"The training time stays the same?"
Snape spoke coldly.
"You actually intend to keep the morning fitness training she introduced."
Sirius met those black eyes.
"We're revising it. Not canceling it. Severus."
"If there was anything wrong with the training, it was forcing them to overexert themselves."
Snape scoffed.
"It seems the Black family has begun to appreciate crude physical exercise."
"Move it to after six thirty. Half an hour of exercise, and the remaining time before classes is their own."
Sirius shot back bluntly.
"Also, remove all the public rankings on the Red and White List from the walls."
"From now on, those will only be used internally by the staff as teaching references."
Snape heard that condition.
He did not waste another word.
He drew out his quill and signed his name heavily. The ink soaked through the parchment.
"That barely qualifies as a decent decision."
All five signatures were in place.
The turmoil of May did not immediately fade.
First, it became a blank wall.
The spot to the left of the Entrance Hall where the White List had once hung now held only two brass nails.
Faint traces of pink paper still surrounded the nails.
Like an old scar that had been forcibly torn away.
First-year students would instinctively look up as they passed.
Then they would freeze.
Because there was nothing there.
Harry stood behind the crowd, looking at that blank wall.
He suddenly felt that emptiness could make a sound, too.
Ron squeezed in beside him and craned his neck to look for a long while.
"I never thought."
"A wall could look this good."
Ginny came over with her textbooks in her arms.
"That's because it's finally stopped humiliating people."
Ron nodded.
"I support all walls that don't humiliate me."
Hermione did not