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**Chapter 106: Leaving Professor McGonagall Speechless**
Sunday was a rare, good day for sleeping in.
Even William, who hadn't wasted much time since his release from Azkaban, luxuriously turned off his alarm clock, preparing to sleep until the sun hit his bed—a time which, due to the bed's position, was usually after nine o'clock.
But today, William was startled from a deep sleep by shouts echoing through the castle. This was surprising, considering the excellent soundproofing of the lounge attached to his office.
"What's going on? Why is it so noisy this early in the morning?"
William yawned as he got up, not bothering to change out of his pajamas, and directly summoned a house-elf.
"Bart?"
This time, the house-elf didn't arrive immediately. Just as William wondered what he was busy with, there was a soft pop, and the house-elf appeared in his room.
"Professor, here's your breakfast. Apologies, Peeves was causing trouble in the kitchen again, so preparations took a little longer."
"No problem, that was already very quick. Thank you, Bart. What's happening in the castle? Why is it so noisy?"
Although he wasn't particularly hungry right after waking up, William still sincerely thanked the house-elf. *However, is Peeves clocking in for work, always causing trouble in the kitchen?*
"You mean the shouting in the castle? Please wait a moment, Professor."
The house-elf vanished, but in less than five minutes, he returned with a soft pop.
"Some students were planning mischief and Mr. Filch caught them in an empty classroom. Although they tried desperately to escape, Mr. Filch memorized all their faces and names, and is now going house by house, rounding them up."
"Going house by house, rounding them up?"
William finally understood why Filch wasn't highly regarded among the students—with that method of catching people, it would be a miracle if he gained any popularity with them!
***
William had thought the morning's events were just a minor interlude, but he hadn't expected that after he ate breakfast and went for an hour's swim in the Black Lake, the matter would find him again.
Just as he was returning to the castle, Mr. Filch suddenly appeared.
"Professor William, I heard you and Professor Binns have a big project. I happen to have a batch of misbehaving children here. If you can take more than you requested, how many do you need?"
"The more the better, but don't the other professors need students for detention?"
Due to Professor Binns's unexpected work rate, William actually had a lot of tasks piling up. However, Hogwarts wasn't a laboratory where professors could assign students to detention for manual labor—students were students, after all, not graduate students, and couldn't be commanded as one pleased.
"Too many, Professor, far too many caught this time! We've run out of toilets in the Hospital Wing to assign for scrubbing! All the detention requests submitted by professors have been fulfilled. I even prepared students for you early according to your needs, but even after everyone's work was assigned, there were still students left over. Far too many students were caught this time."
Mr. Filch's gleeful expression gave William the illusion that his family's land had just yielded a bountiful harvest.
‘Just how many people did he catch? Before, there weren't enough misbehaving students, and requests had to be taken in turns. And today, so many are left over?’
This made William recall the story from the morning, which he had overlooked, about Mr. Filch going house by house to catch people. ‘It seems Bart's words weren't exaggerated at all, perhaps even a bit conservative.’
"So many students misbehaving?"
"Yes, they gathered in an empty classroom—on a weekend morning, a whole classroom full of them. I was originally keeping an eye on the Weasley Brothers—you remember them, don't you?"
William nodded heavily. As a professor, seeing that thick stack of violation records, he likely wouldn't forget those students' names—let alone the fact that both of them were currently serving detention with him.
"Yes, those two Weasleys," Mr. Filch said, looking animated. "I had Mrs. Norris, my cat, keep an eye on them to prevent those two rascals from doing anything against school rules before Quidditch practice. As it turned out, those two started gathering all the misbehaving children from the houses into an empty classroom early this morning."
He made exaggerated gestures as he spoke. "A whole classroom full of people, all regular customers of my office! A bunch of troublemakers like that gathered together definitely weren't up to any good. So I had Mrs. Norris scare them a bit, and those guilty rascals immediately ran out—did they think I wouldn't remember their faces?"
The caretaker looked incredibly proud—it was the first time in years he had fulfilled all the detention requests submitted by the professors.
"What were they trying to do?"
"Couldn't find that out, but a bunch of brats gathered together definitely weren't planning anything good."
Mr. Filch said with certainty, and then, at the corner, the two of them saw the Deputy Headmistress.
"Professor McGonagall, good morning."
"Good morning, Professor William, Mr. Filch."
Professor McGonagall's expression didn't look as cheerful as her greeting suggested—William even felt the professor was about to get angry.
Sure enough, Professor McGonagall's next words were almost an interrogation.
"Mr. Filch, why did you catch so many Gryffindor students?"
‘Mr. Filch went house by house to catch them; saying that is a bit biased, Professor.’
William, who had heard this in the morning, found himself siding with Mr. Filch in his mind, but then he suddenly realized something was wrong.
‘Among the people who have the most records with Mr. Filch, which house has the most members?’
This question had a rather easy answer.
"Professor McGonagall, I found these fellows plotting something when I got up this morning. Before I even opened my mouth, they tried to escape—and once I caught them and brought them back to my office, not a single one even protested. They were definitely up to something."
Mr. Filch said this while opening the door to his office—making William immediately realize that these students had been locked inside by Mr. Filch.
‘Isn't that a bit… improper?’
But William wasn't the one who made the school rules, and besides, personal opinions were one thing, rules another.
"My office has a lot of protections. Those little brats dream of stuffing things into my office, but they simply can't do it—"
Mr. Filch's voice suddenly cut off. As for William and Professor McGonagall, they both froze in place.
At that very moment, inside Mr. Filch's office, a group of students were working in perfect cooperation: some were pressed against the wall, as if listening in; some were rapidly flipping through the archives; others were starting to rummage through the confiscated dangerous items. The entire room looked as if an excellent team had broken in—the kind that specializes in theft.
‘Well, Professor McGonagall, you came for nothing.’
(end of chapter)
Sunday was a rare, good day for sleeping in.
Even William, who hadn't wasted much time since his release from Azkaban, luxuriously turned off his alarm clock, preparing to sleep until the sun hit his bed—a time which, due to the bed's position, was usually after nine o'clock.
But today, William was startled from a deep sleep by shouts echoing through the castle. This was surprising, considering the excellent soundproofing of the lounge attached to his office.
"What's going on? Why is it so noisy this early in the morning?"
William yawned as he got up, not bothering to change out of his pajamas, and directly summoned a house-elf.
"Bart?"
This time, the house-elf didn't arrive immediately. Just as William wondered what he was busy with, there was a soft pop, and the house-elf appeared in his room.
"Professor, here's your breakfast. Apologies, Peeves was causing trouble in the kitchen again, so preparations took a little longer."
"No problem, that was already very quick. Thank you, Bart. What's happening in the castle? Why is it so noisy?"
Although he wasn't particularly hungry right after waking up, William still sincerely thanked the house-elf. *However, is Peeves clocking in for work, always causing trouble in the kitchen?*
"You mean the shouting in the castle? Please wait a moment, Professor."
The house-elf vanished, but in less than five minutes, he returned with a soft pop.
"Some students were planning mischief and Mr. Filch caught them in an empty classroom. Although they tried desperately to escape, Mr. Filch memorized all their faces and names, and is now going house by house, rounding them up."
"Going house by house, rounding them up?"
William finally understood why Filch wasn't highly regarded among the students—with that method of catching people, it would be a miracle if he gained any popularity with them!
***
William had thought the morning's events were just a minor interlude, but he hadn't expected that after he ate breakfast and went for an hour's swim in the Black Lake, the matter would find him again.
Just as he was returning to the castle, Mr. Filch suddenly appeared.
"Professor William, I heard you and Professor Binns have a big project. I happen to have a batch of misbehaving children here. If you can take more than you requested, how many do you need?"
"The more the better, but don't the other professors need students for detention?"
Due to Professor Binns's unexpected work rate, William actually had a lot of tasks piling up. However, Hogwarts wasn't a laboratory where professors could assign students to detention for manual labor—students were students, after all, not graduate students, and couldn't be commanded as one pleased.
"Too many, Professor, far too many caught this time! We've run out of toilets in the Hospital Wing to assign for scrubbing! All the detention requests submitted by professors have been fulfilled. I even prepared students for you early according to your needs, but even after everyone's work was assigned, there were still students left over. Far too many students were caught this time."
Mr. Filch's gleeful expression gave William the illusion that his family's land had just yielded a bountiful harvest.
‘Just how many people did he catch? Before, there weren't enough misbehaving students, and requests had to be taken in turns. And today, so many are left over?’
This made William recall the story from the morning, which he had overlooked, about Mr. Filch going house by house to catch people. ‘It seems Bart's words weren't exaggerated at all, perhaps even a bit conservative.’
"So many students misbehaving?"
"Yes, they gathered in an empty classroom—on a weekend morning, a whole classroom full of them. I was originally keeping an eye on the Weasley Brothers—you remember them, don't you?"
William nodded heavily. As a professor, seeing that thick stack of violation records, he likely wouldn't forget those students' names—let alone the fact that both of them were currently serving detention with him.
"Yes, those two Weasleys," Mr. Filch said, looking animated. "I had Mrs. Norris, my cat, keep an eye on them to prevent those two rascals from doing anything against school rules before Quidditch practice. As it turned out, those two started gathering all the misbehaving children from the houses into an empty classroom early this morning."
He made exaggerated gestures as he spoke. "A whole classroom full of people, all regular customers of my office! A bunch of troublemakers like that gathered together definitely weren't up to any good. So I had Mrs. Norris scare them a bit, and those guilty rascals immediately ran out—did they think I wouldn't remember their faces?"
The caretaker looked incredibly proud—it was the first time in years he had fulfilled all the detention requests submitted by the professors.
"What were they trying to do?"
"Couldn't find that out, but a bunch of brats gathered together definitely weren't planning anything good."
Mr. Filch said with certainty, and then, at the corner, the two of them saw the Deputy Headmistress.
"Professor McGonagall, good morning."
"Good morning, Professor William, Mr. Filch."
Professor McGonagall's expression didn't look as cheerful as her greeting suggested—William even felt the professor was about to get angry.
Sure enough, Professor McGonagall's next words were almost an interrogation.
"Mr. Filch, why did you catch so many Gryffindor students?"
‘Mr. Filch went house by house to catch them; saying that is a bit biased, Professor.’
William, who had heard this in the morning, found himself siding with Mr. Filch in his mind, but then he suddenly realized something was wrong.
‘Among the people who have the most records with Mr. Filch, which house has the most members?’
This question had a rather easy answer.
"Professor McGonagall, I found these fellows plotting something when I got up this morning. Before I even opened my mouth, they tried to escape—and once I caught them and brought them back to my office, not a single one even protested. They were definitely up to something."
Mr. Filch said this while opening the door to his office—making William immediately realize that these students had been locked inside by Mr. Filch.
‘Isn't that a bit… improper?’
But William wasn't the one who made the school rules, and besides, personal opinions were one thing, rules another.
"My office has a lot of protections. Those little brats dream of stuffing things into my office, but they simply can't do it—"
Mr. Filch's voice suddenly cut off. As for William and Professor McGonagall, they both froze in place.
At that very moment, inside Mr. Filch's office, a group of students were working in perfect cooperation: some were pressed against the wall, as if listening in; some were rapidly flipping through the archives; others were starting to rummage through the confiscated dangerous items. The entire room looked as if an excellent team had broken in—the kind that specializes in theft.
‘Well, Professor McGonagall, you came for nothing.’
(end of chapter)
