"Anyone who wants to compete for the position of chief, step forward." Snape's cold voice rang out.
A flurry of footsteps followed.
Eight of the eleven first-year students stepped forward at once. The three who stayed put were Crabbe, Goyle, and Tris.
Nobody was surprised that Crabbe and Goyle stayed put. Those two weren't much better than ogres in class.
Tris staying put, however, puzzled quite a few people.
Even some of the older students looked at Tris curiously. Despite the major event of the Boy Who Lived starting school that year, the Weasley sorted into Slytherin still attracted plenty of attention.
"Tris? What are you spacing out for?" Seeing Tris standing where he was, Blaise assumed he hadn't heard Snape and hurried to remind him.
"I'm not spacing out. I just don't intend to take part." Tris spread his hands and said to Snape, "Professor, participation isn't compulsory, is it?"
"No, it is not." Snape nodded. "However, I must remind you that the chief possesses some of a Prefect's authority and may discipline students in the same house and year who break the rules."
"Understood. Thank you for the reminder, Professor." Tris nodded, still utterly unconcerned.
He had absolutely no interest in being a Prefect with reduced authority.
As for worrying about being bossed around, Tris wasn't concerned about that either. He wasn't like his two troublemaking brothers, constantly dreaming up ways to break school rules. He thought he was quite well-behaved and sensible.
Snape showed little reaction. As he almost always did, he seemed indifferent to everything.
He merely glanced at the eight students standing before him and raised a hand. The open space in front of him suddenly expanded considerably.
At the same time, a ring of white fire more than ten meters across rose up, enclosing the eight first-years competing for chief.
"In a moment, you may attack freely as you please. You may not use Dark Magic, but there are no other restrictions. When I judge that someone can no longer continue, I will pull them out. Naturally, anyone knocked out of the ring will also be eliminated.
"The last person remaining inside the ring of fire will be the first-year chief. Until next month's competition begins, that person will enjoy the privileges of a first-year Prefect."
The young students were all itching to get started.
Tris, meanwhile, was bored enough to yawn.
He had nearly fallen asleep watching the second-years' match earlier. It had been nothing but low-level magic, utterly uninteresting.
He thought Snape's ban on Dark Magic was entirely unnecessary.
He didn't believe there was a second person in the entire first year who knew how to use it.
Things went just as he expected. After a round of fumbling skirmishes, the students tumbled out of the ring one after another. What did surprise Tris a little was that Draco was the last one standing.
Draco hadn't lasted until the end because he was the best at magic among the first-years.
At least in Tris's opinion, Daphne, Sophie, Theodore, and Blaise were all his equals.
Blaise, in particular, was clearly a little better than Draco at casting spells.
Yet Draco was the last one standing, and the reason was simple: he had Pansy.
At the start, Draco and Pansy played it timidly, each making a show of struggling against a single opponent, neither winning nor losing.
Meanwhile, Blaise and Sophie had battered each other. After knocking Sophie out, he faced Daphne, who had taken down Millicent, and fought another grueling battle.
In short, after all the chaos, only Blaise, Draco, and Pansy remained. Draco and Pansy then teamed up to eliminate Blaise, after which Pansy voluntarily withdrew, making Draco the first first-year chief.
Looking at Blaise's and Theodore's dark expressions, Tris nearly laughed aloud.
"Draco and Pansy do practically everything short of sleeping together. How did neither of you think they might team up?" Tris asked Blaise and Theodore in bewilderment once they returned to their dormitory.
Both looked thoroughly sour. After a long silence, Theodore finally mumbled, "Once the fighting started... I got carried away."
Tris nodded in understanding. "All right, get some sleep. We still have to get up and exercise tomorrow. You lost this round, so what? Just win it back next month.
"Won't next month be one-on-one? If you still can't beat him then, you can't blame anyone else."
Blaise and Theodore fell silent and could only nod.
The next day, Tris rose early as usual, dragged Blaise and Theodore out of bed, then washed up and headed upstairs to the common room.
He froze briefly upon arriving. Draco, Goyle, Crabbe, Pansy, Daphne, Tracey, and Sophie were all there.
"What are you all doing?" Tris asked, puzzled by the group, who still looked distinctly sleepy.
"Hmph, training our bodies, obviously," Draco declared confidently. "If there's a good way to get stronger, why would we let you keep it all to yourself?"
Tris burst out laughing.
His own exercise was a mandatory task assigned by the system. Otherwise, he wasn't sure he could have stuck with it. Yet these kids had actually volunteered to join him in the grind.
That was just... wonderful.
"Hmph, let's see how many days you last. I'm telling you, Malfoy, this isn't as easy as it looks. I reckon you'll give up after two days at most." Tris very much wanted the others to join him in pushing themselves.
But he also knew that people often dug in their heels when coaxed and only moved when provoked.
Draco, for instance, might genuinely quit after two days once he started feeling tired.
But now that Tris had said that...
"Nonsense! I'm telling you, anything you Weasleys can do, we Malfoys can do too!" Draco snapped.
See? Hook, line, and sinker.
They were both using provocation, but Tris was far more skillful at it than Draco had been before.
And so, of Slytherin's eleven first-year students, all ten except Millicent Bulstrode had turned out.
When they reached the Entrance Hall on the ground floor, Tris was surprised to discover that things were even better than he had imagined.
"Tris, what took you so long? You're later than usual today." Ron spotted Tris from a distance and waved, then visibly froze at the crowd of little snakes behind him.
Tris, too, was momentarily bewildered by the people beside Ron.
Besides Harry and Ron, who had already been exercising with him, Hermione's presence wasn't surprising, since she had joined them for a few days before.
But seeing Neville, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Sally, and Faye all there as well did surprise Tris for a moment.
Every Gryffindor first-year had shown up.
"What's all this?" Tris couldn't help asking.
"Harry and Ron both said exercising with you really helps, and I feel as though my mind has become clearer too, so I invited my roommates along," Hermione explained.
Tris certainly had no objection. Besides, with this many people...
"It's not often we get so many people together. How about a little competition, so we can see where everyone stands?" Tris asked with a smile.
Ron and Harry immediately looked wary.
Tris rarely suggested a competition, but whenever he did, he generally won. With so many people here, including so many girls, neither of them wanted to serve as his backdrop.
They knew better, but the others didn't.
"What do you want to compete in? Hmph, let me show you what a chief can do," Draco said haughtily.
Having just been crowned first-year chief, Draco was so full of himself that he barely knew which way was up. The mere mention of a competition excited him.
And he wasn't the only one. Several other boys looked eager too. Gryffindors and Slytherins alike enjoyed contests and rivalry.
"It's simple. Let's start with one lap around Hogwarts Castle. The first person to finish the lap and come back wins. How's that? Of course, if you can't keep running, you can walk the second half. Boys, try to stick with it. Girls, do whatever you're comfortable with. It's your first time, so don't push yourselves."
That would have been fine left unsaid, but the moment he said it, someone took offense.
"What, are we girls supposed to be worse than you boys?" Tracey Davis glared at Tris.
Playing the sexism card, are you?
Tris glanced at her and nodded. "In terms of physical stamina, yes. If you don't believe me, you're welcome to compete too."
"Fine, I will. I refuse to believe running can be that hard," Tracey said.
Tracey was the only one who spoke up, but she was far from the only one who felt that way. Faye, Sally, and even Hermione looked faintly defiant.
Still, Hermione, usually the most outspoken, kept quiet despite her displeasure.
She had run with Tris for two days and knew it wasn't easy to make it through the entire lap.
"In that case, let's begin." Tris broke into a dazzling smile, then turned and took off at the head of the group.
Draco immediately followed.
Crabbe and Goyle, simple-minded as ever, did whatever Draco did and promptly followed him. Draco's little shadow, Pansy, joined them too.
Then Tracey, Daphne, Sophie, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Sally, and the others followed one after another.
They were all first-timers.
By contrast, Harry, Ron, and the others who had run with Tris before followed slowly at the back.
Harry and Ron exchanged winks and meaningful looks, their expressions practically saying, Just wait until they make fools of themselves.
They didn't have to wait long.
Tris wasn't running particularly fast, merely keeping his usual steady pace. Seeing how slowly Tris was running, Draco snorted and surged ahead like a Samoyed let loose to play, taking the lead at the front of the group.
Tris only smiled at the sight, unconcerned.
Draco looked back at Tris, whom he had left behind, with a smug smile.
That smile lasted about half a minute, roughly a quarter of the way around Hogwarts Castle.
Something's wrong!
On his very first run, with no experience whatsoever and a warm-up consisting of a few haphazard movements, Draco soon discovered that his legs were starting to refuse to obey him.