"Professor Kate, you're setting a bad example for the students."
Watching the students fly past one after another, Professor McGonagall was shocked and anxious. She hurried over to Katelyle as soon as he landed.
Katelyle chuckled. "Isn't this a nice way to get the first years off to a good start?"
"Don't worry, Professor McGonagall. They're perfectly safe."
Professor McGonagall helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead. "Professor Kate, you're breaking school rules."
"Rules are made to be broken. It helps build the students' character." Katelyle looked at the lively students laughing and joking together. "Otherwise, they'll get bullied once they leave school."
"Especially when they face truly vicious people. It'll be even harder for them to survive."
Katelyle's reasoning left Professor McGonagall utterly dumbfounded.
Only after a long moment did she recover. "Professor Kate, what sort of argument is that?"
"Oh, Merlin's beard! Hogwarts will become a complete mess."
Katelyle laughed and waved a hand. "I'll leave the rest to you, Professor McGonagall. I'm off to have a chat with Albus."
Professor McGonagall watched him leave, feeling utterly helpless.
Then she met the first years Hagrid had brought and delivered a stern lecture. Their earlier excitement and delight vanished in an instant, and they looked at Professor McGonagall with fear.
They could lose points or receive serious disciplinary marks at the slightest misstep. Their portraits could even be put on display for everyone to mock, and they might be expelled.
Merlin's underpants! Why was this woman so strict?
For a while, the first years were like frightened partridges, their necks tucked in as they stared helplessly, not daring to speak.
By the time Professor McGonagall led them into the Great Hall, they were so well behaved that it was startling.
The welcome song that had been arranged, performed while