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Chapter 110: You and I Under the Lemon Tree
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
“Percy, why is he here?”
Fred habitually cast a questioning glance toward George, but after looking around and not finding him, he suddenly realized—oh, George had gone to clean the toilet.
This thought made him feel a little uneasy even as he found it amusing. Previously, he and George had even served detention together; not seeing George for so long made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
But this worry quickly vanished. Percy, who had initially found a seat, was now hurrying toward him.
“George, why did you stop?”
Percy roared at him fiercely in front of everyone.
“Professor, George’s quill has been stopped for a while now.”
Under Fred’s astonished gaze, Percy looked around in confusion, then turned and switched to a remarkably gentle tone to report him.
“It’s fine, as long as the task is completed. A little hesitation during organization is quite normal—as long as it’s finished within the allotted time. Of course, if it really comes down to it, I’ve applied for a few sleeping bags, though I hope they won’t be necessary.”
“Oh, right. If you do have to use the sleeping bags, the door will be locked from the outside. I’ll ask a few gentlemen in the portraits to keep an eye on the lock.”
William’s additional words instantly dulled the eyes of the few bright-eyed lads. As someone who had been a student and heard countless stories in Azkaban, William was quite adept at plugging any loopholes students might discover.
—
“Fail. Transcription isn’t just reading it once. You need to remove the modifiers. Adjectives describing events, like ‘vile’ or ‘filthy,’ can be omitted.”
“Fail. The writing format is incorrect.”
“Redo it. Too many deeds have been overlooked.”
…
After the students finished transcribing the first set of archives, Percy began working quickly. His earnest attitude made William interrupt his own work of preparing exam papers just to praise him.
Just as Professor Binns had said when introducing him, Percy was someone who remained incredibly patient even with monotonous work.
‘That’s strange. Professor Binns was quite right, but how did he figure that out?’
With such doubts, William continued preparing the exam papers.
—
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on finishing tonight’s work early. We’ll continue next weekend.”
After Percy had thoroughly reviewed all the manuscripts, William announced that tonight’s work was officially complete. He had also taken the opportunity to finish preparing three sets of exam papers, feeling a deep sense of achievement inside.
“How are the students at the back doing with their exam papers? Do you have the confidence to hand them in early?”
He cheerfully greeted the students working on their exam papers at the back, but not a single person replied.
“Apparently not—” William shook his head and looked at the students in the front. “Alright, your work is done. Those of you willing to wait for your partners can stay in the classroom. If you’re bored, you can come over and ask me for an exam paper—”
Before William could finish, the students fled the classroom as if their lives depended on it, leaving behind their partners who were cursing their disloyalty while writing furiously.
“Well, it seems exam papers aren’t very popular,” he said, waving at the last student to slip out the doorway, then turned to Percy.
“How’s the work going? Smoothly?”
“Very well, Professor.”
Percy, with his composed expression, seemed to be suppressing something—which instantly filled William with a sense of guilt.
‘Was it a bit much to pull the best sixth-year student over to review manuscripts? This is the student with the best grades at Hogwarts, with twelve O.W.L.s, a true top student. Reviewing archives is a waste of his talents.’
“You’ve worked hard. This job should have been mine, but you performed exceptionally well today. Honestly, I hadn’t anticipated this level of efficiency.”
William patted his shoulder approvingly, then pulled a small money pouch from his pocket.
“Today’s allowance—don’t refuse it. They’re here for detention, but you’re here to work overtime. There’s a special fund for writing Hogwarts' history. It’s not a large amount, but it definitely needs to be paid.”
“Professor, this…”
“Take it. You’ll have to work hard again next week. This week was the first large-scale transcription, so we used a Quick-Quotes Quill for less important sections. Next week will be tougher, and I’ll discuss a raise with Professor McGonagall.”
After paying the allowance, William’s guilt about exploiting such a useful helper lessened considerably. He patted Percy’s shoulder again.
“Alright, go back to the common room and fulfill your prefect duties. Go on.”
Percy left the classroom with an excited expression, leaving William and a group of furiously writing students behind.
“Their detention is officially over early. I’ll give you another twenty minutes. If you can’t finish, you can take your exam papers back with you.”
—
“Phew, is Percy insane?! Mine was sent back twice!”
“What’s two times—I got three! They say it’s checking, but it’s really just serving detention together. Where does he get such boundless energy to watch over us?”
“You guys are lucky. All I did was have a few more typos, and Percy actually took my transcription to the professor, discussing whether I should go scrub toilets!”
Barely out of the classroom, a group of troublemakers sneaked into an empty classroom. Although their usual gathering spot had been raided by Filch, they still had backup locations.
Almost as soon as they entered, everyone aimed their complaints at Percy—it was only the combined authority of the prefect and professor that suppressed these guys; otherwise, they would have started arguing with Percy right there in the classroom.
Just as the group was happily complaining, the classroom door suddenly opened.
Everyone immediately covered their heads and started rushing toward the doorway—they suspected that last time Filch had caught people based on their faces.
“Stop—what are you thinking?”
George’s helpless voice sounded from the doorway, and the rushing people sheepishly returned to their original spots.
“What’s that smell?”
“Shut up, Fred, you traitor—you’d smell the same after scrubbing the lavatory for three hours,” Lee Jordan said with feigned seriousness.
“Oh, Lee, you washed the chamber pot.”
George casually slung an arm over his shoulder. After meeting up at the castle, the two had made their way to the empty classroom. After chatting on the way, they discovered a traitor among them.
The toilet faction and the chamber pot faction triumphantly encroached on the others' space. Having formed an alliance, they shamelessly squeezed out the other factions, looking as proud as if they had just won a great battle.
…
“Speaking of which, why was Percy there? That bighead usually has nothing to do with detention. Why was he so smug today?”
After the group had been lively for quite a while, they finally steered the conversation back to today’s hot topic—Percy and the detention room. The two just didn’t seem to go together no matter how you thought about it.
“I’ll tell you why—”
The classroom door opened once more. This time, the students who entered looked completely drained—they had barely survived William’s exam papers, and everyone had narrowly passed the exam.
“We were serving detention. Percy—he got an allowance from the professor.”
The air suddenly grew heavy.
(end of chapter)
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
“Percy, why is he here?”
Fred habitually cast a questioning glance toward George, but after looking around and not finding him, he suddenly realized—oh, George had gone to clean the toilet.
This thought made him feel a little uneasy even as he found it amusing. Previously, he and George had even served detention together; not seeing George for so long made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
But this worry quickly vanished. Percy, who had initially found a seat, was now hurrying toward him.
“George, why did you stop?”
Percy roared at him fiercely in front of everyone.
“Professor, George’s quill has been stopped for a while now.”
Under Fred’s astonished gaze, Percy looked around in confusion, then turned and switched to a remarkably gentle tone to report him.
“It’s fine, as long as the task is completed. A little hesitation during organization is quite normal—as long as it’s finished within the allotted time. Of course, if it really comes down to it, I’ve applied for a few sleeping bags, though I hope they won’t be necessary.”
“Oh, right. If you do have to use the sleeping bags, the door will be locked from the outside. I’ll ask a few gentlemen in the portraits to keep an eye on the lock.”
William’s additional words instantly dulled the eyes of the few bright-eyed lads. As someone who had been a student and heard countless stories in Azkaban, William was quite adept at plugging any loopholes students might discover.
—
“Fail. Transcription isn’t just reading it once. You need to remove the modifiers. Adjectives describing events, like ‘vile’ or ‘filthy,’ can be omitted.”
“Fail. The writing format is incorrect.”
“Redo it. Too many deeds have been overlooked.”
…
After the students finished transcribing the first set of archives, Percy began working quickly. His earnest attitude made William interrupt his own work of preparing exam papers just to praise him.
Just as Professor Binns had said when introducing him, Percy was someone who remained incredibly patient even with monotonous work.
‘That’s strange. Professor Binns was quite right, but how did he figure that out?’
With such doubts, William continued preparing the exam papers.
—
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on finishing tonight’s work early. We’ll continue next weekend.”
After Percy had thoroughly reviewed all the manuscripts, William announced that tonight’s work was officially complete. He had also taken the opportunity to finish preparing three sets of exam papers, feeling a deep sense of achievement inside.
“How are the students at the back doing with their exam papers? Do you have the confidence to hand them in early?”
He cheerfully greeted the students working on their exam papers at the back, but not a single person replied.
“Apparently not—” William shook his head and looked at the students in the front. “Alright, your work is done. Those of you willing to wait for your partners can stay in the classroom. If you’re bored, you can come over and ask me for an exam paper—”
Before William could finish, the students fled the classroom as if their lives depended on it, leaving behind their partners who were cursing their disloyalty while writing furiously.
“Well, it seems exam papers aren’t very popular,” he said, waving at the last student to slip out the doorway, then turned to Percy.
“How’s the work going? Smoothly?”
“Very well, Professor.”
Percy, with his composed expression, seemed to be suppressing something—which instantly filled William with a sense of guilt.
‘Was it a bit much to pull the best sixth-year student over to review manuscripts? This is the student with the best grades at Hogwarts, with twelve O.W.L.s, a true top student. Reviewing archives is a waste of his talents.’
“You’ve worked hard. This job should have been mine, but you performed exceptionally well today. Honestly, I hadn’t anticipated this level of efficiency.”
William patted his shoulder approvingly, then pulled a small money pouch from his pocket.
“Today’s allowance—don’t refuse it. They’re here for detention, but you’re here to work overtime. There’s a special fund for writing Hogwarts' history. It’s not a large amount, but it definitely needs to be paid.”
“Professor, this…”
“Take it. You’ll have to work hard again next week. This week was the first large-scale transcription, so we used a Quick-Quotes Quill for less important sections. Next week will be tougher, and I’ll discuss a raise with Professor McGonagall.”
After paying the allowance, William’s guilt about exploiting such a useful helper lessened considerably. He patted Percy’s shoulder again.
“Alright, go back to the common room and fulfill your prefect duties. Go on.”
Percy left the classroom with an excited expression, leaving William and a group of furiously writing students behind.
“Their detention is officially over early. I’ll give you another twenty minutes. If you can’t finish, you can take your exam papers back with you.”
—
“Phew, is Percy insane?! Mine was sent back twice!”
“What’s two times—I got three! They say it’s checking, but it’s really just serving detention together. Where does he get such boundless energy to watch over us?”
“You guys are lucky. All I did was have a few more typos, and Percy actually took my transcription to the professor, discussing whether I should go scrub toilets!”
Barely out of the classroom, a group of troublemakers sneaked into an empty classroom. Although their usual gathering spot had been raided by Filch, they still had backup locations.
Almost as soon as they entered, everyone aimed their complaints at Percy—it was only the combined authority of the prefect and professor that suppressed these guys; otherwise, they would have started arguing with Percy right there in the classroom.
Just as the group was happily complaining, the classroom door suddenly opened.
Everyone immediately covered their heads and started rushing toward the doorway—they suspected that last time Filch had caught people based on their faces.
“Stop—what are you thinking?”
George’s helpless voice sounded from the doorway, and the rushing people sheepishly returned to their original spots.
“What’s that smell?”
“Shut up, Fred, you traitor—you’d smell the same after scrubbing the lavatory for three hours,” Lee Jordan said with feigned seriousness.
“Oh, Lee, you washed the chamber pot.”
George casually slung an arm over his shoulder. After meeting up at the castle, the two had made their way to the empty classroom. After chatting on the way, they discovered a traitor among them.
The toilet faction and the chamber pot faction triumphantly encroached on the others' space. Having formed an alliance, they shamelessly squeezed out the other factions, looking as proud as if they had just won a great battle.
…
“Speaking of which, why was Percy there? That bighead usually has nothing to do with detention. Why was he so smug today?”
After the group had been lively for quite a while, they finally steered the conversation back to today’s hot topic—Percy and the detention room. The two just didn’t seem to go together no matter how you thought about it.
“I’ll tell you why—”
The classroom door opened once more. This time, the students who entered looked completely drained—they had barely survived William’s exam papers, and everyone had narrowly passed the exam.
“We were serving detention. Percy—he got an allowance from the professor.”
The air suddenly grew heavy.
(end of chapter)
