The Punishment for Skipping Class

When Xiwen woke from his deep sleep, barely any sunlight filtered through the waters of the Black Lake outside the window into the dormitory, leaving the room rather dim.

Xiwen opened his bleary eyes, dazed for a moment before suddenly widening them.

"Damn it! What time is it?" He broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly turned over to search beneath his pillow for his pocket watch, only to discover that it had fallen out through his collar...

"You're finally awake!" Abraxas's voice came from the bed opposite. "Do you know you missed all of this afternoon's classes?"

"Yeah, impressive. Skipping class on the second day of term already." Mobley spoke with great admiration, then called for Gomez to light the chandelier. "Gomez, Xiwen's awake. You can turn on the lights!"

Gomez gave Xiwen an admiring look as well, then rose and walked to the dormitory door, pulling a ring beside it.

A snapping sound rang out above the chandelier, and a spray of sparks struck the candles on it with perfect accuracy. The dormitory immediately became brightly lit.

Xiwen covered his face in annoyance, incidentally shielding himself from the suddenly glaring light, and mumbled, "Why didn't any of you wake me...?"

"Did you forget? You were the only one among us who needed a nap. The three of us never came back to the dormitory at all." Abu looked at Xiwen disdainfully.

"Besides, the Herbology classroom isn't exactly close to the History of Magic classroom. We don't know the castle well either, so we simply didn't have time to come back and find you!" Mobley added.

"Ah!" Xiwen let out a deep sigh, feeling as though there was no hope left in life.

"Oh, right. Prefect Pruitt just delivered a note. He said the vice principal asked him to give it to you." Gomez suddenly chimed in.

Xiwen glanced at the desk and indeed saw half a sheet of parchment lying there quietly.

It read: "Mr. Rozier: Please come to my office immediately upon seeing this. —Galatea Merrythought." The detailed location of the Vice Principal's Office was written below as well.

Xiwen held his forehead. "It's over. I'm afraid I won't live to see tomorrow's sun."

Under the pitying gazes of his three roommates, Xiwen left the dormitory and trudged heavily toward Professor Melesi's office.

The Vice Principal's Office was on the second floor of the Main Tower, quite close to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. After climbing the marble stairs and turning left, he found its elegant solid-wood door.

Xiwen knocked on the door somewhat guiltily.

"Come in!" Professor Melesi's voice came from inside, and the office door opened in response.

Xiwen entered nervously and saw Professor Melesi seated behind her desk. She was dressed as she had been at the opening ceremony two days ago, in blue robes and a pointed wizard's hat. However, her expression was no longer as kind and amiable as it had been then. Instead, her face was sternly set.

There was another professor-like figure sitting on the sofa in the Vice Principal's Office. He was a short, plump middle-aged man with thick straw-colored hair and a rather sparse ginger-gold beard. At the moment, he was smiling as he chatted with Professor Melesi.

When she saw Xiwen enter, Professor Melesi fixed him with a severe look and slowly said, "Mr. Rozier, explain yourself. You dared to skip an entire afternoon of classes on just the second day of term!"

Xiwen guiltily rubbed his nose and said quietly, "Professor, I didn't mean to. I really just accidentally overslept..."

Professor Melesi pursed her lips and said sternly, "You need to learn to manage your time, Mr. Rozier. Do you know that Professor Isad, who teaches your Herbology class, was nearly driven mad with anger?"

Even after sitting through an entire Herbology lesson, I only just learned her name. Even while being reprimanded by the vice principal, Xiwen could not help silently mocking that rather mediocre Herbology professor.

Perhaps noticing that Xiwen was somewhat distracted, Professor Melesi was about to scold him further when the short, plump man on the sofa spoke up.

"Relax, Galadia. He's a new student, after all. It's perfectly normal that he hasn't adjusted to the environment yet!" he said with a smile, giving Xiwen a friendly smile as well.

Professor Melesi frowned and said to the man, "Horace, he is a student from your house, so in principle he should indeed be under your authority. But I hope you will punish him fairly. At the very least, a deduction of points and detention are unavoidable!"

Only then did Xiwen realize that this friendly-looking, short, plump man was Horace Slughorn, the head of Slytherin, as well as the reliable man Sandrine had told him he could seek out for help. He could not help giving the man another look.

"I understand, Galadia." Professor Slughorn nodded, then smiled and gestured for Xiwen to follow him before leading him out of the Vice Principal's Office.

As they walked, Xiwen cautiously glanced at his direct head of house and asked, "Professor, what will my punishment be?"

"Ah, punishment!" Professor Slughorn seemed as if he had only just remembered the matter, pinching his chin as he thought. "Let me see."

"Hmm, how about this? Ten points from Slytherin, and you come see me for detention every Friday. What do you think? That punishment is acceptable, right?" He winked at Xiwen and smiled. "By the way, I have a Slug Club. Would you be interested in joining, Xiwen?"

"Let me tell you a secret: the Slug Club's weekly gatherings are on Fridays!" Professor Slughorn said mysteriously. "If you join, the Friday gathering will count as your detention!"

That's it? Xiwen froze where he stood, falling into deep self-doubt. It was one thing for Slytherin prefects to help new students break school rules, but the head of Slytherin was actually taking the lead in exploiting loopholes in those rules? Just what sort of people were in this house...

It was not until Headmaster Slughorn smilingly escorted him to the staircase leading from the entrance courtyard to the Slytherin Common Room that Xiwen came back to his senses. He hurriedly thanked the professor and firmly refused his offer to personally escort him all the way to the common room.

After returning to the dormitory, Xiwen still found the whole thing rather absurd. He had broken school rules, skipped an entire afternoon of classes, and had apparently nearly driven a professor mad with anger, according to the vice principal. Yet his head of house had shown no intention of blaming him and had even wanted to personally walk him back to the dormitory?

After he told the three roommates waiting anxiously for Xiwen—or rather, anxiously waiting to watch the show—Mobley and Gomez opened their mouths in shock. Only Abu reacted as though it were nothing unusual.

"If it was Professor Slughorn, that makes sense." Abu spoke cryptically. "My father told me before term started that if anything happened, I should go find Professor Slughorn. He'll settle everything!"

"Is our head of house really that nice?" Gomez asked.

Abu said, "No, he probably only helps people of my and Xiwen's background."

Gomez: "..."

Xiwen was too embarrassed to keep listening to Abu show off. Slightly awkward, he interrupted him and asked, "What did you cover in class this afternoon? Can you tell me?"

The moment he said that, he clearly saw all three of his roommates' faces darken.

"Tuesday afternoon classes are a nightmare!" Mobley was the first to shout. "Can you believe we spent another entire lesson dealing with Dittany?"

"And History of Magic! I honestly felt like I was listening to some incomprehensible heavenly text!" Abu also voiced his dissatisfaction. "Why should I listen to a dead person teach?"

"A dead person?" Xiwen asked in surprise. That seemed far too disrespectful toward a professor.

"You may not know this, but our History of Magic professor is a ghost," Gomez added from beside him.

Xiwen: "..."