With the influx of students and parents from another second-year class, the once-spacious classroom instantly became crowded.

Many were forced to stand along the edges, and naturally, those students and parents who had arrived earlier saw no reason to give up their seats.

All the parents were seated according to their children's usual classroom positions; the principle of first-come, first-served still held true in the magical world. Besides, most parents wouldn't argue in front of their children.

Therefore, the later arrivals, both parents and young wizards, felt some dissatisfaction, but mostly they could only stand by and wait for Professor McGonagall to arrive and arrange seating.

Of course, there were still some empty seats in the Transfiguration classroom, and those students and parents who were on good terms would invite friends to squeeze in temporarily.

However, these trivial matters were obviously of no concern to Lucius Malfoy. He even gestured for his wife to move over a bit, to avoid any unwelcome individuals from getting too close.

"Mr. Malfoy, so you arrived early. We were saying we didn't see you in the other classroom—"

"By the way, Mr. Malfoy, did you feel that? What are we going to do now—"

Two burly, towering wizards approached, looking somewhat flustered as they glanced at Lucius Malfoy, who was seated.

Behind them, stood what appeared to be miniature versions of themselves – stout, chubby lads, resembling a pair of stone statues guarding the corridor.

"Shhh—shut up, Crabbe, Goyle, you two fools!"

Lucius Malfoy furrowed his brows deeply, lowering his voice, and said fiercely.

"Hogwarts Castle is sealed off, so we know nothing, and can do nothing, understand?!"

"What you need to do now is quietly attend the parents' meeting, and keep everything locked deep in your hearts, until we leave Hogwarts—"

The Malfoy family rose to prominence in the late eleventh century, and strictly speaking, they were not native English wizards.

The first family head, Armand Malfoy, happened to be William the Conqueror's magical advisor, and he assisted William the Great in establishing the illustrious Norman dynasty.

Naturally, after the war, the Malfoy family was granted a fiefdom in Wiltshire. With this land, Armand Malfoy established Malfoy Manor.

Just like the knights and squires in the non-magical world, Armand Malfoy also had wizarding attendants who were loyal to him – Crabbe and Goyle.

As the war ended, these two wizarding attendants also received rewards from William the Conqueror, and established their own magical families, but they never forgot or betrayed the Malfoy family.

For more than ten centuries since then, the Goyle and Crabbe families had surrounded the Malfoy family as they did in the past.

Therefore, even though these two families had a tradition of being simple and clumsy, Lucius would still try to remind and help them, to prevent them from falling into a fatal quagmire.

"But Lucius, if we don't respond to His call—"

Mr. Goyle scratched his cheek, still muttering uneasily in a low voice.

However, under Lucius's almost murderous gaze, the elder Goyle finally swallowed the rest of his words.

Anyway, these kinds of brain-taxing troubles were decided by the Malfoys. No matter how dangerous the situation, the Malfoys could always find the safest path.

"Lucius, what do you plan to do? We can't hide at Hogwarts forever."

Watching the "big and small" Goyle and Crabbe walk towards the back of the classroom, Narcissa Malfoy turned her head and asked her husband softly.

"He—He knows the location of Malfoy Manor, we can't escape. If there's really no other way, should I ask Sirius for help..."

Black family's old house has dozens of concealing charms cast on it, and it's pretty much the most secretive and safe magical residence in the magical world today.

At least compared to Malfoy Manor, which has almost no defenses, it's much safer.

"Don't worry, Narcissa. Times have changed. We haven't fallen so low as to seek help from a wizard who's been in Azkaban for ten years."

Lucius Malfoy gently patted his wife's hand, saying meaningfully.

"I think I've found a new path."

"A new... path?"

"Yes. The shadows may never disappear, but that doesn't mean the Dark Lord won't change."

Lucius thoughtfully surveyed the crowded, noisy classroom, the various pieces of information he had seen and heard these days quickly intertwined in his mind.

Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Elena...

It was as if someone had opened Pandora's Box, and countless unprecedented innovations and changes had poured out all at once, causing everyone to feel a sense of confusion and unease.

However, if this was a changing of the era negotiated by multiple parties, then many seemingly unexpected things suddenly became reasonable.

The two old wizards, as embers of the previous era, could not be satisfied with simply welcoming the arrival of the new era. They would definitely choose a helmsman for the new era, and try to sweep away any thorns that might threaten the new force, such as traps targeting Voldemort, Death Eaters, and werewolves. These were obviously the basic agreements reached by the wizards at the very top of the magical world.

As the unified vision gradually came to fruition, points of divergence would inevitably appear, and all points of divergence would inevitably converge and collide in the successors chosen by the various forces.

In most cases, the whirlpool of the new era would unfold with the conflicts between the inheritors of various forces, but...

What if the inheritors chosen by Dumbledore and Grindelwald... were the same person?

Lucius Malfoy gently stroked his cane, an idea becoming clearer and clearer.

As "Grindelwald's descendant," Miss Kaslana's power in Hogwarts was no less than that of the four house heads.

This also meant that the "Demon King Princess" might only be one of her identities, and she most likely also had special expectations such as being the "White Wizard's heir."

Following this logic, betting on Elena Kaslana in advance was undoubtedly the most correct decision, but if he wanted to gain more, he would have to put in more effort.

Albus Dumbledore certainly hoped to subtly make the "Demon King Princess" favor Muggles. As could be seen from the number of Muggles in this classroom, the number of half-blood and Muggle-born wizards in Elena's class almost covered everyone in the second year. In comparison, Gellert Grindelwald's position was obviously more in line with the position of the Malfoy family and even the pure-blood wizards in the magical world.

Therefore, as the first smart person to swear allegiance to "Princess," perhaps he should carefully consider how to remind that young lady to keep an appropriate distance from Muggles.

This was not only a long-term interest plan, but more importantly, it might also be related to the extent of "employee protection."

Of course, he had to remind Draco – before the situation became clear, it was best to keep a distance from that dangerous witch.

Thinking of this, Lucius Malfoy turned to look at the side, carefully considering his words with a slightly stern expression.

"Draco, I have something I want to..."

"Hey, Harry, over here—I saved you seats."

Just as the old Malfoy was still thinking about how to communicate with his rebellious son, Draco suddenly waved towards the crowd in front.

Harry?

Harry Potter?

Lucius raised his head and looked forward, only to see a skinny, black-haired wizard wearing glasses walking towards them.

Behind the famous Harry Potter was a middle-aged woman who looked somewhat mean, shabby, and clutching the hem of her clothes tightly in her hands.

Obviously, a Muggle woman.

Wizards and non-wizards were simply too easy to distinguish.

Whether it was from their clothes, makeup, or the expression on their faces... there were too many differences between the two.

It seemed that Draco was not yet ready to bear the future of the Malfoy family – publicly befriending Muggles was a major taboo for pure-blood wizarding families.

Lucius Malfoy snorted softly.

He contemptuously swept his gaze over the timid Muggle woman, and said slowly in a low voice.

"Draco, you should notice that our space here may not be able to accommodate so many people..."

"Ignore my dad, he's always like this, Harry—hurry up and come sit down."

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Yay!