After that, the four of us worked together to process the mandrakes.
The mandrakes hated being pulled out of the soil, and once they were out, they did not want to go back in. Thanks to Ernie and Justin doing their best, while everyone around us ended up drenched in sweat and covered in mud, Hannah and I escaped with relatively little damage. This kind of natural kindness is one of Hufflepuff's finest virtues.
"Ernie and Justin are really nice people."
"Is there any chance they could be promoted beyond just 'nice people'?"
When I voiced my honest impression, Hannah teased me with the question.
"As friends, sure, but as boyfriends, that's a bit…"
"Hey, wait a second. Turning someone down with that serious tone is hurtful, so maybe let's not do that."
Ernie slumped exaggeratedly, and Justin patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't worry about it, Ernie."
"Don't act like it doesn't concern you. You got rejected too, you know!"
While we were joking around like that, Daphne and the others came over, probably wondering why I was taking so long to come back.
"Elaina, what happened?"
"I just finished turning down Ernie and Justin."
After a brief moment of silence and confusion, Daphne was the first to burst out laughing.
"What, Elaina, two-timing? Nice one!"
"It's just two guys who misunderstood and self-destructed on their own."
"That's what all bad women say."
Millicent grinned and jabbed her elbow into my side repeatedly. The slightly tense atmosphere from earlier gradually eased, and even Pansy, who had been glaring at Justin, slowly relaxed her expression.
"Well, serves them right, doesn't it?"
"You're ruthless too, Parkinson!"
Ernie immediately fired back. Despite appearances, he was from a pure-blood noble family himself, so he could speak to Pansy on equal footing.
"What's going on here?"
Apparently curious about the lively scene, Draco came over with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. After staring at Ernie and Hannah for a moment, he looked at Justin and his expression stiffened slightly.
As a pure-blood supremacist, Draco naturally found it hard to accept Justin, who was Muggle-born. You could practically feel him swallowing back words like "tainted blood" or "blood traitor" that were on the tip of his tongue.
Justin, for his part, sensed that he was not welcome and could only wear an awkward, uneasy expression.
So I decided to step in and lend a hand.
"Justin, I believe you already know this, but this is Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's Seeker and the heir of the Malfoy family, the foremost of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
"You didn't need to add 'heir,'" Draco muttered.
Even while complaining, he clearly did not dislike being introduced as "Slytherin's Seeker" and "the foremost of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Malfoy family." Normally he would have started pure-blood posturing immediately, but perhaps because he was flattered, or because he was humoring me, he seemed to restrain himself today.
"By the way, besides real estate, the Malfoy family is also the founding family of Wiltshire Insurance, the largest comprehensive insurance company in the British wizarding world."
I shot Justin a look that practically screamed, "Just praise the Malfoys a lot and everything will be fine."
"Draco's family controls over sixty percent of the British wizarding world's life insurance market."
"Really?"
Whether he understood my intention or was simply honest by nature, Justin quickly shifted to an admiring gaze in the face of the Malfoy family's prestige.
"That's amazing. I always thought you had an air of refinement about you."
"Hmph… of course, of course. There are ranks even among pure-bloods, you know. Please don't lump me together with the Weasleys or the Longbottoms."
For all his faults, being weak to praise is one of Draco's better qualities.
For some reason, he reminded me of a souvenir shop owner from my hometown, a man who claimed to hate France, yet whenever French tourists praised him with "British Empire culture, très bien," he would immediately soften and start explaining, with a grin, how the town originally began as a fortress built by Elizabeth I to prepare for the Spanish Armada.
In reality, there are quite a few half-bloods even in Slytherin. As a rule, the best way to avoid things turning ugly when someone tries to assert dominance is not to confront them head-on, but to flatter them lightly and let it slide. That was something my mother taught me before I even entered primary school.
"Elaina, when dealing with troublesome people, remember the 'sa-shi-su-se-so.'"
"Sa-shi-su-se-so?"
"'Impressive!' 'I didn't know that!' 'That's amazing!' 'You've got great taste!' and 'I see!' Those five phrases."
Fortunately, Justin did not seem to be particularly proud, and he quickly understood my intention of "just praise them and it will be fine."
Once Draco and the others realized that Justin bore no hostility toward them, meaning he had no intention of challenging the pure-blood caste system, they seemed satisfied and left. When it comes to being looked down on, the best approach is simply not to take it too seriously and let it pass.
"Sorry about our Draco."
"Oh my, I can imagine how difficult that must be."
Hannah and I both put a hand to our cheeks and laughed politely together. Beside us, Ernie wore a visibly relieved expression.
"Well, at heart he's not a bad person."
I offered a small attempt at defending him.
"It's just that his favoritism toward his own goes a bit too far, and he tends to be harsh toward outsiders."
Since the medieval witch hunts, the wizarding world has developed into a closed, inward-looking society, something like isolationism. As a result, when faced with the unknown, anxiety tends to outweigh expectation, and there is a mentality of responding to outsiders with rejection first. That much is hard to deny.
Among them, Slytherin, perhaps because it has so many pure-bloods, often operates under the logic of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," and tends to lash out whenever someone even slightly challenges existing culture or customs.
On the other hand, the Dursley family where Harry lives seems to practice something like Muggle supremacy instead. No matter where you go, there are always a certain number of exclusionary people.
"Both Hermione and Justin are good people this year, but it seems that among the older Muggle-born students, there were quite a few who liked to engage in Muggle-style one-upmanship."
"Is that so?"
The way he blinked in mild surprise really showed Justin's gentle nature. Still, according to what Prefect Gemma Farley had told us, not all of them were like that.
"I mean, steam locomotives, quills, parchment, and owl post instead of carrier pigeons. A Muggle-born would naturally think, 'What era is this?'"
"Well… at first, I did think that way for a while. I got used to it, though."
"And that's how you end up with Muggle-born students who look down on it a bit, saying things like, 'No trains, no ballpoint pens, no telephones? The wizarding world is so behind the times. What century is this?'"
That is what you would call a so-called Muggle elitist.
Just as there are people raised entirely in the magical world who look down on Muggles out of prejudice, it is hardly surprising that there are people raised entirely among Muggles who mock the wizarding world out of prejudice as well. At that point, it becomes a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, and the result is an endless cycle of mutual condescension.
At Hogwarts, while there is a de facto pure-blood faction in Slytherin, there is no real Muggle-born faction. However, once you enter society, there are even radical civic groups made up of Muggle-borns.
"Of course, even among witches and wizards, including pure-blood supremacists, no one seriously thinks everything in the wizarding world is superior to Muggles. To be honest, Quidditch rules are full of holes compared to football."
Even so, for witches and wizards, Quidditch is more than just a sport. It is also a long-standing cultural tradition.
When people ignore that context, nitpick flaws in the rules, and then say things like, "In Muggle sports…," it is not strange that some people feel irritated, as if their favorite sport is being dismissed.
There are times when witches or wizards who were born magical but dislike Quidditch chime in with, "Yeah, exactly," treating the enemy of their enemy as a friend. However, when outsiders bring up external examples and point out flaws in something you care about, even valid arguments usually grate on the nerves.
That said, many witches and wizards are also ignorant of Muggle culture, so there are plenty of cases where they take ethnic joke stereotypes at face value and step on landmines without any malicious intent.
This is especially true in Slytherin. Much like casually calling someone bald or fat, people often use the term "tainted blood" without much personal malice, treating it as an internal joke that really should not be said aloud. There are quite a few immature people who will blurt it out in public, or even use it plainly as an insult.
"Getting along with people is really difficult, isn't it…"
Justin's expression grew a little troubled.
"This time, Elaina helped smooth things over, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable about it…"
"You'll get used to it. If Hannah or Ernie were to lightly tease you about Muggle stuff now, you probably wouldn't care much anymore, right?"
"Well… I suppose that's true."
"When someone reacts strongly or gets flustered, it just makes them more fun to tease. If you take it calmly and let it slide, it usually fades away."
Still, I added, if malicious teasing does not stop,
"Then you should boldly escalate things. Put a curse on them, or lose your temper loudly in class. Make it such a big incident that it is out of their control. That way, a teacher or even the Ministry of Magic will step in, and the initiative will no longer be in their hands."
Bullying, harassment, and domestic abuse can sometimes be seen as a necessary evil "to maintain harmony" if they are kept hidden.
But once the situation reaches a point where a board of education, a labor standards office, or the police must intervene, internal logic no longer applies.
"But wouldn't that make people think I'm dangerous?"
"If they think you're dangerous, no one will want to pull nasty pranks on you."
That said, it is a last resort, so it is best not to use it if you can avoid it. Still, just knowing you have a final option tends to give you peace of mind.
"I'll try to rein things in on my side so it doesn't go too far, but as long as you keep getting along with Ernie and Hannah like you have been, I don't think anyone will mess with you so easily. There's strength in numbers."
"If you phrased that last part a little more gently, it might sound like a nicer piece of advice…"
"Well, still," Justin continued,
"Meeting you today, Elaina, and the other Slytherins made me understand something, at least a little."
"And that is?"
"That even among Slytherins, there are all kinds of people. It might be obvious, but…"
It may indeed be obvious.
Yet just as there are many kinds of men and women, many kinds of young and old people, we tend to forget the obvious truth that there are all kinds of people in Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff as well.
"If you can think that way, I'd say you're quite mature, Justin."
When I said that, Justin smiled broadly.
＊＊
"Still…"
After parting ways with the Hufflepuffs, I thought about it for a moment.
"I do wish Draco and the others could tone down their Muggle allergy a bit."
If things get too complicated, I will not be able to stay uninvolved either.
"…Maybe someday I should subtly spread the good points of Muggle culture to them."
(End of chapter)
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