The magical world was now in the midst of chaos.
But even in such a situation... no, precisely because of such a situation, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry accepted students as usual.
Because Hogwarts was the safest place in Britain's magical world.
Precisely because no one knew where Death Eaters lurked, children needed this safe place.
That's why the Hogwarts Express ran as usual, and students being in its compartments was equally inevitable.
"...Sigh."
However, not everything was as usual.
Alone in a compartment, Edith Reinagel sighed with hollow eyes.
Her face showed none of the joy of going to school she'd had until now.
She'd been like this ever since that Ministry incident.
No motivation to do anything, even moving felt unbearably troublesome.
Several close friends in Slytherin house worried and called out to her, but even that didn't register.
But she couldn't stay that way forever—as the scenery from the window began darkening, Daphne Greengrass entered the compartment.
"Edith, we're almost at school! You need to change quickly!"
"...Ah, yeah... thanks. I'll change right away."
She couldn't enter school in casual clothes.
Edith changed with sluggish, slow movements and exited the compartment.
Looking around, hardly any students remained—most had already disembarked.
But passing through the passage between cars to the forward car, Edith stumbled over something on the floor.
"...?"
Wondering what she'd tripped on, she looked back, but nothing was there.
This was strange.
Not that one never trips over nothing. Extremely rarely, anyone might slip and nearly fall.
But just now, she'd definitely felt something soft hit her foot right before stumbling.
Not a step or bump—something soft.
Finding it curious, Edith reached toward where she'd tripped.
Strangely, she could tell something invisible was definitely there.
"Hmm?"
Touch, touch, touch.
Not hard, but not soft enough for her hand to sink in either.
Faintly warm, moving up and down as if breathing...
Yes, just like a human body.
"...Ah."
Finally reaching the answer, Edith moved her hand as if sweeping away what covered 'it.'
Then an Invisibility Cloak was removed, revealing Harry Potter with a complicated expression.
His face was somehow wet with blood, nose bent crooked.
He seemed immobilized by some spell, looking at Edith seeking help.
"Um... Finite Incantatem, end the spell."
First she cast a counter-spell on Harry to free him.
Harry immediately stood and thanked Edith.
Then Edith healed Harry's nose with healing magic and asked what happened.
"Malfoy got me... anyway, let's head to school immediately. I'll explain the details while we walk."
Only Harry and Edith remained on this train now.
Dawdling here, they couldn't even catch up to the other students.
That would mean the disgrace of being late on the first day of the new term.
They hurried after the other students.
"Malfoy seems to be planning something. I tried to investigate by wearing the 'Invisibility Cloak' and listening to them talk, but..."
"You got caught partway and that happened."
"...Yeah."
Harry nodded frustratedly at Edith's response.
Though they'd been rivals until now, somehow he'd never been so completely beaten by Malfoy. Harry was always the victor.
That's why this incident hurt more than expected.
"But Malfoy's definitely planning something. During summer vacation, we saw him enter Borgin and Burkes. He was threatening the shopkeeper to make him do something. And in the car, he said something like he was doing this on Voldemort's orders."
"He said that?"
"No, not that clearly. Just the nuance sounded like that. He seemed to be holding back from boasting desperately."
Edith considered.
Would Voldemort really ask Malfoy to do something?
True, Malfoy was Lucius's son and in Voldemort's camp.
But though Death Eaters had decreased in number, Voldemort should have many competent ones.
Yet would he specifically use sixteen-year-old Malfoy?
If so, what was the reason?
"Edith, could you also watch Malfoy's movements? As a Slytherin, you can monitor him more easily than us."
"Mm. I'll try, but don't expect too much. I'm not that close with Malfoy either."
Whatever Malfoy was tasked with, Edith figured it couldn't be that important.
Not that Malfoy was particularly incompetent, but because students had ability limitations.
Rather, entrusting major tasks to students wouldn't go well.
If it were outstanding students like Mirabel or Hermione, maybe different, but Malfoy lacked such talent.
If they seriously trusted him with major roles, Voldemort would just be an idiot.
"Well, from here we have to split by house. See you, Edith."
"Yeah."
Having merged with other students, their discussion was suspended for now.
Harry mixed into the Gryffindor line, Edith joining the Slytherin line.
Since they'd merged quite late, Daphne called out worriedly, but Edith responded it was nothing.
Afterward, the usual new term party was held, and Dumbledore announced the new teacher.
A teacher named Horace Slughorn who'd once taught Potions, who would return to Potions.
Correspondingly, Snape who'd taught Potions would move to Defense Against the Dark Arts, surprising students... especially Harry.
Snape constantly volunteering for Defense Against the Dark Arts was well-known, but Dumbledore had never once accepted.
Yet somehow this year, Snape's long-cherished wish finally came true.
Besides that, he called for house unity and not wandering at night, urging each individual to prioritize safety, then dismissed them.
Edith spaced out for a while but someone tapped her shoulder and she looked.
"Hey, what are you doing, Reinagel? Hurry and lead the new students."
"...Oh right, I'm a prefect."
"That's right! You didn't patrol the train at all, so I suspected, but you really forgot!"
Draco Malfoy shouted irritably and snorted.
Last year's prefect was Mirabel, but with her missing, the duty had newly come to Edith.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll go right away."
"Honestly... I wish you'd get it together."
She led first-years to Slytherin house and taught the password.
Then they were finally freed from prefect duties and headed to their dormitories.
"Hey, Reinagel."
"What?"
"I want to ask... what happened to Beresford?"
Publicly, Mirabel was treated as missing.
Only those who'd actually seen her at that Department of Mysteries knew she was currently abroad planning something terrible.
Malfoy was in a position to have heard the story, but thinking about it, Lucius was imprisoned so he couldn't know.
Voldemort existed, but probably wouldn't bother telling Malfoy, so naturally Malfoy wouldn't know.
"...She's alive."
"I-I see. I didn't think that woman would die easily, but where is she then?"
"Don't know... probably at France, Germany, or Ireland's Prime Minister's magical residence though."
"What!? Why there!?"
"She took them over. Seems she plans to lead those three nations to eventually destroy Britain's magical world."
Truly jaw-dropping.
Though she'd grasped this was an outrageous classmate, she hadn't thought it flew so diagonally upward.
Malfoy looked at Edith with disbelieving face, but whether he thought it a lie didn't matter to Edith.
"...You're joking, right?"
"I wish it were a joke..."
How wonderful if it were a joke.
But they'd come too far for jokes now.
At that Department of Mysteries, Mirabel had caused dozens of people's deaths while laughing triumphantly.
Such jokes shouldn't be allowed.
"Malfoy, you should turn back while it's still a joke."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb. I was at the Department of Mysteries too, so I know about You-Know-Who's connection to the Malfoy family."
"Mmm... come to think of it, yes."
"Exactly."
Edith and Malfoy eventually reached a fork and stopped there.
From here they'd split to boys' and girls' dormitories—they couldn't go further together.
Edith left Malfoy looking like he still wanted to say something and headed to the girls' dormitory, closing the door.
Honestly, she didn't want to talk much about Death Eaters or dark factions.
She inevitably remembered that Department of Mysteries. That girl who'd died just after saying to turn back...
"...Sigh."
She sighed and sat in a chair in the girls' dormitory.
Everyone, regardless of good or evil, was finding goals to pursue and acting.
But amid all that, only Edith remained in unstable suspension.
She couldn't trust the Ministry anymore. But whether Mirabel trying to crush it was correct—different.
Yet she absolutely couldn't think the dark faction was justice either.
Then Dumbledore?—that also left doubts.
From Gryffindor's perspective he was probably the most reliable sage, but from Slytherin's he was also an old man who neglected them.
"I don't know what's right anymore..."
Which was justice, which evil—she could no longer distinguish.
Everything even seemed like wicked ideology.
But amid all this, the choice of taking Mirabel's hand was terribly sweet.
She'd noticed part of herself still cherished those four years spent with Mirabel.
Good or evil didn't matter. If only her precious friend smiled beside her, no treasure surpassed that.
But that was unmistakably the path betraying Hermione, Harry, and the others.
"What should I do..."
Was she really this weak and indecisive?
Thinking thus, Edith covered her face with her palms.
***
"...Hey."
France's magical world Prime Minister's residence.
In that living room echoed an irritated man's voice.
But the girl called... Mirabel showed no sign of listening, savoring the foie gras sauté presented before her.
She nodded satisfiedly with each bite, showing childishly blissful expressions like any girl her age.
But don't be fooled by appearances. This girl was the very one who'd toppled France's magical Ministry.
"Hey, Beresford."
"..."
If time existed for conversation, first enjoy the meal. That was Mirabel.
Therefore she chewed dinner while completely ignoring the voice.
Then moistening her throat with wine, she finally turned her gaze to the noisy man—Grindelwald.
"Just how long do you plan to continue this, Beresford?"
"How long, you say—I only just began dinner."
"That's not what I mean. You know that."
Mirabel narrowed her eyes, showing a mischievous smile.
"When will you finally invade Britain's magical world? Was your talk of turning Britain's magical world to scorched earth a lie?"
"No lie. That's why we're preparing military and acquiring Muggle weapons, right?"
"Then why not attack? Preparations should be finished."
Mirabel took another sip of wine and sighed.
Slightly drunk, her flushed face possessed strange allure unsuited to her youthful appearance.
Demonic charm that bewitched people and made them stray—she'd originally possessed it, but having finally strayed from humanity's path, it had accelerated lethally.
Most men would have their reason scorched with one glance.
"Now wait, don't rush so. Premature ejaculation is disliked, you know? True, attacking and destroying now would be easy... but that would earn citizens' resentment."
"Resentment? What foolishness... turning it to scorched earth, resentment doesn't matter. If we're burning everything anyway, same thing."
"Grindelwald... aren't you misunderstanding my purpose as massacring all British wizarding folk? True, I'll destroy the magical world, but I've no intention of massacring all residents. First, killing everyone would prevent even establishing my desired new nation."
Actually this surprised Grindelwald.
Mirabel's purpose was complete magical world destruction—he'd thought residents fell outside consideration.
But even she apparently cared somewhat about citizens, the demon saying massacre wasn't the goal.
"Besides, as I said before, I want to spare capable people as much as possible. What my ideal nation doesn't need are harmful incompetents like Dolores Umbridge or Cornelius Fudge who exist only to harm. Or rotten blood purists like Voldemort or Lucius Malfoy."
Naturally, Mirabel's undisguised true feeling was wanting to keep only 'competent' ones. She didn't deny that.
But from her perspective, those qualifying as 'competent' were just a handful. Purging all others wouldn't allow a nation to function.
Therefore she compromised. The path of only cutting away harmful 'incompetents.'
Making that an example to stir surrounding crisis awareness and promote growth wasn't bad.
Making people think "I don't want to be like that" was the basic selective ideology method practiced since ancient times.
"But what will you do? Destroying a nation, resentment is unavoidable."
"Correct. But we can minimize that resentment infinitely. No matter destroying the nation, if it's 'salvation.'"
Mirabel grinned and snapped her fingers.
Then images appeared in midair—Britain's magical world where Death Eaters and Dementors strutted around, killing people.
Of course this wasn't reality yet.
But if Voldemort continued sweeping through, it was certainly a future that would realize.
"Say there's a nation where dark wizards and filthy Dementors constantly prowl, where anyone could die anytime. The self-proclaimed Dark Lord ruling it has no deep thoughts, blaming others for his mistakes and killing—a small man. He'd probably thoughtlessly start Muggle-born hunts too. Nearly one-third of the population now. Would you want to live in such a nation?"
"...No, I wouldn't."
"Exactly, Grindelwald. Occurring repeatedly throughout history—when a nation becomes too terrible, citizens strangely 'desire to be ruled' by enemy nations."
Ultimately the act of invasion didn't change at all.
Thinking all citizens' emotions would change was far too optimistic.
But unilaterally invading and annexing a peaceful nation versus crushing a corrupt nation that had become hell for its inhabitants—the cause, citizens' emotions, everything differed.
Additionally, blood purges targeting blood purists would face little resentment if they were Voldemort's faction.
Therefore Mirabel waited for the opportunity.
"You... I see, you plan to give Britain's magical world to Voldemort once?"
"Indeed. As I told Dumbledore, I don't want that rotten Ministry. I'll give it to Voldemort. The perfect toy for him... he'll surely enjoy playing."
And earn citizens' resentment. Gather hatred.
Bound by terror, it would become a world where all except blood purists found living difficult.
...That was fine.
Let blood purist wizards gather in one faction.
Let them commit every outrage without understanding they're a minority comprising less than a fraction, earning resentment.
That made things easier here.
"He's such an obvious villain... let him remain evil to the end. And by condemning him before the citizens, I become justice that saved the nation."
"Justice, eh..."
Grindelwald laughed cynically and downed wine.
Could there be a woman less suited to the word justice?
Thinking thus, he felt mixed amusement and disgust.
Was this what they once aimed for? Was this where selective ideology led?
Grindelwald closed his eyes and thought without voicing:
—I've never seen a villain like you.
***
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