Criticism

A book and quill suddenly appeared in his hands. He copied down every section of Forbidden Alchemy related to Flesh Alchemy, then returned Forbidden Alchemy to the shelf and prepared to head back with his handwritten notes.

On his way from the library back to his office, Kayson suddenly heard a rapid series of footsteps, as if someone were running away.

He did not think much of it. Filch catching little wizards out past curfew was nothing unusual.

It was not until he had gone nearly twenty meters past the staircase that he realized the room above it seemed to be the classroom Dumbledore used as bait.

And Hagrid's three-headed dog was inside that classroom.

"Merlin's beard!"

An Ender Pearl instantly appeared in Kayson's hand. Within three breaths, he had arrived outside the classroom door.

He hurriedly pushed the door open and saw four little wizards inside.

At the same time, a beam of light appeared in the distance, accompanied by the sound of someone panting.

"Professor Heath? Have you seen four little wizards sneaking around at night?"

Kayson lowered his head and looked at the four little wizards crouching in front of him, shaking their heads frantically. He then looked at Filch, who was holding a lantern not far away, and shook his head as well.

"Is that so? I'll search the other floors! Those naughty little brats won't escape the palm of my hand!" Filch said sinisterly as he headed toward the stairwell.

After confirming that Filch had left, Kayson grabbed two children in each hand and swiftly hauled all four little wizards out of the room.

"Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione, tell me why you were out after curfew. No, compared to this, sneaking around at night is a complete triviality. Do you know that big fellow could eat the three of you in just two bites?"

"And the last one would even be torn into three pieces!"

After bringing the four of them back to his office, Kayson immediately berated them sternly.

"It was Malfoy. He asked us to come out for a duel, but then he ran away and even tipped off Filch. We were just afraid of losing points..." Ron said aggrievedly.

"They're only points. Let Filch take them! Didn't Dumbledore warn you at the start-of-term feast about the danger of that empty classroom? Did you treat it like it went in one ear and out the other?"

"Is losing points better, or is losing your lives better? At worst, he'd give you detention. Is death somehow easier to accept than detention?" Kayson straightened up again, hands on his hips as he continued his tirade.

"If it's detention with Snape, then it really might be better to—"

"Harry, shut up! You still haven't realized how serious this is!"

"You misjudged the danger of two possible outcomes. Before you hid in that classroom, you should have remembered Dumbledore's warning at the start of term. Fine, perhaps you panicked and didn't think of it. That's understandable. But after seeing that three-headed dog, why didn't you run out immediately?"

"Did you really think that huge dog was sleeping peacefully? Even if I hadn't said it, you should have been able to see clearly that if it had truly attacked you, Harry, Neville, and Ron would have been one bite each. Hermione would have been last, and she would have had it worst, because she would have been bitten into three pieces!"

The more Kayson spoke, the angrier he became. That evening, he and Snape had gone to load potions into the potion launcher for the piston door.

Before going in, Kayson had clearly seen a layer of silver light flash over Snape's body. It should have been a Shield Charm, yet even that had been bitten through by the three-headed dog.

Even more frighteningly, after Kayson knocked the three-headed dog unconscious, its unconsciousness had blended seamlessly into sleep. In other words, the three-headed dog had not eaten dinner.

If the three-headed dog had groggily woken while the four of them were hiding there, then discovered three main courses and one snack...

"You... Forget it. Just wait for your points to be deducted. No, I'm a professor too. I'll deduct them myself. Four Gryffindors, twenty points each!"

The four little wizards all lowered their heads. It was their first time realizing that Professor Kayson, who was usually gentle like a little sun, could be so terrifying when angry.

His furious bearing was no less imposing than Professor McGonagall's, and his sharp tongue was no less formidable than Snape's.

However, one particularly sensitive little wizard noticed a different emotion beneath that blazing anger.

"P-Professor, I'm sorry." Neville lowered his head, his voice trembling with sobs.

"Neville... uh... Neville!"

Kayson instinctively wanted to crouch down and comfort him, but he quickly came to his senses. He still had to be stern. Stern, stern, even sterner!

"Do you know what you did wrong?"

"I do..."

"What do you know?"

"We shouldn't have gone into that classroom."

"Besides that, you failed to assess the situation. Can't you use your heads to weigh it up? Losing points or dying—which is more frightening?"

"We will, Professor. We will."

"And you can't keep clinging to that kind of wishful thinking. I knocked that dog unconscious this afternoon. Just now, you couldn't possibly be sure whether it was asleep or unconscious. What if it woke up, or woke up hungry..."

"Neville... Neville?"

Kayson saw that a small puddle had already appeared on the floor beneath Neville's feet. Still standing with his hands on his hips, he simply sighed.

"Forget it. You should already understand how serious this was."

"Mm."

"And what did you learn from this?"

"Next time we encounter something, we should weigh the pros and cons in our hearts... Though that sounds like Slytherin..." The first part was spoken by all four of them together, while Ron muttered the latter part under his breath.

"The traits of all four Houses are strengths. You can't ignore Slytherin's strengths—or cast them aside like worn-out shoes—just because you dislike Slytherin," Kayson added.

"We will, Professor."

"All right, go back now. Head straight to your dormitories." Kayson pointed toward the door, and the wooden door opened with a click.

"Forget it. I still don't quite trust you. After all, you're Gryffindors. I'll take you back."

"Professor, you don't have to do that." Neville looked at Kayson with reddened eyes.

"Think of it as helping you avoid Filch."

The five of them remained silent the entire way. It was not until they reached Gryffindor Tower and Kayson watched all four of them climb through the portrait hole behind the Fat Lady that the stern expression on his face finally relaxed.

"Keeping a stern face is really exhausting. I don't know how Severus manages it twenty-four hours a day... And my Flesh Alchemy. A full two hours... Filch was right. These little wizards really are far too naughty..."

"Gryffindor's little wizards are a bit thoughtless too."

Kayson muttered to himself as he walked back to his office.