Chapter 440: Forbidden Fruit

Harry really wanted to find an opportunity to ask Mia for her own opinion, but at this moment, as a candidate for the Queen Project, Mia could reasonably stay at the Ministry of Magic and communicate with Snape and other researchers at any time. With this layer, the tutoring that was originally used as a cover naturally stopped.

"What's wrong with that?" Ron waved his hand carelessly.

However, when Harry found Snape again and asked if the project could be stopped, he only got a helpless smile and the words, "This is not your business." This made him feel somewhat sad. For the Queen Project, which was written as "voluntary" from the top brass to the people involved, not only did Harry have no room to intervene, but even Snape himself found it hard to make up his mind. Of course, Harry thought another reason Snape didn't express opposition was that he felt the experiment might have a possibility of success after all. Under the comfort of this wishful thinking, Harry gradually stopped paying attention and questioning.

Starting in March, the temperature gradually warmed up, and Evolt also disappeared. Harry followed Snape's suggestion and put his energy into school life. What made him feel both pleasantly surprised and lost was that the Quidditch team was still running well without Harry and Ron, and players in every position had received full training and progress.

"Our Chaser coordination is already very tacit, but there's a small problem with the Seeker," Jin Ni said from the side. "Edith is flying very well now, but she's still a bit slow at catching the Snitch. According to her, her hands are a beat slower than her eyes."

"How do you plan to solve that?" Harry adjusted his knee pads, his mood somewhat complicated.

"Don't know, maybe she'll adapt naturally after a long time." Jin Ni started helping him pull on that big robe, then said in a very low voice, "McLaggen has a problem; his state has declined very seriously. We all guess it has something to do with him being in love."

McLaggen had just walked out of the locker room. Harry looked at the locker room door and said somewhat distractedly, "Then I'll ask Zhang Qiu what's going on. After all, she's more familiar with Marietta."

"Heh." Jin Ni let out a strange, noncommittal laugh.

"Harry, you have to think about it this way: what do you think Pan Xi loves Ma Erfu for? She just loves the bloodline and family background, not the person," Zhang Qiu said. "Perhaps you think Pan Xi seems to love Ma Erfu very much, but you have to think, would a simple love-brained girl be in Slytherin? Slytherin needs ambition."

"Marietta? She affected your player?" When Zhang Qiu heard this news, her eyes were full of incomprehension. "Impossible, aren't they getting along quite well?"

"Getting along quite well?" Harry frowned. "If they're getting along well, why is McLaggen looking so sickly? I recommended he go see Madam Pomfrey, but he said this isn't a problem Madam Pomfrey can solve. Listen to me, Qiu, I suspect they must have had a fight, a big conflict, and Marietta just didn't want you to mock her, so she pretended they were getting along well."

"Is that what you think?" Zhang Qiu shrugged. "Fine, I'll go back and interrogate her."

Of course, Harry didn't think this was a very serious matter, because the strength of the entire team had already achieved a gap-like lead. After he and Ron joined, they were confident that the opposing players wouldn't even be able to get the ball; even if Filch came to keep goal, they would win.

Eerily, when Harry asked Zhang Qiu for the result the next day, he only got a complex and inscrutable look.

Harry felt terrible just thinking about it; this was too wasteful of time.

"What are you doing?" When Harry asked this, the two girls ran away with strange laughs, saying nothing.

When he mentioned this at the next Torchwood gathering, Lu Na said seriously, "This is exploring a way to make Cross-Z stronger." Harry didn't believe it at all, but Lu Na was unwilling to tell the truth, and he couldn't force her.

Harry returned to the dormitory, pouting. He said to Ron, "I bet something is definitely happening in the school, but everyone would rather keep me in the dark. This feeling is too bad!"

"Relax, buddy," Ron said nonchalantly. "Student gossip is everywhere; you don't have to know every single thing."

At this moment, a dizzying sense of trance suddenly hit Harry. He felt this scene seemed familiar, but didn't know when he had encountered it. Another mysterious intuition told him that perhaps he should ask Hermione.

After class the next day, Harry walked quickly into the library. He wanted to find Hermione to ask about this matter, but she was sitting with Ailina, which made him feel somewhat awkward. After hesitating slightly, Harry still sat down in front of them.

"Hi, Harry." Ailina greeted him enthusiastically, as if no unpleasantness had happened a while ago.

"Hello, have you been here the whole time?" Harry made small talk.

"Yeah, Donald hasn't had any new instructions. He said I could play here for a while longer." Ailina rested her chin on one hand. Harry only then noticed she wasn't holding a book, which was easy to understand, because she didn't need to do Hogwarts homework.

"I don't see you often. Do you live with Hermione?" Harry asked casually, while Hermione's pen showed no sign of stopping.

"Hi, don't mention it. There was a bitch—I mean, a pretty girl—living in my previous bed. Was it called White?" Ailina said with some dissatisfaction. "The dormitory is full; I've been living in the Chamber of Secrets lately."

"Chamber of Secrets?"

"Zhang Qiu is still willing to help me." After Ailina finished this sentence, she glanced at Hermione. "It seems she's the only one willing to help me."

"You wouldn't be—"

"Forget that, Harry." Ailina interrupted him. "You must have something to ask us, right?"

"Indeed, I feel like some things have happened in the school recently, but no one is willing to tell me what the situation is," Harry said somewhat distressfully.

"What things?" Hermione put down her pen and looked up at him.

"First, what makes me doubt is McLaggen and Marietta. They clearly haven't fought, but McLaggen is becoming increasingly depressed, and he's not in state when playing ball. When I went to ask Zhang Qiu, she wouldn't say anything."

"That sounds quite puzzling," Hermione said seriously, while Ailina covered her mouth, but her eyes were clearly stealing a laugh.

"Then there's Lu Na. I bumped into Pan Xi taking her in and out of the Room of Requirement, but she wouldn't tell me anything," Harry spread his hands helplessly. "She said they were researching Cross-Z. That's too perfunctory; who would believe that?"

"That's right, that excuse is too perfunctory," Hermione pondered. "What could it be? Eh! Could it be they went to peek at the Mirror of Erised?"

Ailina covered her other hand over her mouth, even covering her nose, but even so, she kept making stifled laughter.

"Is this funny?" Harry knocked on the table with dissatisfaction. "At the very least, it could be they're doing some new prank; at the very most, it doesn't exclude the possibility that someone is controlled by a Horcrux!"

Thinking this, he rushed toward the Headmaster's office immediately, but didn't wait for a response after knocking several times. Harry spent some time thinking, then ran back to the dormitory to flip through the Marauder's Map, only then seeing Snape was in the greenhouse.

"No." Ailina stabilized her emotions, then waved her hand. "I just guessed it because I saw some missed things in the Chamber of Secrets."

"What?"

"Obviously, Pan Xi originally had some things to do in the Chamber of Secrets, but because Zhang Qiu needed to vacate the Chamber for me to live in, she had to move to the Room of Requirement," Ailina said with a smile. "And the Room of Requirement can also do those things. I guess Marietta knows about this, and it's even possible she discovered it first and told Zhang Qiu."

"What about Lu Na?"

"Pan Xi introduced her to try it too, I guess that's it. And don't say, I think this matter might really be helpful to Cross-Z."

"So what is it? Can't you say?" Harry felt annoyed in his heart.

"Let me think," Hermione started thinking. "Making McLaggen weak and absent-minded, Zhang Qiu unwilling to mention it, Pan Xi doing it before and preparing to introduce Lu Na to do it, perhaps helpful to Riders, and Riders are very particular about emotions. There's another point, that is Ailina has already guessed it, but none of us have."

"Ailina said she guessed it from the traces left in the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry looked into her eyes. "But you were stifling laughter before. Did you guess it long ago?"

"Then perhaps this is something very common on their side and very rare on ours..."

"Oh no," Hermione said in horror, "they wouldn't be smoking marijuana, would they!"

After a brief shock, Ailina burst into sharp and unbridled laughter. For a time, half the people in the library cast curious looks, and Madam Pince immediately stood up from her chair.

When Harry was pulled away by Zhang Qiu, Hermione was still talking to Ailina with a serious face, and she had no intention of answering, just laughing continuously.

"Why did you go ask Hermione!" Zhang Qiu said pouting. "Who told you to go?"

"I don't know, there was just no one to tell about this matter. Ron just didn't care, so I suddenly thought of asking Hermione."

"Ah?" Hearing this, Zhang Qiu quickly took out her notebook, flipped to the very early pages, then revealed a blank look. "Is fate still at work?"

"What's wrong, did it fulfill some divination?"

"It seems so. However," she flipped a few more pages, her voice starting to become light, "I didn't intend to..."

"What?"

"If you really want to know, come to the Room of Requirement tonight," she said, her face flushing red. ===== CHAPTER 441 =====