Unexplained Changes in the House-Point Hourglasses

"Tell me what happened to them," Professor Merrythought asked.

Moody replied expressionlessly, "They went to bed very late last night and are probably still sleeping."

Professor Merrythought frowned slightly, then turned to all the young wizards below and earnestly admonished them. "I said on the first day of school that your house is your home at Hogwarts!"

"As members of the same college, or even the same dormitory, you should learn to unite, help each other, and encourage one another. Waking up your roommates when they forget to go to class is being responsible for their studies and future, and also for the entire group!"

"Gryffindor will lose thirty points this time because of their absence!" Professor Merrythought said to Moody. "These thirty points could have been completely avoided. Mr. Moody, please remember to wake your roommate next time!"

Professor Merrythought's words made Xiwen and Gomez feel relieved for a while, and Abu and Mobley also cast grateful glances at them.

Moody opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then sat down in silence, resuming his expressionless demeanor.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, your Professor Lore has had an accident and will be unable to teach," Professor Merrythought said, her expression softening. "Hogwarts will find a new professor to fill the vacancy as soon as possible. Until then, I will temporarily teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts for the first-year students!"

The young wizards gave the vice-principal a lot of face, and enthusiastic applause rang out from the audience.

"Okay, before class begins, let me first check your previous learning progress."

Professor Merrythought, a seasoned professor with decades of experience, possessed an extremely skillful teaching style and her classes were very engaging. She could even observe each young wizard's learning progress during class. In short, Xiwen listened with complete concentration!

However, this was tough on Abraxas and Mobley, as they didn't get much sleep at night and kept dozing off during class.

However, Professor Merrythought would immediately notice whenever they dozed off. At first, he would only give them verbal reminders and warnings, but the two still couldn't resist falling asleep, which angered Professor Merrythought so much that he deducted five points from each of them and punished them by making them write a five-inch self-criticism.

After class, Xiwen and his three roommates headed towards the Great Hall.

"I bet that apart from those bookworms in Ravenclaw, the other houses will definitely lose a lot of points today," Abu said confidently, his eyes dark with excitement.

"Ravenclaw may be the biggest winner from this late-night party," Mobley, who also had dark circles under his eyes, agreed.

"Do you think there's something going on behind the scenes about the headmaster lifting the curfew this time?" Gomez secretly speculated. "Look, Vice-Headmaster Melesi was originally Ravenclaw head; although we can't be sure which house Headmaster Dippet was from, some upperclassmen speculate that he probably graduated from Ravenclaw as well."

Xiwen's lips twitched slightly; it seemed like Gomez's words made a lot of sense...

Chatting casually, the four of them soon reached the Marble Staircase leading to the entrance of the Great Hall.

"I bet a Galleon that the hourglass of Ravenclaw's House-Point Hourglass is currently the highest!" Abu said, holding up one finger to the other three.

"I'll bet two... wait, where's my Galleon?" Mobley reached into his pocket and exclaimed in shock, finding only two Silver Sickle and three Knut left. "Oh no! I lost all my Galleon last night!"

His voice was so loud that it drew the attention of all the young wizards around him. Even a professor who was walking toward the Great Hall turned his gaze toward him.

Gomez swiftly covered Mobley's mouth to prevent him from attracting the professor's attention. After all, students running gambling dens in secret was a serious violation of school rules!

Xiwen quickly chuckled awkwardly to those around him and said, "Sorry, classmates, he suddenly had a fit. There's nothing else here, everyone can continue with what they're doing!"

Seeing that there was no excitement to watch, the young wizards quickly dispersed, and the professor, who didn't seem to be one to meddle, glanced at them suspiciously before ignoring them and walking into the Great Hall on his own.

Abu breathed a deep sigh of relief, glared at Mobley, and said, "Because of you, almost half of our academy was put in solitary confinement, do you know that?!"

Mobley nodded, still shaken, then glanced at Xiwen, who had casually made up stories about him, with displeasure, while still managing to maintain an expression of extreme grief.

His excellent control over his facial expressions left his three roommates speechless.

"But I've lost all my Galleon! If I dare to write back now asking for money, my dad will beat me to death," Mobley said with a worried look on his face.

Xiwen couldn't help but glance at his strange expression a couple more times before comforting him, "Don't think too much about it. You don't need to spend much money at Hogwarts. Two Sickle and three Knut will last you a long time!"

Gomez, standing next to him, glanced at his empty pockets and nodded in agreement.

"Let's go, our most important thing now is this bet." Abraxas put his arm around Mobley's shoulder and said generously. "If Ravenclaw weren't in first place right now, I'd give you this Galleon!"

Descending the Marble Staircase outside the Great Hall and turning a corner, you'll see four enormous hourglasses placed at the Great Hall entrance.

The four hourglasses contain gems of different colors: red, yellow, blue, and green, each representing a different house at Hogwarts. When a house gains points, some gems fall from the sphere above, which is protected by Undetectable Extension Charm; when a house loses points, the gems automatically fly back into the sphere.

Abu looked at the blue gem, which hadn't decreased much compared to yesterday, and burst out laughing.

"Haha, I knew Ravenclaw would have the most House Points... huh?"

Overjoyed, Abu immediately experienced what it meant to be struck by lightning and caught completely off guard!

As expected, Gryffindor's ruby is almost gone; and Hufflepuff, who didn't have many House Points to begin with, now has a score Gryffindor's, which was also easy to guess.

As for Ravenclaw, they didn't disappoint either; the height of the blue gemstones remained largely unchanged.

So, where exactly did things go wrong?

It turns out that Slytherin's green gems piled up into a mountain, suppressing Ravenclaw's height and securing first place in the House Points!

"... What exactly happened?" The young wizards present, whether Slytherin or Ravenclaw, were stunned. The difference was that Slytherin was ecstatic to the point of being dumbfounded, while Ravenclaw was wondering if the castle's magic system had not fully recovered and if something else had gone wrong.

Just then, Xiwen seemed to suddenly remember something, his expression changed abruptly, and he hurriedly patted his three roommates, dragging and pulling the three clueless Abu and his companions into the Great Hall.

However, the unexpected always comes faster than the plan...

"Xiwen, we've finally found you!" Ignatius's voice came from behind Xiwen, who had just entered the Great Hall. "Slytherin really owes you a lot this time!"

Xiwen: "..."