Chapter 485: Power-hungry

Chapter 485: Power-hungry
An hour later, the prefects' meeting ended.

The prefects went their separate ways.

Shaylin, Daphne, Murray and Susan went to the Malfoy family's private box together, only to find that Draco, Goyle, Crabbe and Pansy were already there.

Draco's skin was much darker than before, obviously the result of long hours of outdoor training.

It is said that during the summer vacation, he participated in professional Quidditch training with Puddlemere United. For safety reasons, he drank Polyjuice Potion beforehand to pretend to be someone else. Judging from the confidence in his eyes, that experience undoubtedly made him gain a lot.

Pansy was equally unwilling to fall behind, and she joined the Holyhead Harpies for training during the holidays. She had obviously grown taller, and she used to have a somewhat spoiled look, but now she looked more mature and confident.

She stood there, looking very energetic, and her analysis of Quidditch tactics was more accurate than before.

As for Goyle and Crabbe, they looked as dull as ever, as if the holiday had not brought much change to them.

The only noticeable difference is that they are a little stronger than before, but their dull expressions still make people wonder whether they have been playing with Shiduner all summer.

The train drove smoothly towards Hogwarts. Shalling leaned back in his seat, his slender fingers casually fiddling with the rim of the teacup, his expression lazy and indifferent.

Murray and Daphne sat on either side of him, while Susan leaned quietly against the window, seemingly listening to the rhythm of the wheels hitting the rails.

Across from them, Draco and Pansy were discussing the prefects of other houses with great interest, making sarcastic comments, while Goyle and Crabbe occasionally nodded in agreement, although they still looked a little dull.

"So..." Draco looked up with a sneer as he flipped through the list of prefects in his hand, "Gryffindor's prefects are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

He deliberately dragged out his tone, then chuckled, threw the list on the table, leaned back in his chair lazily, and said in a voice full of contempt: "Potter actually lost to a poor guy? It's incredible."

"What a disastrous combination." Pansy sneered and leaned back in her chair lazily. "A dirty mudblood and a good-for-nothing poor boy? I bet Wesley's prefect badge is probably the most valuable thing he has ever worn."

"Pansy," Draco said seriously, "Don't use that word in front of my brothers in the future. Speech cultivation is also one of the necessary qualities for aristocrats."

Pansy was slightly startled, obviously not expecting Draco to scold her in public. Her smile froze at the corners of her lips, but she quickly restrained her frivolous attitude, sat up straight, lowered her head, and pursed her lips in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Draco." Her tone was less harsh than usual, and more obedient and self-reflective. "I spoke too casually. I won't do it again."

She raised her eyes slightly, her eyes revealed a bit of flattery, and her tone softened a lot: "You are right, a noble must not only have bloodline, but also demeanor. I will be careful with my words."

It seems that Draco, who has been out there and explored the world, has begun to mature. Although Xie Ling's face remained expressionless, he was truly happy for Draco's growth in his heart.

"Speaking of Wesley, I wonder if he goes to bed with his copy of 'How Prefects Gain Power' every night?" Murray asked casually, with a hint of teasing in his voice.

"Maybe he'll build himself a small podium in the dormitory and practice his speech in front of Granger." Daphne added lightly, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise slightly, obviously she also felt that this scene was quite comedic.

"It's a pity that Gryffindor could choose Granger." Susan made a rare comment in a calm tone, "If it was just Wesley, I would suspect that their prefect was chosen by a troll."

"Oh, maybe he will learn from his brother Percy Weasley and deduct points all over the school just to show his presence." Pansy shrugged, "Then the Gryffindor students will hate him to death."

Sherin listened quietly to everyone's ridicule. After they finished talking about Gryffindor, he casually asked, "What do you think of the Hufflepuff prefect?"

"Ernie MacMillan." Draco curled his lips. "He's an annoyingly conceited guy who always thinks he's a good friend of the savior and wants everyone to know how important he is."

"I remember he was a pure-blood," Murray said thoughtfully, "but I heard he particularly admired Dumbledore?"

"Yes, although the Macmillan family is a pure-blood neutral faction, they have always been very supportive of Dumbledore. Ernie is no exception, and he likes to exaggerate." Daphne nodded, "He almost wants to brag about himself as an official member of the Order of the Phoenix."

"This is the level of Hufflepuff." Pansy shook her head contemptuously, "Their prefects don't sound much better than Gryffindor's."

However, amid the indifferent sarcasm of the crowd, Xie Lin snorted softly and said lightly: "Don't underestimate the McMillan family."

Everyone was startled and looked at him.

Xie Lin's eyes dropped slightly, his fingers still tapping rhythmically on the table, and he spoke in a leisurely tone: "The McMillan family is one of the twenty-eight holy pure-blood families. Although their power has declined on the surface, it is because they choose to act more low-key. In my opinion, among the pure-blood neutral factions, the McMillan family should be in the first echelon of power."

The main representatives of the pure-blood neutral faction include Greengrass, Crouch, McMillan, Abbott, etc.

As we all know, the Crouch family was in name only because of an unworthy descendant (unless old Barty gave birth to another child), and the Abbott family was already mixed-blood by the time of Hannah Abbott's generation. As a result, only the Greengrass and Macmillan families were left with real blood and strength, followed closely by the second-tier Flint, Bulstrode, Foley, Slughorn and Ollivander.

He paused and chuckled, "As for him, his personality may be a little exaggerated, but his ability is not bad. As far as I know, in another class of Potions, his grades are the best among everyone."

Although Shaylin was not in that class, he was familiar with the original book and knew that Ernie was the only one in the entire Hufflepuff family who successfully entered the advanced potions class.

Murray and Susan were in that Potions class, and they both nodded immediately, approving of Ernie's ability in Potions.

Pansy curled her lips, obviously disagreeing with Xie Ling's opinion, but she did not refute it.

"So, what about Ravenclaw?" Sherin continued to ask, his tone light, as if he was just mentioning it casually.

"Anthony Goldstein." Draco rolled his eyes. "Another annoying guy, always acting like a smart aleck. If you ask me, this guy is a typical example of someone who has high aspirations but low skills and thinks too highly of himself."

"Goldstein, it should be a mixed-blood family." Daphne said.

"He's mixed-blood, for sure." Pansy shrugged casually, "But there are a few famous people in his family."

"That's in line with Ravenclaw's tradition," Susan said calmly. "They always like to use a little bit of history to prove their superiority."

Xie Ling narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "You'd better not underestimate the Goldstein family." Draco raised his eyebrows and looked at him with some confusion.

Xie Lin chuckled and lowered his eyes slightly: "Don't forget, at the beginning of this century, their family once had Queenie Goldstein, a natural telepath."

There was a brief silence in the lounge.

"Mind Master?" Murray frowned. "You mean—"

"She can directly read other people's minds." Xie Lin said casually, "That's not an ability that everyone can have."

Pansy sneered and leaned back on the sofa with her arms folded: "But Anthony Goldstein is not a telepathist."

"Of course, he is not." Xie Lin smiled slightly, his tone relaxed, "But there is a special power flowing in his blood. Maybe he has talents in some aspects that we don't know about... If you just regard him as an ordinary Ravenclaw prefect, it would be too naive."

Daphne snorted and stroked her blonde hair absentmindedly, "In fact, he is not as simple as he seems."

Xie Lin raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue.

Daphne said calmly, "At today's prefect meeting, I noticed that he seemed to have a close relationship with Rolf Scamander, the sixth-year prefect of Hufflepuff. I suspect that the two of them were in the same group."

"This is not surprising," Schelling said in a deep voice, "Don't forget, the wife of the famous magical zoologist Newton Scamander is from the Goldstein family. The two families have a deep connection, but it is not known to outsiders."

Speaking of this, Xie Ling couldn't help but keep this matter in mind.

He had not forgotten the fear of himself he saw in Rolf Scamander's eyes last semester; moreover, according to the information he had, the Order of the Phoenix had already re-recruited its first generation of members, and among them were members of the Scamander and Goldstein families.

He had a hunch that the appearance of these two families at the invitation of Dumbledore was not as simple as it seemed, and there must be other plots behind it.

"How ridiculous." Draco, who didn't realize this, just sneered, "No matter how much these people pretend, they can't change the fact that they are just pawns on the chessboard."

……

The same topic was playing out in Harry's box.

"I'm starving," Ron yelled as he entered the room, stuffing the piglet next to Hedwig, grabbing a chocolate frog from Harry's hand, and sitting down. He tore open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head, then fell back on the chair and closed his eyes, as if he had been exhausted by the morning.

"Look, each fifth year in each house has two prefects," Hermione began, sounding unhappy, "one boy and one girl."

"Guess who's Slytherin's prefect?" Ron scoffed, his eyes still closed.

"Sharin Malfoy." Harry almost blurted out, with a vague sense of foreboding in his heart.

"Right." Ron sighed and angrily stuffed the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth, then tore open another piece, his face looking as ugly as if he had eaten a cauldron cake.

Hermione pursed her lips, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she couldn't help herself and spoke carefully: "Actually...Shaylin's performance at the prefect meeting was quite good. Compared to..." She paused, choosing her words carefully, "compared to Percy's condescending attitude in the past, he was at least more convincing."

Ron opened his eyes and stared at Hermione in disbelief. "Are you speaking for him?"

Harry also frowned: "Hermione, have you forgotten what he did before?"

"I haven't forgotten." Hermione hastily defended, her face slightly flushed, "I mean... we can't deny that he is excellent, right? He is the champion of the Triwizard Tournament, the champion of the Potions Championship, and even in--"

"Even in the Wizengamot, he's doing well?" Ron sneered. "Hermione, he's a Malfoy! He and Lucius Malfoy are family! Do you think he will really stand on our side?"

Hermione pursed her lips into a straight line, seeming to be very dissatisfied with Ron's stereotype, but she also knew that it was useless to argue, so she could only shut her mouth angrily.

Seeing that Hermione didn't say anything, Ron snorted, then said to himself with a gloomy face: "But it doesn't matter, it's my turn this time."

"What do you mean?" Harry looked at him puzzled.

Ron raised his chin, a strange light flashed in his eyes: "This time, I must make good use of the power of the prefect... to make those Slytherin guys suffer."

Hermione looked at him sharply: "Ron! You can't abuse your authority!"

"How is it abuse?" Ron shrugged, his tone a little excited, "Prefects have the power to deduct points from students who violate the rules, right? We should patrol the corridors from time to time--" He glanced at Harry and Neville, lowered his voice and said, "If someone is doing something bad, we can punish them. I really want to catch some evidence against Crabbe and Goyle right away..."

Hermione glared at Ron, but Ron bit his chocolate frog nonchalantly, obviously having made up his mind.

Harry didn't join the argument. He pretended to look out the window, but the corners of his mouth rose slightly unconsciously. Ron's thoughts were his own thoughts, too.
If he could use the power of the prefect to severely suppress the Slytherin people, even if it was just a small punishment, he would feel a lot better. Thinking of Draco's arrogant face and Sherin's always relaxed look, he couldn't help but hope to make them suffer a little.

Of course he wouldn't say it directly like Ron did, but he wouldn't stop Ron's actions either - if there was a chance, he would even give it a push secretly.

……

The scene returns to Schelling.

Astoria, Luna and Zhang Qiu had not shown up yet, and Xie Lin frowned slightly, feeling a little uneasy. Although they were unlikely to be in danger on the Hogwarts Express, they might still encounter some unexpected troubles.

Just as he was wondering whether he should go find someone in person, the door of the box was pushed open and Astoria walked in quickly with a bad look on her face.

"Something happened to Zhang Qiu." She spoke calmly, but there was worry in her eyes.