(P.S. For the protagonist at this early point in the story, staying at Hogwarts with Hermione would actually leave them in greater danger because they'd be constrained in various ways. It wouldn't be any safer than the real world. This is one of the major themes of the first volume, and I'll gradually explain it more as the story goes on. That's all~)
Professor Flitwick Is Beyond Reproach
"We can discuss responsibility later, Severus. Right now, I'd like to talk to Harry first."
Dumbledore came around the desk and stood before Harry, asking unhurriedly, "Harry, could you tell me why you injured Malfoy so badly?"
"It's done now, so what's there to say? But there's one thing I want to make clear: I took Ron's wand from him. He didn't lend it to me, so he had nothing to do with this!"
Faced with Dumbledore, Harry was just as carefree and unbothered as he'd been during the Sorting. But when it came to Ron, he took all the blame upon himself.
Ron had dared to jump in and help under those circumstances. The kid was a true friend, and Harry couldn't drag him into this!
"Harry, I hope you understand that when we encounter a problem, we should try to find a way to resolve it, rather than simply ignore it based on personal likes and dislikes." Dumbledore was remarkably patient with Harry's uncooperative attitude. "As I understand it, Mr. Ron Weasley has already admitted to Professor McGonagall that he willingly lent you his wand."
"What..."
"But if you insist that you 'took' it, in an effort to protect Mr. Weasley, I can accept that as the truth." Dumbledore smiled serenely. "You see, Harry? If you face things positively, a lot of problems can be resolved with ease."
Tch. I knew going toe-to-toe with old Dumbledore wouldn't be easy!
Harry had meant to change the subject to Ron, so that old Dumbledore would hurry up and pass judgment on his own misdeeds. He hadn't expected the old man to steer the conversation right back in just a few words—and even sneak in a compliment while he was at it!
For heaven's sake, Harry hadn't come to the Headmaster's Office for praise. He'd come to be punished!
"Fine, I'll face it positively. Now hurry up and resolve me, will you?" Harry jiggled his leg nonchalantly. "I took Ron's wand, I started the fire on the grounds, and I deliberately provoked Malfoy into attacking me! I smashed a brick into his head, and I took down all those Slytherin boys by myself. The only ones to blame are a bunch of moronic idiots!!"
Mm-hmm... Harry thought his little speech, straight out of the playbook of the delinquent students from his previous life, had worked pretty well.
At least Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout were frowning now. Clearly, they weren't pleased with his outrageous behavior.
That's right. Go ahead and think of me as a hopeless bastard!
"See, Professor Flitwick? I told you long ago that your trust in him was nothing but wishful thinking!" Just when Harry thought everything was going smoothly, Snape suddenly dragged Professor Flitwick into the argument!
"Harry Granger is nothing like you said. He didn't do this to help Neville Longbottom or to stand up for justice! He did it because he's arrogant and thinks he's stronger than everyone else. He's never had any regard for his classmates!"
"But I don't think Harry is that sort of boy!" Professor Flitwick hurriedly spoke up in Harry's defense. "He's a very good boy! He even helped me..."
"You've spoiled him far too much!" Snape continued his relentless criticism. "Professor Flitwick, I think you ought to listen to the complaints within Ravenclaw about your unfair treatment of students! Some people have been throwing their weight around ever since they got lucky enough to defeat You-Know-Who. Then, with you backing them, they became completely lawless! What happened today comes down to one thing: you failed to discipline him properly!"
"N-no, that's not how it is! Harry is a kind boy. I truly don't think he needs disciplining..." After Snape had needled him again and again, the little old man Flitwick flushed bright red. He was desperate to defend Harry once more, but the more nervous he became, the harder it was to get the words out.
He stole a glance at Professor McGonagall, with whom he was on good terms, hoping she'd speak up for Harry. But the stern, reproachful look in her eyes only made him feel more dejected.
"Hmph. Professor Snape, as Head of Slytherin, you're awfully interested in Ravenclaw's internal affairs. Don't you think you have too much time on your hands?!"
At that, Harry suddenly stepped forward and stood squarely in front of Flitwick!
He wanted everyone to think of him as a bad student, but he wouldn't stand by while Professor Flitwick was targeted like this!
Since the beginning of term, the three members of staff Harry had been closest to at Hogwarts were Hagrid, Filch, and Flitwick. Professor Flitwick in particular had practically treated him and Hermione like his own protégés!
So even if Snape had known Harry's mother for years, he still wasn't allowed to say a single bad word about Professor Flitwick in front of him!
"What, does our Mr. Granger have another brilliant argument? By all means, let's hear it. Then Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick, who's always indulged you, can see for themselves how you behaved in Potions Class—how you used your little cleverness to act high and mighty and show no respect for even your professor!"
Snape was certainly petty and vindictive. It was true that he was helping Dumbledore achieve some goal, but it was just as true that he'd been looking for a chance to get back at Harry for their earlier clash~
"If I remember correctly, before I passed out, Professor Flitwick cast Expelliarmus at me, while Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout cast the Sleeping Charm and Full Body-Bind Curse respectively." Harry spoke calmly, giving Snape a faintly contemptuous sidelong glance. "Professor Snape came up with the unusual idea of using a Shield Charm. Unfortunately, your spell couldn't protect Malfoy. My Obscurus tore it apart with ease~"
"What exactly are you trying to say?!" Anger flashed in Snape's eyes, and his expression soured.
"What I'm saying is... Professors McGonagall and Sprout chose to restrict my actions, rather than simply stop the harm from happening!" Harry looked coldly at the two professors. "In other words, at the very moment they acted, they'd already decided I was the student in the wrong!"
"Th-that... Mr. Granger, I admit that using the Full Body-Bind Curse on you may have been unfair. But you must understand that, whatever the reason, fighting at school is still wrong." Professor Sprout frowned.
"Then could the school set a specific standard for this?" Harry shot back without hesitation. "For someone like Malfoy, exactly how far does he have to go with his bullying before the people he picks on are allowed to fight back—or even challenge him to a duel?!"
(P.S. Mm-hmm, end-of-chapter notes really are useful. You can put all sorts of things here that don't need to go in the main text, without padding the word count.
Why couldn't the protagonist resist Snape's provocation? Of course, it's because, as someone from China, respect for teachers is ingrained in his bones.
Actually, after reading Harry Potter, you'll notice that Aunt Rowling never really promoted the idea of respecting teachers in the books. Given Hogwarts's position, you'd think practically the entire British Wizarding World would be made up of alumni. Yet once students leave school, they don't treat the professors with the same respect they did while they were there. Some even go so far as to attack old Dumbledore—people like Umbridge and Dawlish!
I can't generalize this to all of Western society, but at least in Harry Potter, once students leave school and their teacher-student relationship with their professors ends, all that remains is ordinary social interaction.
So... as a Chinese transmigrator, the protagonist really is something of an oddity when it comes to values.)
Bullying at School Is Worth Discussing
It was true that Harry had never thought fighting violence with violence was the right way to handle things.
But looking at it the other way around, if Malfoy had been able to behave himself at school—if he hadn't been so arrogant and hadn't kept picking on Neville and other timid, vulnerable students—Harry wouldn't have had the chance to make an issue of it today.
Besides, from Neville's perspective, what was he supposed to do to avoid being harmed by Malfoy and the others when the school rules the professors praised couldn't protect him, and no one like Harry was willing to stand up for him?
They mocked and excluded him at will, casually stole his things or simply took them by force, and often cast all kinds of spells on him for their own amusement, calling it practice...
How was he supposed to escape all that? Was he meant to pray in vain that they would stop on their own?!
"So..." Professor Sprout was at a loss for words. She had to admit she'd never considered the question before.
After all, Hufflepuff was widely regarded as the house with the best internal atmosphere and the fewest troublemakers. Professor Sprout had a much easier time managing her students than the others did.
As for Professor McGonagall, who'd also been on the receiving end of Harry's retort, she said nothing.
She was reflecting on her own actions—not only the Sleeping Charm she'd cast earlier, but also the dispute over Peeves from before.
After running through all those events in her mind, one after another, Professor McGonagall suddenly realized she might have judged Harry unfairly.
Harry Granger, a boy who seemed as unruly and disrespectful of rules as his father, might actually respect rules more than anyone else in the room!
And it was precisely because he respected them that he dared to challenge every unreasonable rule!
"Harry, there's no denying that Malfoy was in the wrong," Dumbledore said after watching the exchange for a while. "But very often, we can't decide whether to punish someone based on right and wrong alone. The main purpose of Hogwarts's rules is to maintain order throughout the school."
"I'm sorry... I can't agree with that at all!" Harry had no intention of accepting Dumbledore's argument!
"Hogwarts's rules are rules too. In my view, rules shouldn't exist just to keep things stable and force a situation to end once something happens!"
"If the rules can't protect the people who follow them, but instead let the people who break them escape punishment, isn't that ridiculous?!"
After Harry had let loose without holding back, no one in the Headmaster's Office said a word.
Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sprout all began to reflect on their own, thinking back on the problems that had repeatedly cropped up at school over the years. Each of them wore a thoughtful expression.
Snape was different. The burdens he carried were too heavy, leaving him no time to care about these 'trivial' matters.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, wasn't surprised in the slightest.
The entire conversation had gone exactly as he'd expected. He'd known Harry would say something like this.
A boy who'd managed to send an entire family of awful relatives to prison using nothing but the Children Act could hardly have an ordinary understanding of rules!
As expected, Harry hadn't disappointed him at all.
And yet... Dumbledore found it hard to deal with a Harry like this.
He certainly had high hopes for Harry, but there were far too many things about the boy that he couldn't control.
Dumbledore had even considered using Legilimency on Harry more than once, to find out what was going through the boy's mind.
But in the end, he'd given up.
Dumbledore knew what Harry was like. He also knew that if he did that, his relationship with Harry would turn hostile, and there'd be no repairing it!
"Anyway, I've said what I needed to say. Decide whatever you like," Harry said, putting his hands behind his head and returning to his earlier careless manner.
He was genuinely disappointed in Hogwarts now.
This thousand-year-old school, the magical sanctuary in the hearts of British wizards, was no different from the schools in Harry's previous life, aside from the fact that it taught more unusual subjects.
In fact, in many ways, it was clearly worse!
At least in the truly top universities of Harry's previous life, you wouldn't find a scumbag like Malfoy openly preaching the supremacy of bloodlines.
Even if there were people like that, they'd never dare to be so brazen!
In Harry's eyes, preaching blood purity and casually bullying weaker students were both forms of Hogwarts-style bullying.
After observing things for a while, Harry had roughly sorted this bullying into two types.
The first was Neville's situation: he was bullied because he was weak.
But unfortunately, the behavior of Malfoy and the others who mistreated him stayed just within the gray area of the school rules.
They weren't punished for bullying the weak, while the weak were unable to fight back and had to endure it again and again, ultimately becoming victims of bullying.
The other type, and the most fundamental one, was Hermione's situation—or rather, the situation of a Hermione who had no Harry to stand up for her.
Given Hermione's personality, if Malfoy and the others insulted her, she'd strike back immediately!
But under Hogwarts's rules, that would make her the one in the wrong.
Just like what had happened to Harry earlier, Professors McGonagall and Sprout hadn't known the whole story, yet they'd instinctively treated him as the aggressor who'd done something wrong.
So, you see: Malfoy could hurt Hermione with the vilest insults and face no punishment from the school rules. But if Hermione lost her temper and attacked him, she'd be judged to have broken the rules and would face a string of punishments, like losing house points and getting detention—things she might not be able to accept at all!
Under rules that said, 'It's wrong of him to bully you, but if you fight back, you're the one in the wrong,' the cost of fighting back was simply too high...
Over time, the 'Hermiones' who were bullied would have no choice but to give up fighting back. They'd gradually lose the ability to fight back, too, and in the end they'd become victims of bullying just as helplessly.
Another thing worth mentioning was that becoming victims was actually the relatively better outcome. There was an even worse possibility!
Once they gained power, they might start using it to bully others!!
And then new ugliness would continue to grow.
If you traced all this back to its source, it wasn't hard to reach this conclusion: Hogwarts's rules, designed to avoid making a fuss, had created fertile ground for the bullies represented by Malfoy!
But none of Hogwarts's professors—not even Dumbledore himself—seemed willing to step forward and solve the problem!
Still, that was hardly surprising. People in the West seemed to love having a brain lapse and mistaking bullying for leadership~
(P.S. Bullying at Hogwarts is present in the original books, too. Of course, Sanmiao has to admit that bullying is common even in schools in China. I'm just discussing this particular issue. Hogwarts is the only and most prestigious magical school in Britain, and young wizards graduate straight into adulthood and go to work in the Wizarding World. So its academic standing should be equivalent to a university—roughly on par with China's two vocational institutes at Wudaokou and Yuanmingyuan. For blood-based bullying to be openly accepted at such top institutions is something the protagonist simply can't stand, because it's just as unacceptable as racial discrimination. That's all~
By the way, there might be another chapter tonight. Stay tuned~)
The Ending Was Thunderous but Barely Made a Splash
Even without considering what he'd learned in his previous life, Harry knew perfectly well that bullying could be devastating for a growing child or teenager.
In the ordinary world, victims of bullying could at least change schools or move on to further education, finding a different environment. They'd certainly be left with scars, but they could at least escape the abuse to some extent.
But young wizards entered Hogwarts at eleven and spent seven whole years there, growing from children into young adults!
Once they were bullied, there was nowhere for them to run. Their experiences would follow them for the rest of their lives!!
When such children graduated and entered the Wizarding World as fully fledged wizards, there was a good chance they wouldn't behave like normal people.
Yes, Harry was talking about Snape, who was glaring at him right now~
Harry had a pretty good idea of how Snape was connected to his mother, and knew that perhaps he cared about Harry because of his affection for her. But whenever he saw Snape's batlike mannerisms and that sour expression as if the whole world owed him a fortune, Harry couldn't help taking a jab at him.
"Could you stop staring at me like that... What, were you bullied as a kid too?" Harry met Snape's gaze without a care. "If you were, I suggest you talk to someone about it. Don't keep bottling it up. You'll end up hurting yourself~"
Harry didn't think he could be wrong about Snape. A little behavioral analysis was all it took to see that Snape was a textbook example of a 'victim who eventually becomes an abuser.'
He must have suffered the trauma of being bullied as a child. Otherwise, he wouldn't have grown up so twisted, constantly using cruel words and a nasty attitude to target his students.
In that respect, Filch had been in much the same situation, given that he was a Squib. But lately, with Harry helping him work through things, his mood had started to improve.
But Snape...
Sigh. Harry had no idea what kind of bastard had ruined a professor with such promise and turned him into a batlike creature with such a foul temper~
Creak!
Before you continue