Chapter 217 - Seventh Year Begins

"The sword!" Harry's eyes widened. "The Sword of Gryffindor — it must still have Basilisk venom on it!"

"Then where do we find the sword?" Hermione asked, frowning. "Hogwarts?"

The three of them looked at each other. Another dead end.

Hogwarts had Snape and the newly appointed Carrow siblings. Going there now would be walking straight into a trap.

With no way to destroy the Horcrux for the moment, Hermione happened to discover a mysterious symbol in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Harry recognized it as Grindelwald's mark, Krum had told him about it at Bill and Fleur Delacour's wedding.

"This has to be a hint from Dumbledore," Harry said with certainty. "He believed you could find something in there!"

"Maybe —" Harry looked down at the book. "We should go find Luna Lovegood's father."

Hogwarts.

Praeris sat at the Slytherin table, scanning the hall.

The other House tables were noticeably thinner than usual. Slytherin was only down by a few.

Among the missing, Praeris noted Meryl, the girl who had always seemed to admire her a little, and Liam, who had shared Slughorn's Potions class with them. There were others too, but Praeris didn't know them well.

She lowered her voice. "Why don't I see Meryl and Liam?"

"Meryl's a Mudblood," Daphne answered offhandedly. "As for Liam —"

Pansy cut in quickly. "Isn't Liam a half-blood?"

"Only if he can prove it." Daphne propped her chin on one hand and played idly with her fingers. "I didn't realize you and Liam were so close?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Pansy's voice went shrill. "Who I'm close with — don't you already know?"

She glanced at Praeris, eyes flickering. Praeris placed her hand over Pansy's and held it there, steadying her.

Pansy had gone from Liam's unprovable half-blood status straight to Praeris's own situation. The leap wasn't hard to follow.

A week or two ago, Stella had assumed Harry and the others were releasing those interrogated witches and wizards from the tenth floor just to cause chaos.

But Praeris and Dumbledore had known better. Harry and the others were genuinely saving people. Taking those witches and wizards with them didn't make their escape easier, it only made them a bigger target, easier for Death Eaters to track down.

At the time, Praeris had criticized Harry for meddling, and told them they had better not end up in Death Eater hands because of it.

Dumbledore had looked at her with quiet disapproval. "When you return to Hogwarts," he said, "you'll understand."

On the way back to school, Pansy told Praeris that Astoria's little friend Grace Jones had gone missing. On the train, compartment doors had offered some cover. Here in the Great Hall, sitting at the long House tables, the absences were impossible to ignore, and among the missing were more than a few people Praeris had crossed paths with.

Even if she was a Slytherin. A Slytherin the other Houses didn't particularly welcome.

Survival is humanity's first instinct. But beyond that, there are things that transcend merely staying alive.

Praeris still thought what Harry had done was reckless. There had been safer ways to handle it. But she was beginning to stop denying that it had mattered. Some of those Hogwarts students might well have been among the captured witches and wizards Harry had set free.

At the staff table, Dumbledore's old seat had been taken by Professor Snape, Headmaster Snape, now. Praeris wasn't used to the title. She would rather call him Mr. Snape.

The 2 Death Eater professors hadn't replaced the previous occupants of their seats. They sat together on Mr. Snape's left, while the place of honor on his right belonged to Deputy Headmistress Professor McGonagall.

The wizard sitting closer to Snape was Amycus Carrow, this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The witch farther down was his sister Alecto Carrow, this year's Muggle Studies professor.

The two of them had been murmuring together before Praeris even arrived, leaning in and pointing at students.

As per tradition, Professor McGonagall led the first-years in and had them stand before the tables to await Sorting.

"The new prefect is Lia," Daphne said suddenly, keeping her voice low.

Neither Praeris nor Pansy was particularly surprised, but Pansy lit up with genuine delight. "That's wonderful, we have to write and tell Millicent. She's always cared about Lia."

When Astoria had first started at Hogwarts, Millicent had already taken a liking to her on the train.

Praeris didn't share Pansy's excitement. She looked at Daphne. Daphne looked back at her.

Daphne knew Praeris understood exactly what she was thinking. She let out a scornful laugh. "Prefect? She had better not stir up any trouble!"

"Trust Lia," Praeris said calmly. "She's not a girl without a sense of proportion."

Only then did Pansy remember: because of Grace Jones from Hufflepuff, Astoria held a sympathetic stance toward Muggle-born witches and wizards. In a Hogwarts under Death Eater control, that kind of sympathy was far from something to celebrate.

Just then, the Sorting Hat burst into song as it did every year:

A net woven of silver-green threads, imprisoning the ancient castle.

The tower ravens cry no more; the dungeon serpents strut onto the stage.

Some falsely call this a new order. Some understand it is a true cage.

The Sorting Hat is forced to speak, fulfilling its old duty against its will.

Listen closely to the heart's voice, freedom cries out within:

When souls are shackled in chains, when books are wantonly cut apart.

False choices scatter us. True choices seethe in the depths of the soul.

Brave lion, let not the darkness wear down your claws!

Wise eagle, see the hidden blade beneath the lie!

Loyal badger, beneath the earth lies your steadfast protection!

And the shrewd and slippery snake, beware!

The snake-charmer's flute will drive you down the wrong path!

My tongue is bound. My counsel is hard to speak.

Yet the ancient stones of this castle remember every scar and every glory.

When you choose to turn toward the light, you are a warrior worthy of honor.

The Sorting Hat had barely finished a few lines before the Carrow siblings' faces twisted. They gripped their wands and made to stand.

Snape blocked them with one arm, his expression cold, and said something to them in a sharp undertone.

The Carrow siblings looked openly defiant, sneering back at him. But in the end, with ugly expressions, they sat down.

"I've been worried Voldemort might shut down Hogwarts," Harry had said to Praeris that day at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Praeris looked at him as though he were an idiot. "No, he won't."

"Why?" Harry pressed.

Praeris couldn't fathom what sort of mush filled that small brain of his. "Why would you think he'd want to close Hogwarts?"

"Uh..." Harry said, hesitating. "If Hogwarts is destroyed, Muggle-born witches and wizards lose access to education, but pure-blood families still have home schooling. That way, every new witch and wizard growing up would be a pure-blood brainwashed by their family."

Praeris let out a long "Oh," and said, "Put that way, you do have a point. Not much of one, though. If the Dark Lord thought the way you do, we'd save ourselves a lot of trouble."

Harry had a gut feeling that Praeris's words didn't mean exactly what they appeared to say on the surface.

"Hogwarts is the alma mater of nearly every witch and wizard in Britain," Praeris said. "Its very existence is a unique symbol. As long as Hogwarts keeps operating, it creates the illusion that the new regime is maintaining order."

The Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts were the twin cores of British wizarding society, that was one of the reasons Dumbledore had chosen to become headmaster in the first place. As long as both maintained a surface appearance of normalcy, it weakened witches' and wizards' will to resist.

"Secondly, it makes the brainwashing convenient for the Death Eater regime." Praeris said it in a perfectly calm tone. Horrifying words, perfectly calm voice. "Home-schooling brainwashing is too slow. Centralized brainwashing is fast. Replace the professors with Death Eaters and you can mass-indoctrinate the lower years and new students with pure-blood supremacy all at once."

It would also stop pure-blood traitors like the Weasleys from raising their children any differently.

"Keep the students contained at school and everything is under Death Eater supervision. Much harder to stir up trouble, same principle as the old D.A."

Closing the school would release resisters.

Send the students with the highest will to resist scattering out into the open, spreading like Ashwinders setting fires everywhere, leaving his own forces scrambling from one emergency to the next?

Voldemort wasn't that stupid.

"For the parents, those students are hostages. The Death Eaters' children are here. The Order of the Phoenix's children are here. Parents who care about their children are bound to be constrained."

A Death Eater parent like Narcissa would not dare be disloyal, for her child's sake. An Order parent like the Weasleys would not dare openly and fiercely resist, for their children's sake.

And any young student found wandering outside could simply be arrested. Either a half-blood who couldn't prove their heritage, a Muggle-born, or simply their primary target: Harry Potter.

The Sorting was one part of maintaining normalcy, and it was a task only the Sorting Hat could perform. For all these reasons, Mr. Snape had been able to stop the Carrow siblings from disrupting it.

The Sorting Hat itself had also shown restraint. It hadn't directly called on the students to revolt. It hadn't gone on strike or refused to Sort.

The Sorting Hat finished its song, and Professor McGonagall began calling names, one by one, each student sitting on the stool and waiting.

Despite how deeply many students resented Snape as the new headmaster, despite how strongly they opposed Death Eaters as professors, everyone still applauded for every new member who joined their House.

Everything was warm and cheerful, as if nothing had happened at all. Even the first-years, who had arrived nervous, were soon running happily to their House tables.

That was what "lulling them into complacency" looked like.

For ordinary students, nothing had visibly changed. What was there to resist? For the first-years, Hogwarts was far less terrifying than their parents had warned them it would be. They settled in easily.

Among these students, Praeris also smiled and applauded every time a new Slytherin was Sorted in, as if her entire summer spent beating up Death Eaters had only happened because she'd assumed they were following her to rob her, and she had simply pummeled them in self-defense.

When the Sorting ended, Headmaster Snape stood to deliver his first address. His expression was severe. His sharp gaze swept the hall.

"I am Severus Snape, current Headmaster of Hogwarts. Before this year's address, I will introduce our newly appointed professors. Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts: Professor Amycus Carrow."

CLAP. CLAP CLAP CLAP.

The first to applaud was Snape himself, then the Slytherin students. To everyone's surprise, Professor McGonagall began to clap as well, her face cold. The other professors quickly followed. The remaining 3 House tables broke into slow, uncertain applause.

Amycus Carrow stood and clapped along obligingly.

"Professor of Muggle Studies: Professor Alecto Carrow."

With the first round as precedent, the applause this time was far more uniform.

"Former Headmaster Dumbledore's weak policies cultivated disorder within Hogwarts."

That single opening sentence made some students bristle. Snape raised his voice immediately, using his gaze alone to suppress the unrest.

"Starting this term, Hogwarts will enforce the highest standards of discipline. Any violation of school rules, any questioning of authority, or any participation in illegal activities will be met with the severest punishment. Professor Carrow will oversee..."

After announcing the full set of rules, Snape swept a warning look over certain students and said in an icy tone, "Some of you may believe you can challenge authority. That is the most foolish notion you could hold. Any student who attempts to play the so-called hero will have the opportunity to bring punishment down on others along with themselves."

The speech finally ended. Snape announced that students could begin their meal.

At a moment like this, Draco would normally have been loudly holding court, drawing everyone's attention without fail. Instead, he seemed to have suddenly discovered that the Hogwarts menu was uniquely fascinating and kept his head down, eating steadily.

It was Harper, sitting among the sixth-years, who looked up with relish and said, "Did you see the expressions on those Gryffindors' faces? So satisfying!"

Praeris swept a sideways glance at Harper and withdrew it with contempt. A clown. A defeated opponent. Not worth her attention.

After the meal, second-years and above returned to their dormitories. The first-years were led off by the prefects, as usual.

Astoria shot Praeris an anxious look. Praeris smiled serenely and gave her a small nod.

Beside her, Daphne said, narrow-eyed, "What's all the meaningful glancing between you two?"

"First time as prefect —" Praeris said lightly. "Our little Lia is nervous, isn't she?"

That night, Praeris sat on Millicent's empty bed, closer to the window, and stared absently at the magical creatures drifting past in the dark water below.

"It's a bit quiet today," Praeris said.

"It is," Daphne agreed, sighing. "Without Millicent chattering away. She already got the notice to come back to the country for school, even while she was overseas."

"What did she say?" Praeris turned around immediately.

Pansy poked her head out. "Since she's already settled over there, of course she's not coming back. When Aunt Becky visited, she arranged a leave of absence for Millicent. A friend of hers introduced her to Castelobruxo as an exchange student."

➤ Next: Lia's Transformation — What Was Lost