HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

"Harry, Harry~, calm down."

As Ron recovered from his shock and began to pull, Harry Potter reluctantly got off Draco, the ferocious and resentful expression on his face disappearing.

Harry put his wand away, then crouched down and called to Nagini, who slowly moved her body up Harry's arm and then wrapped herself around his neck to sleep.

Seeing that Harry had regained his senses, Ron began to disperse the surrounding students, not wanting the chaos to lead to him and Harry being punished by the professor.

After the crowd dispersed, Draco was pulled to his feet by his three henchmen, intending to flee the scene immediately.

"Stop..." Harry gave the order, and Draco and the other three froze on the spot.

Harry said without room for argument, "Pick up that Galleon."

Draco, somewhat flustered, gestured to his sidekick, but Harry stopped him, saying, "I'm talking to you, Draco Malfoy. Go pick up that Galleon."

Under Harry's incredulous and authoritative gaze, Draco took a deep breath and completely yielded.

But as Draco bent down to pick it up from the corner, Harry used his wand to cast a spell on Galleon: "Gold Coins, come!"

The Galleon flew from Draco's eyes into Harry's hand, and then... Harry threw the Galleon at his feet and looked at Draco with a mocking expression.

Its meaning is self-evident.

Ron stood to the side, staring intently at his friend Harry. In that instant, he felt... Harry had changed; he was no longer the Harry Potter he knew.

The unfamiliar Harry, and the way Harry humiliated people in this way, filled Ron with a strange anger.

Just as Ron was about to step forward to stop him, a loud slap rang out in the corridor.

It was Hermione.

Hermione, who was passing by on her way to find her teacher Teach, happened to pass by this place and witnessed Harry humiliating Draco.

After a moment of disbelief, Hermione immediately stepped forward and slapped Harry hard across the face: "Harry, are you still the Harry I know? How could you treat your classmate like this?"

“From first grade onwards, Draco has been constantly at odds with you; he even called me a Mudblood back then.”

"But he always acted openly and honestly, without resorting to trickery, and he would never maliciously humiliate anyone's character."

After saying that, Hermione bent down, picked up the Galleons at Harry's feet, and placed them in Draco's hand.

"Thank you," Draco said to Hermione, and it was a sincere thank you.

"I'm sorry," Draco said to Hermione, a sincere apology for what had happened in the past.

Hermione chuckled and shook her head.

In her first year, Hermione harbored hatred for Draco. If Teach Cal hadn't appeared and taught her the magic of pursuing truth, her hatred for Draco, whom she called a 'Mudblood,' would have continued indefinitely.

But not anymore. Hermione is no longer the little girl she used to be. She has learned to see beyond the surface of things and into their essence.

So Hermione realized that Draco wasn't a bad person, and was even somewhat adorable.

However, the inherent pride of his pure-blooded family led him to a distorted understanding of honor, believing that standing out from the crowd and shining brightly in front of others was honor.

Therefore, Draco, with his childlike mindset, saw Harry Potter, who bore the title of prophetic savior, as an obstacle to his pursuit of honor at school.

Looking back now, Hermione realizes how endearing it was that Draco and Harry were at odds and love-hate with each other during their first and second years.

Draco gave Hermione a grateful look, clutching the Galleon tightly in his hand, before leaving with his sidekick.

Hermione watched Draco leave with the air of a gentlemanly big boy, then turned to face Harry.

Seeing this, Ron assumed Hermione was about to slap Harry again, so he quickly stepped between the two, swallowing nervously as he pleaded, "Hermione~ calm down, Harry, you need to calm down too."

"With me here, neither of you will dare to lay a hand on me again."

Hermione smiled kindly at the loyal and devoted Ron, then tilted her head to look at Harry, whose face bore the imprint of her hand: "Harry...?"

"Ah~ I'm fine. I was really too harsh on Draco just now. I'm sorry, Hermione. I don't know why, but lately I've been getting easily agitated."

Hermione understood and didn't think much of it, believing that Harry's unstable mood was caused by Sirius Black's situation.

After patting Harry and Ron on the shoulder to say goodbye, Hermione went to find her teacher, Teach, who said that a magic study required her 'Life' Analysis Divination Circle.

Ron watched Hermione leave, and muttered to himself with some emotion, "Hermione... she's really changed a lot, she's become cooler and cooler, wow~~ so cool."

After finishing his reflections, Ron asked Harry, puzzled, "Harry, is your pet snake, 'Nagini,' special? Why are you reacting so strongly?"

Harry touched the scar on his forehead, frowning in confusion. "To be honest, I don't know."

"I just feel it's very important, extremely important. This feeling has no reason; I simply feel that Nagini is very important."

"That's all?" Ron was a little skeptical, because he had clearly seen the ferocious expression on Harry's face when he was riding on Draco's back.

Yes, that's all.

"Okay, um~ you should probably take your face to the hospital for treatment. It looks pretty bad. That handprint is bright red and clearly visible. Ouch~ Hermione really went for it."

"She's so violent, I wonder who would dare to marry her in the future."

......

In a sealed laboratory.

The materials for the instruments on the experimental platform were all prepared, and all that was needed was the arrival of Hermione, her disciple.

Teach idly flipped through books he had borrowed from the Hogwarts library on the sofa, while enjoying a massage from Shake's delicate fingers on his shoulder.

At first, Teach was extremely reluctant, but he couldn't resist Shake's forceful service.

So Teach could only enjoy it.

"Xia Ke, could you please go and check on the current situation of our Karl family's island, given that you can use your ability to teleport across national borders and ignore the protective barriers that wizards use to protect national territories?"

"Master... oh no, sir, I already checked it out for you in my spare time, and well, let's just say it's under construction and undergoing renovations."

"Many castles and forest areas have been destroyed by my Fiery Dragon Breath. Rebuilding so many places is not something that can be done overnight. Besides, the people Andri hired to come to the island are just ordinary construction workers."

After listening, Teach closed the book in his hand, thought for a moment, and asked, "Then, Shake, how long do you estimate it will take to complete the construction?"

"...Hmm, maybe three years."

Teach shook his head: "No, three years is too long, I can't wait."

"You must build me a large magic array on the island within two years that can connect to space and draw in celestial energy."