"I'm sure he's definitely been affected by dark magic." At this point, a trace of fear flashed in Ron's eyes, and his body involuntarily trembled slightly.
For young wizards of their age, mentioning dark magic naturally sent shivers down their spines, especially for children from pure-blood families like Ron.
How should I put it?
It's a bit like in many Muggle families, where parents use certain things to scare children. In wizarding families, especially families like Ron's, parents like to use stories about dark magic to frighten, exaggerating its horrors to deter their children from dabbling in it.
Even in families without such customs, through the broader societal view of dark magic, most wizards keep a respectful distance from it during their studies.
They are extremely fearful of it.
After all, not everyone is like Tom Riddle, nor do they all have the learning environment and abilities of Ian and Aurora.
"Dark magic? I know about it." Hearing this, Hermione showed a doubtful expression. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and said, "But what kind of dark magic could have such an impact? Harry has always been strong and wouldn't easily be eroded by dark magic, and how could we encounter dark magic attacks here at Hogwarts?"
Her voice was firm.
But there was still a faint trace of unease in her tone.
She felt deeply disturbed just thinking about it.
Neville, who had been silent all along, turned pale at Hermione's words. He swallowed and cautiously spoke in a trembling voice.
"I know, it's Imperio. It must be Imperio. Those under its control lose all self-awareness and become puppets and slaves of the one who cast the spell."
"Harry's behavior that you described really seems like he was hit by Imperio." Neville said as he nervously rubbed his hands together, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
Explaining why he was so fearful.
"It's an extremely malicious and terrifying magic... It's one of the Unforgivable Curses. My family was torn apart by one of these curses."
His voice carried a hint of sadness.
Hermione quickly put her book aside and gave Neville a hug.
Offering quiet comfort.
As for Ron, after hearing Neville's words, he was momentarily stunned and then quickly nodded, loudly exclaiming, "Yes, yes, yes, yes. Even if it's not Imperio, it's some other evil dark magic. I even suspect the current Harry Potter is someone else in disguise. Although he's been acting normal these past two days, I can't forget the way he looked at me before."
Ron's voice trembled with excitement, echoing down the empty corridor. He was indeed bold, unafraid that his loud voice might attract the caretaker or a professor.
How should I put it?
At this stage, Ron truly has a noisy personality.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Can you guys not exaggerate like that? Harry's been perfectly normal these days."
She still felt Ron's statements were too exaggerated, mentioning such terrifying dark magic as the Unforgivable Curses. Hogwarts is the safest magic school in the world.
In "Hogwarts: A School History," he had seen similar accounts. It's known that the current headmaster is Albus Dumbledore, the greatest and most powerful white wizard in the world. What kind of dark wizard would dare come to Hogwarts to cast Imperio on a student like the Savior?
Mysterious Man?
That person's been dead for many years!
Although Hermione felt uncertain at first, after this logical deduction, she believed it was more probable that Harry Potter was fine.
Facing Hermione's perspective,
"That's because he's disguising well!" Ron insisted, "I can't forget the way he looked at me that night... like I was something even more insulting than a bug!"
Though he couldn't think of a more fitting word, it didn't affect his self-esteem, his cheeks flushed red, more and more convinced that there was something wrong with Harry Potter.
Not far away, Ian raised an eyebrow as he listened.
In his impression, this Harry sorted into Slytherin was indeed different from the original. Though he still interacted with the trio, the separation by houses greatly diluted their friendship.
Occasionally during classes, they would exchange words, as Slytherin and Gryffindor had joint classes. Perhaps because they thought Harry was different from other Slytherins, they still had some interaction, reluctantly considered friends. But since Ron noticed Harry behaving strangely not long ago, he suspected Harry had been affected by dark magic, which was understandable.
After all, they weren't best friends anymore.
Trust naturally decreased.
How should I put it?
It wasn't that he was maligning others out of malice.
Previous Harry indeed had an issue.
This time,
It's just that Ron's information update wasn't fast enough.
Ian sighed.
And just at that moment,
Hermione bit her lip and, after pondering for a moment, said, "Even if something really happened to Harry Potter, we should go to a professor... or Ian."
"Ian Prince is very capable, he might be able to find out if something's wrong with Harry. I bet he's good at divination, and his divination skills must be excellent." Hermione's eyes flashed with a glimmer of hope as if she expected Ian to be the key to solving the problem.
Upon hearing Hermione mention Ian, Ron immediately jumped as if his tail had been stepped on: "No way! We can't tell him! That guy from Ravenclaw College gets along so well with my brothers, he surely won't be willing to help us. Who knows, he might even prank us like he does with Fred and George."
"We can't go to him, absolutely not. He also gets along well with Harry Potter..." Ron was very resolute, his eyes full of deep prejudice against Ian.
Listening to Ron, Neville softly said, "Ron, you can't say that. Mr. Prince is a good person; he even helped me before."
"I believe he would definitely help us; Mr. Prince is very helpful." Neville's eyes were filled with sincerity, he had always had a great impression of Ian.
Not far away, Ian silently gave a thumbs-up to the little chubby boy.
Indeed.
Grateful people are always likable.
Hermione was also a nice girl, all his care wasn't in vain. How should I put it, in the new trio, only one person hadn't complimented him, and guessing who that person was is really hard.
Ron didn't anger Ian though.
Ian was listening with amusement.
"Ron... do you have any prejudices against Senior Prince?" Hermione furrowed her brows, suspiciously questioning him, thinking Ron was getting too extreme.
"It's not prejudice! You don't understand! Anyone who can get along with my brothers! Must be the kind of...that kind of..." Ron's little brain struggled to come up with a suitable word.
"A mischief-maker?"
Even Neville could help Ron think of words.
"Much worse than that!"
"Prince and Harry get along well too, didn't you see at meals? Except for his girlfriend, he's always chatting with Harry Potter. If he learns we're suspicious of Harry, he'll definitely tell Harry, and if we startle the snake, it'll be even harder for us to find out the truth."
The more Ron spoke, the more excited he got, his voice getting louder.
Oh man.
Same old formula, same familiar feel.
At this time, Ian stood quietly in the shadows not far away, listening to their conversation. There was a hint of understanding on his face; so this is the core role that leads the entire trio to be so reckless!
The new trio.
Still feels like it's being led to rashness by Ron!