Chapter 341: The Lie of Fate

After Hermione returned, the children held a joyful celebration, and all students who participated in the parade said that standing up and taking part in upholding justice was a deeply unforgettable and proud memory.

Hermione realized many people cared for her, and the newspapers had begun praising her; she ought to have been delighted, but perhaps due to her shyness, this joy did not show clearly on her face.

In truth, setting aside strategy and plans, Harry was also quite pleased—finally, the Daily Prophet was no longer fixating solely on him.

During the second half of the Easter holiday, Hogwarts was filled with cheer, yet one person always appeared burdened with worry: Elena.

"I just came from Elena," Zhang Qiu said, sitting beside Harry as she rubbed her temples. "Donald is coming in person next week to assess the situation. He's booked a guest public lecture for the first week of term, so he can come and go freely."

"Is that why she came to you?"

"If you're going to use Elena to oppose Donald, we have to give her some support, right? We can't just watch her get crushed by Donald," Zhang Qiu said, lips pressed tight. "And now, she's panicked—she can't face Donald alone anymore."

"There's something we misunderstood about Elena. She didn't come here deliberately to get close to Hermione or manipulate Ron… Her main reason for being here was still the Rosa Parks Project."

"In other words," she sighed, "this was rushed for Elena. She didn't realize we changed the plan, so her hidden motives were about to be exposed immediately."

"If Donald doesn't come, he won't care how well Elena carries out her mission. But now, the person originally meant to lead the student movement has changed from Cui Ge to Ron—he'll definitely come to check things out. And once he arrives for an on-site inspection…"

"He'll discover Elena and Ron have broken up," Harry realized. "That's something Elena can't explain."

"Well, strictly speaking, they haven't officially broken up—just a cold war," Zhang Qiu added. "But regardless, Elena's actions are highly unusual. She must provide a reason."

"What reason?"

"Donald gave Elena two tasks: seduce Ron and spy on Hermione. Now she's botched one—and deliberately. How can she convince Donald she hasn't betrayed him?" Zhang Qiu explained step by step. "She can only claim the other task became more urgent and conflicted with seducing Ron, forcing her to act this way."

"What if Elena says she simply no longer likes Ron?" Harry said. "That's not betrayal—just a childish tantrum. What would happen? Donald wouldn't kill her like Voldemort would, right?"

"But if she loses Donald's trust, how can she stay by Hermione's side?"

"Hmm, that's true. So what's her explanation?"

"I said it's because spying on Hermione became more urgent and conflicted with seducing Ron—that is, Hermione's emotional state changed," Zhang Qiu stared directly at Harry. "It must be that Hermione has fallen for someone else, and if Elena continues pursuing Ron, it will only deepen Hermione's bond with that person."

"Then who is that person?"

"It can only be you," Zhang Qiu said helplessly. "We have to tell Donald that Hermione and Harry have secretly become a couple."

Harry broke into a cold sweat. Hearing those words come from Zhang Qiu terrified him more than if Hermione had confessed to him directly.

"No, no, but—" Harry stammered—"there needs to be evidence. How can she prove you and Hermione are together? There's no reason at all."

"Exactly. That's another problem. Elena is intelligent enough, and Donald knows she is," Zhang Qiu tapped the table. "Clearly, you and Hermione aren't together, and it's unlikely you ever will be. So Donald will see through her lie unless Elena presents evidence that, while not proving you two are together, is enough to make Donald believe it could have led her to misjudge."

"So Elena plans to explain this way: she discovered you and Hermione were together, so to prevent further contact, she broke up with Ron and kept watch on Hermione to stop her from coming near you or Ron," Harry summarized. "And she wants Donald to believe she simply made a misjudgment—so she can accept his correction willingly and continue her mission, meaning staying close to Hermione."

"Yes, exactly. And since your name is involved, she can't avoid me—that's why we're having this conversation."

"Oh, right. If Elena suspects you and Hermione are secretly seeing each other, you're the one who can debunk it," Harry scratched his head. "And to make her misjudgment seem more credible, it'd be best if both you and Elena made the same misjudgment—but you knew more and were smarter. What reason could make both of you misjudge?"

"More importantly, Donald must instantly recognize it as a misjudgment," Zhang Qiu said seriously. "He must never truly believe you and Hermione are together—otherwise, we can't predict what he might do."

"Even if Donald really thinks that, it shouldn't be too serious," Harry said. "You're just worried his next move will be unpredictable and spiral out of control."

"Yes, that's true," Zhang Qiu raised an eyebrow. "But Donald has one very clear trait—and it's precisely this that creates an information gap between him and Elena: he believes in fate's trajectory."

"What?"

"I mean these divination results," Zhang Qiu flipped through her notebook. "After the Tardis explosion, nearly all of them no longer matched—but some traces of fate's influence remain. That's why Ron and Hermione, no matter how distant they grow, can never truly forget each other—they're destined to be together."

"This…"

"So Donald goes to great lengths to watch Ron, because he's read fate," Zhang Qiu said. "But we don't need to take it seriously—fate no longer exists."

"Then in fate's trajectory…" Harry hesitated, "you and Hermione never got together, right?"

"Yes. That's the first point that makes Donald lower his guard," Zhang Qiu said. "The second is this: we must use the lie of fate to deceive Donald."

"What do you mean?"

"The divination says you'll abandon me on Valentine's Day to go on a date with Hermione," Zhang Qiu turned to a specific page. "But in truth, Hermione scheduled an interview for you."

"But on Valentine's Day, I was with you the whole time, and Hermione never scheduled any interview for me," Harry said, confused.

"Who can testify to what happened on Valentine's Day? We'll tell Donald you abandoned me to go see Hermione—after all, I couldn't possibly know whether Hermione scheduled an interview for you."

Harry recalled Valentine's Day: Elena had been with Ron the whole time, and Hermione returned to school alone. If Zhang Qiu's testimony was "Harry left to find Hermione," and Hermione's testimony was "I was writing assignments in the library," then Harry and Hermione's movements were indeed highly suspicious.

"But that doesn't work," Harry shook his head. "Donald should know you know about fate—you two argued about it in second year, didn't you? If you knew fate, wouldn't you have told Elena the truth—that I was just going for an interview?"

"My Master's divinations are often vague. I can say I didn't know about the interview," Zhang Qiu said slowly. "And according to fate, during the Dumbledore's Army gathering before Christmas…"

"We should've already kissed."

After a moment of silence, Harry felt he should apologize.

But Zhang Qiu didn't seem to care—she continued: "So in Donald's eyes, the situation becomes clear."

"Elena's misjudgment stems from Harry and Hermione's Valentine's date and my suspicion and testimony; my misjudgment stems from that same date and the kiss that never happened," Zhang Qiu laid out two lines. "Elena wrongly believes Harry and Hermione are together; I wrongly believe fate has gone wrong and suspect Harry and Hermione truly are together."

"Since Donald believes in fate, he'll assume a default position: that both you and Elena made misjudgments. He'll first explain the date was merely an interview, and since the Daily Prophet fabricates Harry's quotes daily, he'll assume the interview was real and use those quotes to prove it to us."

"Then Donald will consider what happened around Christmas. He'll only think it was his own decision to send Elena that disrupted fate's trajectory, causing us to miss the kiss," Zhang Qiu said calmly. "He'll first explain it to me, convincing me Harry never loved Hermione—then I can join him in explaining to Elena that Hermione could never love Harry."

"Thus, in Donald's eyes, the matter is resolved: Elena broke up with Ron due to a misjudgment. All that's left is to reconcile Elena and Ron, extinguishing the faint spark between Ron and Hermione. Zhang Qiu stroked her hair. "The change in strike leadership from Cui Ge to Ron is the natural result of this misunderstanding, and Cui Ge merely acted out of misplaced kindness—he'll only get a mild reprimand. All of this aligns perfectly with what Elena hoped for."

"Can this really fool Donald…?" Harry still felt uneasy.

"It won't fool anyone else—but it will fool Donald. We can deceive him precisely because he believes in fate," Zhang Qiu sighed. "But the plan is still missing one final step. Donald will take one more action—we must ensure we're ready for it."

"What?" Harry asked.

"We'll see when the time comes," Zhang Qiu closed her notebook and stood to leave.