Since he still couldn’t determine whether they were friend or foe, Draco naturally wasn’t foolish enough to make an enemy of himself.
He turned around and sneered at Ron.
“Red-haired pauper, we’ll see you at school.
And our savior, Mr.
Potter.
Heh.” That final “heh” was filled with mockery.
Before leaving, he glanced at Ternas once more, then walked away with his two followers.
Ternas walked over with an air of composure and looked the two boys over before asking softly, “Are you two all right?” Seeing that the person who had helped them had come over, neither of them treated him coldly.
Their faces flushed slightly as they said, “We’re fine.
Thank you for helping us just now.” Harry was still very polite at this age, and his personality was relatively mild.
Ron, on the other hand, perhaps because of the grudge between their families, couldn’t say that he disliked Ternas for interfering, but neither was he particularly grateful.
He stubbornly muttered, “Even without you, I could’ve knocked Malfoy’s teeth out!” Harry tugged on Ron’s clothes from behind and said apologetically to Ternas, “Sorry.
Ron didn’t mean it like that.
He’s just still angry at Malfoy.
Don’t take it personally.” With Harry stopping him, Ron didn’t say anything more.
He simply turned his head away and fell silent.
At that moment, Hermione came out of the compartment.
She looked around curiously and asked, “Did something happen here just now?” Ternas gave Harry a final nod as a greeting, then turned around and walked back toward the compartment where Hermione was.
After returning to the compartment with Neville, Ternas took out his school uniform and put it on.
Once he had straightened his clothes, he explained, “Two children from wizarding families got into a fight because of a feud between their families.” “Oh?
How did that happen?” Hermione asked curiously.
She still didn’t know much about the current state of the wizarding world.
Ternas patiently explained, “I imagine you know quite a bit about Hogwarts already, right?” Hermione raised her chin proudly.
“Of course.
I’ve read Hogwarts: A History from cover to cover.” “Then you should also know that although Hogwarts is a school of magic, it’s divided into four Houses, right?” “Mm-hmm.
So what?” Hermione raised a hand slightly, signaling for him to continue.
“The four Houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.
Among these four Houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin have had an irreconcilable conflict for a very long time.
The rivalry between students from the two Houses has never really stopped.” “But what does that have to do with what happened earlier?” Hermione still looked confused, unable to see the connection.
“Because there are many children from pure-blood wizarding families at Hogwarts.
These families are much like nobles in the Muggle world.
They have complicated feuds and entanglements with one another.” “Somehow, at some point, the school itself gradually became another battlefield for them.” “Is that really how it is?
Don’t the teachers do anything about it?” Hermione’s face paled slightly.
Clearly, the word “battlefield” had made her imagine something much worse.
“It’s not that serious,” Ternas quickly explained.
“Most of the time, it’s just children competing with each other.
The teachers don’t need to interfere over every little squabble between students.
A certain amount of competition is actually beneficial to their studies.” Hermione rolled her eyes, looking as though she wanted to ask why he hadn’t just explained it properly in the first place.
Ternas was already laughing inside, but he kept a serious expression and continued, “The rivalry is most intense between Gryffindor and Slytherin.” “In Gryffindor, there are a number of pure-blood families whose beliefs are centered around living peacefully with Muggles.
They don’t look down on Muggle-born wizards at all.” That immediately earned Hermione’s favor.
After all, she herself was Muggle-born, so she naturally felt more positively toward a House with such beliefs.
“But you know how it is.
Wherever there are people, there will always be some who think they’re inherently superior.” “These people look down heavily on Muggle-born wizards and believe they aren’t worthy of inheriting magic.
A considerable portion of those with such beliefs ended up in Slytherin.” Ternas spread his hands helplessly.
“That’s the ideological difference between the two Houses.
Over time, it developed into rivalry between their students, with each side looking down on the other.” After hearing Ternas’s explanation, Hermione finally understood the root of the conflict she had just witnessed.
However, after understanding all this, she developed a new concern.
She herself was a Muggle-born witch, while the two boys in front of her clearly came from pure-blood families.
That meant she had to think carefully about what their relationship might become.
So far, there had been no problems between them.
In fact, they had gotten along so well that she had already begun to regard the boy in front of her as her best friend.
But if Ternas’s family belonged to Slytherin, then the outcome was easy to imagine, even if they were getting along perfectly well right now.
Seeing the faint worry in Hermione’s eyes, Ternas immediately understood what she was thinking.
“All right, don’t worry.
Neville and I come from the Longbottom family, which has always had a close connection with Hogwarts.
Our family has had Slytherin students before, of course, but that was simply the result of the Sorting.
It doesn’t mean they agreed with Slytherin’s more extreme beliefs.” “And Slytherin can’t be judged as a whole.
Some people really do care deeply about blood status, but there are also plenty who don’t care about it at all.
They were simply sorted into Slytherin because of their personalities, talents, or other reasons.” “So don’t lump every Slytherin together with those idiots.” “Mm, I understand.” Hermione nodded seriously, looking extremely cute.
“In fact, even in the House that is most hostile toward Muggle-born wizards, it’s impossible for everyone to share that belief.
Muggle-born students actually make up a very significant portion of the student body.”
Want to know what happens next?