Chapter 697: Another Way - (2) |
It felt strange. Hermione had never imagined she'd one day open up to Luna (she felt Luna's topics of interest were too abstract), but when it happened, she found it wasn't so bad, like whispering secrets to a Halloween pumpkin.
Luna left, wandering to a corner of the courtyard. As the crowd dispersed, Professor Harp handed a vial and two containers to Madam Bones. "I'll take this to Gringotts for appraisal. Bill mentioned the Pan-Magical Union during the day; the elves' attitude was ambiguous," she shook her head.
The Pan-Magical Union?
Hermione's eyes lit up. She hurried after Madam Bones.
Felix cautiously stopped her, hesitating. "Granger—"
"I get it, Professor!" Hermione said, rushing off. Felix looked puzzled. Had he misunderstood?
He watched Hermione's retreating figure, the moon above casting two shadows in the courtyard—one overlapping the other before separating. Then Hermione turned into Hogwarts Castle.
Moments later, Harry and Ron lurked suspiciously in the entrance hall.
"What's going on?" Ron glanced towards the door. "Neville and Dean went to the kitchen to get some food, said they wanted to celebrate properly."
"I think so?" Ron thought carefully. "I saw her at the Ministry a couple of days ago; she's a squad leader now…"
"Hmm."
A few minutes later, Hermione returned.
"Madam Bones agreed!" she announced excitedly.
"Agreed—what—" Harry asked, surprised.
"I asked Madam Bones, and she said progress with the Pan-Magical Union has been slow, so I asked if I could help, and she agreed!" Hermione said as she walked towards the stairs. "The Ministry's negotiations with centaurs and elves have hit a deadlock. The centaurs aren't interested in an alliance; you know how they like to keep to themselves and aren't friendly with anyone, and they particularly dislike the idea of having banshees and vampires in the union…"
"But the biggest issue is with the elves. They want to remain neutral, but Bill found out there's more than one voice within the elf community, and they might change their stance anytime. It stems from centuries of volatile interactions between elves and wizards, dating back to the founding of the school—"
"Why haven't I heard of this?" Ron interrupted.
"The Gryffindor sword," Hermione said briefly, and Harry and Ron immediately understood. The elves had a pathological view of ownership, insisting that anything made by elves belonged to them, even if wizards paid for it. When wizards died, elves had the right to reclaim the items.
And the Gryffindor sword was made by the king of the elves at the time. Would Hogwarts hand the sword over to the elves? Absolutely impossible.
"The Ministry won't agree to the idea of the Elves claiming neutrality when in reality they're breaking away from the magical world, especially since they also have control over the magical economy and coinage! Before negotiating with the government, we must prioritize reaching an agreement with the Elves."
"Alright, I'm starting to get it," Ron said slowly. "But what does this have to do with you?"
"I drafted the earliest papers!" Hermione exclaimed as if she'd been stepped on, "and I've spent a lot of time researching the cultures of different races and their taboos. Now what we need to do is find a set of arguments that both sides can accept..."
"That's not easy," Ron grumbled, "and I didn't say anything, don't get worked up."
"Yeah, Hermione, you've been a bit sentimental lately," Harry interjected, half-jokingly. "I thought maybe you were in love."
Ron was taken aback, then looked at Hermione with wide eyes. "Really? With who?"
Hermione shot Harry a fierce glare.
"It doesn't matter," she retorted vehemently. "If you think that I've read all these books, learned all this magic, endured all this hardship just to be in a relationship, then you're wrong! The current situation is far more complicated than what Voldemort brought upon us. A slight mistake, and everything we value could be destroyed in an instant. This is a situation unseen in a thousand years since Hogwarts was founded. We can't rely on one professor to handle everything."
"I've talked to Luna. She plans to become a Magizoologist in the future, going to the Arctic to find snow martens that love hot dogs," Hermione said, and Harry and Ron widened their eyes, did they hear her correctly? Hermione raised her voice, "If the world is filled with war, can this wish still be fulfilled? Will she be forced to join the Ministry of Magic, raise her wand, and fight against Muggles? Eventually die in some conflict?"
Harry's heart sank, he couldn't imagine that scene.
Luna Lovegood, quirky and wise, always seemed calm, as if nothing could faze her, but if Xenophilius Lovegood died in a conflict... he shook his head abruptly, unwilling to dwell on it further, he didn't want to know what Luna would become.
"Luna wants to become a Magizoologist, there's nothing wrong with that. I want to become Minister of Magic, involved in the series of major changes that will inevitably occur in the magical world after peace is achieved. You two want to become Aurors—well, we can achieve our own ideals while protecting others' as well—"
She suddenly turned the conversation towards Ron. "Didn't you ask if our names would be in Professor Harp's legendary stories?" Ron looked puzzled for a moment, trying hard to recall. "Um... yeah, there was something like that. Neville said there's more than one person in the storybook."
"There's actually another way," Hermione said.
"What is it?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Everyone—" Hermione pointed to Harry and Ron, then to herself, "you, me, everyone in the magical world, we are all part of this legendary drama, we are all legends!"
Some personal thoughts.
This book is approaching its end, to write a complete story, the issue of the female protagonist must be resolved, there's no way to turn a blind eye to it. Either single female lead, or no CP. Now it's confirmed that Hermione is the female lead.
Readers might remember that until the end of the fourth year, it was still unclear who the time traveler was, and both Harry and Hermione received the same information, either could have been. Because the author couldn't decide until the last moment (if Harry was chosen, then the subsequent line of Mrs. Weasley would be invalid).
The entire sixth-year plot was added temporarily, it wasn't in the outline. Originally, Dumbledore was supposed to sacrifice himself in the battle with Voldemort, Grindelwald would escape from prison, causing chaos. Why did it turn out like this? Because I couldn't bear it, I didn't want Dumbledore to have regrets.
So there was the sixth year.
This part of the plot is actually somewhat thin, so withdrawing the previous foreshadowing, the intersection of the wizarding and Muggle worlds, and the trio's adulthood (growth) are all important parts.
Out of concern, Hermione's growth was moved to now.
The author has previously stated that no ambiguous plots would be written, and I also believe that the previous chapter didn't count as ambiguous. Just like writing Ron's character flaws, it was to write about his growth.
Of course, there's another reason, because Hermione has been confirmed as the female lead, there must be some points arranged for reminiscence, so as not to abruptly bring up something discordant at the end.
Why choose the former between a single female lead and no CP? It's also because I couldn't bear it. The protagonist can live for many years, everyone can anticipate him becoming a headmaster, lurking behind the scenes, exploring the stars, overlooking the changes in the world, if there's only one person, it would be too lonely.
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