"Amanda, do you understand now that everyone wants to protect you too?"
Hermione wrapped her arms around Amanda's waist, resting her chin on her shoulder, speaking in a gentle tone.
"I understand," Amanda replied obediently, feeling the touch on her waist. "I will never make a choice like that again."
"That's good." Hermione smiled with satisfaction and gave Amanda a light peck on the corner of her lips.
Although Amanda's previous thoughts had indeed made her angry, she couldn't bring herself to actually settle scores with Amanda.
So what else could she do? Naturally, she had to make Amanda realize her mistake and then give her a kiss to show her forgiveness.
Lowering her head to eat her dinner quietly, Amanda followed Hermione, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore back to the Dormitory after finishing.
The Young Wizards, having calmed down, did not disturb her further. Once the initial surge of excitement passed, their curiosity was no longer so urgent.
Moreover, since today's events were so miraculous, they certainly had to return to their dormitories to write letters and tell their families about it.
Especially for the Young Wizards whose family members had graduated from Ravenclaw House or Hufflepuff House, they could almost imagine how shocked and incredulous their families would be.
After the Start-of-Term Feast that evening, hundreds of Owls flew away from Hogwarts with letters, heading for various destinations.
Meanwhile, Rowena and Helga gathered in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts with Headmaster Dumbledore and the other Professors.
Headmaster Dumbledore looked at the two Lady Founders before him, who still looked young and were unhurriedly sipping black tea. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but ask.
"Forgive me, my question may be a bit offensive, Lady Ravenclaw, Lady Hufflepuff, but how did you..."
"...manage to live until now while maintaining such a youthful state?" Rowena set down her teacup and raised an eyebrow at Headmaster Dumbledore, easily guessing what he wanted to ask.
"Yes." Headmaster Dumbledore nodded affirmatively, his eyes carrying a hint of hesitation that even he wasn't sure of.
"I think you should understand, Mr. Dumbledore," Helga also set down her teacup and looked kindly at Headmaster Dumbledore. After all, in her eyes, the old man before her was but a 'child.' "A Philosopher's Stone is absolutely incapable of achieving such an effect."
"Yes."
Headmaster Dumbledore nodded slowly, the worry in his eyes deepening slightly. Of course, he shouldn't doubt the founders of Hogwarts, but... given Tom's situation...
How could he not have doubts about such things? It wasn't just Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff; even if Gryffindor appeared like this, ageless and still alive, he would still have doubts.
"As for that other thing, the Horcrux, you needn't worry," Rowena said with a smile, waving her hand. "We would never deign to use such disgusting things."
"That is good to hear."
Headmaster Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief and had no intention of asking further.
Immortality might sound tempting, but it was also something bordering on the forbidden.
He believed that the less the people of today knew about it, the better. Of course, he had no designs on it himself; after all, death was but the next great adventure.
"Lady Ravenclaw, Lady Hufflepuff." Professor McGonagall held her Wizard's hat, looking at the two Lady Founders with an attitude of facing mentors that hadn't appeared in decades.
"Please speak, Lady Minerva." Rowena nodded politely, indicating it was fine for Professor McGonagall to speak her mind directly.
"Since both of you are still alive and ageless, then does that mean Mr. Gryffindor and Mr. Slytherin are as well?"
"Yes," Rowena affirmed without hesitation. "It's just that it will take some time for the two of them to wake up."
At this point, Rowena and Helga glanced at each other. Speaking of which, they really had to thank their darling daughter, Amanda, for being able to wake up so quickly.
Because of her, the world consciousness had funneled a massive amount of magic into the two of them, directly causing their recovery speed to be twice as fast as Godric's and Salazar's.
According to normal calculations, Godric and Salazar wouldn't wake up until at least the middle of next year, which would be during Amanda's sixth year.
Hearing Rowena's affirmative answer, Professor McGonagall's expression became visibly excited. Even Professor Snape nearby showed a hint of expectation, though that expectation was tinged with a bit of trepidation.
Seemingly noticing the trepidation hidden in Professor Snape's expression, Helga blinked, a flash of mischief and seriousness crossing her gentle face.
"You needn't feel trepidation, Mr. Severus."
Professor Snape's heart jolted as he looked at Helga. These two Lady Founders were truly just like their daughter—keen beyond measure.
He felt that everyone, Dumbledore included, was as easy to understand as a Levitation Charm in front of the two Lady Founders.
"The so-called blood purity theory that Slytherin House advocated before?"
Helga clasped her hands, her eyes fixed on Professor Snape. "It was undoubtedly not Salazar's original intention. I'm not sure if you misunderstood it, or if the rhetoric was constantly escalated as his words were passed down through the generations."
"Salazar first proposed pure-blood status because, during the wars between Wizards and Muggles in the Middle Ages, he had to be wary that there might be spies among Muggle-born Young Wizards."
"But for normal Muggle-born Young Wizards, Salazar was actually very protective."
"Not only that," Rowena added faintly from the side, "even the Basilisk that was used by that Voldemort to harm students was originally left by Salazar to combat intruders and guard against spies who might be hidden among the Muggle Young Wizards."
"So we don't quite understand how, by now, it has turned into pure-blood being noble, and those who aren't pure-blood being unable to learn magic?"
Helga shrugged. "Your ancestors—forgive me, that might not be the right way to put it—did not have such thoughts."
With a bitter smile and a twitch of his lips, a sense of helplessness welled up in Professor Snape's heart.
It turned out they had misunderstood Lord Slytherin's meaning for all these years, and had foolishly followed that liar Voldemort, a Half-blood who preached Extreme Pure-blood Theory.
If Lord Salazar knew... "When Salazar wakes up," Rowena said, looking at Professor Snape with a playful glint—his face, which usually showed nothing and was like a blank slate, finally showed a hint of bitterness—"undoubtedly, you will all be severely reprimanded."
"Of course," Helga added thoughtfully, "there will certainly be those who get reprimanded even harder than you."
"For example, those portraits in your Pure-blood families," Helga counted them off on her fingers, "the portraits of the House of Malfoy, the Parkinson Family, the Greengrass Family, and so on."
Others might not know, but how could the people in those portraits, who were almost from the same era as them, not know what Salazar's stance actually meant?
Could they not even advise or inform their descendants of the truth? Or was it because of self-interest that they allowed their descendants to make this mistake?
Regardless of which it was, a scolding would certainly be unavoidable, even if they had already become portraits hanging on walls.
"We will learn from these mistakes. Slytherin House will not make similar errors in the future."
Professor Snape took a deep breath, feeling somewhat fortunate that the vast majority of Slytherin Pure-blood families had already turned to Amanda's side.
Otherwise... let alone Lord Salazar, even Rowena and Helga wouldn't let them off easily.
"Then, Lady Founders," Professor Flitwick looked at them and spoke carefully, "regarding Voldemort, would the four of you..."
"Don't expect us to take the initiative to act."
Rowena raised her hands with a smile, indicating she wouldn't interfere, and Helga beside her nodded in agreement.
"This is a trial for your era, and an event that will define the young people of your time. If we old... if we predecessors interfere, it would instead block the achievements of the youth of this era."
Take Amanda, Hermione, and Harry, for example. As long as they ultimately defeat Voldemort, Amanda and Hermione will undoubtedly find it easier to lead the British Wizarding World toward their goals, or even further.
And Harry and the others will also become the new hope of the British Wizarding World, working with Amanda and Hermione to create a better Wizarding World.
"However, although we won't actively eliminate Voldemort," Rowena lightly tapped the armrest of her chair with her right hand, "we will undoubtedly give him a severe thrashing."
"Yes," Helga also moved her fingers dangerously, "after all, he once harmed our darling daughter."
"In addition to that," a light flashed in Rowena's eyes, "we will ensure that in the end, not a single person in Hogwarts will die."
"As for others, including the Muggle World," Rowena thought of her darling daughter's preparations and puffed out her chest with pride, "our daughter has already prepared everything."
Once Voldemort gathered his strength and surfaced, and Hermione finally became the Minister for Magic, the forces Amanda had arranged could emerge from the shadows.
Didn't Voldemort say that Muggles were incompetent and should be enslaved by him?
Well, in this war, don't let him just bully the defenseless citizens of the Y Country Muggle World. Let everyone have a proper 'contest' of soldier against soldier and general against general, and see just how much of a storm those few pathetic Death Eaters under Voldemort, plus the Giants, Werewolves, and Dementors, can actually stir up.
Amanda had prepared everything? Listening to the Lady Founders, Headmaster Dumbledore and the Professors, who didn't pay much attention to the Muggle World and thus didn't know what changes were occurring there recently, were full of doubt.
Of course, it wasn't just them; even within the Y Country Muggle World itself, many people still didn't know about everything that had happened recently.
"If that's the case, then there's no problem." Headmaster Dumbledore nodded solemnly.
As long as the children of Hogwarts and innocent civilians weren't harmed, then there was nothing more to say.
Just as Lady Rowena and Lady Helga had said, this was a war belonging to their era. What reason did they have to hand such a war over to their predecessors to solve?
Those involved in this war would be the adults of this era, and war inevitably involves sacrifice. Even if sacrifice was unavoidable, the vast majority would not hesitate and would consider it their duty.
Looking at Headmaster Dumbledore's solemn and grave expression, Rowena secretly clicked her tongue.
She had already dropped some hints in her words just now. If Mr. Dumbledore didn't grasp them himself, there was nothing she could do.
But why didn't he think of it from another angle? They were the founders of Hogwarts; could they really watch those kind, good students who graduated from Hogwarts close their eyes forever in front of them?
She really couldn't be any more blunt, or else the world consciousness would complain to her again. Some things are fine as long as they aren't stated explicitly and everyone understands tacitly, but once they are spelled out, it becomes problematic.
As dusk deepened, the Professors in the Headmaster's Office returned to their respective offices to rest, and Rowena and Helga also returned to the watch on Amanda's wrist.
Lying on her bed with an expressionless face, Amanda's eyes looked at the top of her bed curtains without any emotion, her mind instinctively beginning to contemplate the possible fallout of the Umbridge incident today.
If the Ministry of Magic had any sense or intelligence left, then acknowledging the identities of her two mothers and apologizing and reflecting on Umbridge's behavior would clearly be their best choice.
But if Fudge and his people persisted in their ways, or even refused to acknowledge her two mothers' identities... then her two mothers would likely find an opportunity to properly 'prove' their power and status.
And considering the current situation and the fact that she had once been hit by Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse, Amanda figured her two mothers would likely use Voldemort as the subject for this demonstration.
So, a magical beatdown of Voldemort was definitely inevitable.
But in any case, based on Amanda's assessment and her analysis of Umbridge's personality, she believed Umbridge would not leave Hogwarts.
Umbridge was not someone who would take a loss quietly, let alone someone who would admit her mistakes. She might not be able to retaliate against the two Founders, but she would certainly find a way to get back at all the Young Wizards who had acted today.
That being the case, Amanda's mind quickly began to think. She should unite the Young Wizards of the four houses in advance, and then everyone could work together to deal with Umbridge.
This would prevent individual Young Wizards from suffering when facing her alone and would also stop her from singling out any specific student for targeting.
With the collective boycott and resistance of the four houses, Amanda's brain began to further estimate how long Umbridge would be able to hold out.
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