Chapter 337

The next morning, as Harry was leaving, Fat Lady called out to him.

"Harry, good boy, I have something to tell you," she said with a smile. "Headmaster Snape asked me to pass on that today's Potions remedial is canceled—he has something very important to attend to."

Harry nodded and whispered to Ron: "It's definitely something related to the Death Eaters—they're playing their games right now."

But during breakfast, when they saw the Slytherins suddenly erupting in cheers and noise, and Hermione handed them a copy of the Daily Prophet, Harry realized Snape's "very important matter" was only superficially significant.

"Severus Snape Appointed Senior Deputy Minister of Magic."

"No wonder—now Slytherin's having a real celebration," Ron muttered sourly. "Look at our McGonagall—she oversees everything, does everything, yet no one ever praises her."

"You weren't saying that yesterday when you were writing your Transfiguration homework," Harry bluntly exposed him. "You said, 'This old hag, why's she being so serious?'"

"No, what matters isn't the professors' personal glory—it's the Ministry's move!" Hermione reminded them. "Why do you think they put Snape in that position? Have they struck a new deal with him? You need to pay attention."

"He's paying attention," Elena said lightly from beside them. "His father's a Minister—no amount of analysis we do can match even a whisper of news from Mr. Weasley."

"Hey!" Ron protested loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"I mean," Elena stuck out her tongue, "you're facing Ravenclaw soon—good luck."

Hermione glanced at Elena, then sighed. "I really brought this on myself."

The two girls walked off together. Harry watched their backs in silence, as if deep in thought.

"What's going on with them? Harry, have you figured anything out?" Ron asked.

"Breakfast… I'll get a bowl of oatmeal," Harry said, glancing at his friend drowning in emotional turmoil. "Don't look at me—I have no idea what girls are thinking."

Ron turned away, dejected and silent, and began mechanically scraping food from the table.

By evening, as they passed the Great Hall entrance, they saw Arnold's cooperation with the move:

"Educational Decree No. 27: Starting today, students must circulate the Daily Prophet before breakfast each day. Houses with less than 80% attendance will lose twenty house points."

"Not bad," Harry said bitterly. "Consider it a way to force us to wake up."

"Good idea," Ron said, forcing optimism. "Reading the paper in the morning—besides, I can't focus on books anyway."

"How is this good?" Hermione suddenly appeared nearby. "This is clearly the Ministry trying to brainwash students with their ideology."

"Of course they think it's good," Elena said. "One gets to read his father's achievements on the front pages; the other gets to read his own glory on the back pages."

"I didn't even do anything to you," Harry said helplessly, spreading his hands.

"But the Daily Prophet did," Elena raised an eyebrow.

"I think this isn't the Daily Prophet's fault," Ron lifted his nose. "Who upset you? My savior friend? My Minister father? Or plain old Ron Weasley himself?"

"Can't you guess?" Elena crossed her arms. "Just like in Potions—you always pick C when you're unsure."

"Let's not argue here," Hermione pulled Elena's arm. "Not now, at least."

Ron pretended to ignore them as they left, but his trembling shoulders betrayed his inner turmoil.

"I think… girls' feelings," Harry patted Ron's back. "Go ask Zhang Qiu. Maybe she'll know."

They sat down in the library, forcing calm, and began tackling their complex assignments. At just after seven, Zhang Qiu arrived as promised.

"Zhang, I need your help with this," Ron spoke first.

"Hmm…" After listening to their account, Zhang Qiu fell into thought, then offered three conclusions: "First, Hermione is trying to mend her relationship with you, but she's being blocked. Second, Elena is deceiving both Ron and Hermione simultaneously. Third… I won't say outright—it's just a hopeful guess—I suspect Elena's merely testing you, and she actually wants to give Ron and Hermione back to each other."

"Let's start with the obvious and easier point: The Ministry needs students' help to amend the Statute of Secrecy, so they gave Snape some benefits in exchange," Zhang Qiu swiftly skipped over already-established conclusions. "Now let's examine the three of you."

"First question: Does Hermione like Ron or Elena? Does she think Ron or Elena likes her? How far has she thought through the others' feelings? What decision has she made, and what actions has she taken?" Zhang Qiu wrote each point down. "We may not know Hermione's thoughts, but we can see her actions: She's trying hard to talk to you two—but the conversations are always about politics."

"We can first rule out the possibility that Hermione simply wants to chat about politics—if she did, she wouldn't be talking so superficially. So if her goal isn't politics, it must be to reconnect with you. Without considering Elena, the reason her attempts fail is that she wrongly assumes you only care about politics, so she kills every conversation. But Hermione isn't stupid—she's extremely sharp. She should've learned from her first failure and not repeated it so many times."

"So she's doing it on purpose?" Harry frowned.

"No, Hermione has no motive to deliberately provoke you," Zhang Qiu shook her head. "I suspect her last two failures were because Elena interfered."

"Even without Elena, I think her attacks on the Ministry are inappropriate," Ron said.

"Exactly," Zhang Qiu said. "She first tried talking about Muggle politics—you weren't interested. So next time, she switched to Ministry politics. She assumes you're dissatisfied with the Ministry, so whether you agree or disagree, there's always something to discuss—she can try to convince you, or be convinced by you."

"True—except Elena twisted it to focus on Ron himself," Harry mused in agreement.

"Alright, back to the question: Hermione's actions show she's trying to reconnect with you—that means she wants to become closer friends again. Excluding the possibility that Hermione likes Harry, the answer is clear: Hermione still cares for Ron."

"Why can you rule out her liking Harry?" Ron asked.

"If you won't rule it out, I'll rule it out for her," Zhang Qiu narrowed her eyes.

"Fine, so Hermione still likes Ron. Then what about those… renmei… or jian… things?" Harry waved his hand. "Do they still count?"

"People are complex—they waver between multiple options," Zhang Qiu shrugged, her tone lightening. "If she can be with Ron, then renmei, celibacy, even… jian—none of those seem appealing anymore."

Harry sensed Zhang Qiu understood he used "renmei" to refer to Donald, and on some level, yes—if equally tall, handsome, and powerful, girls would still prefer someone their own age.

Though Ron's so-called "power" likely owed much to his savior friend and his minister father.

"But what about Elena?" Ron asked.

"Let's use the 'series-of-questions analysis' again. We don't know the earlier parts yet, so we start from her actions," Zhang Qiu drew a backward arrow on paper. "To analyze properly, we should start from the day she came to school."

"It's certain: Last year, you danced together and got along well, and afterward became quite ambiguous friends," she wrote "ambiguous" at the top. "This year, you kept exchanging letters, your relationship grew closer, and after the Yule Ball, you kissed."

Zhang Qiu wrote "female," then suddenly asked: "Has Elena ever told you two of you are officially a couple?"

"Huh? No… I thought it didn't need to be said outright?" Ron looked surprised.

So she wrote "girlfriend," and drew a large brace beneath it, splitting it into "one-sided" and "mutual."

"First, assume Elena truly fell for you back then. Do you think she still likes you now? Probably not," Zhang Qiu stated coldly, voicing what Ron didn't want to hear. "So when did the turning point happen?"

"The Christmas break," Ron said. "She started acting gloomy the next day, then went to Hermione."

"I don't think," Zhang Qiu rotated her pen, rubbing its feather end, "she suddenly lost interest in you after visiting your home."

"Hard to say… my home's still pretty poor," Ron lowered his eyes, speaking softly.

"But your father just became Minister," Zhang Qiu shook her head. "If Elena were a social climber, she wouldn't abandon you for your family's lack of luxury—she'd see your potential. Conversely, if Elena despised privilege, she wouldn't leave you because of your Minister father—your family's modest lifestyle proves you all prefer warmth and simplicity, and your father would be a clean, upright official."

Zhang Qiu suddenly crossed out the word "mutual."

"Elena never liked you. From the start, she used you only as a stepping stone to get closer to Hermione," Zhang Qiu declared abruptly. "Even last year—she used you only to prove she was heterosexual, so Hermione would lower her guard."