Reading settings
"Fred? The one from the Weasley family? That's right—this hair clearly belongs to a Weasley."
Hagrid scratched his face, his voice becoming resigned. "Ever since those two lads arrived at Hogwarts, I've been busy dragging them out of the Forbidden Forest. What, are they planning to pull their sister in too and form a team?"
"I-I'm sorry, Hagrid. I was just a little curious about the Forbidden Forest. Fred and the others said it's the most interesting place at Hogwarts..."
That sentence gave William a bit of a headache. Those two scoundrels! It was bad enough they went to the Forbidden Forest themselves and broke school rules, but now they were corrupting their sister?
Extra chores! I *must* give those two rascals extra chores. Not doing so wouldn't do justice to their "great achievements"!
Adams, standing by, was also furious. "Incitement! They both have it coming—and you, Miss Ginny, you'll be working in the greenhouse this weekend. While the instigators should certainly be punished, your act of violating school rules is undeniable."
"William, I'll take her to Mr. Filch to register this incident first. A first-year already thinking of running off to the Forbidden Forest—the plants there can kill!"
Adams hastily took Ginny and left. Judging by how angry he looked, a lecture on the way was probably inevitable.
With the culprit out of sight, William breathed a sigh of relief. He almost immediately pulled out a Chocolate Frog from his pocket; ever since the dark magic experiment, he had been paying special attention to managing his emotions.
'Good thing she wasn't sent to me for detention, otherwise I'd have enough of them to play connect-the-dots.'
After that thought surfaced in his mind, William finally recovered from the anger provoked by the two absent troublemakers. He took out another Chocolate Frog and tossed it up to Hagrid.
"Thank you, William. But it looks like my troubles this year can't be solved by one Chocolate Frog—another Gryffindor Weasley!"
"Are there any who aren't Gryffindors?"
"Not for now, so each one is more troublesome than the last."
Hagrid laughed as he stuffed the entire Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "Oh, another Headmaster Dumbledore card."
"I have five of those already, I don't need it."
"I have eleven, but you don't really need his card when you work at Hogwarts—there's only one Dumbledore."
This humble-bragging remark didn't make William feel envious; after all, he was also earning his living at Hogwarts now.
---
By the time William had entrusted the rabbit to Hagrid's care and finished their chat, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.
'The teaching aids for next week's class are confirmed, the fifth-year exam papers are ready, the sixth-year curriculum needs a bit more consideration, and then next week's lesson preparation will be complete—'
At this thought, even William, who deliberately maintained a steady demeanor on school grounds to preserve his professorial authority, felt a surge of happiness. The joy was comparable to that of a writer like "I'm Just a Pigeon" waking up to find they'd written thirty thousand words of their draft while sleepwalking. It made him unconsciously tear open the wrapper of another Chocolate Frog.
'William, you need some self-control. Two hours of swimming training in the Black Lake this weekend!'
After settling on that plan, William took a big bite of the Chocolate Frog and casually pulled out the card—as expected, it was Dumbledore.
'Are there no other generals in Shu, so all they send out is Zhuge Liang?'
Which company makes these Chocolate Frog cards? Are they hoping for a booming business too?
Amused by his own obscure joke and eating his Chocolate Frog, William floated back to the staff room before class was dismissed.
However, to his surprise, the staff room was empty.
'Something's not right. Where are Adams and Singeade? Afra should be here too, shouldn't she?'
"Uncle Swindler?"
A figure emerged from the corner, startling William. Who else could it be but Afra?
"Afra, where is everyone?"
"Do you mean Uncle Adams? Uncle Adams was called out by Aunt Sprout, and then everyone else rushed out. Afra quietly became invisible, so they couldn't see me."
Invisible? Weren't her clothes enchanted?
William remembered that to prevent her from getting lost, all of Afra's clothes had been enchanted. 'Maybe they forgot today?'
"Then I'll go find them and see what happened. Afra, do you want to come?"
The little girl's face showed curiosity, but she held back. "Dad said I should listen to Uncle Singeade, so Afra won't leave this room."
"Such an obedient child. Here's a piece of chocolate as a reward. I'll go take a look, I'll be right back."
William couldn't very well encourage a well-behaved child, raised so sensibly by her parents, to run off and play. He could only rub her head before going after the other professors to find out what was going on.
---
"Professor William, you're here too?"
Singeade greeted him while making a shushing gesture toward William, who had hurried over.
William, who had gathered information from the portraits along the way, took a sharp breath. If not half the school, at least a third of the professors had rushed over.
This lineup was large enough to take on the Ministry of Magic. Were they planning a coup?
"Keep your voice down, little William."
Professor Kettleburn uncharacteristically lowered his voice and made room for William. William uncomfortably squeezed his way through.
...
"Thirty points deducted!"
"A full thirty points!"
"Hufflepuff's house points had finally managed to take a temporary lead, but then the gems in our hourglass suddenly vanished! The prefects were all stunned! They searched the entire common room to find who had lost so many house points!"
"You catch Gryffindor's troublemakers and deduct Hufflepuff's house points! If I hadn't personally guided you from your first year to graduation, I would think you were a professor from Gryffindor!"
The voice of the angry female professor inside was very familiar to William; it was Professor Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff House, a witch who was usually quite kind.
But clearly, she was truly angry today.
William imagined himself in her position and realized he'd probably be even angrier.
Hmm, your own house prefects discover a huge number of points have been deducted, search frantically for the culprit, and find no one. In the end, the helpless prefects have no choice but to report to their Head of House, who then has to personally check the records, only to discover that the person who deducted the points was a student who graduated from their very own house.
Thinking about the scenario, William didn't feel Adams was wronged at all.
---
"So that's what happened. Poor Adams was lectured for a full hour. He was really asking for it, being so quick to dock points from his own house."
During dinner at the Taylors' home, Professor Taylor smiled as he told his wife about the interesting events at school that day. Considering the trouble he'd gone through to fix Afra's braids earlier, Professor Taylor felt his schadenfreude was entirely justified.
"Haha, the way you put it, I wish I'd seen it myself. I've never seen Professor Sprout scold anyone during my time at Hogwarts. Afra, what are you doing?"
"Mom, eat chocolate."
Afra handed over a whole, unopened chocolate bar, making Professor Taylor, who was watching, unable to smile anymore. 'Where's my share?'
"Ah! A-a bug!"
A Flobberworm was lying on top of the chocolate. Afra quickly snatched it back with lightning speed. "This is my new friend. I met him today in the Forbidden Forest."
Afra's tone was cheerful.
But soon, the Taylor household was filled with a child's cries and a father's explanations.
(end of chapter)
Hagrid scratched his face, his voice becoming resigned. "Ever since those two lads arrived at Hogwarts, I've been busy dragging them out of the Forbidden Forest. What, are they planning to pull their sister in too and form a team?"
"I-I'm sorry, Hagrid. I was just a little curious about the Forbidden Forest. Fred and the others said it's the most interesting place at Hogwarts..."
That sentence gave William a bit of a headache. Those two scoundrels! It was bad enough they went to the Forbidden Forest themselves and broke school rules, but now they were corrupting their sister?
Extra chores! I *must* give those two rascals extra chores. Not doing so wouldn't do justice to their "great achievements"!
Adams, standing by, was also furious. "Incitement! They both have it coming—and you, Miss Ginny, you'll be working in the greenhouse this weekend. While the instigators should certainly be punished, your act of violating school rules is undeniable."
"William, I'll take her to Mr. Filch to register this incident first. A first-year already thinking of running off to the Forbidden Forest—the plants there can kill!"
Adams hastily took Ginny and left. Judging by how angry he looked, a lecture on the way was probably inevitable.
With the culprit out of sight, William breathed a sigh of relief. He almost immediately pulled out a Chocolate Frog from his pocket; ever since the dark magic experiment, he had been paying special attention to managing his emotions.
'Good thing she wasn't sent to me for detention, otherwise I'd have enough of them to play connect-the-dots.'
After that thought surfaced in his mind, William finally recovered from the anger provoked by the two absent troublemakers. He took out another Chocolate Frog and tossed it up to Hagrid.
"Thank you, William. But it looks like my troubles this year can't be solved by one Chocolate Frog—another Gryffindor Weasley!"
"Are there any who aren't Gryffindors?"
"Not for now, so each one is more troublesome than the last."
Hagrid laughed as he stuffed the entire Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "Oh, another Headmaster Dumbledore card."
"I have five of those already, I don't need it."
"I have eleven, but you don't really need his card when you work at Hogwarts—there's only one Dumbledore."
This humble-bragging remark didn't make William feel envious; after all, he was also earning his living at Hogwarts now.
---
By the time William had entrusted the rabbit to Hagrid's care and finished their chat, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.
'The teaching aids for next week's class are confirmed, the fifth-year exam papers are ready, the sixth-year curriculum needs a bit more consideration, and then next week's lesson preparation will be complete—'
At this thought, even William, who deliberately maintained a steady demeanor on school grounds to preserve his professorial authority, felt a surge of happiness. The joy was comparable to that of a writer like "I'm Just a Pigeon" waking up to find they'd written thirty thousand words of their draft while sleepwalking. It made him unconsciously tear open the wrapper of another Chocolate Frog.
'William, you need some self-control. Two hours of swimming training in the Black Lake this weekend!'
After settling on that plan, William took a big bite of the Chocolate Frog and casually pulled out the card—as expected, it was Dumbledore.
'Are there no other generals in Shu, so all they send out is Zhuge Liang?'
Which company makes these Chocolate Frog cards? Are they hoping for a booming business too?
Amused by his own obscure joke and eating his Chocolate Frog, William floated back to the staff room before class was dismissed.
However, to his surprise, the staff room was empty.
'Something's not right. Where are Adams and Singeade? Afra should be here too, shouldn't she?'
"Uncle Swindler?"
A figure emerged from the corner, startling William. Who else could it be but Afra?
"Afra, where is everyone?"
"Do you mean Uncle Adams? Uncle Adams was called out by Aunt Sprout, and then everyone else rushed out. Afra quietly became invisible, so they couldn't see me."
Invisible? Weren't her clothes enchanted?
William remembered that to prevent her from getting lost, all of Afra's clothes had been enchanted. 'Maybe they forgot today?'
"Then I'll go find them and see what happened. Afra, do you want to come?"
The little girl's face showed curiosity, but she held back. "Dad said I should listen to Uncle Singeade, so Afra won't leave this room."
"Such an obedient child. Here's a piece of chocolate as a reward. I'll go take a look, I'll be right back."
William couldn't very well encourage a well-behaved child, raised so sensibly by her parents, to run off and play. He could only rub her head before going after the other professors to find out what was going on.
---
"Professor William, you're here too?"
Singeade greeted him while making a shushing gesture toward William, who had hurried over.
William, who had gathered information from the portraits along the way, took a sharp breath. If not half the school, at least a third of the professors had rushed over.
This lineup was large enough to take on the Ministry of Magic. Were they planning a coup?
"Keep your voice down, little William."
Professor Kettleburn uncharacteristically lowered his voice and made room for William. William uncomfortably squeezed his way through.
...
"Thirty points deducted!"
"A full thirty points!"
"Hufflepuff's house points had finally managed to take a temporary lead, but then the gems in our hourglass suddenly vanished! The prefects were all stunned! They searched the entire common room to find who had lost so many house points!"
"You catch Gryffindor's troublemakers and deduct Hufflepuff's house points! If I hadn't personally guided you from your first year to graduation, I would think you were a professor from Gryffindor!"
The voice of the angry female professor inside was very familiar to William; it was Professor Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff House, a witch who was usually quite kind.
But clearly, she was truly angry today.
William imagined himself in her position and realized he'd probably be even angrier.
Hmm, your own house prefects discover a huge number of points have been deducted, search frantically for the culprit, and find no one. In the end, the helpless prefects have no choice but to report to their Head of House, who then has to personally check the records, only to discover that the person who deducted the points was a student who graduated from their very own house.
Thinking about the scenario, William didn't feel Adams was wronged at all.
---
"So that's what happened. Poor Adams was lectured for a full hour. He was really asking for it, being so quick to dock points from his own house."
During dinner at the Taylors' home, Professor Taylor smiled as he told his wife about the interesting events at school that day. Considering the trouble he'd gone through to fix Afra's braids earlier, Professor Taylor felt his schadenfreude was entirely justified.
"Haha, the way you put it, I wish I'd seen it myself. I've never seen Professor Sprout scold anyone during my time at Hogwarts. Afra, what are you doing?"
"Mom, eat chocolate."
Afra handed over a whole, unopened chocolate bar, making Professor Taylor, who was watching, unable to smile anymore. 'Where's my share?'
"Ah! A-a bug!"
A Flobberworm was lying on top of the chocolate. Afra quickly snatched it back with lightning speed. "This is my new friend. I met him today in the Forbidden Forest."
Afra's tone was cheerful.
But soon, the Taylor household was filled with a child's cries and a father's explanations.
(end of chapter)
