Just hours before Harry's "unjust imprisonment"—
The Gryffindor common room and dormitories looked as if a swarm of locusts had swept through, following a merciless raid led by the Umbridge-backed Investigation Squad (Slytherin edition).
"Gone—everything's gone—even the chess set Seamus gave Harry, and Dean's playing cards—"
Ron collapsed onto the floor, staring in despair at his scattered belongings and overturned laundry bin. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes.
As a devoted board game enthusiast, he had hidden these items in the deepest corner of his trunk after Umbridge issued her anti-entertainment decree.
But being the dormitory shared by a Potter and a Weasley—
They seemed to naturally attract trouble. Their dormitory became a prime target for Draco, who, as if guided by instinct, led a particularly thorough raid. Any contraband related to Muggles was confiscated without mercy.
"I'm doomed. My mom's going to kill me," Dean muttered, his face pale. "She wanted me to pursue a Muggle degree after graduation, but all the Muggle study guides she sent me have been confiscated."
"What are they trying to pull?" Ron growled, his freckles—recently concealed by Madam Pomfrey—reappearing in his anger. "Malfoy led the raid on our dorm! Is this an open declaration of war against the peace treaty we prefects signed? It's outright provocation!"
Unfortunately, they weren't the only victims. The Gryffindor common room was packed with students whose belongings had also been searched.
"What's gotten into those Slytherins?" Fred and George frowned, clearly annoyed. Their joke products hadn't been spared either. "And what about Yu's photos or figurines in your dorm? Are they still there? What about her outfit?"
"Gone." Ginny's face was half-hidden in shadow as she spoke in a chilling tone. "Parkinson, Bulstrode—I'll poison them both—let them accompany Yu in death—"
Her sinister expression sent shivers down the spines of everyone present. For a moment, the little lions thought they were staring at a dark, Snape-like version of Ginny.
"Uh… take it easy, Ginny," Ron tried to calm her down. "It's all my fault. I should've handed over the Muggle items when Malfoy asked for them earlier. Turns out he was hinting at this... Ugh... Slytherins always speak in riddles. If I'd figured it out sooner, we wouldn't be in this mess—"
Under his sister's fierce glare, Ron sheepishly shut his mouth, only to have Hermione smack him on the head.
"No, what you should be worrying about is what kind of punishment we'll face now that these items are in Umbridge's hands!"
"These contraband items violate at least thirty or forty of her student rules! She could expel any one of us on a whim!"
"Take Harry, for example. He's always on her bad side, constantly getting detention. His hand is practically ruined from all the lines she's made him write! This gives her the perfect excuse to expel him!"
As if Hermione's words were prophetic, no sooner had she finished speaking than—
Umbridge's sickly sweet voice echoed from outside the common room door, targeting her number two enemy, second only to Jane Yu:
"Mr. Potter—"
And thus, the last precious image before poor Harry was taken away to "imprisonment."
...
While the little lions' anger reached its peak, over at the Slug Club, the little snakes were gleefully dividing their spoils.
"What a haul! You should've seen the look on those Gryffindors' faces!"
Draco strutted around like a peacock, flanked by Warrington and Montague, each carrying a large sack.
Daphne and the others looked at him with admiration, giving him thumbs up and asking curiously:
"How did you manage it? Did they just hand everything over willingly?"
Basking in the admiration of his peers, Draco held his head even higher, like a proud rooster:
"How did Yu put it? 'Drink the wine of punishment instead of the wine of toast!'" He smirked arrogantly. "I politely asked Weasley for the Muggle items, but he thought I was setting him up, said I was going to report them to Umbridge!"
Though no one believed his "polite" approach was genuinely polite, the outcome was all that mattered. No one cared about the psychological scars left on the Gryffindors.
Feigning seriousness, Draco coughed twice, adopting the demeanor of a disciplinarian:
"As one of the leaders of the Investigation Squad, I bear the responsibility of conveying Umbridge's spirit on the front lines and regulating student behavior."
"I must be lenient with myself and strict with others. Faced with students carrying contraband and sullying the campus, as a leader of the Investigation Squad, I am deeply pained, sleepless at night, feeling I haven't fulfilled my duty to correct the campus atmosphere."
He puffed out his chest, gesturing for everyone to look at the shiny badge on his chest:
"To help them focus better on their studies and avoid being corrupted by Muggle items, I had no choice but to assist them by obtaining a special approval order from the esteemed Professor Umbridge for a surprise dormitory raid to confiscate their contraband."
Draco directed Warrington and Montague to dump the contents of the two sacks onto the table.
Out tumbled a variety of strange items—Muggle books, Muggle snacks, Muggle chess sets, and card games...
But his smug expression suddenly faltered, as if he'd thought of something particularly unpleasant, causing him to frown:
"Merlin, I've been through hell. That lion's den was absolutely disgusting, especially the red-haired mole. He had a whole bucket of socks! There's free house-elf service at school, yet he managed to accumulate such a huge pile of unwashed clothes!"
"I'm not surprised those moles stink." Blaise pinched his nose in disgust. "Didn't you read the Daily Prophet? His mom said she has to wash all the stinky socks and clean the room. I can't imagine what my mom would do to me if I treated her like that."
The little snakes collectively made retching noises.
Draco used two fingers to pick out the items belonging to Ron from the two bags of Muggle artifacts, tossed them aside, and cast several cleaning spells on his fingers.
Once he got over his disgust, he continued:
"Goyle and Crabbe have been sent to raid the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff dormitories, but I bet with their intelligence, they won't even get past the common room doors; Parkinson and Bulstrode were sent to search the girls' dorms, and this bag is full of Yu's photos and figurines they found."
To divert these Investigation Squad members who had become loyal to Umbridge after being granted power, Draco had gone to great lengths, carefully arranging personnel and using his ancestral acting skills to avoid arousing suspicion, ultimately securing the right to dispose of the contraband.
But upon hearing this, Daphne's face turned as dark as coal, unknowingly mirroring Ginny's expression on the other side:
"How dare they keep Yu's photos and figurines in their dorms for nightly admiration? Why don't they take a good look in the mirror?"
Her anger flared even more when she saw several torn photos of Jane Yu and a few broken figurines, courtesy of Pansy and Millicent's search:
"I'll poison them—Parkinson, Bulstrode—why aren't they dead yet?"
With a terrifying smile, she gently pieced the photos back together, casting a spell to restore them.
This silenced all the little snakes present, none daring to utter a word.
"Why so quiet? Pick something." Daphne lightly lifted her little finger, which couldn't even wear nail polish, with a "gentle" smile on her face. "See if there's anything you find useful. Don't worry, your days of suffering are numbered; they'll soon be over."
Though they knew she was referring to Umbridge's oppressive rule, the little snakes couldn't shake the feeling that their hairs were standing on end.
—It felt as if this darkened version of Daphne was gently telling them, "Your lives will soon be over."
Under her oppressive aura, a few pure-blood little snakes timidly stepped forward, showing disdain and contempt for the pile of Muggle items. But knowing these were essential props for their "performance," they reluctantly picked them up with two fingers, minimizing contact.
...
Far away at Malfoy Manor, Lucius and Narcissa sneezed.
For some reason, an inexplicable sense of unease crept into the couple's hearts.
Their son must be doing well at school, right?
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