Leading the Slytherin wizards into Hogwarts Castle, Professor Snape walked straight into their common room without stopping.

Once he stood in the common room and the footsteps behind him gradually faded away, he suddenly turned around and with a strong wave of his wand, he closed the door to the Slytherin common room with a loud "bang."

"Foolish, impulsive, unable to control oneself."

Professor Snape looked down at the Slytherin students standing before him.

Students from first to seventh year all had their heads bowed, and no one dared to speak up or argue.

Among them, the third-year students were particularly anxious, especially Draco, Daphne, and Blaise.

"Slytherins are shrewd, able to assess the situation, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. This is our creed, our pride that we have carried on."

"But look at you, gentlemen and ladies, what have you carried on?"

The Slytherins kept their heads down, trying hard to clench their fists to suppress themselves.

Had they done something wrong? From a young age, their families had told them that purebloods were noble, that they were inherently superior.

So why should they assess the situation in front of those they deemed inferior? They should be in their rightful place; they should be wallowing in the mud, shouldn't they?

"Of course," Professor Snape paused, a flicker of resentment and a hint of self-loathing flashing in his hollow eyes, "we are the same."

"Arrogant, shortsighted, and even, utterly foolish."

The Slytherins looked up at Professor Snape in disbelief as he spoke.

"Professor Snape..."

"Why does the headmaster say this about himself?"

Professor Snape's eyes had long returned to their hollow state, and his voice sounded incredibly distant at that moment.

"It is true that Voldemort is half-blood; we have been deceived, and this is a fact we must acknowledge."

The faces of the little snakes changed in unison, as they could hardly believe that Professor Snape would say this in front of everyone.

When Lin Yue first mentioned this matter, they had gone home to ask their parents and even older relatives, but they had all been tight-lipped, unwilling to reveal even a hint.

"Moreover, because of a lie, we have offended the greatest wizard in the world, as well as the majority of the magical community, including Muggle-born wizards and half-blood wizards."

"And you," Professor Snape's face twitched slightly, "have offended someone who could absolutely influence an entire era."

"Influence an entire era? You mean that Lin Yue? But she's not even pure-blood; she might just be a mudblood."

Marcus Flint retorted loudly, feeling indignant. He couldn't stand those mudbloods, especially the half-bloods who were showing off.

What right did they have?

And now even the head of his own house was starting to speak up for them? He absolutely could not accept it.

"Your bloodline does not enhance your strength, Mr. Flint!"

Professor Snape's eyes suddenly flared with anger as he glared fiercely at Marcus.

"If you think that your bloodline alone can give you enough strength, then please go outside right now, turn around, go upstairs, find the Ravenclaw common room, and have a fight with Miss Lin Yue."

"I would really like to see how long it takes for the weeds in your brain to be burned clean, so that you can become a little smarter and actually think."

Marcus's face turned red from the scolding, and he could only lower his head in silence.

"Mind your own business, Slytherins and tone it down a bit. If there’s a next time, no matter what you face, I won’t intervene again."

"Nor could I."

Professor Snape finished speaking and strode out of the Slytherin common room, leaving a group of young wizards looking at each other in confusion.

Pure bloodlines do not grant them strength, and being pure-blood does not truly elevate them above others. In the face of real power, their families and wealth are as fragile as bubbles, easily shattered. The things they once took pride in have been broken, and they can no longer even deceive themselves. Many Slytherins have bent their backs, and the arrogance in their eyes has slowly faded away.

They no longer fit this state.

On the other side, Lin Yue, who had just used a large-area attack spell, didn't even take a breath. She turned to face Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and Professor McGonagall, deeply bowing to them.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall, for troubling you to come here because of me."

"My earlier actions may not have been very friendly to the Slytherin students and I ask for your forgiveness."

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"Please stand up, Miss Lin Yue."

Principal Dumbledore shook his head and reached out to help Lin Yue up from a distance.

"This is a conflict we could have anticipated long ago; we just didn't expect it to come so soon."

He sighed deeply as he spoke. He had originally thought that the complete hostility and division among the four houses would arise after Voldemort's return.

The Slytherins would support Voldemort, while the other three houses would resist.

But he hadn't expected that with Lin Yue's presence, this point of conflict would arrive earlier.

However, it might be for the best; perhaps when Voldemort returns, Hogwarts will be united as one.

"Is this a spell you invented yourself, Miss Lin Yue?"

Principal Dumbledore looked at Lin Yue, his eyes filled with admiration, sadness, and a hint of nostalgia.

"Yes," Lin Yue nodded, "this is the result of combining many spells."

"It can completely destroy everything within the target area."

Everything that flies in the sky, runs on the ground, swims in the water, and even those hidden underground will turn to ashes in this magic, with nothing able to escape.

"A truly astonishing talent."

Principal Dumbledore chuckled lightly, stroked his white beard, and turned to leave without saying anything more.

At this point, there was no need for him to say anything further; the future had already been set in motion.

The children were already better than they were, and as the sun of the old era, they only needed to shine a little longer for the new little ones, dispelling the last bit of chill in the morning.

After taking a deep look at Lin Yue and the friends standing beside her, Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, and Professor Flitwick smiled and nodded as well. Then, several professors turned to follow Principal Dumbledore's lead.

"This magic is so cool; I want to learn it too."

Hermione reached out and pinched Lin Yue's cheek, looking at her with a sly expression.

Lin Yue blinked and turned her head, looking at Hermione with a blank expression. "With Hermione's magic, one person can't cast such a large-scale spell."

"You can practice with Harry and Ron. The chances of you facing Voldemort in the future are as high as ninety percent."

"The possibility of me, Professor Dumbledore, and the professors not being around is also fifty-five percent."

"You really need to improve your strength."

Hermione nodded vigorously, silently standing behind the two, while Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

It's not impossible... that spell Lin Yue just did was indeed pretty cool.

Thinking carefully, what if they could use that spell to burn Voldemort to death in the future?

At the very least, they could burn a few Death Eaters.

"Come on, it's time to go to the Great Hall for dinner. There’s a lot to learn, but it all has to wait until you fill your stomach first."

Penelope said with a smile, pushing Hermione and Lin Yue towards Hogwarts Castle, one hand on each of them.

"Right, it's time for dinner, let's go, I'm so hungry."

Hermione took Lin Yue's hand and quickened her pace under Penelope's push.

There was no longer the discomfort of being called a "mudblood" like before.

Others' belittlement doesn't prove anything; only your own strength can prove yourself.

The atmosphere among everyone quickly relaxed, and the Ravenclaws chatted with each other as they followed Lin Yue towards Hogwarts Castle.

They also occasionally helped the Hufflepuffs with some questions, as it was normal to have some confusion after not finishing the last class.

The Gryffindors were dumbfounded listening to the discussions around them. It was after class, and instead of talking about Quidditch or some light topics, they were still engaged in academic discussions.

However, the surrounding Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were talking about these things, and it didn't seem right for them not to join in.

Thus, the lively Gryffindors had to suppress their restless hearts and quietly joined the discussion about knowledge.

Lin Yue was being hugged by Hermione as they walked ahead, and she began to silently memorize the Transfiguration textbook for this semester in her mind.

It wasn't until they sat down at the Ravenclaw long table to start dinner that she stopped her silent recitation.

"The mashed potatoes are really good today, you should try some."

Hermione got up and served Lin Yue a small bowl of mashed potatoes, placing it in front of her.

"Thank you, Hermione."

Lin Yue replied flatly, picking up the mashed potatoes and taking a bite.

"They're really delicious."

She nodded, eating the mashed potatoes bite by bite. Seeing her eat so earnestly made Hermione feel like her own appetite had improved.

Dinner ended quickly, and Lin Yue, Hermione, Cho Chang, Marietta, and Penelope all went together to the library to borrow the books Lin Yue needed to read, and then they headed back to the dormitory.

Just halfway there, Lin Yue heard a sudden outcry, mixed with shouts of "go find a professor," and when she turned to look, the noise was coming from the Gryffindor Tower.

With the shouts and the call to find a professor, there was a seventy-five percent chance that a dangerous situation had arisen.

Lin Yue's brain quickly made a judgment, and she deftly drew her wand.

Harry and Ron, also students of Gryffindor, were friends of Hermione and her own friends; they couldn't be in danger.

"You guys go back first, I'll go check and make sure Harry and Ron are safe..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Hermione grabbed her cheeks with one hand, forcing her to stop talking.

"We're going together; don't think we’ll let you go alone."

"There are screams, and someone is shouting to find a professor; it could be dangerous."

With her cheeks being pinched, Lin Yue spoke in a muffled voice, devoid of any emotion.

"Then we definitely need to go."

Cho Chang drew her wand and said this, while Penelope also decisively drew her wand and glanced back at Marietta.

"Let's go find Professor Dumbledore."

"Okay, be careful."

Marietta also knew that the current situation was likely quite dangerous. Without saying a word, she nodded and turned to run away.

Seeing that she couldn't stop Hermione and the others, Lin Yue turned around with a blank expression, grabbed her wand, and quickly rushed up the stairs, making sure she was always the first among the four. This way, if there was danger ahead, she would be the first to encounter it.

Halfway up, they ran into a Gryffindor boy rushing down.

"What’s going on?"

As a Gryffindor student, Hermione asked. The boy looked at Lin Yue and the others in surprise for a moment.

Then he quickly reacted, "The Fat Lady's portrait has been destroyed, and the Fat Lady is missing."

"The portrait has been destroyed?" Penelope frowned, "No one would be foolish enough to go after a portrait, right?"

"So that means the target must be..."

"The Gryffindor common room." Lin Yue interjected, rushing up the stairs in a few quick strides.

She found Harry and Ron in the crowd, confirming that they had no visible injuries and were in no unusual state, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Hermione, who followed closely behind her, also spotted the two boys and sighed in relief, but then looked over at the damaged portrait not far away.

At that moment, the portrait bore several deep scratches, making the entire image appear shattered and pitiful.

"Slash marks."

Without needing to think, Lin Yue instantly identified the cause of the marks on the portrait. Knife marks were something she was very familiar with; she could tell just by taking one look.

"Lin Yue, Hermione! What are you doing here?"

Harry and Ron turned around upon hearing Lin Yue's voice and immediately squeezed through the crowd to join the four girls.

The Gryffindor boy who had just been there was also brought back by them, after all, Marietta had already gone to find Professor Dumbledore, and it was enough for one person to handle this matter.

"We heard the noise from the stairs and came to see if something was wrong," Hermione explained, then frowned at the damaged portrait.

"What happened? Lin Yue said the marks on it were made by a knife."

"We don't know either," Harry shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah, as soon as Harry and I got back, the Fat Lady's portrait was like this, and we don't know where the Fat Lady went."

"Now no one can get in," Ron sighed, looking at the damaged portrait.

"Could it be... Slytherin's revenge?" He squinted his eyes and suggested his idea.

"Impossible," Hermione shook her head. "If they wanted revenge, it would definitely be against me, against Lin Yue, or even against Ravenclaw."

Given the current state between the four houses, the conflict between Slytherin and Ravenclaw, or rather between Slytherin and Lin Yue, was already more intense than the conflict between them and Gryffindor.

Therefore, if they wanted to take revenge, Gryffindor would definitely not be their first target.

Lin Yue walked forward slowly, her gaze focused as she scanned the slash marks on the portrait. Her brain quickly analyzed the situation; the slash marks were long and deep, indicating that the person who made them was very forceful, showing signs of urgency and agitation. At the same time, the marks were chaotic and lacked any pattern, suggesting that the person was also somewhat humiliated and angry, venting their emotions.

Urgency, humiliation, anger, and venting—why would this person feel such emotions towards the portrait of the Fat Lady? Considering that the Fat Lady was the "guardian" of the Gryffindor common room, Lin Yue quickly deduced the answer.

"Someone wanted to enter the Gryffindor common room but couldn't provide the password, so the Fat Lady refused their request to enter."

"And for some unknown reason, they couldn't ask someone else for the password, and their time was tight, so they couldn't linger."

"Based on these two points, there is a 40% chance that the person is a student from another house, and a 70% chance that they are not a student from Hogwarts."

Lin Yue spoke rapidly about her analysis, "Unable to enter, feeling agitated, in a fit of anger and embarrassment, he used a sword from the suits of armour to destroy the portrait, venting his emotions while also trying to see if he could enter the Gryffindor common room by destroying the portrait."

"The Fat Lady fled as a result."

After a brief pause, Lin Yue's brain quickly continued to analyze.

"Based on the probability, the person most likely trying to break into the Gryffindor common room," she said, turning to glance at Harry, "is Sirius Black."