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Chapter 163
Rules and regulations exist for a reason: regardless of how you personally feel, you cannot violate or ignore them. Doing something bad is wrong, even if your intentions are good. No one should receive special treatment.
"That's because I was being too impatient. We absolutely cannot expose our source of information. Even if we want to warn Professor Dumbledore, we can't do it ourselves," Hermione said as she slowly leaned back in her chair and began thinking of a safer solution.
Her words made both Harry and Ron very happy, and Hermione herself was pleased that she finally understood the situation.
As a model student, she had always enjoyed special trust from her teachers. Recently, however, she had become something of an intelligence gatherer, constantly using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid being caught. Strictly speaking, she had already broken quite a few school rules herself.
But Harry and Ron were different.
In the eyes of the teachers, they had always been troublemakers, even though their grades were not bad. Ever since the flying car incident at the beginning of the school year, they had been under close scrutiny.
After that, Harry suffered one bizarre incident after another. Filch constantly targeted him, mysterious voices only he could hear were discovered, and he repeatedly appeared near the scenes of Basilisk attacks.
All these incidents had gradually turned Harry into the source of trouble in everyone's eyes.
If he suddenly rushed into the Headmaster's office now, there was little chance things would end well for him.
Ron's situation wasn't much better. Earlier in the year, he had nearly caused serious trouble for his father, and Mrs. Weasley's infamous Howler had publicly exposed him in front of the entire school.
If they suddenly revealed all the school rules they had broken, they would be asking for disaster.
"What do you think?" Hermione asked awkwardly, scratching her head.
She was accustomed to the positive relationship between excellent students and teachers. For a while, she had struggled to understand why problem students were always so cautious around authority figures.
"As long as we can notify Professor Dumbledore, an anonymous letter should be enough," Harry said immediately.
As a veteran of unfortunate situations, he quickly came up with a reliable solution. Clearly, experience had taught him some painful lessons.
He knew that barging directly into the Headmaster's office would never work. For maximum safety, it was best to stay completely out of sight.
"We could also inform George in advance," Ron added. "He probably knows more than we do—about the school governors, or perhaps even Lucius's accomplices. He could ask someone outside Hogwarts to send a letter to Professor Dumbledore. That would be much more convincing."
In order to avoid being caught breaking school rules, Ron was using all of his wisdom.
While anonymous letters were a good idea, sending one from inside the school still felt risky. If someone truly wanted to investigate, they might eventually discover the sender.
"That's brilliant," Hermione said immediately.
"Perhaps George could contact some of the Hogwarts governors. If the governors themselves send letters, it would not only put pressure on Lucius, but might even stop his plans entirely—or get him removed from the board."
Hermione instantly recognized the advantages of the idea and couldn't help applauding.
Solving problems was often easier when several people worked together. Moments ago she had felt stuck, but with Harry and Ron's suggestions, a much better plan had emerged.
She decided to write everything down in a letter to George. Surely he would know how to handle the matter even more effectively.
And money certainly wouldn't be an issue.
George had plenty of it, despite constantly complaining that there was little worth buying in the wizarding world. With enough resources and influence, convincing several Hogwarts governors would not be difficult.
In that case, George would win, Dumbledore's plans would remain intact, and his reputation would be protected.
No matter how elaborate Lucius's scheme was, it would ultimately fail against the combined efforts of George and Dumbledore.
"I don't think anyone in the world could defeat the combination of George and Dumbledore," Hermione said confidently.
"And eventually we'll catch the Heir of Slytherin. Professor Sprout's Mandrakes will soon mature, and everyone who was petrified will recover."
Harry nodded confidently.
"As soon as Dumbledore uncovers Voldemort's plot, the Heir will be arrested. And if we really wanted to, we could probably kill the Basilisk immediately."
Now that they understood the hidden currents behind the game and the struggle between the two sides, the so-called Heir of Slytherin had become little more than a pawn.
Their perspective had long since expanded beyond the mystery itself.
"Maybe when we catch the Heir, he can teach you how to control a Basilisk," Ron joked casually.
With everything seemingly under control, he finally felt relaxed enough to joke around.
"Basilisks are certainly powerful," Harry replied with a laugh. "They can even attack ghosts, and several professors have been injured because of them. But as a future great wizard, I only want to raise a phoenix."
"Haha! I can't wait to grow up and become stronger. I want my own phoenix too," Hermione said dreamily.
George was somewhat surprised when he received Harry and the others' letter.
Although he had long suspected that Voldemort's true target was Dumbledore, he never expected Harry and his friends to uncover such information themselves.
Even more surprising was that the operation seemed to be led by an old acquaintance of his—Lucius Malfoy.
Thinking back, George had encountered Lucius several times before but had never paid much attention to him. After all, his time and energy were limited, and he focused only on the most important matters.
Lucius simply hadn't been important enough.
Still, the two shared a peculiar connection.
A large portion of the books in George's private library had originally come from Lucius Malfoy's collection, though they had eventually passed through Borgin of Knockturn Alley before reaching George.
But as long as the objective was achieved, what did a little extra expense matter?
After all, that was how wealth worked—and how the world naturally functioned.
In fact, among Hogwarts' twelve governors, one seat was effectively under George's control.
He didn't particularly care about the position, nor did he think the board of governors held much significance.
But he had secured the seat anyway.
The reason was simple:
He was wealthy, and he could.
After all, truly valuable things in the wizarding world were rare.
If the Malfoy estate had not eventually been confiscated, Lucius would probably have preferred to let his collections rot rather than allow others to acquire them and gain influence.
People are often like that.
They fear others gaining greater benefits more than they value their own.
The world works much the same way.
Standing still while everyone else moves forward is, in its own way, a form of falling behind.
(To be continued...)