A Mountain in the Mist

"Listen. I don't care what your families told you, or whether your fathers are in that inner circle like mine. What I care about is—" He raised his hand and pointed to the ceiling, "Most people in this Castle don't know that the war has begun."

"And we," Draco said, "Are among the few who can't pretend we don't know, so we bear some responsibility."

A hush fell over the crowd as they exchanged bewildered glances. Draco's lips twitched slightly—he suspected these guys had no idea the war had begun; a bunch of idiots!

Pure-blood families are all such idiots. With so many fools supporting the Dark Lord, it's no wonder he's going to lose!

Thankfully, I had the foresight to get on Will's ship. If I had clung to that bullshit theory of Pure-blood Supremacy, I might have been kicked to death by Will like a stray dog.

Draco didn't say anything. His eyes swept across the crowd. At that moment, Draco regretted it a little. He should have planted a shill among these idiots.

A Slytherin girl in the front row asked quietly, "So what are we supposed to do?"

Draco glanced at her. Thank goodness, Pansy Parkinson was finally doing something.

"Excellent question," Draco said loudly. "I'm about to launch a plan, a plan that can work within the school. With Lord Dark Lord working together from the inside, we're sure to achieve great things."

"Will we still be ignored then?"

"But Mr. Malfoy, you still haven't said what we're supposed to do," an impatient student asked before Draco could finish speaking.

Draco suddenly raised his hand. "Levicorpus!"

The boy was immediately hung upside down, but fortunately the weather was still cold, and he was wearing trousers under his robe, so nothing inappropriate was exposed or any trouble was caused.

Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking!

The boy struggled and shouted, "I won't interrupt you anymore! Put me down, please put me down!"

Malfoy then waved his Wand and put him down.

With a "thud!" he crashed to the ground, groaned as he got up, and then, seeing Draco looking at him, covered his mouth again.

Draco looked at everyone again and held up three fingers. "Next, I have three things to tell you."

First, we need to find the Secret Passage to Hogwarts. Hogwarts is now protected by Magic, making it difficult to breach from the front. Therefore, we need to find Secret Passage, especially those that Secret Passage directly in from outside the school. This would allow the Dark Lord's Champion to launch a surprise attack.

Second, everyone must disguise themselves and not openly promote the Pure-blood theory. Of course, if you have friends or acquaintances who advocate the Pure-blood Supremacy, bring them into our team.

Third, when the time is right, I will gather all of you to carry out some actions. At that time, you will just follow my orders. What I receive will be direct orders from 'that person'.

You should understand what this means.

Many people gasped in shock.

"Alright," Draco said finally, "You can disperse now, but take your time and leave through different Corridor. Don't attract too much attention; Hogwarts isn't Lord Dark Lord's territory yet."

A slight commotion arose from the crowd as the students began to disperse, walking out in twos and threes, talking quietly...

Draco saw them off, but Pansy Parkinson deliberately waited until the very end, then leaned over and slipped Draco a note, winking at him before dashing off.

Draco, somewhat exasperated, unfolded the note in his hand. "I'll be waiting for you here tonight..."

His expression was a bit grim. After all, he had no intention of getting involved with Pansy. This girl clearly supported Pure-blood, and besides... Pansy was too hostile towards Will. Draco didn't want to affect Will's opinion of him by getting too close to Pansy Parkinson.

"Well done, Draco." A voice came from behind him.

Draco turned his head sharply, but he quickly breathed a sigh of relief. The newcomer had black hair, silver eyes, a handsome face, and a gentle, refined demeanor—it was Will.

"You scared me, Will! When did you get here?" Draco patted his chest, panting heavily.

"Of course I arrived the moment you started speaking," Will said matter-of-factly, "But nobody could see me."

Draco grinned. "Your strength is truly astonishing, Will."

"Just a lowly Magic," Will said with a smile. "You did a good job overall; it seems you did follow my instructions."

"Of course, I've memorized all your instructions!" He puffed out his chest, looking quite proud, then added, somewhat puzzled, "Um, there's something I don't understand."

"Speak."

"Let them find the Secret Passage. What if they actually find it?"

Will's tone was somewhat nonchalant. "So what? So what if we found it? Besides, do you think finding the Secret Passage of Hogwarts is easy? Even George and Fred couldn't find them all."

If you still feel there's a problem, tell them to tell you everything once they find the Secret Passage, and that you're going to draw a Map.

None of that is the most important thing. The most important thing is only one thing...

"Finally, your final task is to gather all those students standing 'over there,' understand, Draco?"

"Understood, understood, I will do my best to complete the mission."

"I trust you. Don't let me down." Will patted Draco on the shoulder, then Draco realized that Will had vanished again, as if he had never been there.

Draco felt even greater awe; he sensed that Will was different, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

But if I had to describe it, it would be like...

Will was like a mountain hidden behind a mist; those who looked up at him could only see his tall shadow in the mist, or the foot of the mountain extending out from the mist.

The feeling Will gave him right now was like the mist that had been covering the mountains was finally dispersing, revealing the majestic peaks and boundless mountain ranges hidden behind the thick fog...