Harry looked anguished and indignant as he said, feeling utterly wronged:
"Why? I mean, I can accept having to write out our head of house's lessons from memory, and I can accept that Snape hates me... but why do we have to do yours and Professor Sprout's too?"
Beside him, Ron looked equally as though the sky had fallen. He nodded emphatically, staring at Douglas.
"Mine?"
Douglas pointed at himself in feigned surprise.
"Because I was the one who proposed this brilliant detention idea. As its proposer, of course I had to lead from the front."
"As for Professor Sprout... did you think that Whomping Willow you crashed into and damaged just grew out of the ground by itself? She poured her heart and soul into cultivating it all those years ago."
Harry and Ron felt blood rise in their throats. All they wanted to do was clench their fists, look up at the sky, and scream silently, We can't live like this!
Douglas shrugged gracefully and consoled them in a tone of compassion for all suffering humanity:
"Don't be so hopeless. Look at it another way: as long as you spend all the time other people spend sleeping and having fun memorizing your books, you still have a chance of regaining your freedom before the school year ends."
"For example, get up at six in the morning and memorize until eight. That's two extra hours. After finishing your homework in the afternoon, memorize from six until midnight. That's another six hours. You'll have eight more hours than everyone else each day. Over one school year, you'll learn as much as everyone else does in two."
"And think of Fred and George. They have to report to me every evening, while you only have to come on weekends. Doesn't that make you feel much luckier?"
His twisted reasoning actually left Harry and Ron blinking in bewilderment.
As though clutching at a lifeline, Harry hurriedly asked, "Professor! I can already recite the first Defense Against Dark Magic lesson. Can I write them out one lesson at a time?"
Douglas nodded. "Of course! As long as you don't do it one sentence at a time, anything else is fine!"
With Fred and George to share their misery, Harry and Ron actually felt considerably happier. Hermione and Hagrid shook their heads as they watched from the side, their eyes practically overflowing with pity.
On the way back to the castle, Ron regained his confidence and told Harry spiritedly, "Harry! We'll definitely finish our detention before George and Fred. Then we'll see how they like us laughing at them!"
Harry instinctively glanced at Douglas beside him and lowered his voice:
"But they only have to memorize one subject. We have four..."
Ron gave Harry a surprised look, then pointed at Hermione and said with complete conviction:
"But we have Hermione! She's so clever, she must know ways of memorizing that we don't. Otherwise, how could she have memorized every subject before school even started?"
Harry's eyes instantly lit up.
As they passed the Quidditch Pitch, the whooshing sounds of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team practicing caught their attention. Douglas asked curiously, "Didn't Wood organize practice today? I didn't see him at this morning's practical lesson either."
Ron's face fell at once, and he indignantly recounted the entire story of how Malfoy had bought his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch Team with Nimbus 2001s and mocked them.
After hearing him out, Douglas stroked his chin thoughtfully. "So Lucius Malfoy sponsored Slytherin with seven Nimbus 2001s, while you Gryffindors are still using the Cleansweep Series?"
"Harry uses a Nimbus 2000!" Ron insisted defiantly. "And Quidditch is about skill, not brooms!"
Hermione also gave a cold snort and said cuttingly, "At least no one on the Gryffindor team bought their way in. They earned their places through real ability."
Ron patted Hermione on the shoulder and pointed proudly at Harry as he said:
"Don't worry, Hermione. Harry will definitely make the Malfoy family's sponsorship a joke!"
Douglas couldn't help smacking his lips. Although he had a decent talent for flying, he really hadn't had young people's burning passion for sports back then.
That was also why he hadn't paid much attention to his own house's team.
In any case, as far as he remembered, Hufflepuff really did seem never to have won the House Cup.
"Harry, do you know how much a Nimbus 2001 costs?"
"Two thousand Galleons!"
Ron answered first without even thinking.
"I saw one in a shop window! Professor, you... you're not thinking of sponsoring Gryffindor, are you? Good heavens! Malfoy's face would look as ugly as a slug!"
At that figure, Douglas merely raised his eyebrows, an inscrutable smile curving his lips.
Thwack!
He flicked Ron on the forehead.
"Ow!"
"What are you thinking? I'm a Hufflepuff. The head of Hufflepuff House, understand?"
Douglas spoke irritably.
"If I sponsor anyone, it'll be our Hufflepuffs! Does your Weasley family have some hereditary gift for constantly trying to lure people into Gryffindor?"
"Besides, I haven't agreed to anything. Two thousand Galleons is no small sum. Don't go spreading this around, or I can guarantee that your detention assignments will become even more interesting."
Even so, an idea took root and sprouted in his mind. Sponsoring the team...
Perhaps I could even get myself named an honorary alumnus?
After Newt, our senior, it was about time Hufflepuff produced another celebrity...
After returning to the castle, Douglas told Hermione to go back and supervise Harry's memorization.
He himself took Ron toward Professor McGonagall's office.
Behind her desk, Professor McGonagall's gaze was as keen as a hawk's through her spectacles:
"Professor Holmes, could you explain what happened to Mr. Creevey? He was utterly distracted when he came running back, and the moment I mentioned your name, he trembled even harder."
Meeting her scrutinizing gaze, Douglas did not shrink back. Instead, he gave his usual smile and spread his hands openly:
"Professor McGonagall, you're asking the wrong person. Harry gave a splendid performance of shooting vermicelli from his nostrils in Hagrid's Hut. I think Mr. Creevey was probably overwhelmed by the spectacle. If you don't believe me, you can ask Mr. Weasley. He had a front-row seat."
Professor McGonagall's eyebrows drew together, and her piercing gaze turned to Ron. Ron nodded instinctively.
She pursued it no further, instead saying sternly to Ron, "It seems Mr. Weasley is already aware of what his detention entails."
Ron nodded. "Professor, don't worry. Harry and I will definitely beat George and Fred and finish writing everything out from memory early."
"Yes, Professor!" Ron puffed out his chest. "Harry and I will definitely finish before George and Fred!"
Professor McGonagall was rather surprised by this blind confidence, but she still nodded in acknowledgment of his courage.
Only then did Douglas get to the point, saying casually:
"Professor McGonagall, I need to apply to use the Floo Network once. As you know, Mr. Weasley's wand was damaged in the accident. When I tried to repair it, there was a slight...
well, a minor mishap, and it unfortunately shattered into pieces. So I need to take him to Diagon Alley to get a new one fitted."
Professor McGonagall stared at him for several seconds before finally giving a cold snort:
"Come back in an hour. I need to write to the Ministry of Magic's Floo Network Management Department."
Before you continue