Unfortunately, he had already used an Inspiration Charm once to figure out Trelawney's matter, and the amount of information Snape told him tonight was not enough to generate new inspiration, which made him feel quite distressed.

The weekend arrived quickly. Harry attended the Order of the Phoenix meeting with Sirius. As soon as the meeting started, Doge kept emphasizing that "our progress is not optimistic," and then Moody gave a speech, recalling several glorious deeds of the previous Order of the Phoenix and encouraging members to act actively.

When he spoke passionately, Harry looked around and found that except for those energetic young members, most of the influential figures were unmoved: they had other things on their minds.

After the Order of the Phoenix meeting ended, Sirius just sent Harry back to school. He looked like he was still deep in thought, so Harry didn't say much.

It wasn't until the next day, when the two met again, that Sirius seemed to be still thinking about something. He said in a solemn tone, in a low voice: "Harry, I suspect... they have known my true identity for a long time."

"What?" Harry was greatly surprised, and cold sweat broke out immediately.

"I'm not sure, but one thing is quite strange: according to their point of view, the Black family also belongs to a pure-blood noble family, so why don't Lu Xiusi and Bella intend to form an alliance with me? Even after I listed some points, they still had no interest in talking to me at all."

"According to what you said earlier, Lu Xiusi and Snape had reached some kind of consensus privately long ago. I speculate that there might actually be some secret agreement between Lu Xiusi and Bella. Only I seem to have been excluded by them and left out of the loop," Sirius said in a low tone. "Of course, I don't have to get along with them, but the most likely explanation is: I might have already been exposed."

"Thinking of this, Harry, I can't sleep." Sirius sighed heavily.

"We can test it first; it's not necessarily like that." Harry subconsciously avoided thinking about this possibility, but he knew that turning a blind eye didn't mean it didn't exist.

"Think carefully, was it the first day of school that someone told you Draco was having trouble with his family?" Sirius said.

"Uh, yes." Harry nodded. "This should be true, right?"

"It is indeed true, but we don't know when he reconciled with his family, do we?" Sirius asked.

"Perhaps..." Harry began to recall scene after scene he had experienced. "It was after we formed Deng Buliduo's Army."

"Is it such a coincidence?" Sirius rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Forming Deng Buliduo's Army was because we wanted to find something for Krest to do, which means that the time node happened to be when the Ministry of Magic began to intervene in the conflict between the two sides."

"But the logic of the matter is very clear. We formed Deng Buliduo's Army and strengthened the voice of the student group, so Draco had the confidence to speak loudly..." Harry's voice became smaller because he realized that when Draco had the confidence, he would definitely not choose to directly undermine his father, but would try to reason with his father.

All along, it was precisely because Draco didn't care about Greengrass that Harry mistakenly thought the Ma Erfu father and son were still having trouble. In fact, they might have reconciled long ago. He didn't care about Greengrass because before he creatively thought of using Crabbe and Goyle, Greengrass was no longer an object that needed to be cared about.

Then, was the Parkinson family, who stood firmly on the side of the Lestranges, and their eldest daughter Pan Xi, who admired Draco Ma Erfu, also having a conflict? Or had they reconciled? You know, the strengthening of the student group's right to speak benefited more than just Draco.

"In other words, you think the reason Lu Xiusi and Bella have a secret agreement is because of Pan Xi and Draco's relationship?" Harry summarized thoughtfully.

"Yes, I only realized it recently. To be precise, when I realized that Snape and Lu Xiusi had private dealings, Pan Xi and Draco's relationship suddenly started to look glaring," Sirius nodded. "Now it seems that perhaps before they became the bridge between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters, they had already become the bridge between their Death Eater parents behind the scenes."

"And this is also a trick Ma Erfu is used to: shouting slogans loudly, but actually only doing things that are beneficial to himself," Sirius added in an unkind tone.

"But if Lu Xiusi and Bella reached an agreement privately, what agreement could it be?" Harry raised a new question.

"I've considered this too. I guess, perhaps it's leaving a way out for each other," Sirius said. "On the surface, Lu Xiusi doesn't want to resurrect Voldemort; everyone knows this tacitly. And we also know that Bellatrix dreams of resurrecting Voldemort. It seems that the two people's interests are not consistent. However, if you think about it from another angle, what if Bella really succeeds? Does Lu Xiusi have to face Voldemort's liquidation?"

"So if the resurrection of Voldemort is successful, Lu Xiusi needs Bella to speak well for him, because at that time Voldemort will know that Bella is the real hero," Harry echoed. "And Lu Xiusi, who once had ulterior motives, will probably be punished."

"I suddenly know why they would suspect you," Harry laughed dumbly. "If there is a chance to resign safely from Voldemort, no fool would be willing to run back and continue to serve him."

"Don't think of things so simply." Although he said so, Sirius couldn't help but laugh a few times. "Back to Bella, she should also be using Lu Xiusi to seek a way out for herself."

"But where can Bella retreat to? If she wants to retreat, she can retreat now. Obviously, she is the most restless one," Harry said with dissatisfaction.

"She shouldn't be doing it for herself," Sirius commented. "It should be for Delphini."

"If the Order of the Phoenix finally destroys all the Horcruxes, she can't guarantee that we won't attack Delphini, so as a mother, she must leave a way out for her daughter."

"But!" Harry said with some dissatisfaction, "The Order of the Phoenix will not attack innocent children."

"People with dark hearts see others as dark too. Fifteen years ago, Voldemort attacked you, so Bella is afraid that fifteen years later the Order of the Phoenix will attack Delphini," Sirius summarized objectively. "Whether we do it or not is our business; whether she is afraid or not is her own business."

"We definitely won't do it, so let her be," Harry snorted.

"This is still the easier thing to solve," Sirius sighed. "We can ignore the deal between Lu Xiusi and Bella. The deal between Lu Xiusi and Snape is beneficial to us. However, have you ever suspected that there might be some deal between Snape and Bella?"

Harry's thoughts suddenly returned to the conversation with Snape on Thursday night. Snape should have made deals with almost everyone; this could explain it. But what common interests could he and Bella have?

"Horcruxes." Harry thought of this without thinking. "Snape also knows that the painting is a lie. He must be preparing to sell the Horcrux to Bella in exchange for..."

"Yes, that's the problem. We don't know what Snape can gain from Bella," Sirius shrugged.

"Snape's big goal is the same as ours: to solve all the Death Eaters by boiling the frog in warm water," Harry calculated. "Then all he has to do is weaken Bella's strength. What he is doing... what he is doing..."

"Since we haven't found any action by Snape to weaken Bella, perhaps his actions are out of our sight," Harry felt he had inspiration. "He might be plotting against Rodolphus."

"That makes sense. I almost forgot there was that group of confused Saints," Sirius nodded in deep agreement. "But it doesn't matter. If it really doesn't work, we can still use Gilnis."

"But the original intention of establishing Gilnis was to ensure that werewolves would no longer be used," Harry said with a wry smile. ===== CHAPTER 308 =====