Even the most innocent student was unwilling to surrender the slightest bit of power.
All the more so when the title of Hogwarts Prefect came with a host of invisible perks.
Now Douglas intended to share that sweet fruit, which belonged exclusively to them, with a group of class representatives who had no official standing.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Quinton Avery could no longer sit still.
His chair legs scraped the floor with a piercing screech as he shot to his feet.
"Sorry, Professor." His voice was tight with nerves. "That fruit is the spoils won by past Prefects. There's only a limited supply, so I'm afraid we can't share it with... these class representatives."
The instant the words left his mouth, a thread of regret wound around Quinton's heart.
Only last night, he had heard seventh-years talking about this new professor.
Douglas Holmes.
A man who, apart from his attitude toward food, had nothing in common with Hufflepuff.
One older student had even whispered that this very Professor Holmes had been the cause of that rare battle between all Four Houses years ago.
But the precise details had long since grown hazy.
After all, back then, the current seventh-years had been tiny first-years who had not even learned the Levitation Charm.
They remembered only one conclusion: don't provoke him.
At that moment, Douglas was watching him with an amused, almost eerie smile.
A chill crept up the back of Quinton's neck.
He regretted his rashness.
But then he thought again: he was fighting for the Prefects of every house. He was a hero.
Perhaps that sixth-year girl he had admired for so long would even look at him approvingly because of it.
At that thought, an illusory strength filled his limbs once more.
"Spoils?"
Douglas's laugh was soft, like a feather brushing a tabletop, yet carried the chill of metal.
"Heh. Yes, quite right."
"Calling them spoils does make a certain amount of sense."
"After all, they really were something those people back then... earned through their labour as prisoners of war."
Douglas sneered inwardly.
He had not expected those little schemers from back then to have been so meticulous.
They must have privately reached some kind of Contract, wrapping the lie that "the fruit was spoils of war" in history's sugar coating and passing it down to each successive generation.
After he left Hogwarts, they had rewritten that history completely.
Still, Douglas knew perfectly well that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had not taken part in this little conspiracy.
Hufflepuff students could share in the orchard's bounty whether they were Prefects or not, and besides, he himself had been a Prefect of Hufflepuff House.
And Bill Weasley, that upright Gryffindor, had been not only a Prefect but Head Boy as well.
Most importantly, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff did not have so many devious little schemes.
"Nonsense!"
This time, it was the other Prefect, Vina, who spoke.
Her cheeks flushed crimson, anger blazing in her eyes.
That was not what their older schoolmates had told them.
Looking at the two young faces twisted with anger, Douglas decided to stop teasing them.
He tapped his knuckles lightly against the lectern, drawing everyone's attention with the knocking sound.
"Have you never noticed the name of the orchard you enter when you're sent there to work as punishment?"
"Holmes Orchard."
He enunciated the words clearly.
"Yes, you guessed correctly. I was the one who originally planted that orchard."
"The school forbade anyone from discussing that incident again, but I can reveal a little."
"You Prefects enjoy that privilege not because your predecessors defeated me."
"Quite the opposite. In the spirit of peace, friendship, unity and mutual assistance, I paid a special portion of the orchard's produce to those workers as compensation for their labour."
"To be more precise, every apple you ate should have belonged to the students serving detention by weeding the orchard."
Douglas would never admit that this had actually been one of the school's punishments for his instigating the battle back then.
As soon as he finished speaking, the looks in several students' eyes at the back of the classroom changed.
They looked at the two Prefects as though they were thieves who had stolen their dinner, their teeth grinding audibly.
What year did not have a few detention regulars?
Douglas was very pleased with this effect. He was still young, after all, and an occasional bout of indignation could warm his blood.
He added:
"As for my class representatives, the special and ordinary fruit they enjoy will be deducted from my personal share."
"So please leave them out of certain matters."
"Any more questions?"
"If not..."
His gaze swept across the entire classroom like a hawk's, sharp and cold.
Just as he thought he had taken complete control of the situation.
At the back, a hand belonging to a girl with twin ponytails shot up excitedly.
Douglas sighed.
It seemed his cold-faced intimidation technique was still nowhere near Professor Snape's level.
After all, Snape's fearsome reputation had been cultivated with lesson after lesson of venom.
"Please stand," he had no choice but to say.
"Professor! My name is Vincent Dina!"
The girl with twin ponytails stood up, undisguised excitement on her face.
"I'd like to know about that battle between the Four Houses seven years ago. Could you tell us about it?"
"I've asked every professor, but they all refuse to talk, as though someone cast Obliviate on them."
"The older students only know a few scraps, and there isn't a single word about it in the school records!"
"All I know is that the battle had something to do with the orchard! You own the orchard, so you must know the whole truth, right?"
Douglas froze.
He had not expected this girl to be far more interested in old gossip than in Prefect privileges.
He rubbed his nose awkwardly.
Back then, he had personally promised Dumbledore never to bring it up again, lest it spark another round of inter-house warfare.
"Ahem, Miss Dina."
"If you can get an O in your Defense Against Dark Magic O.W.L.s exam."
"I think I would be very happy to share that story with you."
He paused, lowered his voice, and added in a deeply mysterious tone:
"Just to give you a tiny hint, the cause of that incident did indeed have something to do with me."
"And with several Ravenclaw girls who have since graduated."
"Whoa-"
The room instantly erupted, especially among the girls, whose eyes blazed with the fires of gossip.
A male lead, and more than one female lead!
Dramas filled with taboos, conflict, love and hatred were already racing through their minds.
Douglas ignored their feverish imaginations and clapped his hands.
"All right, let's get back to the matter at hand."
"Each year really is worse than the last," he said in a tone of bitter distress.
"When I was at school, we were already so anxious about our O.W.L.s in fourth year that our hair was falling out."
"And here you are in fifth year, still unaware of the challenges you're about to face."
That was not entirely empty boasting.
It was just that he himself had been the reason the fourth-years had started worrying early.
At his urging, Bill Weasley had taken the lead in forming a study support group.
Yes, the kind that charged a fee.
"O.W.L.s, the Ordinary Wizarding Levels, are completely different from your end-of-year exams."
"These are twelve major exams administered by the Ministry of Magic itself, and they will determine your future."
"They are the ultimate test of everything you have learned over five years, as well as an important yardstick by which the entire wizarding world will judge your abilities once you leave school."
"Defense Against Dark Magic is one of them."
"I've looked over your past results. Your knowledge of magical creatures in your earlier years was fairly good."
"But last year, your grasp of defensive spells was simply appalling."
"In other words, this year you must not only learn the fifth-year material but also catch up on all the crucial spells you missed last year."
"Of course, there's no need to be nervous."
"I already have a complete plan for your studies over the coming year."
With that, he lightly tapped the thick stack of parchment beside him with his wand.
"Whoosh-"
As though given life, the papers flew unerringly onto every student's desk.
"This is a baseline test of your theoretical foundations."
"It covers all the Defense Against Dark Magic theory you've learned since setting foot in Hogwarts."
"Of course, this is only the appetizer. We will also have a practical assessment."
"The results will directly determine the direction of your studies this year."
"There is one hour left in this lesson."
"From this moment on, this is an examination room."
"No whispering, and no using magic of any kind to cheat."
That last sentence offended several Ravenclaw students in the front row.
Cheat?
That was an insult to intelligence! They were Ravenclaws!
But when they looked down at the paper, the arrogance on their faces instantly froze, then gave way to blank stares.
Their minds went completely blank.
These questions... were they really from the textbooks?
[Which of the following statements is correct?]
[A. Only people killed by Unforgivable Curses can become Inferi.]
[B. Garlic can prevent ghosts from haunting you.]
[C. People do not know that Dementors also exist in the tropics.]
[D. Jinxes are stronger than hexes, and hexes are stronger than curses.]
[E. If a werewolf couple conceives on the night of a full moon, they will produce wolf cubs rather than human babies.]
Apart from these brain-twisting questions, there were a few that looked like easy marks.
But perhaps that was only how they looked.
[What is the effect of the Reductor Curse?]
[A. Makes an object disappear]
[B. Makes an object smaller]
[C. Blasts an object into pieces]
[D. Melts an object]
[What happens to someone who reads the cursed book "Wizard's Sonnets"?]
[A. They become addicted to reading forever, unable to stop]
[B. They die immediately]
[C. They are sucked into its pages]
[D. They can speak only in limericks for the rest of their life]
Before you continue