Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Shortly after Thea's letter was sent, in the ornately decorated study of Malfoy Manor, Lucius carefully opened the envelope, and after quickly glancing at the contents, he immediately covered his forehead.

My little darling!

Are you too lazy to even come up with a suitable excuse now?

Does anyone need to use a Boggart to self-study Defense Against the Dark Arts?

Do you expect me to catch a dragon and give you a live demonstration when you're learning how to use the Fire Dragon?

And that phrase "exceptionally capable"—Lucius couldn't help but feel it was a sarcastic remark. Which group was the "group"? The Death Eaters?

"Lucius? You look like you have a headache."

The portrait beside him couldn't help but ask.

"Thea wrote to me asking me to provide a Boggart and send it to school."

Lucius had no reason to hide anything from his ancestors.

"Boggart?"

"Yeah! I don't know what she was thinking..." Lucius couldn't help but complain.

"That's so childish!"

Lucius stood there, stunned, not understanding why his ancestor had said such a thing.

"If you ask me, we should have taken advantage of Dumbledore's absence and sent those trolls in! Let's make things difficult for him!" the ancestor in the portrait said indignantly.

“Shut up, Brutus! There must be a reason why Thea did this,” a stern Malfoy reprimanded.

"Alright, Lucius, go and get ready!"

Lucius immediately turned and left, already anticipating the ensuing argument between the portraits.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out of the room, he heard arguing behind him.

"...Luke?"

Narcissa, who was passing by, saw Lucius standing motionless at the door and said worriedly.

“I’m fine, Cici,” Lucius reassured her skillfully, closing the door tightly to prevent the arguing inside from getting out.

Narcissa saw Lucius's actions but didn't expose him. She smiled and said, "Would you like to try some of my raspberry jam?"

“Of course! It’s my honor,” Lucius exclaimed, successfully making Narcissa laugh.

--------

Thea, far away at Hogwarts, was unaware of the argument; she was currently dealing with Harry's questions.

"Thea, when is Dumbledore coming back? Final exams are almost here!"

Harry sat next to Thea, expressing his concerns about Dumbledore while observing the girl's expression, afraid that she might get angry.

"He'll probably be back in a few days! He's the headmaster of Hogwarts, so his absence is only temporary."

Thea noticed Harry's clumsy attempt to cover up his mistake, but his face still wore that gentle smile, and his tone softened even more.

"That's good!"

After receiving a positive answer from Thea, Harry finally felt relieved. He didn't know why, but even though they were saying the same thing, Ron and Thea said it in completely different ways.

How is Hermione?

Thea asked with some concern.

The next second, Harry's expression immediately fell, and he looked somewhat dejected. "Nothing has changed. She's still petrified."

Looking at Harry's drooping lips and his dejected posture, Thea inexplicably thought of the image of a dejected little black dog.

She patted Harry on the shoulder, trying to cheer him up. "Don't worry, I heard the mandrake will be ripe in a few days. Once we make the potion, Hermione will recover quickly."

"Ok!"

Ha nodded vigorously, his eyes full of trust.

Thea was startled by those eyes and couldn't help but change the subject, "I heard that Professor Lockhart makes you play the werewolf in class?"

"…Yes."

Harry's face scrunched up as he thought of the peacock.

"You hate him?"

“Of course! There’s no one more annoying than him in all of Hogwarts!” Harry nodded emphatically.

Thea was about to say something when, the next second,

"Breaking!"

Harry and his companion looked in the direction of the sound and saw the proud little peacock walking towards them, its face beaming with pride as it said:

"Putto! Aren't you going to practice your spells? I burned a ton of spiders to death last night!"

With an arrogant expression and an exceptionally irritating tone, Harry's temper flared even though he knew the other person was reminding him that he needed to practice spells.

"I misspoke earlier. Lockhart isn't the person I hate the most; it's Malfoy!"

"Breaking!"

The little peacock's angry roar rang out again.

A new war has broken out.

Aren't you going to help?

Zabini crept silently to Thea's side and asked in a low voice.

"Who should we help? It's just a bunch of weaklings fighting each other; there's no urge to help anyone."

Thea looked disgusted, not understanding the mentality of the two who were both bad at games and loved to play.

Although Zabini had never heard of the phrase "chickens fighting each other," he understood its meaning by practicing Thea's language and expressions.

"What's up?"

“Uncle Malfoy sent you a package, and Daphne took it back to your dorm for you,” Zabini said seriously.

"Okay, I'll be going then." Thea turned around decisively. Compared to this pointless duel, the package was more attractive to her.

--------

The secret room a few days later.

Thea opened the package full of herbs and potions and began setting up the entire secret room.

First, cast a few ignore spells on the murals, and at the same time, increase the presence of the statue so that people can notice the statue at a glance, rather than the murals.

A sense of ritual is definitely very important!

Thea started with the tunnel in front of the secret room. She first fixed a hollow metal ball, similar to an incense burner, at the ventilation opening at the end of the tunnel, then poured in the ground herbs, and finally added a fuse.

The scent of the herbs will slowly diffuse throughout the tunnel through the wind, ensuring that visitors can inhale it.

The next step is the installation of the pipes.

After two months of familiarization, Thea is now able to draw the route of all the pipes in the secret room.

She deliberately added some enticing spells to the pipes to ensure that anyone who came could accurately step onto the stage she had set up.

The stage is set up; now it's time for the actors.

The first to perform was the basilisk. To ensure the success of the performance, Thea led the basilisk in several rehearsals until it could accurately enter the specific pipe.

As for the dialogue, Thea decided to give up and keep the basilisk silent, since its task was simply to drive the newcomers to a specific location.

Another character is the main villain. Thea decides to use a compound potion, along with amazing makeup skills.

The hair in the compound decoction came from Russia, which Dumbledore's hand couldn't have reached. With the help of makeup, Thea was absolutely confident she could get away with it.

With the stage and two important characters all ready, all that's left is for the main character to enter!

In this gamble called survival, everyone was deceived by my feigned ease, but I knew better than anyone that I had no room to maneuver.

So, this time, I'll win, right?