Little Fina's Overwhelming Presence

The next morning, Bell stood by the window of the Ravenclaw Common Room, looking at the snow-covered landscape outside, and began to speculate about the solitary confinement punishment he was about to face.

As expected, during breakfast, an owl landed next to Bell and tossed a letter it was carrying in its beak to Bell hand.

This owl has brownish-yellow feathers, is about 50 centimeters tall, and looks very majestic and imposing.

The big owl, busy delivering mail early in the morning and not even having had breakfast yet, planned to steal a piece of bread from Bell's plate for breakfast. He did this often and never had any problems.

The big owl set its sights on a piece of bread with bacon inside. The bacon had been fried perfectly by the House-elf, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, emitting an enticing aroma that greatly attracted the owl.

However, just as the great owl lowered its head halfway, a powerful aura emanating from a creature at the top of the food chain came from the side, startling it to a halt.

Cold sweat quickly soaked the great owl's feathers. It stiffly moved its neck and slowly turned its head toward the direction from which the oppressive aura was coming.

On the other side of Bell, the big owl spotted a kitten lying quietly. The kitten was gracefully licking its paws, its sharp eyes fixed intently on Bell.

No! That's definitely not a kitten!

The great owl, who had worked at Hogwarts for many years and still hadn't earned a single Bronze Knut as his salary, swore on his beautiful tail feathers. He had seen countless kittens, but none had ever given him such a sense of danger.

Fina lay lazily beside her owner, waiting to be fed. Still a baby, Fina needed plenty of sleep, so she had been woken up early by her owner and now just wanted to finish her breakfast quickly so she could go back to sleep.

But then, it saw something!

An owl, a pathetic owl with a combat power of less than 5 points, dares to steal food from its own owner's plate!?

If it's your host's plate, isn't it your own plate too?

That damn Scottish round-faced fat chicken, who gave it the audacity to steal my breakfast?!

I stewed it for lunch!

Seeing the stupid chicken standing frozen in place, motionless, made Fina feel even worse.

"I've already clearly exuded an unpleasant aura, why won't this stupid chicken get lost? Does it really want me to stew it?"

Fina began to make soft "woofing" sounds in her throat. This was her final warning; if that Scottish round-faced fat chicken didn't disappear soon, then today's lunch menu would be finalized.

A soft whistling sound reached the big owl's ears, and this time it finally stopped daydreaming and clearly understood the meaning of the sound's owner.

The big owl shrieked and ran wildly away from Fina.

The poor little guy was so frightened by Fina that he forgot he could fly.

The owl trampled over countless plates and bowls along the way, eliciting gasps of surprise, before finally reaching the end of the dining table.

Then it plunged headfirst down...

"..."

Watching the big owl, who only remembered it was a bird and not a chicken after running out of the Great Hall, frantically flapping its wings and flying away, Bell affectionately ruffled Little Fina's hair.

"Look how scared you've made them."

"Awoo~"

Fina proudly raised her little head.

Ignoring Fina, who was happily eating breakfast, Bell opened the letter in her hand. It was from Professor McGonagall, and it stated Bell's punishment of confinement.

Dear Mr. Menethil:

Your confinement punishment has been decided. Today, you must clear the snow from the Quidditch pitch and frost off the Flying Broomstick, during which time you are not allowed to use your Wand.

Please note that the school can monitor whether anyone is using Wand in the Quidditch pitch, so please be sure to follow the rules.

Vice Principal

Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall

As expected, the punishment for confinement was shoveling snow. But Professor McGonagall, true to her status as Quidditch fan, chose to have Bell shove the snow off the Quidditch pitch, despite the many places at Hogwarts that needed it.

Professor McGonagall never forgets to express her love for Quidditch Match.

"What are you looking at? A love letter?"

Penelope sat down in the chair next to Bell, skillfully picked up Fina, and fed her some of the food Fina liked from the food in front of her.

Penelope is now very familiar with Fina. Penelope can even name all of Fina's favorite foods.

You should know that even Bell, his owner, couldn't do that.

"How could that be? It's a letter from Professor McGonagall, about the confinement."

"..."

Bell gave Penelope a strange look, wondering why the other woman suddenly seemed a little down.

"Senior, did you not sleep well last night?"

Bell noticed that the other person had dark circles under their eyes.

Penelope always paid great attention to her appearance, so Penelope was always impeccably dressed whenever Bell met her. This was the first time Bell had ever seen dark circles under Penelope's eyes.

"Is there...?"

Penelope touched her face.

Oh no! I was so groggy this morning, I didn't notice anything at all!

Penelope didn't sleep well last night; in fact, she couldn't sleep at all. She felt like she was floating.

Lying in bed that night, Penelope's ears were filled with the whispers of the ancient gods, and shadows were eroding her soul...

Ahem, just kidding.

In truth, Penelope's mind was filled with the scene that had unfolded in the hallway that evening; jealousy was frantically eroding her heart. Penelope felt extremely resentful.

"Why! Why isn't it me standing there?!"

"Bell, I just saw an owl fly over here. Was it a letter from Professor McGonagall? Has the solitary confinement decision been made?"

Just as Bell was about to say something more, Hermione's voice suddenly came from behind him, interrupting Bell's words.

Bell waved the letter in his hand and handed it to Hermione.

"Yes, the lockdown requires clearing the snow from the Quidditch pitch during the day and prohibits the use of Wand."

Hermione took the letter Bell handed her and quickly scanned it.

"I'll help too. Two people will definitely be much faster than one. Besides, the letter didn't say that others couldn't help."

Bell thought Hermione would be perfect to be a lawyer. At such a young age, she's already mastered the art of manipulating language without any instruction; what will she be like when she grows up?

Bell glanced discreetly behind him; Penelope was quietly walking away into the distance.

"You still say you didn't run away!"