Detention

"..." Kayson remained silent, his silence filling the corridor.

Draco, for some reason, felt a strange pressure and swallowed hard.

"Uh… what does Mudblood mean?" Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. Although they both knew it wasn't a good term, they still didn't understand the wizarding slang.

"In short, it's a very, very nasty term used against Muggle-born wizards," Ron explained.

Ron's explanation not only clarified things for Harry and Hermione but also for Kayson. It sounded like personal attack combined with bloodline discrimination… hmm, he couldn't resolve this himself.

Even though he knew it was a bad word, he still didn't understand the severity. Should it result in point deductions, detention, or immediate annihilation?

He couldn't gauge the appropriate response and had to seek help from the older wizards.

Although Snape and Professor McGonagall weren't exactly ancient.

"I'm going to call Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape over. Do you have any objections?"

Upon hearing Snape's name, Draco flinched in fear and shrank his neck, but he still remained silent, continuing his silent treatment of everyone.

The four Gryffindor young wizards, however, glared fiercely at Draco, having no objections themselves.

"You all go to my office first. I'll go get Professor McGonagall and the others," Kayson said, then vanished on the spot, leaving only wisps of purple light.

"Isn't Apparition forbidden at Hogwarts?" Draco asked, bewildered as Kayson suddenly disappeared.

"Hmph, don't ask what you shouldn't," Neville said coldly.

Soon, Professor McGonagall, looking groggy, and Snape, who was brewing potions in his office, were both summoned by Kayson from their respective offices. The three of them walked into the Alchemy office.

The five young wizards were divided into two groups, standing on either side of the coffee table.

"Now, can you tell me what happened?" Snape asked.

"Now that your Heads of House are here, tell us what happened."

Ron spoke first, looking at Professor McGonagall, "Tonight, we were returning from Hagrid's hut with Professor Kayson. On the way, Malfoy and Hermione were bickering, and then Malfoy suddenly called Hermione a Mudblood!"

The moment Ron spat out the word "Mudblood," Kayson felt the temperature in the office inexplicably drop by several degrees. He slowly shuffled over to the fireplace and pressed a skull on it, causing flames to erupt.

Before the ashen-faced Professor McGonagall could react, Snape's gaze turned sinister as he looked at Draco, "Draco… Malfoy… is that correct?"

Draco swallowed hard, his eyes darting away, unable to meet Snape's gaze.

Seeing Malfoy's demeanor, Snape understood and immediately spoke, "Because of Draco Malfoy, Slytherin will lose twenty points…"

"And he needs detention to learn his lesson," Professor McGonagall added.

"I don't have time for this. Do you?" Snape asked.

The two exchanged a look and then turned their attention to Kayson, who was sitting on the sofa fiddling with a quill.

"…I don't have anything pressing. How long will his detention be?"

"A week… plus some after-class labor," Snape said calmly.

"…………Alright, then it will start tomorrow," Kayson nodded.

Shortly after, Kayson saw the last person out of the office. Instead of locking the door and going to bed, he paid a late-night visit to the library.

Due to Snape's point-awarding behavior, the scores of all four houses had become somewhat inflated. Therefore, twenty points didn't really indicate any severe punishment.

Thus, the poor Professor Kayson had to go to the library late at night to research materials, to figure out what kind of detention to assign Draco tomorrow, for example… how strict should it be?

An hour later, Kayson returned to the office and placed a cubic meter of Redstone in the corner, also taking out a small file.

He had already decided that if Draco didn't meticulously file this entire block of Redstone into Redstone powder tomorrow, he wouldn't be allowed to leave.

The next day, in the evening.

"Professor Kayson, are you joking?" Draco held the small file, which was no thicker than his finger, and looked at the block of Redstone in front of him, which seemed much heavier than him, with a bewildered expression.

"That's right, Mr. Malfoy. Otherwise, why would you be here for detention? You should know that detention is never a comfortable experience."

Draco resigned himself to the situation, crouched down, and began filing.

"…Professor, is this that Redstone?"

"You know about Redstone? You're only in your first year."

"This stuff has a big reputation in the castle. The fifth-years are always showing it off," Draco complained.

"Uh-huh."

"Professor, do you usually use this Redstone to create alchemical creations?"

"And its powder can be used as a magic circuit, two different methods from magic pattern circuits."

"What's the difference?"

Kayson tapped the table. "You're here for detention, not a class."

"Alright," Draco said dejectedly, lowering his head. After a minute or two, Kayson's voice came again.

"Normally, the magic contained within a magic pattern circuit becomes magic through the pattern's operation. However, this can be done by an Enchanting Table. You know about Enchanting Tables, right?"

"Yes, I know."

"Redstone circuits, on the other hand, are analogous to magic circuits, acting like a switch to activate magic pattern circuits."

Draco nodded. "Then what's the difference between this and a magic circuit?"

"Faster, stronger, harder."

"Huh?"

"Keep grinding."

Kayson sat in his seat reading a book, and added, "Please hurry, Mr. Malfoy. Your detention is measured in Redstone blocks. If you only grind this one Redstone block in seven days, do you know what that means?"

Draco suddenly felt a chill run down his spine for some reason.

"It means you have six more Redstone blocks of the same size to grind," Kayson said, not waiting for Draco to answer.

"Good heavens... Professor, you wouldn't be that cruel, would you?"

"..."

"You wouldn't be that cruel, would you?" Draco's grinding of the Redstone with the file involuntarily sped up.