Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Chapter 187 Further Inquiry

"Harry! You have to tell us what happened!"

Inside the Gryffindor common room, Hermione avoided the others and growled at Harry, her face serious, not allowing Harry any chance to escape.

Although Ron didn't understand why Hermione suddenly started attacking him, he still chimed in, "Brother, to be honest, you're really acting strange today!"

Looking at the two earnest faces in front of him, Harry felt a warmth in his heart, but everything that had happened last night quickly overwhelmed that warmth.

"...No...I'm fine, just a little tired."

Harry forced a smile, trying to avoid their earnest gazes.

Please, don't care about me so much...

I'm afraid I'll implicate you...

wrong!

I think I dragged you all down into the mud a long time ago...

A clearer understanding of the situation made Harry increasingly desperate.

Seeing Harry's stubbornness, Hermione laughed angrily, "Harry, something's wrong with you!"

The serious little witch tightened her face and, like a skilled butcher dissecting an ox, meticulously explained Harry's mistakes one by one.

“From the medical wing this morning until now, I’ve noticed you’ve been distracted a full 48 times!”

"Most of the time when you were daydreaming, your eyes were looking in... the direction of Slytherin, but to be precise..."

Hermione, meeting Harry's horrified gaze, slowly uttered the name, "It's...the direction of Thea..."

Before Harry could refute her, Hermione continued to offer her reasons.

"You've been acting strangely ever since the match ended yesterday. First, you... suddenly appeared with the Goblet of Fire... then Dumbledore announced that you and Cedric were the winners, but Cedric wasn't even on the field at the end of the match yesterday!"

Everyone only saw four people go in, but only three came out!

"I don't know how Dumbledore persuaded those two headmasters, but your performance makes me even more suspicious."

"Logically speaking, since you and Cedric were both in first place, why didn't you mention him at all since the end of the competition?"

"So, my conclusion is: the reason you're acting strangely is related to Cedric!"

"And considering what you've seen so many times today...the actions of Thea..."

"No!"

Harry's sudden outburst startled Hermione and drew curious glances from the others as they looked at the three of them.

"Feel sorry……"

Harry apologized softly, his voice strained, "Don't...don't mention her name..."

"why?"

Hermione and Ron both wore identical expressions of confusion.

"........."

Harry fell silent; he simply didn't know what to say.

Is he going to say that the person who claimed to be our friend was lying to us from the very beginning?

Was he going to say that Thea was Voldemort's daughter, the daughter of the man who killed his father and mother?

Was he going to say that he witnessed Voldemort's resurrection last night, using his father's bones and Thea's blood?

Harry's mind was reeling from all the thoughts swirling around him; he spent the whole day trying to come up with a good idea but couldn't.

Seeing the pain in Harry's eyes, Hermione was momentarily reminded of the vulnerable boy she knew in her third year when he first learned the cause of his parents' death.

She softened her voice, "Harry, we're friends, friends for four years..."

"She spent four years with us, but hasn't she betrayed us now?" Harry said sarcastically.

Hermione and Ron were shocked; they hadn't expected this to be so serious.

"Let's go, this isn't a good place to talk."

To their astonishment, Harry stood up first. He decided to tell them the truth, as he wasn't sure he could keep it from them.

Hermione and Ron quickly followed.

Harry led the way, with Hermione and Ron close behind.

"Let's go to the observatory! There shouldn't be anyone there."

Noticing Harry's hesitation, Hermione offered a suggestion.

Harry was about to object when he sadly realized that, apart from the observatory, he couldn't think of anywhere safer...

"Yesterday, I went into the maze... and encountered..."

Harry forced himself to recount what had happened last night in an objective tone.

"...She cut her own arm, and blood kept flowing into the crucible..."

“...Professor Moody is actually Barty Crouch Jr., he was also at Moody's last night... He cut off a large piece of flesh and threw it into the crucible..."

"...and then a piece of bone flew out of the grave..."

"...Voldemort rose from the dead...and then the Death Eaters came...they respectfully kowtowed to Voldemort and...she...and vied to kiss Voldemort's robes..."

"...She was cursed with a Crucifixion...it was Voldemort who cast it..."

"...I managed to grab the trophy amidst the chaos, and then I came out..."

Ron stared at Harry with wide eyes the whole time, as if he had suddenly become speechless.

Hermione tried hard to suppress the urge to argue and carefully wrote down the points Harry mentioned in her notebook, without anyone knowing when she pulled it out.

"Harry, you touched the trophy at first, and then you went straight to the graveyard, right?"

Harry nodded unconsciously.

"But why did you come back directly to the Quidditch entrance?"

"As far as I know, that trophy should be sent directly to where it was before, right?"

Harry was taken aback by Hermione's words.

Hermione pressed on, "When you were in the graveyard, who was closest to that trophy and spent the most time with it?"

Harry was stunned for a moment, then desperately tried to recall everything that had happened last night.

"It seems to be... her..."

After Voldemort's resurrection, Thea was initially in the circle surrounded by people, and then... she seemed to appear next to the trophy...

“But she’s Voldemort’s daughter!” Ron quickly added.

"Even if she tampered with the trophy, that's a fact!"

“No one can choose who they are! She was no exception!” Hermione retorted defiantly.

"Voldemort killed so many people! And you still want to... whitewash that?"

Ron looked at Hermione as if she were a giant.

"She has a name! Her name is Thea!"

Hermione was so angry her hair almost stood on end.

"Oh! I remember now, the reason you like her so much is because she always supports your wildest imaginations, isn't it?"

Ron said sarcastically, as if he had just realized something.

"But how do you know she's not putting on an act for you?"

Hermione clenched her fists, but couldn't say anything. She looked anxiously at Harry, only to see a strange sadness on his face.

"Hermione... haven't you noticed yet?"

"She never called us by our names..."

"In her heart, we are only family names..."