Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

"Iced lemonade!"

Professor McGonagall read out the command and stared at the figure with a complicated expression as it walked toward the principal's office.

"Thea? What are you doing here?"

Harry pushed open the office door and was immediately drawn to Thea, who was almost buried in books inside.

When Thea heard Harry's question, she struggled to lift her head from the pile of books and said, "I'm in solitary confinement! Are you here to see Dumbledore? He's upstairs, you may have to wait for him a while."

After saying that, Thea plunged back into the sea of ​​books.

Harry's earlier anxiety was wiped away by Thea's appearance, and he began to observe Dumbledore's office with great interest.

Huh? What's that?

Harry was drawn to the large, fiery red bird and couldn't help but walk closer, his eyes filled with excitement and pure joy.

"boom!"

With a burst of flames, the phoenix was completely engulfed by the flames in just a few seconds, leaving only a pile of ashes.

Harry was stunned by what he saw.

"Harry?"

As a kind voice rang out, Harry froze on the spot.

When Harry met the old man's eyes, he was so nervous he could barely breathe.

"Professor, I...it suddenly burst into flames..."

“It’s alright, Harry. Fawkes is a phoenix. You just witnessed a phoenix rising from the ashes,” Dumbledore explained with a smile.

"Professor, may I excuse myself?" Thea looked at the harmonious scene over there and curled her lips in disdain.

That biased old bee!

"Oh! No need. How much of your paper do you have left?"

“Ten feet left, Professor,” Thea replied.

“Then keep writing!” Dumbledore instructed, then turned back to continue talking to Harry.

Thea looked down at the pile of reference books in front of her, her head spinning even more.

“Professor, I swear, I really didn’t do those attacks these past few days!” Harry said anxiously. “I just wanted to get back to my dorm early, but I saw…”

“Calm down, Harry. I believe you didn’t do this,” Dumbledore reassured him.

"But Harry, is there anything you want to tell me?"

The old man's deep blue eyes were hidden behind his glasses, but Harry couldn't help but flinch for a moment.

"...No, Professor."

When Dumbledore heard Harry say that, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed across his eyes.

"Alright, child, you should go back and rest."

“Yes, Professor,” Harry replied obediently.

As Harry passed by Thea, he glanced at her without thinking, then quickly looked away before leaving the headmaster's office.

"It seems he doesn't trust you."

Thea put down her quill and looked at Dumbledore, who was sitting in a chair deep in thought, and couldn't help but make a cheeky remark.

Dumbledore lifted his eyelids and glanced at Thea, “...you still have ten feet of papers to write.”

So, shut up!

Hmph! If you can't play the game, just say so!

Thea lowered her head indignantly and couldn't help but break the quill pen in her hand.

----------

Thea had heard a story before:

Whenever a tribe or village suffers a series of misfortunes, they resort to this method of human sacrifice to pray for divine mercy and attempt to quell the anger of the gods.

Interestingly, the object of this human sacrifice is mostly a woman or a child, or the most unsociable person in the group.

In contrast to Harry's current situation, Thea surprisingly connected the two seemingly unrelated things.

When Thea saw Harry standing alone in the corridor again, and the Gryffindor twins jokingly said, "Great Dark Wizard!"

Thea's long-dormant anger surged instantly, but when she saw Harry's silent demeanor, it turned into disappointment and frustration.

You claim to have the title of savior, and even the Minister of Magic has to give you some respect.

At Hogwarts, Dumbledore will protect you even more!

With such powerful backing, how could you still be bullied like this?

“...Potter!”

Thea thought for a moment, then decided to add fuel to the fire. She called out to Harry, who was walking forward with his head down.

"Do you have time? Want to go for a walk by Black Lake to relax?"

The girl smiled radiantly, and Harry, like a drowning man grasping at a straw, readily agreed.

"Are you feeling wronged?" Thea asked, puzzled, looking at the boy's red eyes.

“…It’s not that I feel wronged, it’s that I don’t understand. They used to treat me so well, but now…” Harry couldn’t continue.

Is it painful, Harry?

But I experienced this kind of pain when I was 8 years old.

"Have you done anything bad?" Thea asked gently.

"……No."

"Then why do you care about what they think of you? What if you don't have them?" Thea retorted.

"When they playfully poke at your sore spots, why don't you choose to fight back?"

Is it because they're afraid of breaking school rules? Or are they afraid of being put in solitary confinement?

Since you are capable of bearing the consequences, why should you wrong yourself?

“…Thea?” Harry was completely bewildered by Thea’s barrage of words, and it took him a long time to glean a single key point from her statement:

"So, you believe I'm not Slytherin's heir? Nor the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

Thea thought that this foolish lion would have some thoughts of resistance after hearing her words, but she did not expect that the other party's focus was so peculiar!

However, Thea still looked Harry up and down before finally giving her answer: "If you really are the heir of Slytherin, then I can understand why the descendants of Slytherin disappeared into the annals of history."

Harry stood there in a daze for a long time before finally breaking into an extremely bright smile.

“…Thank you, Thea. Besides Ron and Hermione, you’re probably the only one who believes in me.” Harry’s voice choked with emotion.

Look, what an interesting scene! The savior is actually grateful to a poisonous snake!

Thea heard the cold irony of her own heart.

"...Thea, if you were me, what would you do? Fight back directly?" Harry asked somewhat nervously.

He understood that Thea meant well, but he still couldn't bring himself to throw a punch at those people.

"If I were you, if I had the ability to bear the consequences, I would definitely throw my fist at them the moment they uttered their first sarcastic remark!"

However, if you can't bring yourself to do it, I suggest you find the person who opened the secret room first! At least that will clear you of suspicion!

Seeing Harry's sudden realization, Thea couldn't help but wonder if all of this was arranged by Dumbledore!

After all, even the best additions can't compare to a helping hand in times of need!

Thea is wondering if this was Dumbledore's arrangement.

Dumbledore was also wondering if Thea was behind it, after all, the timing of Harry's exposure was too coincidental.

It happened right after the secret room was opened.

It happened right in front of everyone.

And Thea was there too!

However, it was one thing for Thea to speak Parsleyan, but he already knew that and had considered her the prime suspect when the secret room was opened.

But why does Harry also speak Parsley? Could it really be that Harry opened the Chamber of Secrets?

No, absolutely not!

Dumbledore quickly dismissed this conjecture.

So, is there a third Snake Mandarin speaker hiding in the school?

Dumbledore had a terrible headache. Parseltongue was such a rare talent, so why were there so many of them suddenly appearing this year?