"I don't see what's so good about this," Ron muttered under his breath, but seeing Harry still wearing a smile, he quickly adjusted himself.
"To be able to smile like that, how brave. From now on, if anyone says you're not a Gryffindor or that you belong in Slytherin, I'll have words with them."
He stood up with a grin and gave Harry a playful punch on the shoulder.
Harry punched him back with a smile, speaking nonchalantly, "This isn't really bravery. I just feel that since I'm not dead yet, there's no need to spend every day under the assumption that I'm about to die."
Hearing Harry's words, the five girls looked at each other, and everyone, including Amanda, showed a relieved smile.
Watching Harry and Ron fooling around together, Hermione gave a gentle smile and leaned over to whisper in Amanda's ear.
"You have a plan to go looking for Horcruxes later, don't you?"
Startled for a moment, Amanda nodded frankly. "Yes. Finding the Horcruxes ahead of time and destroying them completely is the only way to finally kill Voldemort."
"No matter where you go to find them, and no matter when you go, you must take me with you."
Hermione raised an eyebrow, looking at Amanda with a fair amount of firmness.
Pursing her lips in a bit of a dilemma, a faint sense of worry welled up in Amanda's heart. As Dark Arts items, Horcruxes were simply too dangerous. She didn't want any of her friends to come into contact with them, let alone Hermione.
"Horcruxes are too dangerous, they— mmm..."
Before she could finish, Amanda was held by the head and kissed by Hermione. The three seniors tactfully looked away, while Harry and Ron returned to their seats, pretending not to see anything.
"It's precisely because they are dangerous that I want to go with you." Hermione pressed her forehead against the slightly breathless Amanda's, her tone more serious than ever before.
"That kind of danger," Hermione reached out to stroke Amanda's cheek, looking at her with deep attachment, "I can't watch you face it alone. If something happened to you and I didn't even know... if it really came to that, I would never forgive myself for the rest of my life."
Opening her mouth in a futile attempt to argue, Amanda ultimately couldn't bring herself to continue refusing. "Fine, but Hermione must promise me: your safety comes first."
"Okay." Hermione nodded with a smile. As for when there was actual danger? Without a doubt, she would protect Amanda at all costs. After all, Hermione Granger was never a fragile object that needed someone else's protection.
Seeing the two juniors finish their conversation, Penelope smiled and reached out to pat Amanda on the shoulder. "Did you two forget about us? There are so many places; it'll be hard for just the two of you to search them all in a short time. We'll help you look."
"It's too dangerous." Amanda frowned. She was only comfortable letting Hermione get near a Horcrux because she would be there to accompany her, but the seniors and Harry... "We promise, we'll only find where they are. Once found, we won't touch them; we'll wait for you to come." Cho Chang also nodded in agreement beside her, giving Amanda her word.
After two seconds of silence, Amanda finally nodded. "Fine. Then over the coming summer break, I will notify the members of the Pure-blood families who have agreed to cooperate with me. I'll have them take you to the corresponding Gringotts vaults and family Castles to search."
"If you find items left behind by the four founders, or anything Voldemort gave to them, remember: you must not touch them."
Amanda deliberately emphasized the last half of the sentence, and the three seniors nodded solemnly in unison.
"What about us?" Harry pointed at himself and Ron. Senior Cho Chang and the others were going to look for the Horcruxes with the Pure-blood families, and Amanda and Hermione were going elsewhere. He and Ron couldn't just sit around doing nothing, could they?
"You have other things to do, especially you, Harry."
Amanda's gaze was fixed on him, making Harry involuntarily straighten his back. "Alright, tell us what you need us to do."
"Speeches," Amanda said in a flat voice. "Give speeches throughout the British Wizarding World. Speak in various places—Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, any wizarding gathering spot—to spread the word that Voldemort has returned."
"Publicize that Hermione is making preparations for this, publicize that the Ministry of Magic is currently helpless and playing the ostrich by pretending not to know, and encourage everyone to stand up, face Voldemort, and resist him."
Listening to Amanda's instructions, Harry agreed without hesitation. "Okay."
"Ron, you go with Harry. The two of you can work together and look out for each other."
"Will do." Ron also immediately nodded and accepted the task.
Slowly shifting her gaze to the wooden door of the Room of Requirement, a clear concept formed in Amanda's mind: the plan to fully confront Voldemort and have Hermione take charge of the Ministry of Magic had officially begun.
After leaving the Room of Requirement and returning to their respective dormitories, Penelope came to Amanda and Hermione's Dormitory, joining Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore to discuss the summer's events.
Hermione sat nearby, listening to their plans and helping them refine them from time to time.
"The existing vaults of Pure-blood families are important, but I think what's even more crucial are the vaults of the Pure-blood Death Eaters locked up in Azkaban. They are Voldemort's true loyalists."
"But those people are locked up; they can't cooperate with us to open the vaults," Marietta Eckmore said, wringing her hands in a bit of a bind. "Without their personal cooperation, given the nature of Goblins, it will be very difficult to get them to agree to let us inspect the vaults."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Penelope spoke after thinking carefully for a while. "Pure-blood families are basically all related. As long as we find someone who can be traced back to the same family to lead the way, we should be able to enter their vaults."
"As expected of Senior Penelope!" Marietta Eckmore gave Penelope a thumbs-up.
Penelope shook her head with a smile. "Then let's use the little bit of time left in this school year to map out all the family relations between the Pure-blood families."
"Okay!" ×3
The four girls tacitly agreed not to seek Amanda's help; she already had enough to consider, so they wouldn't trouble her with this.
Sitting at her desk, Amanda was staring blankly at the parchment in front of her. Voldemort's resurrection and Hermione entering the Ministry of Magic were plans she had made long ago.
And then? Once Hermione took control of the Ministry of Magic, she would inevitably have to deal with the Muggle World and fulfill her promise to Amanda.
Thinking of Hermione's promise, Amanda couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile.
For that promise, Hermione would surely enter the power arena of the Y Country Muggle World.
So, reaching for a stack of parchment nearby, Amanda picked up a quill and began to write and draw rapidly.
Lines and diagrams flashed through Amanda's mind and were drawn onto the parchment at top speed.
Since Hermione would definitely work hard for her promise in the future, Amanda should also make more preparations for Hermione now.
She wanted to ensure that Hermione would not become just another player in a game of interests, would not be forced into a corner, never.
In this single night, within the five hours from seven to twelve, Amanda pushed the existing technology of the Muggle World forward by a full century. Plans for the construction of one hundred and fifty factories and the establishment of sixty schools were listed in immense detail on the parchment before her.
Looking at the parchment in front of her, Amanda took a deep breath.
"What's wrong? What is my dear daughter worrying about?"
Rowena appeared behind Amanda with a smile, her hands resting gently on her shoulders.
"The resistance this plan will face will be very great." Amanda pursed her lips, looking at the parchment.
To proceed with this plan was essentially snatching people and power from the hands of the current Y Country Muggle government.
Even with the cooperation of the current female prime minister, Amanda wasn't sure if she could support her. After all, behind her were interest groups and her own political faction.
And these were all things she wanted Hermione to be able to ignore in the future; she hoped Hermione wouldn't be constrained by any party.
"Hmm, let me see." Rowena rubbed her daughter's head and picked up the stack of parchment.
"It is indeed a massive plan." Rowena raised an eyebrow and handed the parchment to Helga, who had appeared beside her.
"And it certainly is prone to drawing jealousy and suspicion." Helga gave her assessment after reading it.
One couldn't blame Amanda for hesitating; anyone with eyes could see that it would be a miracle if this plan were passed by the Y Country Muggles.
However... "Don't worry, leave it to me and Mother Helga."
Rowena pulled Amanda up by the hand with a smile and led her to the bedside, gesturing toward the bed curtains that Hermione, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore had already drawn. "It's late. Good children should go to sleep. Leave these matters to us parents."
Leave it to the two mothers? Amanda instinctively began to analyze how Rowena and Helga would handle it, but she was interrupted by Helga.
Helga, who knew Amanda quite well, reached out and tapped the tip of her nose. "No more thinking. Go to sleep properly."
"Okay..."
Amanda lowered her eyes and gave a soft response, her heart filled with warmth.
Is this what it feels like to be loved by a mother? To not have to think so much or face so much, because there is someone to back her up and catch her if she falls.
After changing and lying in bed, Amanda received a goodnight kiss from both Rowena and Helga before closing her eyes.
Closing Amanda's bed curtains, the two mothers looked at each other and both drew their wands.
"Confundo?"
"Imperius Curse?"
The two spoke simultaneously in perfect sync, then couldn't help but laugh together.
Their daughter was well-behaved and unwilling to use special methods, but these two mothers, who had lived through the great wars between Muggles and Wizards in the Middle Ages, wouldn't be so "proper."
For the sake of their daughter and her partner, the two mothers didn't mind using some special methods—especially since everything their daughter ultimately wanted to do was for the benefit of the vast majority of people in both the British Wizarding World and the Muggle World.
Glancing at the books on their daughter's desk that had come from Hermione's and Cho Chang's homes, the two mothers vanished from the spot simultaneously.
When Amanda woke up the next morning, the first thing she saw was a note placed by her pillow.
"The matter has been settled. All construction projects have officially begun. Go to school properly." Followed by a simple, bright smiley face.
Unable to help smiling as well, Amanda folded the note and placed it under her pillow.
Opening her bed curtains and stepping barefoot onto the warm wooden floor, Amanda walked to the desk and stroked the books placed there.
To be honest, when she first saw these books, she could hardly believe her eyes.
This was completely different from what she had learned before. It was also the first time she realized that people should come before everything else.
It also made her understand why there were never any books on this subject in the libraries or municipal bookstores of her original world—because they didn't dare, because they didn't want to.
Time always moves forward, never stopping for a moment.
By the time the third task of the Triwizard Tournament arrived, the factories and schools the two mothers had helped Amanda establish were also completely finished.
The schools would recruit hundreds of thousands of Muggle graduates in the upcoming graduation season who had poor grades or couldn't afford high tuition fees, training them to be industrial manufacturing workers that met Amanda's needs.
The factories would absorb skilled and capable people from the current Y Country Muggle World. Relying on Amanda's own wealth and that of her two mothers, they would offer high salaries and quickly occupy the Y Country market, squeezing out some of the companies Amanda had blacklisted.
Since they did not represent the interests of the Y Country people, they had no reason to earn the wealth of the Y Country people.
And those broader masses of people who weren't good at studying simply had talents that didn't lie in that area; it didn't mean they should be abandoned.
Having understood this, Amanda wanted to seek a path to survival in Y Country for the kind of people who were the same as the students she had once personally watched being destroyed—a path to a better life, a path... growing towards the sun.
Of course, Amanda didn't need to do all of this personally; she just had to manage the general direction. As for what she did need to do personally... "There, done." Amanda straightened up, looking at the two arms with rolled-up sleeves in front of her. Through special effects makeup and blood bags, one arm looked exactly like Harry's real arm.
The noticeably gloomier-looking "Harry" pulled down his sleeve and glanced at the other Harry beside him, who was also pulling down his sleeve.
"I assume Mr. Potter can restrain himself from running around for this one night?"
"Of course, Professor Snape." Harry nodded, turning to look at Professor Snape, who was sitting beside him and had just finished drinking the Polyjuice Potion to turn into him.
After a brief silence of two seconds, he spoke in a low voice, "Thank you, Professor Snape. Please, please be careful."
Seeing the way Harry's eyes were fixed on him, Professor Snape for once didn't spit any venom. Instead, he said in a drawl, "I will be."
"Professor Snape," Amanda, who had finished packing her makeup tools, pulled a handful of items from her wizard robe pocket and handed them over, "please take these."
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