Detention

"..." Kayson said nothing, remaining stubbornly silent. Even the air in the corridor fell quiet.

For some reason, Draco felt a strange pressure and struggled to swallow.

"Uh... what does Mudblood mean?" Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. Though both knew it was not a nice word, they still could not understand this wizarding slang.

"Basically, it's an extremely, extremely vicious insult aimed at Muggle-born wizards," Ron explained.

That explanation did not just make things clear for Harry and Hermione; Kayson understood as well. It sounded like a personal attack combined with bloodline discrimination... yeah, that was not something he could handle on his own.

Although he knew the word was bad, he still did not understand how serious it was. Should he deduct points, assign detention, or just drag Draco out and humanely dispose of him?

He could not judge the proper degree of punishment himself, so he could only seek help from the older wizards.

Though Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall were not exactly that old.

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

At Snape's name, Draco shrank back slightly in fear, but he still said nothing, choosing to give everyone the silent treatment.

The four Gryffindor students glared viciously at Draco and raised no objections either.

"Go to my office first. I'll fetch Professor McGonagall and the others." After saying that, Kayson vanished from the spot, leaving behind only faint purple motes of light.

"Isn't Apparition forbidden at Hogwarts?" Draco said blankly as he watched Kayson suddenly disappear.

"Hmph. Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask," Neville said coldly.

Before long, Kayson had fetched a bleary-eyed Professor McGonagall and Snape, who had been brewing potions in his office. The three of them entered the Alchemy office.

The five young wizards stood in two groups on either side of the coffee table.

"Can you explain what happened now?" Snape asked.

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

Ron was the first to look at Professor McGonagall. "Tonight, Professor Kayson and we were coming back from Hagrid's hut. Malfoy and Hermione were bickering the whole way, and then Malfoy suddenly called Hermione a Mudblood!"

The instant Ron uttered the word "Mudblood," Kayson felt the office somehow grow several degrees colder. He could only slowly shuffle over to the fireplace and press one of the skulls above it. A roaring fire immediately burst to life in the hearth.

Before the livid Professor McGonagall could lash out, Snape fixed Draco with a gloomy stare. "Draco... Malfoy... is that true?"

Draco swallowed and averted his gaze, not daring to meet Snape's eyes.

Seeing Malfoy's reaction, Snape understood at once. "Because of Draco Malfoy, Slytherin will lose twenty points..."

"He also needs detention, so he'll learn his lesson," Professor McGonagall added.

"I don't have time lately. Do you?" Snape said.

The two exchanged a glance, then suddenly looked toward Kayson, who was sitting on the sofa fiddling with a quill.

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

"One week... with labor outside class hours," Snape said flatly.

"...All right. It starts tomorrow." Kayson nodded.

Not long afterward, after seeing the last person out of the office, Kayson did not lock the door and return to bed. Instead, he paid a late-night visit to the library.

Thanks to Snape's habit of awarding points, the scores of all four Houses could be said to be somewhat inflated. So honestly, twenty points did not look particularly severe.

Poor Professor Kayson had no choice but to go to the library in the middle of the night to look up what sort of detention Draco should receive tomorrow—such as... how harsh it should be.

An hour later, Kayson returned to his office and placed a one-cubic-meter block of Redstone in the corner. He also took out a small file.

He had already decided that Draco would not be allowed to leave tomorrow until he had filed that entire block of Redstone into fine Redstone powder.

The next evening.

"Professor Kayson, are you joking?" Draco held a small file barely thicker than his finger and looked at the Redstone block before him, which seemed heavier than he was no matter how he looked at it. He stared at Kayson in bewilderment.

"That's right, Mr. Malfoy. Otherwise, why would you be here for detention? You should know that detention isn't supposed to be comfortable."

Draco resigned himself to it, squatted down, and began filing.

"...Professor, is this that Redstone?"

"You know about Redstone? You're only a first-year."

"This stuff is famous throughout the castle. The fifth-years show it off everywhere," Draco complained.

"Mm-hm."

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

"I also use its powder. It can serve as a magical circuit, a method different from a magic-rune circuit."

"What's the difference?"

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

"Fine." Draco lowered his head dejectedly. After a minute or two, Kayson's voice came again.

"Normally, the magic contained in a magic-rune circuit becomes a spell after flowing through the runes. But the Enchanting Table can handle that for you. You know about the Enchanting Table, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"A Redstone circuit, on the other hand, corresponds to a magical circuit. It works like a switch, used to activate magic-rune circuits."

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

"Faster, stronger, tougher."

"Huh?"

"Keep filing."

Kayson sat in his chair reading a book, but he did not forget to say, "Please hurry, Mr. Malfoy. Your detention is measured in Redstone blocks. If seven days pass and you've only filed down this one block, do you know what that means?"

For some reason, Draco suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

"It means you still have six Redstone blocks of the same size left to file." Without waiting for Draco to answer, Kayson continued on his own.

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

"..."

"You wouldn't be that cruel, right?" Draco's filing speed unconsciously increased.