Neville Turns Dark

At noon, when the sun was high in the sky, despite the reluctance of the other three colleges, they were forced to come to the cafeteria.

As soon as they entered the dining room, they were amazed by Slytherin's extravagance. The entire dining room had been transformed into a green ocean, and there was even a statue of Salazar placed at the very front of the dining room.

The Slytherin students had been waiting at the table for a long time, eagerly anticipating Dumbledore's arrival.

At the front of the High Table, Professor McGonagall looked at Professor Snape beside her, rubbed her eyes, and asked, "Severus, is that you?"

Severus Snape, with his handsome looks, nodded arrogantly and said calmly, "Of course, Minerva, what can I do for you?"

Professor McGonagall quickly shook her head, but her eyes were filled with a mixture of surprise and astonishment.

Good heavens, why is Professor Snape suddenly paying attention to personal hygiene? What happened?

His smooth, black hair, his neat headmaster's robes, and the faint fragrance emanating from him all suggested that Professor Snape had taken a bath yesterday.

"Good heavens, Professor Snape finally took a bath before I was even born!"

Professor McGonagall was almost moved to tears. Who knows what kind of torment she had been enduring all these years while sitting next to Snape at meals?

The old bat, who never bathed, washed his hair, or changed his clothes, left Professor McGonagall speechless.

Now that Professor Snape finally knew to change his clothes and take a bath, she felt very gratified.

Just as Professor McGonagall was secretly pleased, Headmaster Dumbledore, wearing his blue robes, walked in through the side door.

Dumbledore stood on the professor's seat, looking at the enthusiastic students below, his eyes filled with nostalgia.

"Cough cough!"

In an instant, the entire restaurant fell silent, and all the students turned their attention to Dumbledore.

This is the power of Dumbledore's reputation.

"Another year has passed," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "In this year..."

After rambling on for a while, Dumbledore finally taught everyone the part they had been waiting for.

"Now, as far as I know, we must first hold the House Cup awards ceremony. The specific scores for each house are as follows: Fourth place, Gryffindor, 313 points; Third place, Hufflepuff, 345 points; Ravenclaw House, 512 points; Slytherin, 712 points."

A thunderous cheer erupted from the Slytherin table, with all the little snakes clapping enthusiastically in celebration of their hard-won victory.

"However, there are a few things we need to take into account before the awards ceremony," Dumbledore a smile.

For some reason, Lester felt a sense of unease. Slytherin was now 400 points behind Gryffindor. Even if Dumbledore, the headmaster, was biased, he wouldn't be so blatant about it.

"First... Mr. Weasley. Ron Weasley!" Dumbledore winked at Ron Weasley: "He not only won the best game of the entire school year, but he was also willing to sacrifice himself for his friends, so, 100 points for Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor students looked at each other in bewilderment for a moment, then burst into loud cheers, their excited shouts nearly lifting the ceiling of the dining hall.

Even more outrageous, some people actually praised Weasley: "No wonder he's Weasley family, he's amazing!"

Ron Weasley's brothers shared in the honor, puffing out their chests and nodding repeatedly.

Ron Weasley was initially stunned, then excitement welled up on his face. He grabbed Harry's arm and shouted, "Harry, did you hear that? I added 100 points to Gryffindor!"

The Hufflepuff table was deathly silent. Every little badger looked extremely grim, and even the kind-hearted Cedric had a dark expression.

Gryffindor suddenly gets 100 points, wouldn't that mean Hufflepuff will be at the bottom?

As for Ron Weasley's feat mentioned by Dumbledore, they knew nothing about it. All they knew was that Ron Weasley had clearly fainted in his room on the fourth floor, and it was Malfoy who found him!

After the restaurant had finally calmed down, Dumbledore spoke again.

"Miss Granger Hermione Granger, your solution was ingenious, and your courage to stand up for your friend is even more commendable. Therefore, 100 points Gryffindor!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the little lions, who had just calmed down, started celebrating again, each one overjoyed. Some even shouted, "We're second place! We're second place!"

With a bang, Professor Flitwick snapped the knife in his hand in his excitement, panting heavily through his nose.

The Ravenclaw House eagles stared in disbelief at the beaming Dumbledore, listening to the Gryffindor' triumphant laughter, as if their ears were playing tricks on them.

Hermione Granger's solution was ingenious, so she earned Gryffindor an extra 100 points!

When Lester went through the riddles, it was broadcast live the whole time, and many of the young eagles saw the riddles left by Professor Snape.

Although it was somewhat difficult, it was no challenge for these top students. In less than five minutes, a group of young eagles came up with the answer.

For such a simple question, Professor Dumbledore actually gave Gryffindor a perfect score of 100!

Dumbledore, seemingly oblivious to the distressed expressions on the faces of the eaglets and badger cubs, continued speaking to himself.

"Finally, it's Harry Potter!"

"He displayed extraordinary courage and daring, and successfully retrieved the Philosopher's Stone. For this, I award Gryffindor House two hundred points."

Boom!

The entire restaurant erupted in excitement, with Gryffindor students jumping around in a frenzy.

Two hundred points! Good heavens! With these two hundred points, Gryffindor's score will be exactly one point higher than Slytherin's. Doesn't that mean the House Cup belongs to Gryffindor?

Seemingly anticipating the young wizards' thoughts, Dumbledore cleared his throat and said gently, "This means we need to make some minor changes to the decorations here!"

He clapped his hands, and instantly, the green hanging ribbons turned bright red, and the silver ones turned gold.

The giant Slytherin snake had vanished, replaced by a majestic Gryffindor lion.

All the hard work Slytherin House put into setting up the venue for a whole day was for nothing, just to benefit someone else.

Even the sculptures of the past Slytherin Heads of House have been replaced with those of the past Gryffindor Heads of House, and the green flags fluttering in the Great Hall have been changed to a striking bright red.

However, apart from the young wizards of Gryffindor, almost no one from the other three houses cheered; instead, they were deathly silent.

Especially at the Slytherin table, quite a few of the more sentimental little snakes actually cried.

This time, however, no one will look down on their vulnerability; instead, they will sincerely comfort them.

Ron Weasley was extremely smug at this moment, and he sneered at Neville beside him, "Neville, even Headmaster Dumbledore didn't give you any extra points, so what makes you think you found the Philosopher's Stone!"

"I'm telling you now, it wasn't you who found the Philosopher's Stone, it was me, Harry, Hermione, understand?!"

Neville's face was pale. He didn't speak, his eyes had lost their usual sparkle, and he just stared blankly at Dumbledore on the platform, as if he had lost his soul.

Why? On what grounds?

He was the one who defeated Quirrell, he was the one who saved Harry, and he was the one who retrieved the Philosopher's Stone!

Suddenly, he felt that Dumbledore, this kind old man, was somewhat unfamiliar, and tears welled up in his eyes. He missed his grandmother.

Originally, he wanted to tell his grandmother everything he had done this month, and to tell his insane Auror parents.

He wanted them to know that he, Neville, had not disgraced the Longbottom family, and that he could bring honor to the Longbottom family.

"Grandma, I don't understand!" Neville clutched his head in anguish.