"Harry! What are you doing?"
Hermione covered her face and screamed.
Unfortunately, Harry could not hear any attempts to stop him right now. He rushed forward and threw another punch at Ron, who had already been knocked to the floor by his earlier hit.
Along with a muffled groan, blood sprayed from Ron's nose and mouth onto the carpet.
Only then did the people around them finally react.
Neville was the first to rush forward and grab Harry from behind. Several other boys also grabbed his arms and legs, forcefully pulling him away from Ron.
Meanwhile, Hermione hurried over and helped Ron up.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do this!?"
Ron covered his endlessly bleeding nose and spoke in a muffled voice.
His expression looked twisted. If Hermione had not been gripping his arm tightly right now, he probably would have rushed over to hit Harry a few times himself.
Harry's hearing still had not fully recovered.
But looking at everyone's expressions, he could roughly guess what they were saying.
He glared around at the confused and angry faces surrounding him and gritted his teeth as he said, "Do none of you have any sympathy at all?"
"Are French wizards not people? Are they not living beings? Open your eyes! France has already turned into hell!"
"The people there, both Muggles and wizards, are constantly attacking each other! And the ones responsible for all of this are us!"
"It's our fault? Honestly, I don't understand what you mean by that."
Neville frowned as he spoke.
His words clearly reached Harry's ears. Harry twisted his neck with difficulty and looked back at Neville, who was holding him.
"If we hadn't pushed them so hard during the mediation meeting held by the International Confederation of Wizards, why would the French wizards have reacted like this?"
"We demanded too much! So much that once those supplies were taken away, they could barely survive!"
"Oh? So what you're saying is that we should blame Link and Professor Dumbledore? Link is our hero! Don't forget!"
"Those French people worked with the Death Eaters to attack the Hogwarts Express and Diagon Alley before!"
"If Link hadn't reacted in time, we would be the ones lying in pools of blood crying right now! You ungrateful bastard!"
Anger also appeared in Neville's eyes.
After what happened in the Department of Mysteries, Link had already become his faith. He would not allow anyone to slander him.
"Can you really blame those French wizards?" Harry replied without backing down. "Link and Dumbledore attacked Beauxbatons first!"
"Not only did they persecute Beauxbatons, they also carried out a massacre there, killing countless professors and students, including Maxime! That French wizard named Norton was only taking revenge!"
"You've gone crazy! You really have gone crazy!"
Neville trembled with anger.
As he spoke, he let go of Harry and slowly stepped back.
Seeing this, Harry struggled even harder.
But the next moment, Neville pulled out his wand and pointed it at him.
"Apologize to Link and Professor Dumbledore! If you apologize, I'll pretend I never heard what you just said. Otherwise…"
Neville did not continue speaking, but the tip of his raised wand began glowing with blue light.
"What are you doing? Please stop this, we're classmates!"
Hermione shouted desperately.
Unfortunately, neither Neville nor Harry paid any attention to her words. Harry even reached for the wand holster at his waist.
But Neville gave him no chance to draw it.
Buzz!
A loud sound rang out as a blue beam struck Harry directly in the head, freezing his angry expression on his face.
A silent-cast Petrification Spell.
Everyone present widened their eyes in shock.
Not only because Neville actually dared to attack Harry inside the common room, but also because Neville had actually cast a silent spell.
Many people had seen Neville use silent casting during Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons before.
But most people thought it was just luck.
Some even believed the whole thing was only a rumor.
After all, in everyone's impression, Neville was just a weak and useless chubby kid.
Sure, Neville had lost weight now, but how could his personality and abilities completely change in such a short time?
Yet Neville had just slapped all those people in the face with his actions.
Silent casting...
And not only that, it was instant and successful in a single attempt.
In a sense, this even meant Neville had fully mastered silent casting and could use it naturally in actual combat.
What shocked people even more was that Neville did not stop after petrifying Harry. Instead, he raised his wand again.
"Neville! Put your wand down, don't keep going!"
Hermione also raised her wand at Neville.
Neville reacted simply enough.
He lowered his wand and said, "Hermione, you're not thinking of attacking me, are you? I think you should understand that you can't hurt me."
As he spoke, Neville touched a golden ring on the middle finger of his left hand.
It was his grandfather's relic, and also a powerful defensive alchemy item.
After magical power was stored inside it, it would automatically cast the Shield Charm when attacked.
As a treasure passed down through generations of the Longbottom family, the ring had remained with Neville's grandmother ever since Neville's father died.
And now, she had clearly decided Neville was finally worthy of holding it.
With the ring protecting him, Neville was confident he could defeat even Hermione instantly.
Hermione knew nothing about this, but after hearing him, she still lowered her wand and shook her head.
"Of course I'm not going to attack you, Neville. I just want you to stop casting spells on Harry. This breaks school rules, and I…"
"So what? You're going to run to Professor McGonagall and report me?"
Neville sneered and interrupted her.
"Don't bother. Later I'll personally go to Professor McGonagall and John, the leader of the D.A., and tell them both about how I broke the rules by casting spells, along with everything Harry said. I'm sure they'll give a fair judgment!"
"No, no! You misunderstood, Neville! I'm not trying to report anyone, I just want to apologize to you on Harry's behalf!" Hermione pointed anxiously at her own head.
"He hasn't been acting normal lately. Please try to understand! As for reporting this to Professor McGonagall, let's wait for now."
"Let us take him back to the dormitory and rest. We'll convince him to give up those strange ideas. Neville, does that sound okay?"
Looking at Hermione's sincere eyes, the anger on Neville's face slowly faded.
In the end, he only snorted at Harry and said, "I hope you succeed."
After saying that, Neville turned around and left the common room without looking back.
Hermione also let out a sigh of relief and tried lifting Harry's petrified body to carry him back to the dormitory.
It was extremely difficult.
The Petrification Spell could not be lifted, because once it was, Harry would likely go berserk again.
And although Harry's weight had not changed after being petrified, his completely limp body was still far too much for a girl like Hermione to carry alone.
It was the same as trying to move a drunk person.
Normally, the other Gryffindors nearby should have stepped in to help.
Unfortunately, nearly everyone in Gryffindor now was either one of Link's little fangirls or fanboys, or outright diehard supporters.
Their admiration for Link had almost reached fanatic levels.
And Harry's speech earlier had undoubtedly offended everyone present.
That was why everyone only watched coldly as Hermione struggled with Harry.
In the end, it was Ginny and Ron who stepped forward and helped Hermione carry Harry back to his dormitory bed.
"Haa... finally done!"
Hermione panted heavily. Then she turned and saw blood still pouring from Ron's nose.
Worried, she said, "Ron, I think you should go to the hospital wing first. It's not good for it to keep bleeding like this. Also, your face needs treatment for the swelling."
Ron touched the side of his face where Hermione pointed.
The pain made him suck in a sharp breath.
Only after getting a mirror did he realize the entire left side of his face had already swollen purple and blue.
That alone proved Harry had hit him with full force.
"Sigh!"
Ron let out a heavy sigh, but still shook his head.
"Forget it. This kind of injury can be fixed with some Essence of Dittany. No need to bother Madam Pomfrey."
"Why? That injury is obviously..."
Hermione widened her eyes, about to argue, but stopped halfway through.
Because she understood what Ron meant.
Just like she had stopped Neville from reporting Harry, Ron also did not want news of Harry going crazy reaching the professors through Madam Pomfrey.
Right now, not only the students but many professors also worshipped Link and Dumbledore.
Link and Dumbledore themselves might not care about what Harry said, but those professors and students probably wanted to tear Harry apart.
Hermione was not exaggerating.
Something like this had already happened before.
The victims were several diehard Death Eater supporters from Slytherin.
Those people had only complained about Link a little in the Great Hall, and angry students ended up torturing them with punishment tools stolen from Filch's office.
In the end, they were expelled from Hogwarts half-dead.
And throughout all of it, the professors watched coldly. Some younger professors had even played important roles in it.
That was also why Hermione was so determined to stop Neville from reporting Harry.
Although Harry's words would definitely spread throughout Hogwarts through the Gryffindors present, because of Harry's past friendship with everyone and his contributions to Hogwarts, the students probably would not actually do anything to him.
But if the professors got involved and punished him, things would be different.
With certain professors secretly pushing things along, the situation could easily spiral out of control.
"Harry! You're awake?"
At that moment, Ginny's cry pulled Hermione and Ron's attention back.
To their shock, Harry had somehow already broken free from the Petrification Spell and was now leaning against the bed, looking at them with a complicated expression.
Ron instinctively stepped backward.
That was the trauma left from Harry's earlier attack.
Hermione also cautiously pulled out her wand.
Only Ginny seemed completely unaware of the strange atmosphere. She hurried forward and grabbed Harry's hand.
"Harry, how are you feeling now? Does anything hurt?"
"No, I'm fine, Ginny."
Harry spoke, but the expression on his face became even more conflicted.
The Petrification Spell only froze the body; it did not actually turn someone into stone. During the spell, Harry could still sense what was happening outside, so naturally he had seen everything Hermione and Ron did for him.
After hesitating for a long time, Harry pulled out a potion bottle from his bedside cabinet and handed it to Ron.
"Use this, Ron. I brewed it myself. It should work much better than normal Essence of Dittany. Also, I'm sorry. I lost control earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just…"
Toward the end, Harry's voice became nearly inaudible, and his head lowered deeply.
Then, as if he had made some huge decision, he suddenly tore the Felix Felicis pendant from around his neck and handed it to Ron as well.
"Please forgive me!"
"Uh… this… is this really for me?"
Ron stared at the two potion bottles in disbelief.
More accurately, he was staring at the tear-shaped glass bottle containing Felix Felicis.
Ron had been jealous of the Felix Felicis Harry won from Professor Slughorn for a long time. Normally Harry would not even let him look at it much, yet now Harry was directly giving it away.
Ron subconsciously reached out to take it, but the next second he pulled his hand back like he had been electrocuted and shook his head repeatedly.
Still, it was useless. Harry stood up and forcefully stuffed both the Felix Felicis and the healing potion into his arms.
Ron was overjoyed.
The corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably, but the movement pulled at the wound on his face, making his expression twist into something strange.
After doing all that, Harry sat silently on the bed without speaking.
Seeing this, Hermione sighed and said, "Harry, can you tell us now? What exactly happened to you out there earlier?"
As soon as she said that, the smile disappeared from Ron's face.
Like Ginny and Hermione, he looked at Harry with concern.
Under the gazes of the three of them, Harry shook his head.
"It's nothing really. The magical photos in the Daily Prophet just triggered me and made me think of a lot of bad scenes. Then Ron said those things, so I…"
Ron looked deeply at Harry. After clenching his teeth, he still said, "But in a sense, this is war. A war between us and the French Ministry of Magic."
"And with our identities and position, we shouldn't show mercy to the enemy in a war like this. After all, everything we have now is thanks to Link!"
After speaking, Ron took several steps back again.
He was already prepared for Harry to go crazy and rush over to punch him again.
But this time Harry stayed very calm. He only sat there and quietly looked at him.
"You're right. I overreacted earlier."
Hearing Harry say that, Ron let out a huge sigh of relief.
"It's great that you figured it out! Then let's just end this whole thing here. We should go eat now! Come on!"
"Eat, eat, eat! All you ever think about is food!"
Hermione could not help cursing him.
But after that, she looked worriedly at Harry again.
Honestly, after everything Harry had just said, it really was not suitable for him to show his face outside again.
Otherwise, he could easily get beaten by a crowd.
As if hearing her thoughts, Harry forced out a smile and said, "Don't worry about me. You guys go have lunch, and don't bring me anything either. I still have lots of snacks stored up here."
"Also, could you help me ask Professor Flitwick for leave from this afternoon's Charms class? I want to stay alone in the dormitory and calm down."
Ron frowned and was about to object, but Hermione spoke first.
"Then it's settled. Stay here and get some rest. I'll handle things with Professor Flitwick."
"Mm, thank you."
Hermione waved at Harry and dragged away the confused Ron and the reluctant Ginny.
Even after the three of them walked far away, Harry could still hear them arguing.
Normally, seeing something like this would definitely make Harry laugh.
Ron and Hermione's constant bickering was one of his usual sources of happiness.
But this time, the moment the door closed, the smile on Harry's face disappeared completely.
He pulled out the Daily Prophet he had crumpled into a ball from his pocket and carefully flattened it out to reread the words and magical pictures.
And the more he looked, the uglier his expression became.
Harry had figured things out?
Impossible.
The impact from those bloody scenes that felt so real earlier had been too overwhelming.
Harry had always been simple-hearted and hated evil.
Faced with scenes like that, he simply could not suppress the anger inside him.
Even if the people responsible for all of it were Link and Dumbledore, the two people he respected most, and even if they were not directly responsible.
Originally, Harry believed this was a matter of principle.
With Link and Dumbledore's intelligence, they should have predicted this kind of thing could happen.
Yet they still stubbornly forced the French Minister of Magic into a corner.
That was not something anyone who believed in kindness and peace should do.
If he absolutely had to use one word to describe Link and Dumbledore, the only thing Harry could think of was "war criminals."
At that moment, Harry even recalled their assault on the Department of Mysteries last year.
Back then, he, George, and Fred had already concluded that Link had changed from the dragon-slaying hero who saved Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic into a new dragon himself.
Later, Link's actions seemed to prove that conclusion wrong.
But what if they had actually been right?
What if Link really had become a new dragon?
Except this dragon's claws were not aimed at his own people, but at outsiders.
If that were true, then everything made sense.
Link was the root of all evil.
In the near future, he would definitely start a chaos and war no smaller than the disaster Voldemort caused over ten years ago.
And when that happened, all the laughter currently inside Hogwarts would disappear.
The entire world would be swallowed by war.
And if he wanted to save Hogwarts and even the entire magical world, the first thing he had to do was make Link give up those evil thoughts.
The simplest and most direct method would be making Link feel pain, or dragging him down from his pedestal.
If Hermione had been there right now, if she could have heard Harry's thoughts, she definitely would have slapped him hard and cursed him out.
Because a Harry who could think like this had clearly broken his brain completely.
Anyone capable of this kind of saint-like thinking was either stupid or evil.
People like Neville would immediately hang Harry up, beat him senseless, and then send him straight to St. Mungo's for mental treatment.
Neville had plenty of experience in that area.
Maybe Harry would even end up sharing a ward with Neville's parents.
After all, they would be receiving the same treatment.
Unfortunately, they probably would never get that chance.
Because what happened outside earlier had already reminded Harry that in the current environment, he could not reveal his thoughts in the slightest before they became reality.
Otherwise, what awaited him would be total failure.
Thinking this, Harry took a deep breath and finally calmed his emotions somewhat.
Hurting Link badly enough to make him realize his mistakes would be extremely difficult.
After all, Link was simply too powerful now.
This strength was not only because his combat ability was almost comparable to Dumbledore and Voldemort, but also because of how much people worshipped him.
Harry had never been able to think of a good solution to that.
To stay calm, he could only keep taking deep breaths while repeatedly rereading the Daily Prophet in his hands.
And because of that, he made another important discovery.
Today's emergency edition of the Daily Prophet contained not only the International Confederation of Wizards' conference results and the current state of the French magical world, but also an article titled "Bold Rioters Gather for Protest."
The article roughly described how a group of French-descended wizards, after learning about the tragic situation in the French magical world, gathered in Diagon Alley and even outside the Ministry of Magic to protest.
Naturally, their ending was a crushing failure.
The British Ministry of Magic under Link's rule would show them absolutely no mercy, especially at such a critical time.
Their crowd was immediately broken apart, and the leaders were arrested.
What awaited them would be long imprisonment and interrogation.
But such treatment did not make the protesters afraid.
At the end of the article, the writer predicted that these protests would continue.
The only reason Harry had not noticed the article earlier was because it had been squeezed into a corner by the reports on the other two major stories.
The Daily Prophet clearly did not think much of this kind of "small matter."
They had even given it an absurdly tiny amount of space.
But this very article gave Harry a new idea.
After thinking for a while, he finally got out of bed and impatiently grabbed paper and a quill to start writing letters.