"You speak French too?"
In the Hufflepuff common room, Avada, Shabby, and Stibbons were all staring in surprise at their dormmate, Henry Summers. They had no classes during this period, and Avada—who was taking the time to recover his mental strength—had no intention of going to the library or the Chamber entrance to research anything. So he stayed behind, chatting idly with his roommates.
"Yeah. My grandmother is French—she taught me French when I was little…"
"It's been three years. How come we've never seen you show it off?"
"What's there to show? There aren't any French books in the library, and no French guests visiting the school…"
"..."
"But everyday conversation and magical terminology are very different things. Are you sure you can keep up with Beauxbatons' curriculum?"
"That, I'm not sure about. But I figure there'll probably be plenty of Muggle-borns like me transferring to other schools. They should take that into account a bit… right?"
"Not necessarily."
Avada shook his head, his expression darkening as he poured a bit of cold water on the idea. "Right now, the only Muggle-borns who can leave are the hundred or so still studying at Hogwarts. Those who've already graduated and started families won't be able to move easily, and those under eleven are even worse off—they don't even know the magical world exists. When the acceptance letters for that new school finally reach them, they'll probably be overjoyed, with no idea what kind of future awaits them."
"Muggle-born witches and wizards are already few to begin with. On top of that, they have no foundation in magical society. Without help, they can only be pushed around. And now that the pure-blood families have even dragged out the will of the castle and the Book of Admittance, they'll probably be able to intimidate quite a few people who might otherwise try to act in secret."
"..."
The common room fell silent for a moment.
"Oh, right—Ken, you're Muggle-born too, aren't you?"
Probably trying to lighten the mood, Shabby took the initiative to ask Avada, "Have you thought about what you're going to do in the future?"
—Uh… kill the Basilisk, then go crush the pure-blood faction with Dumbledore?
"My situation's a bit complicated. Until I come of age, I have to stay in an orphanage, so going to America to attend Ilvermorny probably isn't an option for me," Avada said with a shrug, shifting his posture casually. "I'll likely find a small potion shop or alchemy workshop, work there while studying on my own."
"And if things really deteriorate to the point where Muggle-borns can't survive in society at all…" He spread his hands. "Then I'll stay hidden in Britain and do my best to guide and help newly awakened Muggle-born witches and wizards. That's about all I can do."
"Then once I graduate from Beauxbatons, I can come find you and we'll work together—set up a fast escape route from Britain to France!"
Summers joked, then laughed at his own words. "Though it probably won't come to that. Dumbledore's still around—he definitely won't just sit by and watch things get that bad. Who knows, maybe tomorrow he'll show up with a mountain of evidence, prove that everything the Board of Governors and the Ministry said was nonsense, and take back the Headmaster's seat."
"Yeah…"
At the mention of Dumbledore's name, the anxious Hufflepuffs regained a bit of confidence. Not everyone believed the Board of Governors and Snape outright—Albus Dumbledore's image in their hearts wasn't something that could be erased so easily.
Especially in Hufflepuff, the house with the most Muggle-born students, people were all the more eager for the miraculous Dumbledore to return, expose the Board's lies—or subdue the rampaging will of the castle—and put an end to the targeting of Muggle-borns.
"Still, I'm planning to stay at Hogwarts for a while," Avada said with a smile. "At the very least, I'll wait until I've actually been petrified once before thinking about leaving."
"At least I'll be staying at school over the Christmas holidays to see if anything changes. Who knows—maybe things really will flip overnight, just like Summers said?"
"Mm. I won't leave easily either," Summers nodded heavily. "But I'll still go home for Christmas to make some preparations. At the very least, I need to tell my parents about all this…"
"Look!"
Suddenly, a cry interrupted their conversation and drew the attention of everyone in the common room. "The notice board changed!"
"Huh?"
Avada followed the pointing finger toward the Hufflepuff notice board and saw that a huge new parchment notice had appeared, taking up nearly a third of the space. Its title was strikingly conspicuous—
Hufflepuff House Muggle-born Student List
[In order to prevent students with special family circumstances from being unable to confirm their blood status, all Muggle-born students have been compiled and archived through the Book of Admittance and Hogwarts' student records, and are hereby posted by house on each house notice board…]
[Students on this list may decide for themselves whether to continue attending Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays. However, if they choose to remain, the school cannot guarantee their personal safety…]
[Seventh Year: …]
[Sixth Year: …]
…
The list contained some forty to fifty names, neatly arranged by year and alphabetical order—all of them Muggle-born students who would soon face a difficult choice: leave the school, or risk being petrified by the so-called will of the castle…
"Third Year… wait, where am I?!"
Avada froze, then carefully read through the Hufflepuff third-year Muggle-born list again.
His name wasn't there.
"So you're not Muggle-born after all?!" Summers stared at Avada in shock, then slapped him hard on the shoulder. "Looks like this list was made just to scare you! What a relief—you worried for nothing!"
"Congratulations!" Shabby and Stibbons crowded over as well. "Looks like at least one of your parents was a wizard, and for some reason left you in a Muggle orphanage… but that also means you don't have to leave Hogwarts!"
"Well? How does it feel—those emotional ups and downs?"
"..."
Avada, however, frowned deeply, ignoring his joking roommates.
He was different from everyone else—he was absolutely certain that he was Muggle-born, without the slightest doubt.
And there were two reasons for that certainty. First, the Department of Mysteries' records. The project's lead had clearly stated that he was a Muggle abandoned infant, which was precisely why he'd been chosen for the experiment.
Second, in addition to researching mental power, Avada had also studied human vitality. Just as Professor Beck's book hypothesized, witches with wizarding blood and Muggle-born witches did indeed have subtle differences in vitality. Every Muggle-born witch effectively opened up a brand-new wizarding bloodline. Even if two Muggle-born witches married, their child would display the vitality traits of a wizard's descendant and would be classified as half-blood in society…
And Avada had long since confirmed that his own vitality showed none of the traits of a wizarding descendant.
Moreover, Dumbledore had never mentioned anything about his blood status to him. Logically speaking, if there were discrepancies between Hogwarts' records and the Department of Mysteries' account, Dumbledore should have told him.
Which raised the question—
Why wasn't his name on the Muggle-born list?!
Avada's eyes suddenly shifted as a possibility struck him.
"I'm heading out!"
The moment that thought formed, he spun around and rushed for the common room door, startling his roommates. "Where are you going?!"
"To find Snape!"
He needed to confirm one thing with Snape. If it really checked out, then he would probably know exactly who the mastermind behind all of this was!!
(End of Chapter)