Punishment

Harry was a man of action.

While Ryan lamented the sorrow of being strong, Harry used the Marauder's Map to corner Zacharias in a secluded spot on the way from the dungeons to the Hufflepuff common room.

Levicorpus! Harry silently recited in his mind behind Zacharias.

With a flash of bright light and a scream, Zacharias was suspended upside down in midair,

as though an invisible hook had caught his ankle and hoisted him up.

He tried desperately to turn around and see who it was, but restrained and hanging upside down, he could only stop struggling helplessly.

"Who is it? This is close to the Hufflepuff common room!

We're all very united!

If you let me go now, there's still time.

I'm a descendant of great Hufflepuff.

The other Houses won't stand for someone bullying me.

And Professor Snape—if he happens to pass by, your identity will be exposed too!

You ambushed me from behind. You must be some—" Zacharias seemed to be half threatening, half begging, but his hand had already reached for his wand.

But he abruptly stopped halfway through the incantation.

Expelliarmus! Harry waved his wand, and a red flash shot out.

Zacharias's wand spun through the air and clattered crisply against the stone floor.

Zacharias was terrified.

From the very beginning until now, the person behind him had been like a patch of air.

They had not said a single word.

He knew nothing of their demands or intentions.

That only made it more terrifying.

Zacharias was utterly baffled.

He had shouted loudly just now, so why did no one passing nearby seem to hear him?

It was as though this corner had been forgotten by the world.

Would his interrupted attempt at resistance anger the person behind him?

Though he thought this, he still