The corridor was packed with people. Lily tugged at Kayson and Snape's robes, dragging them toward a less crowded area.
"Listen!" Lily whispered, her green eyes scanning the surroundings.
"I think you two are both... intelligent people! Do you admit it?"
Kayson and Snape exchanged a glance and nodded.
"So, since you two are intelligent people, shouldn't you refuse this kind of provocation that's no different from being a clown? Shouldn't intelligent people treat them like dog shit and stay far away from them?" Lily continued to ask.
Kayson nodded to Snape.
"So shouldn't we pretend we weren't challenged? Should we act like nothing happened and just eat, study, and sleep normally?" Lily suggested.
Kayson and Snape exchanged a glance and both shook their heads.
Snape flicked his sleeves. " Lily's right, they just want to see us back down." He chuckled, "If we back down, we'll have to avoid them if we run into them in the corridor from now on. Look, three cowards who dare not take a fight, Potter and Black would definitely say the same thing."
Kayson nodded in agreement. " Lily, you're so smart. If you hadn't reminded us that James Potter and the others wanted us to back down, we wouldn't have realized it!"
"So what?" Lily's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant. You two have misunderstood!"
Kayson shook his head. "That's right... we understand correctly!"
As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, vaguely remembering that when he first went to the Hogwarts Kitchens, the House-elf had given him several gifts...
"Passively accepting things is meaningless; it makes us seem too obedient... We need to be more proactive."
"Take initiative for what?" Lily frowned.
"Let's fight!" Kayson suddenly grabbed three gloves from his pocket. They were oddly styled, looking like House-elf sew with a tattered rag, with crooked stitches and some suspicious grease stains.
He weighed them in his hand, tossed one to Snape, and then handed one to Lily.
"Here, take them all."
Lily held the limp, kitchen-smelling glove with a look of disgust. "What's this? A dishcloth?"
"Kitchen heat-resistant gloves." Kayson grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. " The House-elf was so enthusiastic that he insisted on giving them to me, and they're coming in handy."
Snape pinched his own, his fingertips able to feel the greasy, sticky texture.
"... Throw it in their faces?" he asked, his tone rising with a mix of uncertainty and excitement.
"Yes!" Kayson crumpled the last glove and stuffed it into the pocket of his robe.
"If you're going to throw it, you have to do it in front of everyone! The louder and more spectacular the throw! As for the location..." He rolled his eyes. "The abandoned classroom on the east side of the fourth floor!"
Lily looked at the two suddenly spirited young men in front of her, opened her mouth, but ultimately swallowed back the words of persuasion.
She resignedly stuffed the greasy heat-resistant glove into her pocket, muttering, "Fine, fine... I'll just throw it away, but remember to aim carefully!"
At lunchtime, the Great Hall is always like a pot of boiling stew. The long tables of the four colleges are packed with people, knives and forks clattering, and voices clattering.
The aroma of roasted beef, the sweetness of Pumpkin Juice, and the faint metallic smell from the bottom of the crucible all blended together.
James, Sirius, and Lupin sat at the Gryffindor table, near the center. James was excitedly boasting to the person next to him about how he had issued the duel challenge.
Sirius leaned back lazily in his chair, his gray eyes scanning the entrance to the Great Hall. Lupin sipped his Pumpkin Juice, his face a little pale.
Just then, the light at the entrance to the Great Hall was blocked by three figures.
Kayson led the way, his robe pockets bulging, a strange, suppressed laugh on his face, because he couldn't help but laugh at the thought of what he was going to do later...
Lily followed to his left, her green eyes strikingly bright, her chin slightly raised. Snape stood to his right, his spiky hair still stubbornly sticking up.
Three first-graders exuded an indescribable aura.
The sound in the entire Great Hall seemed to be abruptly cut off, the buzzing instantly subsiding. Countless eyes were fixed on them.
At the High Table, Professor McGonagall was discussing something with Professor Flitwick, while Professor Sprout picked up a potato with a fork and began to eat it with relish.
Dumbledore's Half-moon Spectacles had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and he was reaching out to adjust them.
Next to Dumbledore, Professor Heath, the Alchemy Professor, had just stuffed a syrup pie into his mouth, his cheeks bulging.
He glanced at the three people below, paused in his chewing, and a tiny, very slow smile spread across his lips.
Without looking to either side, Kayson and his two companions walked straight through the long tables of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Table, their target clearly the Gryffindor.
Sirius was the first to spot them, nudging the still-bragging James with his elbow. James turned around, his smile freezing on his face. Lupin put down his pumpkin cup and instinctively shrank back.
When they were about three steps away from the Gryffindor table, Kayson stopped. Lily and Snape stood on either side of him.
Several pairs of eyes were fixed on it. The only sound in the Great Hall was the crackling of the burning wood in the fireplace.
Kayson reached into the pocket of his greasy robe.
Dumbledore adjusted his glasses, his deep blue eyes peering down through the lenses, his fingers lightly tapping the table. Beside him stood Professor Heath, his smile widening, revealing glimpses of his gleaming white teeth.
Kayson pulled it out.
It's not a magic wand.
It was a dusty, limp glove with suspicious oil stains.
He swung his arm in a wide arc, using all his strength, like throwing a brick, and smashed it hard into James's astonished face!
The glove was precisely applied to James Potter Porter's nose, then slid limply onto the plate in front of him, splashing a few drops of gravy.
"Fourth floor, east end! Abandoned classroom!" Kayson's voice echoed eerily, "Midnight! Don't bring a broom, bring something useful!"
Several times at the same time!
Lily's glove, like a green lightning bolt, slammed against Sirius Black's meticulously combed black hair with a whooshing sound. The glove slipped down, hanging on his high, straight nose, obscuring one eye.
Snape, having honed his precision through Potions Class, flicked his wrist, and the equally greasy glove spun out, heading precisely for Lupin.
Lu Ping instinctively raised his hand to block, and the glove slapped his forearm before falling into the Pumpkin Juice glass in front of him, splashing orange-yellow juice all over his face.
Three movements, performed in one smooth motion.
The entire Hogwarts Great Hall fell into an unprecedented, absolute silence.
Hundreds of students, their mouths agape, could fit a light bulb. (Don't try it!!!)
The food was suspended in mid-air, and people forgot to chew it. Even the four Head of House the High Table, apart from Dumbledore and Heath, looked as if they had been stoned.
Professor McGonagall held up her wand, her face drained of all color. Professor Flitwick stood on tiptoe, his small body taut like a bowstring.
Professor Slughorn's silver fork clattered into the plate. Professor Sprout gasped, his voice particularly jarring in the silence.
At the Gryffindor table, James's face was redder than his scarf. Sirius slowly removed the dark green rag from his nose, his eyes filled with only cold, burning anger.
Kayson clapped his hands, as if he had merely dusted off some dirt. He didn't even glance at the High Table before turning and leaving.
Lily held her head high, like a victorious little lioness, her green eyes burning with fire. Snape glanced one last time at the Gryffindor table, a chilling smile curving his lips.
The three turned around and, under the scrutiny of hundreds of shocked and excited gazes, strode out of the Great Hall.
Then they seemed to remember something, and hurriedly went to the Great Hall to get their own food before leaving again.
Just as their figures disappeared through the doorway, the suffocating silence was broken by the first gasp. Immediately afterward, a massive, chaotic roar erupted!
In the High Table, Professor McGonagall trembled with rage, staring towards the doorway. "Lawlessness! Utter lawlessness! I'm putting them in solitary confinement! I'm graduating them!" She turned to Dumbledore: " Albus! You see! This... this barbaric brawl must be stopped!"
Professor Sprout said worriedly, " Kayson is a good boy... Lily is too... How could this be...?"
Dumbledore raised his hand, gently silencing all noise. He glanced at the several excited Head of House, finally settling on Heath, who was standing nearby, intently poking at a pie with a fork, as if he had just watched a wonderful play.
Dumbledore's voice carried a strange, soothing power. "Calm down. Children... well... very energetic, aren't you?"
"Vibrant?!" Professor McGonagall's voice rose eight octaves. "This is blatant defiance of school rules! Group fighting! In an abandoned classroom! At midnight!"
" Albus," Heath suddenly spoke, his voice slightly hoarse, like metal scraping. He put down his fork. "How much more vibrant, how much more spirited. You can't expect them to be afraid to even take out their wands in school, and then have them fight Voldemort right after graduation. That's as abstract as not letting them touch the opposite sex before graduating from university, and then having them create the next generation within a month of graduation."
"But they're only at level one!"
"That's why we call it a hero emerging from among the young! Besides, they're only level 1, what big trouble can they cause? I'll take over the Hospital Wing shift next night, and I won't be at a disadvantage with medical magic!" Heath said.
Professor McGonagall snorted coldly, watching Dumbledore and Heath's back-and-forth banter in front of her, and angrily sat down.
Flitwick and Slughorn exchanged glances. Professor Sprout looked anxiously toward the entrance of the Great Hall.
Cave...
"That was so satisfying! I've been annoyed by those two faces for ages!" Kayson said, sitting on a chair on the stairs, eating as he spoke.
Although Snape and Lily didn't say anything, their expressions clearly showed that they were quite relieved!
"Oh right, you said it was so upright and honorable..." Lily suddenly remembered something. "What if the professors stop us, or what if they're waiting for us somewhere?"
"That's perfect. Getting caught by the professors is just a matter of losing two points and being locked up for a few days. But compared to other schools, we're brave Champion have launched a resistance, which is better than cowards who dare not accept a duel."
"And maybe we can turn the tables on them sometime. We'll bravely get points deducted and be put in jail, while they'll fail and miss out on the professors. Once we pin this blame for avoiding the duel on them, they won't be able to get it off their heads!"
Snape sneered.
Lily gasped, looking at Kayson in shock. "You're so smart! How come your head is so small?"
Kayson chuckled helplessly. What should he say? Should he say that he hadn't thought that much about it at the time?
Oh well, let them misunderstand if they want, I have no problem with it.
midnight...
Hogwarts Castle sank into its deepest slumber. The moonlight was filtered through thick clouds, leaving only a thin, pale glow that barely outlined the corridors and the menacing shadows of armor.
On the fourth floor, east wing, the air was filled with a musty, dusty smell, and some indescribable odor, like the slow decay of stone.
At the end of the corridor, a broken wooden door had a sign with blurry, barely legible characters.
Abandoned classroom, do not enter if dangerous.
Three figures sat on a broken wooden table behind the door.
Kayson crossed his arms, leaning slightly forward, holding a pixelated flame in his hands to bring light and warmth to the other two. Lily sat beside him, her wand gripped tightly in her hand, tip pointing to the ground, her green eyes warily fixed on the doorway in the distance.
Snape exhaled, his wand still clutched in his hand, his face appearing even paler and more somber in the shadows.
"What if they're too scared to come?" Lily whispered, the air currents stirring up a small patch of dust on the ground.
"Those two rich bastards are too proud to not come. Besides, if the authorities really don't dare to come, we'll just go and ask the professors to turn themselves in and pin the blame on them!" Snape's voice was like ice shards rubbing together.
Kayson didn't speak, but he twitched his ears and looked towards the doorway in front of him.
Tap... tap... tap...
It wasn't the sound of dripping water.
It was footsteps, coming from the depths of darkness. It wasn't just one person.
The footsteps were amplified in the silence, echoing as they drew closer.
With a creak.
Three figures emerged from the dark passageway.
A person.
"Can't you guys be a little more particular about the gloves you use for duels?!"
Cicadas are not winter cicadas
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