Amanda and Hermione didn't get to be intimate for long; it wasn't long before Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore also got out of bed. Once all four had finished washing up, they went to the Great Hall together to enjoy their 'homework breakfast.'
Sitting at the Ravenclaw Table, Amanda sat beside Hermione, taking small bites of the nutritionally balanced breakfast Hermione had prepared for her.
Perhaps because Amanda had been so careless about her eating habits before, Hermione was now extremely mindful of it, constantly and unconsciously controlling the various nutrients she ingested, determined never to let stomach problems or malnutrition affect her again.
Just as Amanda finished the vegetable salad on her plate and was about to drink her second cup of pumpkin juice, Harry and Ron hurried in from outside the Great Hall, came over to the Ravenclaw Table, and gave Amanda and Hermione's wizard robes a gentle tug.
"What's wrong?" Hermione stood up, following the two aside in confusion, curious about what the two boys wanted with her and Amanda so early in the morning.
Could it be that they were having trouble with this weekend's homework?
Amanda stood quietly beside Hermione, looking at Harry and Ron with similar confusion.
"Hagrid sent a letter saying he's back at Hogwarts. We can go see him this afternoon."
As Harry spoke, he pulled a piece of parchment from his wizard robe pocket and handed it to Hermione. Hermione unfolded the letter and read it briefly, while Amanda leaned in to quickly scan the contents.
"Sure."
Hermione folded the letter and handed it back to Harry. "We haven't seen Hagrid in a long time anyway; we can go see how he's doing."
"Yeah," Harry nodded, glancing somewhat uneasily out the Great Hall windows. "Wasn't he supposed to be off persuading the Giants? I hope he's okay."
Noticing the unease on Harry's face, Amanda couldn't bear it but still spoke up to shatter his illusions. "It's certain that Hagrid is injured. The Giants of today are not a gentle race."
"Er, it's not just 'today'," Ron spoke up softly to offer a small correction. "They've been in conflict with humans since the Middle Ages or even longer. To be honest, aside from Half-giant blood like Hagrid and Madame Maxime, most true Giants are, well, quite short-tempered and violent."
Amanda nodded in agreement. "Ron is right, but when I said 'today', I wasn't negating the Giants of the past; I was negating their future."
"Future?" Ron frowned, puzzled.
Glancing at Hermione, Amanda held up one finger. "First of all, I don't really believe the Giant race will choose us over Voldemort."
"There are too many warmongers among them, so they will be Voldemort's natural allies."
"And secondly," Amanda held up a second finger, "after we completely kill Voldemort, we can root out all the warmonger Giants, and..."
Amanda stopped mid-sentence and simply raised her hand to make a throat-slitting gesture. The gentle indifference in her eyes was replaced by a coldness mixed with killing intent.
Faced with such a gaze, even though they weren't afraid of Amanda, the two boys still felt their hair stand on end instinctively, as if they were being targeted by some terrifying natural predator.
Seeing Harry and Ron's startled expressions, Hermione shook her head and reached out to pat their shoulders.
"Don't be so jumpy, boys. What is about to happen between us and Voldemort, and his followers, is war."
As Hermione spoke, her expression also changed abruptly; her kindness and softness faded, replaced by the solemnity befitting a leader.
"War is a matter of life and death. Those pure-blood supremacy supporters who follow Voldemort, those warmongers who support him—whether they are human Wizards, Giants, or werewolves."
"They have already threatened our safety and the safety of everyone in the Wizarding World and the Muggle World, so they must either die or be strictly controlled."
Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Harry and Ron with considerable authority. "You two won't go soft, will you?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other and quickly waved their hands. "No, no."
"How could we? We won't be soft-hearted when facing Voldemort and the Death Eaters."
"Harry," Amanda suddenly spoke, looking intently at the boy who was usually so gentle and treated the world with kindness. "Are you really prepared to kill Death Eaters?"
"I'm talking about killing Death Eaters, not just capturing them."
"I, I..." Harry opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn't say the words 'I'm prepared.' "We can just capture them, right? I mean, we can control them. Didn't Hermione say we could control them? Please, we don't necessarily have to take their lives."
He really, really didn't want to be the one to take a life.
Ron turned to look at Harry, pursing his lips with some concern.
"Harry, the ones you will be fighting are the most vicious Death Eaters." Amanda looked at him with a complex gaze. Kindness and love were the most powerful weapons Harry possessed that Voldemort did not, yet they were also his greatest shackles. Whether these shackles were good or bad was something even Amanda's computational abilities couldn't fully determine.
But she knew she wanted Harry, her friend, to stay alive.
"Every single one of them might come with the intent to kill you, and every single one of them might use any kind of Dark Arts."
"The Death Eaters who could be persuaded have already been brought to our side. Those who remain won't change or realize their mistakes even if they're locked up for a lifetime."
"Do you know how dangerous it is for you to fight someone when you're holding back while they're trying to kill you? The mortality rate reaches seventy-five percent, and if the opponent is strong, that probability only goes up."
Harry lowered his head and nodded. What was he supposed to do then? Was he really expected to cast Avada Kedavra at a Death Eater? If so, how much difference would there be between him and those Death Eaters?
"We're not asking you to use spells like the Avada Kedavra," Hermione said, stepping forward to hold his shoulders. Having been close friends for five years, she knew exactly what Harry was thinking. She crouched slightly to look him in the face. "We just want you to make sure that if you ever encounter a Death Eater, you don't do something stupid because you're worried about their safety."
"You are stopping them from slaughtering the innocent, whereas they are the ones slaughtering the innocent," Amanda's calm, steady voice rang out, carrying an unquestionable certainty. "That is the difference between you killing them and them killing others, Harry."
Looking at the boy who took a deep breath and looked up to meet her eyes, Amanda's gaze was deep and silent. He would grow up and eventually understand the words she was saying now.
"Why did you bring that up with Harry all of a sudden?" Back at the Ravenclaw Table, Hermione put her arm around Amanda's waist and fed her a piece of fried sausage with her fork.
"He needs to understand," Amanda said after eating the sausage. "War is about to begin, and one cannot show mercy to the enemy."
"Mercy is the charity of the victor after triumph, not the grace to be shown during war."
Smiling, Hermione nodded and reached out to pinch Amanda's cheek. "Well said. My Amanda is so clear-headed. Harry will figure it out; killing an enemy and slaughtering the innocent are completely different."
"Mm." Amanda nodded affirmatively, though her mind was already on other things.
Werewolves, Giants, and Dementors would all be Voldemort's allies. The latter two were easy to handle; for the Giants, she just needed to identify the warmongers in their tribe, and the Dementors just needed to be brought back under control. But the werewolves... perhaps she should do a comprehensive search of the Wizarding World's markets to see if she could find some Werewolf blood.
If she could crack the Lycanthropy Toxin, then the Werewolf problem could be solved permanently.
The morning passed quickly, and Amanda had already sent off her letter to Senior Platt. She believed her reliable senior would definitely be able to help her get what she wanted.
Because they had eaten breakfast so late, Amanda and Hermione weren't hungry at all. They just grabbed a couple of bites for lunch and followed Harry and the others straight to Hagrid's hut.
Following Harry's knock, the door to Hagrid's hut swung open. Hagrid, who came to let them in, was currently applying a piece of Dragon meat to his face.
Just as Amanda had said, he was injured.
"Merlin, the Giants did this?"
Entering the hut, Harry frowned deeply at the injuries on Hagrid's face.
"Yeah, those fellows aren't exactly what you'd call gentle-natured, are they?" Hagrid flipped the Dragon meat over on his face.
"Hagrid, why don't you go to the Hospital Wing?" Ron sat down next to Harry. "I mean, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could treat you much faster."
"Madam Pomfrey's Potions and Charms aren't necessarily effective on me. You lot know why."
Hagrid spoke while winking at them with his uninjured eye. This big fellow, as always, had the magic to make people relax in his presence.
"Let me do it."
Amanda drew her wand, stood up, and nodded to Hagrid. "My Charms will definitely work on you."
Hagrid had Giant blood, so he basically couldn't take Madam Pomfrey's Potions, and her Charms wouldn't necessarily work on him either because Giants have a very high resistance to magic.
However, Amanda's magical strength was now such that no creature could resist it. Never mind Hagrid being only a half-Giant; even a true Giant or a Dragon, she could ensure a single spell would leave them incapacitated.
"Then I'll trouble you."
Though he didn't hold much hope, Hagrid still set aside the Dragon meat and prepared to let Amanda try.
"Episkey."
Amanda's wand pointed at the injured side of Hagrid's face, and the originally severe wounds began to heal instantly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Not only that, but with Amanda's magical output, Hagrid could clearly feel all the injured parts of his body warming up slightly; all the wounds were healing, and the swelling was going down.
Amanda didn't slowly withdraw her wand until there wasn't a single scar left on Hagrid's body, after which she was pulled onto Hermione's lap to sit.
"That's truly impressive," Hagrid said, reaching up to touch his face; there really wasn't any pain left at all. "With an Episkey of this strength, Amanda, you could go straight to work at St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
"Thanks for the compliment, Hagrid, but I don't think I'm suited for working in a hospital."
Amanda smiled and shrugged, leaning back into Hermione's embrace.
"Hagrid, what about the Giant race?" Although he had guessed the outcome of Hagrid's trip to the Giants after seeing his face, Harry still asked with a glimmer of hope.
Hagrid sighed helplessly and sat down in the largest armchair. "The outcome was very poor. The original leader of the Giant race didn't want to support Voldemort and didn't want to start a war."
"But the warmongers among the Giants murdered him," Hagrid said, sniffing loudly twice. "They said Voldemort promised that if they followed him, once he took control of the British Wizarding World, he would give them even more freedom than they have now."
"He won't," Hermione rolled her eyes bluntly. "He's only saying that verbally for now."
Hermione didn't believe for a second that Voldemort, someone who at his core only recognized Pure-blood wizards, would actually keep his promise to give the Giant race more freedom after his so-called victory.
He'd be lucky not to wipe the Giant race out entirely; in his heart, the Giant race probably doesn't even rank as high as Half-blood wizards or Muggle-born wizards. They're just something he needs to use right now.
"Hmph," Hagrid snorted coldly. "It's a logic anyone can understand, but those fellows just can't see it. Sigh..."
Listening to Hagrid's sigh, Amanda pondered for a moment before looking up at him. "Hagrid, what proportion of the Giant race are warmongers?"
Hagrid was slightly taken aback, then frowned as if trying to recall something. "Actually, most Giants in the tribe don't want to declare war on the Wizarding World with Voldemort. It's just that because of those few Giants leading them now, they're forced to get involved."
"I see." Amanda nodded.
Only the leaders... then the number of individuals she needs to deal with personally isn't too many. When the war truly begins, she should be able to settle them all at once.
Seeing Amanda's thoughtful look, Hermione reached out and gently poked her waist. "Do you have any news from Azkaban?"
They basically understood the situation with the Giant race now, and Professor Lupin was handling the werewolves, but what about the Dementors?
"Yes," Amanda nodded affirmatively. As soon as she had judged that Voldemort would seek out those three races as allies, she had asked Senior Platt to place a large number of Monitoring devices around Azkaban. "The current situation with the Dementors is relatively stable, but Death Eaters have already begun approaching them."
Hermione gave a blunt, cold laugh at those words. "Once Voldemort is truly dead for good this time, the Dementors won't have any chances left."
She was determined to find a Magical contract that would firmly control all the Dementors.
Compared to House-elves, these things were clearly more dangerous and more deserving of being kept under control!
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