A Certain Scientific Harry Potter 28

(p.s. The ending of this chapter—for the protagonist in the early stages of the plot, remaining at Hogwarts with Hermione actually exposes him to more danger due to being tied down by rules and constraints; it is not safer than the real world. This is an important theme for the first volume of this book, which will be gradually expanded upon later. That is all~)

Chapter 50: Professor Flitwick Is Not to Be Slandered

"We can discuss accountability later, Severus. Right now, I would like to speak with Harry first."

Dumbledore walked past his desk to stand before Harry and asked in a measured, unhurried tone: "Harry, can you tell me why you injured Malfoy so severely?"

"The damage is done, so what else is there to say? But I want to clarify one thing: I snatched Ron's wand; he didn't lend it to me, so he has absolutely nothing to do with this!"

Facing Dumbledore, Harry maintained the same devil-may-care, thick-skinned attitude he had shown during the Sorting, but when it came to Ron, he took full responsibility without hesitation.

To dare to jump in and help under those circumstances—Ron was definitely a loyal friend, and Harry couldn't let him get dragged down!

"Harry, I hope you understand that when we encounter problems, we should try to find ways to resolve them, rather than choosing to ignore them based solely on personal likes and dislikes." Dumbledore remained patient in the face of Harry's extreme lack of cooperation. "As far as I am aware, Mr. Ron Weasley has already admitted to Professor McGonagall that he voluntarily lent you his wand."

"What..."

"But if you insist that it was a 'snatch' and wish to protect Mr. Weasley by claiming so, I can accept that as the truth." Dumbledore smiled with calm composure. "You see, Harry? As long as you face things with a positive attitude, many problems can be easily resolved."

Tch, going head-to-head with Dumbledore is truly no simple task!

Harry had intended to use the topic of Ron to divert attention and force Dumbledore to finalize the judgment on his own misconduct, but he hadn't expected the old man to pull the conversation back in just a few words, while even managing to squeeze in a compliment!

Give me a break, I didn't come to the Headmaster's office to be praised; I came to receive my punishment!

"Fine, I'll be positive, and then you can hurry up and 'resolve' me, alright?" Harry shook his leg in a slouching manner. "I snatched Ron's wand, I started the fire on the grounds, and Malfoy attacking me was because I deliberately provoked him! If his head was cracked open by a brick, and if those boys from Slytherin were all taken down by me alone, the only blame lies in the fact that they are a bunch of moronic idiots!!"

Hmm... Harry felt that his declaration, which mirrored the rants of the troublemakers from his past life, should have been quite effective.

At the very least, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout had already begun to frown, clearly dissatisfied with his eccentric behavior.

That's right, keep looking down on me in your hearts, treat me like a hopeless bastard!

"See... Professor Flitwick, I told you long ago that your trust in him is nothing but wishful thinking!" However, just when Harry thought everything was going according to plan, Snape suddenly dragged Professor Flitwick into the fray!

"Harry Granger is not at all the child you describe, someone who wants to help Neville Longbottom or uphold justice! The reason he does all of this is entirely because he is arrogant about his own power and has never looked at any of his classmates with respect!"

"But I believe Harry is not that kind of child!" Professor Flitwick hurriedly spoke up to defend Harry. "He is truly a good boy! He even helped me..."

"That is because you are too indulgent toward him!" Snape continued his aggressive accusations. "Professor Flitwick, I think it is necessary for you to hear the voices within Ravenclaw regarding your unfair attitude toward students! Some people act recklessly and without restraint just because they were lucky enough to defeat You-Know-Who, and later, because they have you backing them, they have become lawless! The reason today's incident occurred is, ultimately, because you have failed to properly discipline his behavior!!"

"No... that's not it! Harry is a very kind child, I really don't think there is anything about him that needs disciplining..." Pushed into a corner by Snape's relentless verbal attacks, the small, elderly Professor Flitwick flushed red. He desperately wanted to defend Harry again, but the more nervous he became, the less he could say.

He stole a glance at Professor McGonagall, with whom he had a good personal relationship, hoping she would speak up for Harry, but he only saw the stern and reproachful look in her eyes, leaving him feeling even more dejected.

"Hmph, Professor Snape, as the Head of Slytherin, you seem remarkably concerned with the internal affairs of Ravenclaw. Don't you think you have a bit too much free time on your hands?!"

At this moment, Harry suddenly stood up, chest out, blocking the way in front of Flitwick!

He wanted everyone to label him a bad student, but he could not stand by and watch Professor Flitwick be targeted like this!

Since the start of the term, the three staff members Harry had the closest relationships with at Hogwarts were Hagrid, Filch, and Flitwick. Professor Flitwick, in particular, treated him and Hermione as if they were his own personal disciples!

Therefore, even if Snape had old ties with his mother, he wouldn't let him slander Professor Flitwick by even a single letter in his presence!

"What, does our Mr. Granger have another piece of sophistry to offer? Let's hear it, then. It will allow Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick, who has always indulged you, to see exactly how you used your petty cleverness to act arrogantly and domineeringly in Potions class, not even showing respect for your professor!!"

Snape was undoubtedly a petty and vengeful man. It was true that he was cooperating with Dumbledore to achieve a certain goal, but it was equally true that he was itching to get revenge on Harry for his previous retort.

"If I recall correctly, before I lost consciousness, Professor Flitwick cast a Disarming Charm on me, while Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout cast a Sleeping Charm and a Full Body-Bind Curse, respectively." Harry said calmly, casting a slightly disdainful glance at Snape. "Professor Snape, you were quite original in using a Shield Charm, but unfortunately, your spell failed to protect Malfoy; it was easily torn apart by my Obscurus~"

"What exactly are you trying to say?!" Anger flashed in Snape's eyes, and his expression soured.

"What I'm saying is... Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout chose to restrict my actions at that moment, rather than simply preventing the harm from occurring!" Harry looked coldly at the two female professors. "In other words, the moment you acted, you had already labeled me as a student in the wrong!"

"This... Mr. Granger, I admit that casting the Full Body-Bind Curse on you may have been biased. But you must understand that, regardless of the reason, fighting in school is ultimately wrong." Professor Sprout said, frowning.

"So, can the school establish a specific standard for this?" Harry retorted without any politeness. "When people like Malfoy engage in bullying, at what point are those being bullied allowed to fight back, or even drag them directly to a dueling arena?!"

(p.s. Hmm, the post-chapter remarks are indeed a good thing; many things that don't need to be written into the main text can be added here without wasting word count.

Why can't the protagonist stand Snape's provocation? Naturally, because as a person from China, the concept of respecting teachers and valuing education is deeply ingrained in his bones.

In fact, after reading HP, it is not hard to find that J.K. Rowling never really promoted the idea of respecting teachers in the books. Logically, given Hogwarts' status, the entire British magical community should essentially be alumni, yet students do not respect their professors after leaving school as they do while in school. Even worse, people like Umbridge or Dawlish actually dared to take action against Dumbledore!

I cannot extrapolate this phenomenon to the entire Western society, but at least in HP, it is shown that once students leave school and the teacher-student relationship is dissolved, all that remains is simple social interaction.

So, well... as a transmigrator from China, the protagonist is indeed quite an outlier in terms of values.)

Chapter 51: School Bullying Is Something to Discuss

Admittedly, Harry never felt that fighting fire with fire was the correct method.

But looking at it from another angle, if Malfoy could restrain himself a bit at school, not be so arrogant and domineering, and not always bully Neville or other weak and honest students, Harry wouldn't have had the opportunity to make a point of it today.

Furthermore, from Neville's perspective, when the school rules touted by the professors couldn't protect him, and there was no one like Harry willing to stand up for him, how was he supposed to avoid being harmed by Malfoy and his cronies?

Being wantonly mocked and ostracized, having his things stolen or snatched away at will, and even frequently being subjected to various spells for their amusement, all under the guise of "helping him practice"...

I ask you, how is he supposed to escape all of this? Is he supposed to pray in vain for those people to stop on their own?!

"In that case..." Professor Sprout was somewhat at a loss for words upon hearing this; she had to admit that she had never thought about this problem before.

After all, Hufflepuff was recognized as the house with the best internal atmosphere and the fewest troublemakers, so Professor Sprout had a much easier time with student management than the others.

As for Professor McGonagall, who had been dragged into the argument by Harry, she remained silent.

She was reflecting on her own behavior—not just the Sleeping Charm from earlier, but also the earlier dispute regarding Peeves.

After running through the events in his mind like a revolving lantern, Professor McGonagall suddenly realized that she might have wronged Harry.

Harry Granger, this child who seemed as eccentric and unruly as his father, perhaps respected the rules more than anyone else present!

And it was precisely because of that respect that he dared to challenge every unreasonable rule!

"Harry, Malfoy is certainly in the wrong; no one would deny that," Dumbledore, who had been watching the show for a while, spoke up. "It's just that, often, we cannot decide whether to punish someone based solely on right and wrong. The existence of Hogwarts school rules is primarily to ensure the overall order of the campus."

"I'm sorry... I absolutely cannot agree with that!" Harry had no intention of accepting Dumbledore's rhetoric!

"Hogwarts school rules are rules as well. In my view, the purpose of a rule shouldn't just be to maintain stability or to forcibly quell disputes when they arise!"

"If a rule cannot protect those who follow it, but instead allows those who break it to escape sanctions, isn't that ridiculous?!"

After Harry finished his uninhibited outburst, everyone in the Headmaster's office fell silent.

Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sprout reflexively began to reflect, recalling the persistent phenomena within the school, and thoughtful expressions appeared on each of their faces.

Snape was different; the burdens he carried were too heavy, leaving him no time to concern himself with such "boring" matters.

As for Dumbledore, he was not surprised in the slightest.

The conversation had been entirely under his control; it should be said that he had long anticipated Harry would say something like this.

A child who could send a whole family of wretched relatives to prison using nothing but the Children Act—how could his understanding of rules be anything ordinary?!

Sure enough, Harry did not disappoint him at all.

However... facing a Harry like this, Dumbledore felt quite troubled.

It was true that he held high hopes for Harry, but there were simply too many uncontrollable factors surrounding the boy.

Dumbledore had even considered using Legilimency on Harry more than once to see exactly what the child was thinking.

But in the end, he gave up.

Dumbledore knew Harry's temperament well and understood that if he were to do such a thing, his relationship with Harry would inevitably become hostile and impossible to mend!

"Anyway, I've said what I needed to say. You can decide whatever you want." Harry clasped his hands behind his head, returning to his previous indifferent attitude.

He was truly disappointed in Hogwarts now.

This prestigious school with a thousand-year legacy, the magical sanctuary in the hearts of every British wizard, was essentially no different from the schools Harry had attended in his past life, aside from the fact that the subjects taught were more novel.

In fact, in many areas, it was clearly inferior!

At the very least, in the truly top-tier institutions of Harry's past life, there would never be a scoundrel like Malfoy who blindly preached the supremacy of bloodline.

Even if there were, they would never dare to be so blatant!

In Harry's view, preaching bloodline theory and bullying weaker students at will was essentially Hogwarts-style campus bullying.

Through his observations over this period, Harry could roughly categorize this bullying into two situations.

The first was Neville, who was frequently bullied because he was weak.

But unfortunately, the actions of oppressors like Malfoy always hovered in the gray area of the school rules.

They would not be punished by the rules for bullying the weak, while the weak could never fight back, forced to suffer continuously until they inevitably became victims of bullying.

The other, and also the most core situation, was Hermione... or rather, a Hermione without Harry's intervention.

With Hermione's temper, if she were verbally abused by Malfoy and his ilk, she would definitely strike back immediately!

But because of this, under the definition of Hogwarts school rules, she would become the one in the wrong.

Just like Harry's previous encounter, Professors McGonagall and Sprout didn't know the full story, yet they subconsciously treated Harry as the perpetrator who had started the trouble.

So you see, even though Malfoy used the most vicious words to hurt Hermione, he wouldn't face any punishment from the school rules; conversely, when Hermione was driven to fury and struck back at him, she would be judged as having broken the rules, facing a barrage of point deductions, detentions, and other punishments she might find impossible to accept!

Under the constraint of this "it's his fault for bullying you, but it's your fault for fighting back" rule, the cost of fighting back was simply too high...

Over time, those "Hermiones" who were bullied would have no choice but to give up, gradually losing the ability to fight back, and ultimately, they too would helplessly become victims of bullying.

It is also worth mentioning that them becoming victims was actually the relatively best outcome; there was an even worse situation!

That is, once they gained power, they might very well use their own strength to bully others!!

By then, new ugliness would continue to breed.

If one were to trace all of this to its source, it wasn't difficult to reach this conclusion: it was precisely this Hogwarts school rule of wanting to smooth things over that served as a hotbed for bullies like Malfoy!

But these Hogwarts professors, including Dumbledore as Headmaster, didn't seem to want to stand up and solve this problem!

Though that was hardly surprising; after all, the locals in the West always liked to have a brain-fart and mistake bullying for leadership.

And this would inevitably lead to this characteristic Hogwarts-style bullying having a continuous and profound impact!

(p.s. The issue of bullying at Hogwarts exists in the original work as well. Of course, Sanmiao must also admit that bullying incidents are common even in schools in my own country. I am just discussing the matter as it stands; as the only top-tier magical institution in all of Britain, where young wizards graduate directly into adulthood and work in the magical world, its actual academic status should be equivalent to a university. That is, it is basically on par with the two vocational technical colleges in my country, Wudaokou and Yuanmingyuan. The fact that bloodline bullying openly exists in such a top-tier institution is something the protagonist definitely cannot stand, as it is as unacceptable as racial discrimination. That is all~)

(By the way, there might be another chapter tonight, so please look forward to it~)

Chapter 52: The Ending is All Thunder and No Rain

Even without considering the experience from his past life, Harry knew very clearly that campus bullying would be a catastrophic injury for a teenager in the midst of growth.

If it were in the world of ordinary people, the victims of bullying could at least change their environment by transferring schools or advancing to higher education. Although it would certainly leave scars, they could at least escape the abuse to some extent.

But for young wizards, from the moment they entered Hogwarts at eleven, from youth to young adulthood, they spent seven full years there!

Once they are bullied, they have absolutely nowhere to run, and this experience of being bullied will inevitably haunt the victim for the rest of their life!!

When such children eventually graduate from school and enter the wizarding world to become true wizards, they will also, in all likelihood, not behave like normal people.

That's right, Harry was talking about Snape, who was currently glaring at him.

Although Harry had roughly guessed the relationship between Snape and his mother, and knew that the man might care about him for her sake, every time he saw that bat-like demeanor and that sour face as if everyone owed him a fortune, Harry couldn't help but want to provoke him.

"Could some people stop looking at me like that... what, were you bullied when you were a kid too?" Harry met Snape's gaze with indifference. "If that's really the case, I suggest you find someone to talk to. Don't just bottle it up inside; it's very easy to suffer internal injuries that way~"

Looking at Snape, Harry felt he couldn't be wrong. With just a little behavioral analysis, it was clear that this guy was a classic example of 'the victim eventually becomes the perpetrator.'

He must have suffered trauma from bullying when he was young; otherwise, he wouldn't be so psychologically twisted as an adult, going out of his way to attack students with vicious words and attitudes.

Starting from the point of being harsh to students, Filch's situation as a Squib was actually quite similar, but under Harry's psychological counseling, his mood had gradually begun to improve.

But as for Snape...

Sigh, I don't know who the bastard was that ruined a professor with such potential, turning him into a bat-like creature with such a foul temper~

Creak!