Chapter 316: New Term

Harry deeply agreed with Old Sir's assessment. If the Wizarding World of the Dumbledore era could slightly ride the afterglow of the Victorian era by virtue of its medieval atmosphere, then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Muggle World, which appeared peaceful and prosperous, had in fact not achieved anything since it reached the end of its development in 1956, though it was not necessarily going from bad to worse.

Any new reforms, new policies, and new legal revisions eventually fell into the void. They might make the face of the country look brand new, but the problems faced by this decaying great power had never been solved.

Only now, the precariousness of the Statute of Secrecy made Harry see a path that might bring hope. If the integration of the magic world and the Muggle world would become the trend of the future, then at least this time, they could still catch up with the pace of the times.

Unlike those knowledgeable people who worried about the future, Harry was more willing to believe that wizards and Muggles could coexist peacefully. The reason why the Statute of Secrecy had continued to this day, the so-called inevitable conflict, the greed of human nature, etc., might just be superficial reasons. The real reason lay in the existence of Death: He supported the Statute of Secrecy, so the Statute of Secrecy was naturally maintained.

Judging from the fact that countries had appointed wizards to serve as high-ranking officials in the Muggle government one after another, and even Yanayev had dispatched wizard troops to suppress Muggle rebels, Harry guessed that they had already begun to try to break the Statute of Secrecy. Then, Britain not wanting to be outdone and replacing a wizard as Minister of Defense could at least be considered a piece of good news—anyway, the original Minister of Defense only needed to be responsible for keeping the nuclear weapon button.

After figuring this out, Harry naturally turned his attention back to the magic world. Clearly, Mr. Weasley's appointment as Department Head had a bit of a "duck being driven to the shelf" meaning. Honestly, Jim Hake might be preparing to show goodwill to the Order of the Phoenix, but the more important reason might still be the argument Sirius once mentioned: everyone knew Johnny English was a straw bag, and it was even possible that he knew it himself.

Of course, judging from the experience of his third year, Harry believed that although Sir Johnny's ability was mediocre, he at least had extraordinary luck.

By virtue of this political change, both Downton and the Burrow spent a relatively pleasant Christmas holiday. It was just that when Harry returned to school, he knew that Luo En himself was slightly lost.

"Alina only stayed at my house for a very short while. She seemed to feel uncomfortable," Luo En muttered. "Dad becoming Department Head is a very happy thing, and Alina being willing to come as a guest is also a beautiful thing, but why did the two things happen together, instead..."

"You said Alina felt uncomfortable? That's impossible; she's quite familiar with people," Harry was also a bit confused, but soon he noticed the problem. "Perhaps, it's because your dad became Department Head."

"Ah?"

"You still remember when she talked about her background at the ball last year. Although it seems she has a close relationship with Tang Tang Nade, strictly speaking, she is just an orphan receiving Tang Tang Nade's funding," Harry said. "She and Hermione have a quite good relationship, maybe because—she is also a bookworm-like figure at Ilvermorny."

"Yes, if you think about it, she has no good family background or amazing talent, so she must have achieved the position of champion through double the effort." Harry didn't say one thing, which was that since Tang Tang Nade wanted to cultivate Alina to attract Luo En for him, he would also try to make her have similar characteristics to Hermione.

"That's true, so she would feel uncomfortable because of Dad's position and produce a gap with my family," Luo En sighed. "It's funny to say, when I first saw her, I was worried I couldn't match her, but now it's she who feels she's climbing high and feels uncomfortable."

"Relax, didn't you say before that Tang Tang Nade handled exchange student procedures for her," Harry patted his good brother's shoulder. "We can still see her at school. At school, you can associate well."

At the first dinner of the new term, Harry and Luo En put all their thoughts on Alina at the end of the long table, guessing that there would be a single sorting ceremony for her today.

However, Snape's first sentence after standing up was: "We are honored to welcome a new teacher, Professor Slughorn, who is willing to return to his old job and serve as the Potions professor."

An old man with a big belly and half-bald head stood up and greeted everyone.

"At the same time, I will no longer teach Potions courses so that I have more time to fulfill my duties as Headmaster," Snape said, revealing a slightly apologetic look, and then he sat down.

"But, what about Alina?" Luo En looked toward the end of the long table in surprise. This white-haired girl also looked quite at a loss.

"It shouldn't be, even if it's for political show, Snape has to—"

"This makes it look like we don't welcome her!" Luo En said angrily.

Snape finished his meal without saying a word and immediately got up and left. Professor Trelawney (no matter what she intended to be called), wearing a black robe, followed closely behind him, having clearly become Snape's confidant.

They passed Professor Slughorn, who laughed, and then got up and left with them.

Then, Professor McGonagall, who had been sitting in her original seat, got up and walked to the Gryffindor table, saying in a flat tone: "We are very happy to welcome a transfer student. Miss Alina Kaslana from Ilvermorny will conduct a half-year exchange study at Hogwarts. According to her sorting file at Ilvermorny, the school gives her the temporary student status of Gryffindor."

"Hello everyone," Alina stood up actively and said loudly, "I belonged to the Pukwudgie House at Ilvermorny. In fact, the Thunderbird also lit up at the time. In principle, I can choose Gryffindor, Slytherin, or Hufflepuff as my house during the exchange. But after careful consideration, I still decided to come here and spend this pleasant half-year with everyone in the Lion House."

The children of the Lion House immediately applauded. If there was any practice that could make people integrate into Gryffindor quickly, it must be belittling Slytherin.

"Looks like you get along well, then have a pleasant time, Miss Kaslana," Professor McGonagall said flatly and left without looking back.

Although the students welcomed Alina's arrival, the coldness shown by the teachers made Harry feel very wrong. Was Tang Tang Nade's face not good enough, or was Snape deliberately going against him?

Even if it was just official business, at least a little more introduction could be given. Even if McGonagall didn't mention that she had been a champion, she should have said that she chose Gryffindor voluntarily, instead of letting her speak for herself.

Harry felt the whole thing was incomparable and strange, and Alina certainly wasn't unable to read the air. When the children held a welcome ceremony for her, her smile carried a visible bitterness.

Watching Alina walk into Hermione's dormitory, Luo En and Harry also returned to the dormitory. And as soon as they entered the door, Luo En couldn't help but complain loudly: "I really don't understand, the professors look very unwelcoming, and can even be said to hate her!"

"Maybe it's not really unwelcoming, but it did show that," Harry sighed. "Why let Alina bear it?"

"I really don't know why McGonagall is so cold," Luo En said angrily. "I always thought at least she would do the right thing. Who knew she would be the same as Snape!"

"Grandma once said, a man should be calm in everything; boiling water will only evaporate," Neville suddenly spoke up.

"What did you say?"

"Professor McGonagall is a kind person, there is no doubt about this," Neville stood up by the bed. "That is to say, either she doesn't think Alina is a good person, or she doesn't think Alina's transfer is a good thing."

"Neville is right," Harry also began to think. "She looked very welcoming to outside students at the ball, which shows that she actually has no opinion about Alina herself."

"Then the problem now is," in Luo En's dissatisfied eyes, Harry analyzed naturally, "what did Tang Tang Nade do to make the professors hostile to Alina, and even deeper, why did he deliberately let the professors treat Alina coldly? After all, he definitely has the means to avoid this situation."

In the eyes of the Magical Congress, Snape should be a Death Eater. Tang Tang Nade's position is not to support Death Eaters, so it is normal for Alina to be treated coldly. Snape being in power will definitely not welcome Tang Tang Nade's disciples. Harry's brain was running, and in the eyes of the Death Eaters, Tang Tang Nade was a person whose position was unclear, but likely to be on the red side. Snape treating Alina coldly not only emphasizes his position reasonably, but if McGonagall follows him to do so, it can further show that Snape's control over the school is quite strong.

But as Zhang Qiu analyzed, Snape needs to form an alliance with Tang Tang Nade to strengthen his voice. Why did he push him away instead? It seems the problem only lies with that Slughorn. He looks quite qualified. Perhaps Snape thinks his support is strong enough. After all, if he forms an alliance with Tang Tang Nade as a Death Eater, it is still a bit strange... but it is not strange. It is not strange for anything to happen in Anglo-American relations.

"Even if he has some exquisite plan!" Luo En sat on his bed angrily. "But why let Alina get hurt?"

"It's also possible," Harry said softly, "that he deliberately made Alina feel unwelcome, so she would rely on you more." ===== CHAPTER 317 =====