Oh No, My Grades!

After continuing to chat quietly with Bellows for a few more moments, more and more students arrived, and more people joined the conversation.

For some reason, the discussion had initially been all over the place, but it suddenly turned to Manus receiving the Order of Merlin, First Class, before veering again toward the Curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors...

Every turn had come so abruptly, without the slightest warning.

Manus let his gaze drift around the room for a moment, taking in the people who had steered the conversation in those two directions.

As expected, the former were all people who had already sided with the Death Eaters. Not a single innocent person among them.

Everyone present had been at the school for at least a year and knew the current situation at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw had no one who would blindly join in and make a fuss without first assessing the situation.

The latter, however, surprised Manus somewhat. After Bellows started it off, aside from several classmates, upperclassmen, and underclassmen who knew him well, some students who could normally only be considered acquaintances also joined in, smoothly steering the topic back around.

Ravenclaw students did not blindly join in with the crowd. That did not only apply when they were echoing others; in the current situation...

It seems the Death Eaters' earlier actions actually helped me out.

Manus thought to himself.

The side that had previously pledged itself to the Death Eaters had acted too conspicuously, making Ravenclaw's other students realize that their House was no longer peaceful. Under that provocation, some people had now made their choice.

Ravenclaw's selection standards had always meant that its mainstream leaned toward personal neutrality and staying out of factional struggles.

Now, Manus was a prominent figure among the neutral faction,