From the day Harry entered this common room, they knew this scene would come sooner or later.
However, the battle situation exceeded all their expectations.
Harry alone almost single-handedly fought against the majority of the lower years, without losing any ground.
"Enough!" a female voice, amplified by a Sonorus Charm, rang out, and for a moment, everyone turned their heads to look in the direction the sound came from.
Harry also vigilantly looked around, then at the person who had spoken.
A woman with shoulder-length golden hair and high cheekbones—that was their Prefect, Gemma Farley.
She shrieked hysterically, "Potter!! Are you trying to destroy Slytherin?!"
Harry looked at her, his heart burning with rage.
He admitted he didn't like this Slytherin. It was already different from what was recorded in history, far removed from what was described in books.
It was like a tree that had long since rotted, a pool of stagnant water that was no longer clear.
But until now, he had never actively provoked anyone from Slytherin.
What did she mean by, "Are you trying to destroy Slytherin?!"
Harry laughed, then pushed up his glasses, which had slipped slightly during the fight.
"More magnificent towers are always built from ruins, aren't they?"
"Nonsense!" Gemma Farley's face turned crimson as she waved her wand, but her incantation was once again interrupted by that terrifying fluorescent blue object.
Harry finally understood the terrifying aspect of the Wizards Hand.
Unpredictable, difficult to react to! Even just the ability to interrupt spellcasting was enough to make him invincible in this level of combat.
"Does anyone else have anything to say?" Harry looked around.
The surrounding crowd, who had not participated in the battle, either laughed or shrugged indifferently.
"Looks like it's time to end this." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, then went upstairs to his dormitory. However, as soon as he stepped onto the stairs, he saw Draco.
It seemed he had been there the whole time, witnessing everything that had happened.
Their figures crossed paths, neither acknowledging the other.
Back in his dormitory, Harry sat wearily on his bed, covering his face with his hands.
He was pondering something, reviewing all the recent events, then he stood up irritably, left the dormitory, and found Draco.
"Do me a favor, I have two questions," Harry said.
Draco stood frozen, feeling utterly incredulous. Harry Potter, the Harry Potter who had just beaten up half the lower years and the Prefect, was asking him for help.
Draco's face showed some disdain: "Help you with what?"
Seeing how amenable Draco was, Harry called him back to the dormitory and closed the door.
"What do you think?" Harry asked.
Draco looked puzzled: "What do I think about what?"
"It's just... beating them up," Harry fumbled for his words, "It's just... did I go too far? Am I bullying them?"
He was a bit tired; he didn't know if his actions had been out of line.
He didn't want to become like Dudley, an arrogant, stupid guy who only bullied others!
He wanted an outsider to give him an honest opinion.
And coincidentally, Draco was that outsider.
Moreover, he and Draco had not been on good terms before, with frequent friction, so he certainly wouldn't deliberately say anything to comfort him.
Having him help him examine the situation was perfect.
"What is bullying?" Draco looked at Harry.
Draco had never known what bullying was.
"It's just... picking on people! Am I picking on them?" Harry retorted impatiently.
Draco's eyes widened instantly: "What the hell are you talking about, picking on people... Don't you know you took down the entire lower years, and Gemma Farley and that first guy are both fifth-years? Is that picking on people?!"
Draco screeched, "Potter, are you mistaken about something? It's bullying when an adult hits a child, it's bullying when the strong hit the weak... Wait—"
Suddenly, he seemed to grasp a blind spot.
Why did he and Harry have such a difference in perception?
Thinking, he said with some uncertainty, "You wouldn't have, from the very beginning... thought they were..."
Then he saw Harry scratch his head, somewhat awkwardly saying, "Uh, yeah, I initially thought they were all tr... pretty ordinary!"
After more than a week of observation, his and Hermione's earlier thoughts on the train had long since vanished.
Draco gasped, starting to pace back and forth, muttering, "Good, excellent! Potter, excellent!"
"Get to the point!"
"Heh, finally, the famous Potter needs my help. Beg me, aren't you supposed to hate me?" Draco laughed.
He hadn't expected the guy who had just made him feel despair and suffocation to ask him for help and answers at this moment.
At this moment, Draco felt utterly delighted; he felt this moment could be ranked among the top pleasures of his life.
"Hate you?" Harry looked at him, puzzled.
"Why do you think I would... hate you?"
Harry simply couldn't understand why he would hate him. What had he done to give him such a misconception?
Draco listened to Harry's words, stunned for a long moment before he reacted.
So, he hadn't even registered in anyone's eyes?!
"Can we get to the point, please?"
"No, it doesn't count!" he said with a hint of exasperation, "Except for when someone merely insulted Granger and you beat them up like that. Other than that, you weren't bullying them!"
Thanks to Hermione's outstanding performance in class, almost the entire year knew Miss Granger's name.
Harry looked at Draco: "You don't need to tell me that. That matter is absolutely correct! The word 'mudblood' is very offensive, and Hermione is my friend."
"'mudblood' is just a—"
Harry glanced at him, directly interrupting him: "Malfoy, put aside your stupid, crude pure-blood theory, and then think about that word again."
"Is pure-blood so special?" Harry looked at him, not hiding his disdain: "Anyone with a brain knows that in the differences among Wizards, bloodline accounts for pitifully little!
The so-called pure-blood theory is nothing more than a crude way to inflate one's own worth.
If you want others to truly respect you, work hard and do things, instead of just talking about how good your background is all day long!
That will only make others look down on you, like a pathetic wretch who has no other abilities but to boast about their birth!"
"You!" Draco instinctively wanted to retort, but he racked his brain and couldn't find any arguments to refute him.
Harry stood up, opened the dormitory door, and left.
His words were like an iron hammer smashing into Draco's head. Draco sat stunned on the bed, his mind in chaos.
The pure-blood theory had long been deeply ingrained in his memory; his father had been telling him these theories since childhood, and he had held them as sacred principles.
But now, when he truly began to use his brain and tried to find some evidence to support this claim, he found his mind was empty.
What to say? What to use to prove the pure-blood theory?
Folks, if you're looking for a book, you can check this one out. It's genuinely about seafaring, Western fantasy nautical + two-world Crossing + witches. If you like this genre, you shouldn't miss it!!
In a mysterious world, I opened my eyes already at sea.
At the beginning, I was framed and barely rescued, but the captain was a cold-hearted witch who killed without mercy. What to do?
Fortunately, I still have a golden finger!
An nameless, dark ship carving leads Ryan on a journey through the myriad worlds.
[This shark is dying because it witnessed a very private rendezvous. If you save it, in return, it will take you to join it.]
[This planet is dead, all life extinguished. It seems like good material for a long-range warship?]
—
My name is Freeney, captain of the 'Black Rose'. My public identity is a rookie female pirate, but in reality, I am the fifth princess of the Augustus Dynasty who just escaped, a newly awakened sea witch.
To escape the pursuit of the 'Despicable Ones', I had to go to sea, carrying the family's inherited treasure map, heading to the deep sea, trying to find the lost treasure and restore the dynasty!
On the way, I rescued a drowning person.
The good news is, this guy is knowledgeable and can serve as the navigator of the 'Black Rose'.
The bad news is, this guy is really too weird. Not only does he occasionally say things that make no sense, such as 'Captain, what do you think it would be like if we used the sun as a warship?' or 'Pirate King, here I come', but every so often, he also brings back some strange and wonderful things!