I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 290 This is part of the plan

A patch of mistletoe grew on the window.

Mrs. Patiffe would certainly not forget this plant, which was a household name in England.

At this moment, the mistletoe hanging above their heads slowly sprouted new buds, and its white stamens opened like stars, as if waving to them or celebrating for them.

There's a well-known saying in Britain: "No happiness without mistletoe."

It is not only one of the raw materials for making Felicis, but also a common plant in divination classes.

Yes, mistletoe twigs are often used for dream interpretation.

Of course, its most famous meaning is that whenever a girl passes by or stands where mistletoe hangs, a man nearby can go up and kiss her.

Okay—someone has already done it.

"Owen," Hermione whispered.

Although deep down she wished time could slow down, reason told her that her relationship with Irving seemed to be progressing a little too fast.

They're only in fourth grade. Shouldn't things like this be done gradually?

Even though they were already boyfriend and girlfriend, wasn't this sudden kiss a bit too intense? Hermione felt her face getting hot, though she didn't realize that her face couldn't get any redder.

"Mrs. Patiffe, you seem to know her quite well?" Hermione quickly avoided Owen's gaze and changed the subject.

“I know all the shop owners on this street very well.” Owen didn’t let go of her hand. He picked up his teacup with his other hand and took a sip. “I provided the overall design for the reconstruction of Hogsmeade Village. I’ve spoken with every single one of the shop owners.”

"You can even design houses?" Hermione was a little surprised. He really was a treasure boy; how could he know everything?

"No," Owen smiled. "But I can try to build our house myself sometime in the future."

"..." Miss Granger gave him a shy glare, "Then you—"

"I may not know how, but I can find someone!" He pointed to the street scene outside the window covered in silver. "Those are blueprints from the Royal Society of British Designers, and wizards have added some magical touches to them."

"The Royal Society of British Designers?" Hermione was slightly taken aback.

"Make the best use of resources!" he said. "That's the best outcome, and you should think like that too, after all, you're going to be the Minister of Magic someday."

As he spoke, he explained how he had contacted the Royal Society of British Designers and paid a consulting firm to provide a design blueprint for a small town, citing Disney's plan to build a magnificent Lord of the Rings-themed theme park in the UK.

Of course—in the process, he did inform the designer of some information about the magical world. After all, how can you design something if you don't tell the other party parameters such as terrain?

Hearing Owen's explanation, Hermione nodded slightly. It was indeed very effective. After all, there weren't many wizards who knew how to design houses. Most wizard houses were like the Burrow, strangely shaped.

It's not that such architecture is bad; in fact, for young wizards who are just beginning to explore the magical world, such houses are very charming and have a magical feel to them.

But if every household in a city is this oddly shaped, how ugly would that city be?

Even Hogwarts Castle is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, full of artistic flair, with every design unique and ingenious, far from the haphazard, piecemeal constructions of later wizards.

It can only be said that wizards are becoming less and less like they used to be.

"But the Secret Code." Hermione was still a little worried. After all, it was a law that had been followed for hundreds of years. How could the Federation sit idly by and watch you break the law at will?

All violations of the "Secrecy Law" are serious crimes.

"Don't worry! The Federation is all my grandfather's people. Cough cough—I mean, I'm doing this for the sake of British wizards, for the lowest strata of society." Owen coughed lightly, then said solemnly, "We abide by what benefits the public, and what harms the public interest is just a piece of waste paper."

"Law is merely a set of norms agreed upon by the masses, supervised and enforced by a violent institution. It should reflect the interests of the class that formulated it. It cannot betray its class, just as clouds cannot betray the sea, because most clouds are formed from the sea."

"Besides, Mr. Ober Benny cast a forgetting spell on those two designers, so they won't remember anything. That's not illegal." Owen chuckled, revealing his pragmatic philosophy to the fullest.

"But—" Hermione vaguely felt that Owen's actions were somewhat inappropriate.

Sometimes Irving's strong belief in pragmatism can indeed make things simpler, but not everything can be done that way.

However, she did not rashly object. If she were a first or second grader, she would definitely have condemned Owen's behavior of wantonly altering other people's memories.

Now, however, she would consider whether doing so was worthwhile. Of course, she still abhorred such behavior, but the current magical world could not fully tolerate her ideas, and she would have to remain silent for many more years.

"Wait a minute—" she thought, her head cooling down a little.

Then Hermione suddenly realized that Owen's words seemed to contain a startling truth: "You were involved in the construction of the new Hogsmeade? Does that mean you're a part of the whole village?"

"Yes!" Owen nodded. "Besides the shop on the main street that I rent to George and Fred, I also have two or three houses."

"Two or three buildings?" Hermione's eyes widened. Although the new Hogsmeade was built on the foundation of the old village, its area was several times larger.

However, the entire wizard village was not very large to begin with, and there were only about a hundred wizards gathered here, with the neighborhood consisting of only three or four streets.

They are connected by a main road.

Owen actually owned several houses. Suddenly, Miss Granger remembered something unpleasant: the British Empire! An old-line capitalist country, its methods of land acquisition were incredibly diverse. Even a deeply rooted pure-blooded family like the Malfoys probably couldn't compare to Owen in this regard.

Then, she asked somewhat urgently, "What about the original owners of the house? Did Malfoy kick them out?" She subtly avoided mentioning Owen, because she didn't want him to be involved.

Seeing this, Irving gave her a relieved look.

This was still the Miss Granger he loved; she hadn't been blinded by love, and her independent spirit was what made her so attractive.

"First, the new Hogsmeade village is already larger than before, so it's normal for some houses to be vacant. Second, because of the war, many residents died in battle, and most of the survivors chose to leave. Malfoy gave them a sum of money and bought those land deeds. Third, there are some who don't want to leave, such as this teahouse. Lady Partridge received a new teahouse that is ten times the size of the original after paying a small amount of Galleons."

"Regarding the compensation, was it arranged by Lucius?" Miss Granger immediately grasped the key point. Her distrust of the Malfoy family was deeply ingrained, stemming from the fact that the family had indeed done nothing good over the years.

You could even say that good things were practically nonexistent for the Malfoy family.

Even the Wizarding Insurance Company, established on Owen's advice, was politically motivated. For Lucius Malfoy, controlling the Ministry of Magic through the insurance company was what he truly wanted.

As for profit—in the eyes of the Malfoy family, whose wealth is so vast that they could squander it for centuries to come, exchanging Galleons for the Ministry of Magic's status would be the most worthwhile deal.

Therefore, from beginning to end, Malfoy was not serving the general public of wizards, as seen in those poor souls whose memories were permanently erased by Lockhart.

We haven't heard from them again this year.

It was as if these people had vanished.

To some extent, Irving, as the driving force behind it, was happy to see this happen, because it was part of the plan.

It was part of his grand plan.

Five years from now, after they graduate from Hogwarts.

Irving is about to dismantle the wizard insurance company that has now expanded its business to Germany.

Once Miss Granger becomes Minister for Magic, he will use the power of the Ministry of Magic to acquire the company and nationalize it, transforming its business into a whole set of social welfare systems and embedding it into Miss Granger's new policies, which will then be enforced.

Owen was certain that her immense prestige in a short period of time would allow her to secure her position as Minister of Magic from the very beginning.

As for the land deeds that the Malfoy family acquired on a large scale—

Irving smiled slightly and said, "I have set the compensation standards, but one thing is for sure, Malfoy will never abide by them."

Market fluctuations caused property prices in Hogsmeade Village to plummet after the war, making it impossible for him to pay more compensation to those they considered poor. As for the wizards who had already died—without any relatives appealing, he probably swallowed them all himself.

"." Instantly, Miss Granger's face turned displeased.

The joy brought by the hazy feeling of the date vanished without a trace.

"Are you angry?" he said.

Hermione didn't respond, she just nodded firmly.

"It's good to be angry. It at least shows that you still have the most precious thing—conscience." Owen patted her palm, sipped his tea through the glass in front of him, and watched everything outside being covered by heavy snow.

"The society of wizards is probably still stuck a hundred years in the past. If you look at this society with the eyes of modern society, it is of course full of all kinds of oppression and injustice."

"The important thing is that you saw it, and you made up your mind to change."

The Malfoy family's large-scale acquisitions of numerous properties and lands over the years have all been driven and directed by Irving, whose purpose is quite simple.

It's just pig farming.

When the time is right, he will slaughter the pig without mercy.

Then use their flesh as Miss Granger's future political capital, and then the resistance to her reforms will be less.

It is foolish for someone like Voldemort to wage war in an attempt to promote wizarding reform.

In his first playthrough, he was forced to resort to war because when he joined, it was already during Voldemort's second rise to power.

We must understand that controlling the wizarding world is actually far simpler than controlling any Muggle nation!

Wizards seem to possess magical powers and live scattered throughout the land. It's as if they could simply wave their wands and use the Infinity Stretch Charm to build a house anywhere and live there forever. But in reality, whether wizard or Muggle, as long as they are human, they cannot escape the instinct of social creatures. How many wizards would choose to live their entire lives deep in the mountains and forests?

Therefore, Owen only needs to control the absolute core areas of the wizarding world, such as Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, to perfectly control the British wizarding world.

The prerequisite is that you cannot be an enemy of the world's greatest white wizard, and you cannot let him discover your true intentions.

Thinking about it that way—it seems he chose Miss Granger from the very beginning.

Because only she can realize the ideal she couldn't achieve in her first dream.

Well—without realizing it, his expectations of Miss Granger had reached an unprecedented level.

Perhaps his oft-repeated statement, "Hermione Granger is the real savior," is actually a reflection of his true feelings.

"Would you like to try running my houses?" Owen suddenly made an invitation to Hermes that surprised her.

"Business operations?"

"Although it's not on a main road, it still has some geographical advantages, which you might be able to use to open some shops."

"A shop?" Hermione looked at him, puzzled.

"For example, a newspaper or a radio station."

After all, the media is one of the most important cornerstones of power.

"."

Hermione looked at Owen with some emotion, her big eyes filled with gentle waves of happiness.

She didn't think that much about it; she simply assumed that it was Rita Skeeter's report that led Owen to have such thoughts.

She would never guess that Owen was actually upset because the room was empty and he couldn't make money from it!

Miss Granger did not respond. After all, running a newspaper was too difficult, mainly because she had limited energy and could not spare the time to manage one.

It's easy to imagine that if she were to manage a newspaper, every single report would have to go through her hands.

That must be exhausting.

The two looked at each other in the teahouse, and Miss Granger's wrong guess made things warmer between them.

Suddenly, as the two leaned intimately against each other, looking out the window at the snow, they unexpectedly spotted the Weasley twins, along with Harry, Ron, and Ginny, who were walking past the window, chatting and laughing in the snow.

The alchemist, Victor, followed behind.

Hermione was startled, and her hands trembled uncontrollably. But when she realized that the people outside couldn't see inside, she relaxed.

"Where are they going?" she asked, still somewhat shaken.

"The Weasley family's alchemy workshop." Owen looked at Hermione with amusement. The whole castle knew we were on a date, so what was there to be afraid of? But he still explained.

"An alchemy workshop?" She hesitated for a moment, then remembered George and Fred talking about opening a shop in Hogsmeade. "Weren't they going to open a joke shop?"

"People always grow up!" Owen said, watching the crowd recede into the distance. "When you can create alchemical magical artifacts that will be remembered for generations, who will continue to make pranks and jokes?"

"But they'll still keep the joke shop open. After all, researching alchemical tools requires a huge amount of capital." He paused, then continued, "Those two guys plan to build the workshop behind the shop, so they can buy things in the front and do research in the back. And as far as I know, they've already made some progress."

"What results?"

"You'll find out after Christmas."

He said with a smile.

"Mmm!" Miss Granger nodded, then shyly leaned against him.

The snow outside the window was falling heavier and heavier, the snowflakes like scraps of cardboard, scattering haphazardly from the sky, while a fierce wind raged inside. Just looking at this snow scene made one feel the biting cold.

And when watching snow, it's easiest to fall asleep.

Because the swirling snowflakes can gradually hypnotize those who are staring at the snow, and the gradually relaxing nerves can easily make people sleepy.

Just as Miss Granger was drifting off to sleep from the ambiguous atmosphere of the teahouse, a slight movement from the boy beside her startled her awake. Then, a snow-white figure came into view—a beautiful kitten! Its white fur was covered in snowflakes, and it moved with light, graceful steps across the snow. The kitten moved swiftly, leaving a trail of small, plum-blossom-shaped paw prints before disappearing around a nearby street corner.

"Sirocco?" Owen whispered.

On a snowy day, why isn't this cat warming itself by the fire in the dorm? What is it doing wandering around here?

Is it time to go out and relax again?

Owen was helpless against this kitten who spent more than twenty days a month outdoors, especially fond of wandering in the Forbidden Forest. After all, the kitten could Apparate, and he couldn't keep it inside.

It can only hope that it will be able to pamper its owner—that is, himself—on the remaining few days of the month.

Unfortunately, even this hope was just wishful thinking.

When the cat is free, he either sleeps in his dorm or gets caught by Hannah and falls into the witch's hands, where he is forced to act like a good boy for a day, and then disappears again the next day.

This personality trait is mainly because Irving hardly ever needs to feed it. It was fine when it was a kitten, but as it grew up, the cat seemed to be able to distinguish what it could and couldn't eat in the forest.

In addition, he was lazy to begin with.

That's how you raise a cat to be like this.

"I'll go and bring her back." Owen got up and was about to catch the cat.

Half-asleep, Hermione instinctively wanted to follow, but he stopped her. "You can sleep for a while," he said.

"I know without you even having to guess that you stayed up late again last night."

Yesterday was Saturday. If Miss Granger didn't stay up late on Saturday, the sun would have to rise in the west.

"Do you know that staying up late can cause hair loss?" He gently brushed the stray hairs from her forehead with a hint of pity.

In fact, Miss Granger never lost her hair; her fluffy, bun-like hair hadn't changed for years.

Despite saying that, Miss Granger still mustered her spirits and insisted on going with him.

Irving did not refuse.

After taking a sip of hot tea, the two pushed open the door of the teahouse and walked inside into the snowstorm.

"Whoosh!" A cold wind instantly rushed in through the exposed parts of the clothes outside the door.

The two of them couldn't help but shiver.

They immediately moved even closer together.

The snow on the road was already up to their calves, a full foot deep, making it difficult to walk quickly. But this suited someone's wishes, because not being able to walk quickly meant they could stay close together for longer.

Following the trail left by Sirocco, Owen used magic to make a pale golden plum blossom footprint clearly appear in the snow.

After walking for about a few minutes, the two turned into a dark street corner.

In the wind and snow, Owen suddenly felt a chill in his arms, followed by a familiar voice reaching his ears.

"Meow?"

It was Sirocco; the guy slipped quite naturally into the pocket inside his robe.

Because of its small size, it can't even stick its head out of a pocket.

"This guy." Owen was startled. After all, this cat could apparite, and its sudden appearance would frighten anyone.

He patted his chest as a warning.

Then, in the wind and snow, something very conspicuous came into his view.

"This is?"

He glanced at it a couple more times instinctively, and suddenly, he and Hermione both froze. A black robe? Although they had been so focused on finding Sirocco when they came in that they hadn't noticed anything amiss, now that they looked closely, the black robe lay quietly in the corner like a deep pit.

Strange—Owen frowned slightly. A magical robe that could protect against wind and rain, who would leave it here? As he thought this, he stepped forward to pick it up, then turned back to see if he could find the owner of the robe that was hanging on the hall door.

However, the moment he lifted his black robe, what lay beneath took them both by surprise.

Hermione covered her mouth, wanting to scream, but ultimately she didn't, afraid that the sound might attract something terrible. Owen, meanwhile, crouched down, took out his wand, and used the tip to pry away the rest of the black robe. Then, a withered, twig-like, grotesque, imp-like corpse appeared.

"A fairy?" Owen frowned.

The fairy corpse before me was covered in bright red blood clots and fragments, as if someone had chopped it into dozens of pieces and then sewed them back together with silk thread.

Besides that, there was its clothing, which was a very standard Gringotts employee uniform.

"A Gringotts employee died here? That's strange." Owen didn't know much about fairies, but this one was clearly attacked.

Those horrific wounds didn't look like a natural death at all.

Hermione, who was beside him, suddenly cleared her sleepy eyes.

His expression turned serious.

Leprechaun!

It's a fairy again!

She turned to look at Owen.

She hasn't told him about the fairy attack yet.

(End of this chapter)