Chapter 298: S.P.E.W.
The closer it got to the day when Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives would come to Hogwarts, the more abnormal the entire school became. The armour in the corridors was polished to a brilliant shine, and the portraits were washed repeatedly, causing the people in the paintings to suffer from the excessive scrubbing. Their faces and bodies ached whenever they touched them, yet they dared not voice their complaints.
The walls, ceilings, and floors were cleaned and scrubbed to extraordinary cleanliness. Filch constantly patrolled the corridors, and anyone who dared to dirty even the smallest area would immediately face his furious scolding. This drove two girls to hysteria, forcing them to seek treatment from Madam Pomfrey.
October 30th.
When Sean got up and came to the Great Hall with Blaise and the others for breakfast, he found that silk banners representing the four houses had already been hung on the walls of the Great Hall.
Gryffindor with its red background and golden lion.
Ravenclaw with its blue background and bronze eagle.
Hufflepuff with its yellow background and black badger.
Slytherin with its green background and silver serpent.
Behind the staff table on the wall hung a huge banner with a capital letter H surrounded by a lion, eagle, black badger, and silver serpent. This was Hogwarts' coat of arms.
Looking at the extremely solemn Hogwarts, Sean couldn't help but remember his past life in school, when so-called leaders or reporters would visit. The school administrators and teachers would rather cancel classes than have students scrub the school clean, even spending many days rehearsing meaningless formations and welcoming speeches.
Seeing Hogwarts now, Sean realised that this kind of behaviour had universality regardless of location or school.
After all, everyone hoped to show their best side to others.
No one wanted to display their worst side.
After finishing breakfast, Sean prepared to go to class.
Just then, Hermione suddenly approached him. She wore a badge on her chest with the letters S.P.E.W.
"Sean, I'd like to talk with you."
Sean gestured for Blaise to go to the classroom first, while he went with Hermione to a less crowded area.
"Hermione, what do you want to talk about?"
Pursuing her lips, Hermione took a deep breath: "Sean, do you think Hogwarts is currently shrouded in darkness? No, more accurately, has Hogwarts always been shrouded in darkness?"
Hearing Hermione's words, Sean was stunned.
What was this situation?
Had Hermione discovered Voldemort's return?
This rhetoric. Why did it sound like Professor Trelawney?
Seeing Sean frown slightly, Hermione explained again: "Sean, do you know about Hogwarts enslaving house-elves?"
Enslaving...
House-elves?
Looking again at the badge on Hermione's chest, Sean suddenly remembered what performance Hermione was putting on.
Simply put, anti-intellectual sanctimonious thinking had taken the high ground and was preparing to use moral blackmail to cause trouble.
Sean didn't want to continue discussing this matter with Hermione, because Hermione was irrational at this time. She only cared about "what I think", not "what others think". The current Hermione simply couldn't listen to anyone else's words.
"Hermione, you want to seek rights for house-elves, right?"
Hearing Sean's words, Hermione immediately smiled. In her view, Sean's response showed he completely understood her thoughts. She really hadn't been wrong. Indeed, Sean understood her!
"Sean, I knew it. You understand me."
Looking at Hermione, Sean shook his head: "Hermione, I very much support your idea. Strictly speaking, house-elves are indeed enslaved, but I absolutely don't support your approach. It's empty, it's without method, it's meaningless. Your behaviour will only annoy or even repel those around you. It won't have any other meaning.
So my suggestion is that you should go deep among the house-elves, deeply understand them, know their thoughts, understand their thinking, figure out the meaning of their existence, and then make plans. Otherwise, everything you do is empty and can't truly help those house-elves. Do you understand what I mean?"
Hermione nodded slowly with half-understanding. She hadn't fully grasped Sean's words, but she understood that Sean was suggesting she go deep among the house-elves to understand them. Hermione thought this made great sense.
"I understand. I'll investigate and learn properly. Thank you, Sean!"
"No need to thank me. Class is about to start. Let's hurry to class."
In the morning courses, Slytherin wasn't with Gryffindor.
So Sean and Hermione quickly separated. Sean walked quickly to the Charms classroom, and seeing that Charms class hadn't started yet, he sat down beside Blaise in a few steps.
At this point, Blaise leaned over and asked Sean with a mischievous expression: "Sean, what did that know-it-all want with you? Was she trying to confess to you?"
Glancing at Blaise, Sean said irritably: "You're getting more and more gossipy. Nothing like that happened. Hermione just came to ask about some things."
"That's it?"
"What did you think?"
Blaise wanted to say something more, but just then Professor Flitwick arrived and class began, so Blaise stopped gossiping.
The day's classes passed quickly.
When afternoon classes ended half an hour early, everyone was notified to take their bags and textbooks to their dormitories, then go outside the castle to welcome the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives. After welcoming them, they would return to the Great Hall for a banquet.
Sean had no particular thoughts about this. He and Blaise and the others took their things back, then came outside the castle. Seeing many people had already gathered, the four of them found a corner to stand in and quietly waited for the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang representatives to arrive.
"How do you think the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will come to Hogwarts?"
"You can't Apparate at Hogwarts, so it must be some other method."
"Portkey?"
"Impossible!"
"Then what?"
Hearing Blaise's question, Andy suddenly remembered something and immediately looked at Sean and Jensen: "I remember, Sean and Jensen, you two should have been to Beauxbatons, right? Do you know how Beauxbatons will come to Hogwarts?"
Sean looked at Andy and answered: "If there are no surprises, I think they'll use Abraxan-drawn carriages to come to Hogwarts. At Beauxbatons, Abraxan-drawn carriages are the main mode of transportation. I imagine to make an outstanding impression on Hogwarts, Beauxbatons would very likely choose this method."