The Library.
Stella struggled to snatch a volume of writings on Transfiguration from a bookshelf crowded with more than a dozen students.
She squeezed her way out, looking considerably more disheveled.
Lewis did not even dare go near it. Alice held her head high like a victorious rooster, her hair a tangled mess and her spoils clutched against her chest.
"I can understand Alice, but why are you trying so hard too?" Lewis was stunned, and utterly baffled.
Alice was a top student in Slytherin, though her usual spoiled, headstrong behavior tended to obscure that distinction.
Why had Stella, whose grades were just as bad as his, come here to start studying seriously too?
"I don't know either." Stella scratched her head. "I just feel that if they're studying like this, I need to work harder too."
Lewis had no response.
"Look, it's Madam Pince!"
Madam Pince was directing brooms to chase off several students who had been eating snacks in the Library.
The most outrageous offender was an Asian student fleeing with an entire pot of spicy hot pot.
Madam Pince was exhausted. Every one of these troublemakers was even harder to deal with than John had been.
Stephens came over too, fresh from the battle for books.
He had lost a shoe and limped out with one bare foot.
"Did any of you see who hit me on the head with a wand?" Stephens grimaced in pain.
Fighting over books was one thing, but that was playing dirty.
"That was probably Madam Pince," Stella said.
She pointed at Madam Pince battling a crowd of students.
This was outrageous. In the past, they had not even dared cough in here.
Stephens could only swallow his grievance.
He still looked shaken. "Thank goodness I'm not taking part in the knowledge