Snape's teeth ground together audibly. After glaring hatefully at Harry, he drifted out of the Headmaster's Office like a ghost.
See? Snape's heart was still sealed away behind that scar.
"Harry, I believe I've reached a decision, and I imagine the other professors feel the same." After Snape left, Dumbledore stepped forward and patted Harry on the shoulder. "There's no question that your fighting was wrong, and you rightly deserve to be punished for it."
Nice~
Harry felt like he could already see the goddess of victory beckoning to him.
"But you didn't disappoint Professor Flitwick, and you haven't disappointed me either!" Dumbledore suddenly changed tack. "You've just proved to me and all the professors that you stand by your sense of duty and justice! So rest assured, Hogwarts will stand behind you, and all the professors and I will do everything we can to help you face the accusations from the Pure-blood Families!"
"Wait... what did you just say?!"
Looking at Dumbledore's kindly yet cunning face, Harry's head started buzzing...
Had old Dumbledore really just played him?!
Without a doubt, Harry's second attempt to get expelled since the start of term had ended in failure.
Old Dumbledore really was a formidable man. Even setting aside his powerful magic, his own cunning and guile were more than Harry could handle.
Harry's punishment was decided soon enough, and, unsurprisingly, it was another case of a lot of noise and little consequence.
Because of the brawl, the Eagle, Snake, and Lion Houses all lost points to varying degrees. As the "ringleader" who'd thrown the first punch, Harry also had to help Filch replant the grass on the scorched Quidditch pitch.
Harry knew old Dumbledore had set another trap for him, but he accepted the punishment gladly.
He had indeed started a fire, after all. Besides, if he refused to accept the punishment, Filch would have to do the work himself, bent over with his back aching.
And, naturally, as soon as Hermione heard that Harry had been "punished," she came to help the moment her detention was lifted... Harry had lost control of the situation because he'd stood up for her. She couldn't let him take the punishment alone.
Ron Weasley came to help too. When he heard that Harry had claimed to have "stolen his wand" in order to get him out of trouble, Ron immediately felt he couldn't stay out of it.
In the end, even Neville showed up, his injured arm finally healed.
Because he'd broken his arm that day, Madam Hooch had left him in the Hospital Wing. When he found out that Harry had gotten into a huge fight with Malfoy and the other first-year Slytherins for his sake, he was so upset he nearly cried.
So now he'd gladly become part of the "voluntary punishment squad."
"It's all my fault... Harry, this is all my fault!" As they replanted the grass, Neville kept apologizing to Harry. "If I weren't so stupid, none of this would've happened..."
"This isn't your fault at all. Malfoy's just an obnoxious git who needed a good beating~" Harry shook his head, unwilling to continue the conversation.
He was in a foul mood as it was.
The fact that Hermione and the others had heard about it so quickly—and had arrived at exactly the moment their detentions were lifted—was surely because old Dumbledore had deliberately let them know. He'd wanted to give them a chance to get involved in Harry's hard labor.
Shoulder to shoulder through hardship—that was the best way to build mutual understanding. Old Dumbledore was pushing things from behind the scenes, trying to help Harry build bonds with students other than Hermione.
The more bonds Harry formed, the harder it would be for him to leave Hogwarts. And the more people gathered around him, the more students he would influence, leading to even more bonds...
It was a blatant bit of manipulation, but for now, Harry could only go along with it.
At one corner of the pitch, Malfoy and his two cronies—feeling like they were back on top—were laughing at Harry and the others without a care.
Of course, for the sake of their own safety, the three of them—all of whom had been hit with bricks—didn't dare get too close to Harry.
Technically, Crabbe had started the fire in the first place, so he should've been helping replant the grass too. But he'd been the first one Harry had knocked down with a brick, and thanks to the school rules, he'd narrowly escaped punishment.
Now the thick-faced lout was delighted, his chubby face full of relief at having dodged his punishment. He didn't show the slightest sign of regret.
Harry wasn't in the mood to deal with the three of them just then. So even when Malfoy shouted that his father would definitely get Harry and Hermione expelled from Hogwarts, and that he'd make Harry pay dearly, Harry treated it like hot air.
Honestly, if Mr. Lucius could really pull that off, Harry would bang pots and pans in celebration and thank him for it... But even a blind man could see that was a long shot~
(p.s. As promised, here's the update) o(*≧▽≦)ツ┏━┓
How the First-Year Battle God Was Made
"Um... Professor Snape, I have good reason to suspect you're abusing your authority to get back at me!"
On the day Lucius Malfoy brought the parents of all the other Pure-blood families involved to the school to demand answers, Harry was in a secluded classroom, staring at Snape with dead fish eyes as he kept watch over him.
It was only natural that Dumbledore wouldn't let Harry meet Lucius Malfoy and the other parents.
On the one hand, he didn't want those parents to berate Harry. But the real reason was that old Dumbledore wanted to stop Harry from using the situation as an excuse to suddenly unleash his Obscurus, seriously injure Lucius or someone else, and cause an even bigger incident.
But even so, sending Snape to keep an eye on him was pretty damn unfair~
And Snape had even used the Leg-Locker Curse to glue him to his chair. That was obviously payback!
"I am simply carrying out Headmaster Dumbledore's instructions to the letter," Snape said calmly from across the room. "Harry Granger has a remarkable talent for causing trouble. On the day Lucius Malfoy and the other parents visit the school, I must ensure he has no contact with them. If necessary, I may even restrict his movements."
"So how exactly did you decide that restricting my movements was necessary... Mmph! Mmph!!"
Before Harry could finish speaking, he found that his mouth had suddenly stopped working. He couldn't make a sound.
That bat knew he couldn't win an argument with him, so he'd just hit him with a Silencing Charm! I'll @#$% you!
"Granger, you can struggle all you like. It won't do you any good."
Watching Harry struggle for ages without managing to say a word, Snape's perpetually stormy mood finally brightened.
At last, he'd gotten the chance to teach the foul-mouthed little brat a lesson. It felt great~
Lucius Malfoy and the other parents made a huge fuss at the school, but Dumbledore and the entire faculty stood together in support of Harry. In the end, the parents failed to accomplish anything. They didn't even get to see Harry before slinking away from Hogwarts.
And so the chance Harry had worked so hard to find to cause trouble and get expelled ended in such an anticlimactic whimper.
But unlike Harry, who remained thoroughly disgruntled, most of the students at Hogwarts found the whole affair exhilarating.
Everyone had been sick of the Pure-blood Slytherins for quite some time.
Those fanatical Pure-blood supremacists had been throwing their weight around the school for far too long. Especially over the past few years, thanks to a certain Bat Professor deliberately showing them favoritism, Slytherin had repeatedly crushed the other three Houses in both Quidditch matches and the House Cup.
Now Harry Granger had burst onto the scene.
He might not have helped Ravenclaw win the House Cup, but he was a powerhouse. He'd taken down almost every first-year boy in Slytherin with lightning speed. That was immensely satisfying!
Some people even came up with a fearsomely impressive title for Harry... Hogwarts' First-Year Battle God!
Don't ask. It was all the Weasley Brothers' fault~
And why wasn't he called the dueling champion? Come on, had you ever seen a wizard use a brick as a secondary weapon in a duel?
In short, Harry had become famous. Even the students who used to whisper about him behind his back had started greeting him... though most did so very cautiously. Anyone would be worried Harry might pull another brick out of his robes _( ?Д?)?
Harry wasn't about to melodramatically declare, "So this really is a world where the strong rule," but he had to admit that this was indeed reality.
The other thing he had to admit was that he was probably out of chances to get expelled...
"Hmph, he said he'd get Harry expelled and send him to Azkaban. Malfoy sure talks a big game. He'd better be careful not to blow the sky apart~"
One evening at dinner, Ron saw the Malfoy trio walking away with their faces covered, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face.
After going through hardship together, Ron and Neville had grown much closer to Harry and Hermione, and they'd started eating and chatting together more often.
Ron was delighted to see Malfoy get knocked down a peg. In terms of their family backgrounds, he and Malfoy were the real enemies.
The Weasley family was Pure-blood too, but they were unusually friendly with Muggles. And because there were so many children in the family, Ron's life had always been rather hard up. His family was poor, to put it plainly.
Malfoy, by contrast, was a rich young master born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had a prominent family, untold wealth, and connections throughout the entire Pure-blood establishment.
The Malfoy family even did business with the British Royal Family.
When Ron complained about that, Harry was genuinely surprised.
He figured he should find a chance to ask the Crown Prince about it when he went home for the holidays. At the very least, he needed to make sure his feud with the Malfoy family wouldn't affect the Royal Family's business.
Of course, what Harry really wanted to confirm was the Malfoy family's standing with the Royal Family.
Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco might not let this go. Harry needed to plan ahead.
Besides, he had never intended to let it go either!
If you've got a problem with me, come straight to me. What's with insulting Hermione?
And they'd even dared to say something like that. Did they really think a single brick would settle the matter?!
Those two bastards, Malfoy and Crabbe, should be grateful the school rules had protected them, allowing them to keep bouncing around after the incident!!
"But... Malfoy wasn't just talking big. He and the Slytherin students have been saying some really nasty things lately." Neville, who was sitting with them, glanced apologetically at Harry and Hermione. "I did want to argue back, but I'm not as quick with words as Harry..."
"What have those Slytherins been saying..."
Clang!
Ron had just asked, confused, when Hermione suddenly dropped her fork.
"What else could they say? Malfoy and his lot, and that big-mouthed Pansy Parkinson—those boring Slytherins have nothing better to do than stuff themselves and gossip all day!!"
Even the food in front of her couldn't hold back Hermione's anger when she thought about it.
Malfoy and his two cronies, along with Pansy Parkinson, who was also from Slytherin, didn't dare mess with Harry and Hermione, so they'd started stirring up trouble and spreading gossip instead. They were going around telling people "rumors" about the Granger Siblings.
"They keep saying Harry and I are always making eyes at each other, and that there must be something going on between us in private! Hmph, they've even made it sound so convincing. Anyone who didn't know better would think we'd slept in the same bed since we were little..."
"Hey, hey, that's enough~" Harry rolled his eyes helplessly and reached over to tap the edge of Hermione's plate with his spoon.
This girl... couldn't she see there were other people here? How could she blurt out every wild thing that came to mind~
To be honest, Harry could understand why Hermione had suddenly gotten angry.
People taking two people who had nothing going on and turning them into a couple was common back when Harry had been a student in his previous life. But as one of the people involved, he couldn't tell Hermione to "get over it" like someone who didn't have to deal with the problem.
Still, those Slytherins really were bored and rotten. No matter what, maliciously making up stories about an adopted brother and sister (Hermione: We're siblings!) couldn't be brushed off as a simple joke.
And they called themselves Pure-blood families. As far as Harry was concerned, there wasn't a single thing about them that deserved to be called "pure"~
"Hmph, they're the ones who've gone too far! If the first-year Defense Against the Dark Arts Class had dueling, I'd make that big-mouthed Parkinson a real Parkinson's patient!" Stopped from venting by Harry, Hermione put her hands on her hips and fumed.
"All right, all right. Can we not talk about things that'll upset us while we're eating?" Harry tried to soothe the little Lion beside him, bristling with anger. "Besides, our Defense Against the Dark Arts Class is with Gryffindor, so even if there were dueling, you wouldn't be paired with Pansy~"
"Given how timid Professor Quirrell is, I doubt our Defense Against the Dark Arts Class will involve dueling. And even if it does, Neville and I will stay far away from you!" Ron said meekly from the side.
Come on, he'd seen how strong Hermione was when she lost her temper. If he had to face her in class, he'd probably be beaten flat in a single round~
A woman that fierce was probably only manageable by Harry...
Thinking this, Ron changed the subject, still shaken.
"But I think there's some reason they'd spread those rumors. You two are always together, and you even share a wand."
When it came to Harry and Hermione, Ron Weasley, whose family had plenty of children, felt he had the most authority to speak.
There were seven children in his family, but only one girl, his youngest sister Ginny. She was the family's most precious treasure, without a doubt.
Even so, Ron felt that he and his brothers weren't nearly as protective of Ginny as Harry was of Hermione.
And it went both ways. Hermione's protectiveness of Harry, her "younger brother," was just as extraordinary!
Think about it. Hermione and Harry were adopted siblings. They shared a surname and lived under the same roof, but they weren't related by blood.
So it was easy to see how people could misunderstand their unusually close relationship...
"I'm done eating!"
Ron had only meant to kindly remind Harry and Hermione to be mindful of how they acted. He hadn't expected to somehow make Hermione angry. She slammed down her plate and stormed off, without even finishing her meal.
"Wait... what did I say wrong?" Ron stared at Hermione's angry retreat, utterly baffled.
"Weasley, you didn't say anything wrong... But if you really want to be my friend, please don't make any more comments about Hermione and me."
After giving Ron a stern warning, Harry quickly put away his cutlery and hurried after Hermione.
Ron hadn't said anything wrong at all. But if Harry had been Hermione, he would've been angry too.
At first, Hermione had taken the rumors spread by Malfoy and the others in stride, believing that the truth would speak for itself. Otherwise, she wouldn't have openly complained about those Slytherins in front of Harry and the others.
But when she realized from Ron's attitude that people outside Slytherin were starting to see things differently too, it was only natural that she'd lose her temper.
Because that meant the gossip was spreading through the school and gaining traction. It was really starting to interfere with her and Harry's pure sibling relationship!
Before you continue