Three days had passed since that battle.
Harry had been too deeply shaken that day. After Belial, the Lord of Sloth, exploded, he had passed out on the spot. Even as he was carried back to the Hospital Wing, he kept muttering in his sleep, crying "the stone" one moment and "Quirrell" the next. Madame Pomfrey had to force several doses of calming draught down his throat before he settled down.
When Harry finally woke up in the Hospital Wing, he blinked and saw Dumbledore sitting beside his bed, holding a Lemon Sherbet. He suddenly remembered everything and bolted upright. "Headmaster! That stone! It was Quirrell! He stole the stone! Headmaster, hurry—"
"Don't worry, my dear. You've missed the rest of the story," Dumbledore said, pressing the Lemon Sherbet into Harry's hand. "Quirrell did not get the stone."
"Then who got it? Headmaster—I—"
"Harry, relax, or Madame Pomfrey will throw me out!"
Harry swallowed his words and looked around. He realized that he was in a hospital room. He lay on a bed covered in white sheets, with a table beside it piled so high with sweets that it could have opened a sweetshop. Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Fizzing Whizzbees—everything was there, stacked like a little mountain.
"Your friends and admirers sent them," Dumbledore said kindly. "Though what exactly happened between you and Professor Quirrell in the Otherworld that day remains a secret, the entire school knows about it. I believe your friends Fred and George originally sent you a self-cleaning wheelchair, because they thought you would be interested. But Madame Pomfrey considered it unhygienic and confiscated it."
Dumbledore paused, a subtle expression appearing on his face.
"In the end, Su Yu got it from Madame Pomfrey and modified it. Now, whenever he had nothing to do, Su Yu liked making Daphne push him around in it—a truly dreadful child. Simply because he found it convenient, he could lie down and sleep wherever he went."
What Dumbledore did not say was that, after the battle that day, Su Yu had led all the little Slytherin wizards to blockade his office. No one could talk them down. Su Yu had sat on his desk, Kurama crouched beside him with her tail swishing back and forth, while nearly a hundred Slytherins in black trench coats stood behind him.
In the end, Su Yu only let Dumbledore go after taking the Philosopher's Stone.
Fa-jie had told Su Yu that Philosopher's Stone was what Dumbledore and Harry called it. What Voldemort had screamed for was his Judgment Stone. Judgment was God's authority, after all, and the wizarding world spoke of God's three authorities as Creation, Judgment, and Revelation. Su Yu felt that there was a serious problem hidden within this, which was why he had staged that little coup.
However, after studying it for two days without figuring anything out, he tossed it to Kurama to play with. Kurama liked the stone—it could turn metal into gold.
The bowl she ate from was now gold, the basin she used to wash her face was gold, and a gold necklace hung around her neck. She jingled with every step, her tail held three inches higher than usual.
The Slytherin students liked Kurama too. One day, they saw Daphne give Kurama a biscuit, and Kurama gave her a pure gold cup in return. Pure gold!
So now, whenever the little Slytherin wizards ran into Kurama, they gave her all kinds of food—biscuits, cakes, little sausages, everything. Kurama never refused. After eating, she would give them a piece of gold in return. It could be as small as a gold coin or as large as a gold platter, depending entirely on her mood.
Until this morning, when Kurama got her bottom smacked by Su Yu.
When Su Yu woke up holding Ka-jie this morning, he found that every bit of metal in the dormitory had turned to gold. The bedposts were gold, the doorknobs were gold, even the wand stand on his table had become gold. Everything glittered brilliantly—but the fiberglass window frame facing the Black Lake had turned to gold too. Once the steel frame became gold, it was no longer tough enough. The whole window creaked, cracks spreading from the edge of the frame. The pressure of the Black Lake could shatter the glass at any moment. Su Yu had nearly died there.
So Kurama got punished. Su Yu pinned her across his lap and gave her bottom a rapid smacking. Kurama cursed as she clutched her backside, but she no longer dared turn things into gold so casually.
The next day, Su Yu woke up in Daphne's arms. Reluctantly, he nuzzled deeper into her embrace. Daphne's arms were soft and warm. She did not push him away, merely let him nuzzle there, one hand resting on the back of his head as her fingers gently combed through his hair. Only after he had had enough did Daphne accompany him to wash up.
After washing up, Su Yu sat in his personal wheelchair and had Daphne push him out.
The moment they left the dormitory, they saw Malfoy standing in the corridor. Malfoy had been in an excellent mood these past few days; even when speaking to others, the corners of his mouth remained raised. Seeing Su Yu emerge, he bowed slightly in greeting.
Malfoy was absolutely thrilled. Not only had he shone brilliantly during the battle and killed more than a dozen Minotaurs—afterward, he told everyone about it, acting out every part of the story: how that Minotaur had charged him, how he had dodged, how he had struck back. Pansy, listening beside him, had practically grown calluses on her ears.
And during the Quidditch match these past few days, Slytherin had finally defeated Gryffindor. Harry had been absent from the game, but a win was a win. Malfoy and the others celebrated all night, even overturning the sofas in the common room.
Today was the end-of-year feast. All the scores would be announced today, so the Slytherins had gone to the Great Hall early in the morning to celebrate winning the annual House Cup. They had decorated the hall in their team's green and silver, with banners bearing a great serpent planted by the seats. Green ribbons hung from the ceiling, silver stars adorned the walls, and the whole hall looked like an enormous Slytherin common room.
Harry was the last to arrive. The instant he entered, the Great Hall boiled like a pot of water, and everyone began talking loudly. He quietly slipped over to the Gryffindor table and sat between Ron and Hermione, doing his best not to look at the faces of those who had risen to stare at him. Some pointed at him, some whispered among themselves, and several younger Gryffindor students looked at him with such worshipful eyes that he felt uncomfortable all over.
Fortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore arrived soon after. The noise immediately died away.
"Another year gone!" Headmaster Dumbledore said energetically. "But before you fill yourselves with these wonderful foods, I must trouble you with an old man's ramblings. What a delightful year it has been! I hope you have found your minds a little richer than before... You have an entire summer holiday ahead of you to make them nice and empty again!"
He cleared his throat and unfurled a long scroll of parchment.
"Now then, as I understand it, the final point totals for all four Houses this year are: Gryffindor, 312 points, fourth place; Hufflepuff, 352 points, third place; Ravenclaw, 426 points, second place; and Slytherin, 472 points, first place."
Cheers and jumping erupted from the Slytherin table. Malfoy clinked his goblet loudly, Pansy shrieked and applauded beside him, while Crabbe and Goyle finally caught on and started clapping as well, though half a beat late. Harry caught sight of Malfoy pounding on his goblet. What a disheartening sight.
"All right, all right, you have done very well, Slytherin," Dumbledore said.
"But recent events must also be taken into account."
The Great Hall fell silent at once. The smiles on the little Slytherin wizards' faces were no longer quite so bright.
"Ahem," Dumbledore continued. "Now I have an updated scoreboard to announce. Let me see. Ah, yes... The first goes to... to Mr. Ron Weasley!"
Ron's face immediately turned purple, and he looked exactly like a sunburned carrot.
"...for being the finest chess player Hogwarts has seen in many years! I award Gryffindor's Ron 50 points!"
The Gryffindor cheers nearly blew the roof off, and even the stars overhead seemed to come alive.
"Second, Miss Hermione Jane Granger... She showed remarkable calm logic in the face of fire. I award Gryffindor another 50 points!"
Hermione covered her face with her hands, making Harry wonder whether she was crying again. The Gryffindors around her jumped up and down on their chairs—of course they did, since they had gained another hundred points!
"Third—is Mr. Harry Potter..." Dumbledore said.
The Great Hall became utterly silent.
"...for his great nerve and fearless courage, I award Gryffindor another 60 points."
The Great Hall erupted again. Those good at mental arithmetic already knew that Gryffindor now had 472 points—the same as Slytherin. If Headmaster Dumbledore awarded Harry even one more point, they would take home the House Cup!
Su Yu rose from his wheelchair.
He felt that if he listened to Dumbledore keep rigging things like this, he was going to lose it. They were the ones who said no one could enter the Chamber of Secrets. Others followed the rules, yet those who broke them got points instead. Dumbledore might as well hold a dungeon-crawling competition!
The little Slytherin wizards caught on as well and drew their wands along with Su Yu. Nearly a hundred wands rose in unison, silver-green robes stirring beneath the candlelight, as though they would cast Avada Kedavra at Dumbledore at the first wrong word.
Snape broke out in a cold sweat. He could no longer keep this group of Slytherins under control.
Dumbledore coughed twice, his voice much louder than usual. "That is to say! This year's House Cup! Slytherin and Gryffindor will share first place!"
Though the Slytherins were still deeply unwilling, there was nothing they could do. He was the Headmaster, after all. Besides, they had already staged a coup after the battle and taken away the Philosopher's Stone.
What if we made Chief Su Yu the Headmaster instead? The Slytherins all began making their own little calculations.
That evening, after returning to the common room, Su Yu kept all the little Slytherin wizards behind.
The fire in the fireplace burned brightly. Nearly a hundred people crowded into the common room; some sat on sofas, some leaned against the walls, and some squatted on the stairs. Kurama crouched at Su Yu's feet, her tail curling and uncurling as she chewed on something.
Su Yu stood before the fireplace, firelight falling across his face.
"I'm going to establish an organization," he said. "For students who graduate after their seventh year."
The common room fell silent.
"It will be called the Shadow Compass Society. Even after members graduate, they will be able to use special Shadow Compass Society badges to gain Kurama's and my power."
The eyes of several seventh-year students lit up. They had thought they would no longer be able to use Su Yu's power after graduating. Cedric stood at the back of the crowd, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out.
"Our headquarters will be at Fuli Family Manor," Su Yu continued. "Usually, you can all go about your own lives as normal. But we have only one goal—we will become an existence more powerful than the Ministry of Magic! We will shatter those old relics! We will be able to be ourselves!"
The common room was silent for one second. Then, no one knew who began first—one, two, three—and every Slytherin raised a fist and shouted.
"Long live Chief Su Yu!"
"Long live the Shadow Compass Society!"
"Long live Slytherin!"
The noise was so loud that the water of the Black Lake outside trembled. Several fish swam past the glass, so startled that their tails stood straight up.
As for Slytherin's scores this year, Dumbledore compensated them by giving every one of them Outstanding grades in every subject. When Malfoy received his report card, he froze for a moment, flipped it over three times to make sure he had not read it wrong, then raised the corners of his mouth higher than anyone else. Crabbe and Goyle received Outstanding grades too. Holding their report cards, they looked as if they had understood something for the first time in their lives.
The next day, they began packing their things. The holiday was about to begin.
The school issued another notice forbidding students from using magic during the holidays.
Hagrid was already prepared to see them onto the train. He stood at the castle gates in a freshly washed moleskin coat, with a peacock feather caught in his beard, probably a gift from some student. He vigorously patted every student passing by on the shoulder, making several younger students stagger.
They took the Hogwarts Express back to London. Fields and villages raced backward beyond the windows, while sunlight spilled through the clouds and cast patches of gold across the grass.
At 9:45, the train rolled into King's Cross Station. It took quite some time for everyone to get off, with the carriage doors crowded by trunks, owl cages, toad boxes, and all sorts of other things. A very old wizard stood at the ticket barrier, letting them through two or three at a time so they would not surge out like a human tide and frighten the Muggles.
Four girls stood with Su Yu. Hermione hugged Su Yu and cried, saying that she would definitely visit him during the summer holiday. As always, Su Yu placed his hand on the back of Hermione's head, threading his fingers into her fluffy curls and gently stroking them.
"I'll wait for you, my Miss Granger." Su Yu lowered his head and kissed Hermione on the forehead.
Hermione's face turned red at once, and she even forgot to cry. She let go of Su Yu and took a step back, her eyes red, the tip of her nose red as well. Her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she merely nodded and walked through the exit.
Su Yu turned to look at the remaining three girls.
"What about you? What are you planning to do for the summer?"
Fa-jie was as indifferent as ever. With her hands in her pockets, she shrugged. "I'll go home for two days, then move straight into your house."
Ka-jie stood beside them with a small suitcase in hand. "I need to visit some people with my parents. It may take half a month." She paused. "But that will pass quickly. I hope Butler Carson will welcome me then."
Su Yu stroked her cheek. Ka-jie did not avoid his touch, her green eyes fixed on him.
"Butler Carson is a very nice person," Su Yu said. "He just does not like talking much. He will definitely like you very much."
Daphne had it the hardest. She stood before Su Yu with her head lowered, fingers twisting the hem of her robe. She was certain that she would not be able to leave home for these two months. Her mother had long since arranged all kinds of lessons and social engagements for her, filling every day completely. She raised her head to look at Su Yu, her eyes slightly red.
Su Yu hugged her.
"It's all right," Su Yu said. "Even if you can't come, I can go see you. Don't worry, I'll go."
Daphne nodded in his arms without raising her head.
Only then did the three of them reluctantly walk through the exit and return to the Muggle world. Daphne walked last, looking back every few steps. Only after Su Yu waved to her once more did she turn around and hurry after Fa-jie and Ka-jie.
Su Yu remained as lazy as ever as he pushed his trolley through the exit. Kurama lay atop the luggage on the trolley, her tail dangling over the side and swaying back and forth.
"Hey! Butler Carson, I absolutely ate properly this time."
"Welcome home, young master."
Before you continue