Detention in the Forbidden Forest

In the Slytherin Common Room, Lester was pondering how to expand his influence during the winter break when he suddenly heard a hurried voice.

"Brother Lai, something terrible has happened! Malfoy and Harry Potter are fighting, and Professor McGonagall has arrested them both!"

"What happened?" Lester put down his notebook and asked, "What just happened?"

Jiedi hurriedly told Lester about Malfoy's ambush of Harry and Ron Weasley using Serpensortia, and how he then attacked them with Petrification Curse.

"But don't worry, Brother Lai, Harry and Ron Weasley won't escape punishment either, because Professor Snape said it was a fight, and both sides should be punished."

As expected of Snape's professor, even at a time like this, he couldn't resist trying to trick Harry.

Lester followed Jiedi to the dining room, where he could see that the hourglasses for Slytherin and Gryffindor House Points had both shrunk considerably.

Slytherin fared well because of Lester's presence; the teachers gave the first-year Slytherin a lot of extra points, so even though they lost a lot of points, Slytherin still maintained their number one position.

But Gryffindor is unlucky. They already had a lot of troublemakers, and now they've lost so many points, putting them at the bottom of the class.

At the restaurant entrance, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were sternly criticizing Malfoy and Harry, while Ron Weasley was being utterly ignored.

Professor McGonagall and others believed that Ron Weasley was merely helping Harry and did not think that Ron Weasley was the cause of the incident.

When Lester arrived, he overheard Snape punishing the two. "The three of you have openly engaged in magical combat on school grounds. Your behavior is extremely egregious. Each of you will be sentenced to a month of confinement!"

Harry and Ron Weasley turned pale, especially Ron Weasley, whose detention had just ended and now he was facing another month of confinement.

Malfoy, on the other hand, didn't care at all. Filch was one of his own, and he still had a month of confinement to endure; lions aren't ticklish.

Seemingly aware of Malfoy's thoughts, Professor McGonagall added, "This time you'll be confined to Hagrid's place and search the Forbidden Forest for a month!"

Searching the Forbidden Forest? The three children turned pale. The Forbidden Forest —that was no good place.

Not only that, Lester also had a sudden thought: the Forbidden Forest... it seems we're about to see Voldemort stealing the Unicorn.

"Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, hello!" Lester greeted politely first. "Professor, I still have a month of solitary confinement left. I would like to request that we switch confinement locations, or I could go to Hagrid for solitary confinement."

McGonagall frowned. "Lester, don't be ridiculous. Solitary confinement is your punishment, not something you can choose."

Snape, however, seemed thoughtful. He knew about Filch's situation; Lester's trip to Filch wasn't for solitary confinement at all, but rather a vacation.

"Minerva, I feel Lester could be put in solitary confinement with Hagrid," Snape explained. "Filch certainly wouldn't want to punish Lester, and I think only Hagrid can make him truly realize his mistake."

Lester nodded quickly, surprised that Snape, that old bat, would actually speak up for him.

Professor McGonagall glanced at Lester, then at Snape, and nodded helplessly. "Very well, at least we can keep an eye on these three kids."

Lester had a good impression of McGonagall; she was someone he could trust.

A student like this, who can go to the Forbidden Forest with Harry for solitary confinement, might be able to take care of Harry then.

After determining the location for the four's confinement, Professor Snape and McGonagall left.

Harry and Ron Weasley, in pain, headed to the Hospital Wing. Although Snape had neutralized the snake venom, he wasn't so kind in treating their wounds.

"Lester, Harry and Ron Weasley beat up Norbert!" Malfoy, seeing Lester arrive, felt like he had found his people and hurriedly recounted what had just happened, then looked at Lester expectantly.

Lester is now seen as omnipotent, so he can just ask Lester for help whenever he has a problem.

Lester couldn't ignore Malfoy's plea for help, as Malfoy was his top henchman.

"Here's what you'll do: after Harry and Ron Weasley come out of the Hospital Wing, you take some men and beat them up again."

"You're really stupid. When you hit someone, remember to put a sack over their head. If you put a sack over their head, you could beat them up, and then even if Potter told the teacher, he wouldn't have any evidence."

Upon hearing this, Malfoy seemed to have discovered a new continent, and chuckled sinisterly, "Alright, Lycan, I'll go find a few seventh-year Slytherin to take care of it."

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need you to do!"

Lester stopped Malfoy and said calmly, "Neville, a freshman in Gryffindor, is one of ours. I need you to help him establish his authority."

"No matter what method you use, I hope you can make Neville a prominent figure in Gryffindor in a short period of time."

"Even if he's not that great, we must get rid of the 'good-for-nothing' label on him, understand?"

Malfoy nodded quickly.

Lester helped Malfoy so many times not because he was kind-hearted, but because Malfoy was indeed very useful.

It's like building momentum for Neville; he doesn't need to lift a finger, Malfoy can handle it all.

If Malfoy doesn't work, he'll personally step in to promote Neville.

After today's events, Lester realized that Harry was a hopeless case and there was no point in wasting his time with him.

They can directly train Neville to become the true the Chosen One, gaining the support of the Wizarding World. Then Harry can eat shit.

Malfoy listened attentively; basically, he did whatever Lester told him to do.

As expected Harry and Ron Weasley, those two unlucky kids, got another beating, but this time, the difference was that someone put sacks over their backs.

This left them with no idea who had done it. Although they believed it was Malfoy, they had no proof and had to swallow their anger.

This wasn't the most bothersome thing for them; what bothered them most was undoubtedly the nighttime confinement.

They were actually going to have to go with Hagrid to inspect the Forbidden Forest; this was practically the death knell for the two young wizards.

The two unfortunate boys, dragging their weary bodies, had just returned to the Gryffindor Common Room when they saw Neville, who was writing furiously.

Ron Weasley, with his foul mouth, habitually scoffed, "Neville, you'd better stop learning. You've been studying so diligently, and you still can't even cast Levitation Charm. Don't embarrass yourself."

Neville was one of the few people Ron Weasley could feel superior to; he was honest, dull, and easy to bully, and no match for Ron Weasley at all.

Neville remained silent as Ron Weasley mocked him, but gritted his teeth inwardly. He knew that Gryffindor looked down on him.

However, Lester assured him that he would help change his image in Gryffindor.

The premise was that he had to study hard, so Neville focused intently on his studies without any distractions.

Ron Weasley was left with a grim expression, feeling that Neville was disrespecting him.