aircannonsinc Chapter 261 Voldemort Promotes Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Chapter 261 Voldemort Promotes Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Chapter 261 Voldemort Promotes Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Meanwhile, Harry and Draco's eyes met, and their gazes locked, yet neither of them uttered a word.
Draco showed no fear whatsoever. He stood up abruptly, a broad smile spreading across his face, and extended his hand, saying, "Good morning, Harry."
At this call, everyone in the carriage turned their gaze to Harry.
As the saying goes, "It's hard to hit a smiling face." Although Draco was being very attentive, with a hint of deliberate effort in his eyes, Harry didn't care about such trivial matters. He simply took Draco's hand and shook it up and down three times.
Then, glancing sideways, he saw Pansy, the female class monitor beside him, clutching the hem of his robe tightly, her body trembling like a willow in the wind, not daring to lift her head.
He withdrew his gaze and fixed it on Draco's face, saying, "I never imagined that the position of Slytherin Prefect would fall to you."
"I have to thank Professor Dumbledore for his trust in me," Draco said calmly, a slight smile still on his face. "I don't think he would choose someone who would be a threat to Hogwarts as a prefect."
These words were spoken in a steady, even manner, like an oil-soaked pebble, leaving no room for finding any sharp edges.
Harry thought to himself: If my brother Lin Chong had even a fraction of Draco's silver tongue when he first came to Liangshan, why would he have needed to go down the mountain to find a pledge of loyalty? He probably wouldn't even need a letter of recommendation from Master Chai, and he could have easily secured a seat in the top position.
It was the time for the student council presidents and prefects to discuss the bylaws. Harry didn't argue with him, but simply nodded, found a seat by the window, and listened to how the arrangements were made.
The two chairpersons, male and female, didn't waste any time. They simply explained the various duties of the class leaders, including patrolling, restraining, and reporting, in detail.
Finally, a few words of encouragement were added, and the meeting ended in less than half an incense stick's time.
After the meeting, he got up again to persuade them to stay, saying that they should have a glass of pomegranate juice and a few peas in the private room so that they could exchange names and get to know each other better.
However, such gatherings are not forced; they depend solely on individual willingness.
Ron was the first to leave. He was impatient with all the formalities and ignored the titles of prefect and chairman.
Seeing him set off, Harry also lifted his robe, got up, and followed him out.
Then look at Draco and Pansy, they moved with incredible speed, disappearing in the blink of an eye at the corner of the corridor, leaving no trace.
After leaving the special carriage and passing through three or four ordinary carriages, and when there were no other people around, Pansy's heart, which had been hanging in her throat, finally settled down.
She gripped Draco's arm tightly, her knuckles turning white, and words of half concern and half reproach flowed from her mouth like a burst dam.
"Good heavens! Draco, you just scared me to death!"
"Why are you trying to curry favor with Potter? And calling him Harry! That guy's a complete madman, capable of anything!"
"I bet when you shook hands with him, he was thinking about how to chop off your arm."
Pansy kept rambling on, saying only intimate and caring things.
Draco listened, but only shook his head three times and let out a heavy sigh.
"Honey, could you please tell me what we were doing just now?"
Pansy was puzzled. "It's a meeting for the prefects."
"So, is Mr. Potter a prefect?"
Pansy's face froze, her lips moved a few times, but she couldn't utter a single word.
"You need to understand, Pansy, Mr. Potter is the one who calls the shots at Hogwarts now."
"Unfortunately, everyone knows that Mr. Potter and I used to have a grudge."
"Do you think someone might try to curry favor with him and attack me? Don't forget the current public opinion climate; everyone is condemning the aristocracy."
"If we can't be 'one of us,' then we can forget about having a good year ahead."
Pansy was stunned by what she heard. She never expected that those few flattering words contained such a complex and scheming mind.
As she was in a daze, she suddenly saw a dark figure standing vaguely at the junction of the first two carriages.
Pan Xi frowned, and just as he was about to take a closer look, the figure suddenly moved, and a tall man slowly walked out from the shadows.
"Malfoy, you've kept me waiting for quite a while."
Upon hearing the voice and seeing the person's face, Pan Xi's face drained of color instantly, and a layer of white sweat seeped out from her back, clinging coolly to her inner shirt.
She was worried that Harry had overheard their whispers, and her eyes darted back and forth between Harry and Draco.
He then tightened his grip on Draco's arm, but Draco suddenly pulled away, broke free, and with a smile on his face, went straight to meet him.
"Oh, Mr. Potter, what brings you here?"
Harry scrutinized him from head to toe, a half-smile on his face, and said, "I just heard you call me 'Harry,' how come you've suddenly become 'Mr.'?"
Draco remained unfazed. "Because I called you by the wrong title."
"Ha! How do you know you called me by the wrong name?"
"If I had called the right person, you wouldn't be waiting for me here."
Harry threw his head back and laughed, his voice echoing throughout the carriage. "I used to say that you should look at me with new eyes after three days of separation," he exclaimed, "but today I realize I was wrong!"
"I'm not just impressed, you've been completely transformed, your very soul has been given a new lease on life!"
After saying that, he grabbed Draco's shoulder and said, "Where is your carriage? I need to have a couple of cups of pumpkin juice with you so we can have a good chat."
Draco pointed out the path, and the two went off one after the other, leaving Pansy standing there, unsure whether to go forward or backward, hesitating in the corridor.
Harry followed Draco to the door, and with a yank of the sliding door, he saw Crabbe and Goyle, those two burly men, pacing around in circles like ants on a hot plate.
When the two fat men heard the door open and turned around, they bumped right into the scarred man.
Draco peeked half his face out from behind Harry's shoulder. "Ah, I don't think I need to introduce you, everyone should know you."
Nacrab was filled with apprehension and had already shrunk his large, over 100-pound body into the corner of the room, wishing he could embed himself into the wall.
When Goyle saw Harry, he was completely terrified. His legs went weak like mushy noodles, and his mind was filled with the memory of how he had knocked out this living devil four years ago.
Harry glanced at the two of them, then pointed his thumb toward the door. "You two go find somewhere else to hide. I have something to say to Malfoy."
Upon hearing this, Crab felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He nodded hastily and dashed out the door.
Gao Er remained slumped in his seat, struggling a few times, but his legs simply wouldn't obey him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.
Harry waited a moment, and seeing that he didn't move, he looked him up and down, and exclaimed in surprise, "What a idiot! Are you deaf to my words, or do you not understand human speech? Do you expect me to throw you out myself?!"
"No! I'm leaving right now!"
Gao responded urgently, but his body felt like it was filled with lead. He struggled a couple of times, but his legs were still weak and wouldn't obey him.
Seeing that he only paid lip service without moving, Harry grew furious and yelled, "You son of a bitch! You fat bastard, how dare you make fun of me!"
"Grandpa didn't want to fight with you this year, but you went and asked for it!"
After saying that, he leaped forward and punched the fat man in the face.
The punch landed squarely on the soft, fatty flesh, causing the oily skin to tremble violently, and the bridge of his nose snapped open. Two streams of blood gushed from his nose, and Gao Er's head snapped back as he crashed to the ground, falling silent.
Harry grabbed his ankle like a dead dog and dragged him out of the compartment before turning around and sitting down.
Then he called to the man pushing the cart and asked him to bring two bottles of pumpkin juice.
Draco sat down silently at the head of the table, bowed his head slightly, and said in a low voice, "Thank you for sparing their lives, Mr. Potter."
Harry pushed a glass of pumpkin juice toward him, glancing at him with interest. "What do you mean? You're making me sound like some heinous villain."
Draco raised his cup and took a sip, then slowly said, "Their parents were Death Eaters, and they've already gone to Poland with the Dark Lord. If you kill them both, no one will object."
Harry sipped his juice, staring at him with a half-smile. "According to your logic, even if I were to finish you off right here, I doubt anyone would utter a sound," he said.
Draco's throat tightened, and he was about to say, "My mother is still alive," but then he remembered that Harry's parents were both dead. The words rushed to his tongue, but he swallowed them back down, only mumbling, "My mother is not a Death Eater."
Then he quickly changed his tune, "What do you want to talk to me about, Mr. Potter?"
Harry ate his sweet juice, his eyes fixed on Draco's face. Suddenly, he slammed the glass down on the table and said in a deep voice, "Tell me everything Voldemort said in the letter he sent you."
Listen carefully, dear reader: the Scarface's claim of Voldemort's letter was actually a ruse to intimidate and swindle.
It should be known that he had long ago assigned a group of house-elves to lie in wait day and night in the shadows of Malfoy Manor, reporting to him everything that was happening in the manor.
Draco had only corresponded with Lucius for months, receiving half a letter from Voldemort. Harry was asking this question now, wanting to see how he would respond.
Draco shook his head hastily upon hearing this, his voice suddenly rising three inches, "Mr. Potter, whoever said such a thing to you, I can tell you with certainty that they are slandering you!"
"I have never exchanged letters with the Dark Lord."
"Even if I were given truth serum to answer this question, my answer would remain the same."
Harry pretended to ponder, "In that case, with whom do you correspond?"
"My father."
"What do you usually talk about?"
"Some information about the current state of the Polish magical community."
At this point, Harry's expression suddenly hardened, and he thought to himself:
My little elf, who's been tutoring my children, has copied through all of this guy's correspondence with Lucius. The pages are full of warm greetings and mundane everyday matters; not a single word mentions the Polish magical world.
Harry's mind was filled with doubt, and he said, "In that case, bring me the letter so I can see it with my own eyes."
Upon hearing this, Draco simply lifted his robe, pulled out a stack of letters from his pocket, and neatly pushed them in front of Harry.
"All the letters my father sent this summer are here." Harry took the letters and glanced at them. He saw that each letter was arranged in perfect order, with neat, clean edges.
He raised an eyebrow and looked at Draco, saying, "You've been preparing for this all along, haven't you?"
Draco, without changing his expression, nodded and said, "Actually, I plan to give these letters to you when I return to Hogwarts."
"Although it's a bit earlier now, it's not a problem."
Harry remained silent, opening the letter and examining it closely. However, the words were exactly the same as those transcribed by a house-elf, consisting of trivial matters such as "take good care of your mother" and "don't let strange men into the house."
Not to mention the Polish magical community, there isn't even a single word related to magic.
Harry's brow furrowed more and more as he hurried through the book. After a while, he suddenly looked up, his eyes blazing like lightning as he stared straight at Draco's face.
"You two used coded messages."
“That’s right.” Draco nodded slightly. “Take the first letter of each word and put them together, and you’ll have a completely new word.”
"If any sentence contains the word 'Malfoy,' the entire sentence is invalid and should be omitted."
After hearing this explanation, Harry cursed a thousand times in his heart.
Damn it! I've been hunting geese all day, and today a goose has pecked my eye! If it were an acrostic poem or a word-embedding game in Chinese, no matter how you try to hide it, you can't escape my eyes.
It's a pity that English and Chinese are so different in their approaches. One uses phonetic spelling, while the other uses pictographs to express meaning. It's not easy to simply copy the methods from the East.
Harry cursed under his breath, then used the cryptic method to decipher each letter from Poland, starting from the last.
The situation in Poland was indeed much as he had predicted.
With Death Eater hounds watching over them, patrolling day and night, any slight disturbance would result in a fatal curse. All the wizards in the kingdom were terrified; who dared utter a single word of dissent?
Even more horrifying was Voldemort's method of capturing Muggles. Every day, new ones were arrested and brought into his office. People were seen going in, but never coming out.
Harry disassembled the secret letters one by one. Because the coded messages in the letters were all fragmented words and could not be read in complete sentences, deciphering them was as difficult as piecing together a nine-linked ring.
I worked on it until the first letter of summer vacation, and my brows immediately furrowed in worry.
Do you think this letter contains any keywords? Listen carefully: Voldemort, sincerity, virtue, kindness, Dementors, resurrection, etc. Harry was puzzled and thought to himself: Damn it! This letter is really strange. What kind of thing did that bastard Voldemort do that has anything to do with sincerity, virtue, and beauty?
Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Draco coughed lightly and said, "In fact, I have also thought about this letter for a long time."
"I had collected some newspapers about the Polish capital at the time, and when my father wrote this letter to me, it seemed there were a large number of Dementors in Warsaw—"
Harry cut him off, "Stop rambling, just tell me what you've figured out."
"It seems that the Dementors attacked Warsaw, and these creatures cannot be completely killed and refuse to communicate—the Dark Lord is tired of the endless resurrection of Death Eaters."
"So he wanted the Death Eaters to explore the truth, goodness, and beauty within themselves, and to learn the Patronus Charm to solve their own problems."
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