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Chapter 85: William's Reputation Reaches a Crossroads
Although the Weasley Twins worked with unprecedented enthusiasm, by the time it was nearly lights out, they had still only completed a small portion of their task.
William nodded at the three students, acknowledging their work for the evening.
"Alright, you've done good work today. I'll give you half the day off tomorrow. Come back at eight in the evening to continue."
As everyone knows, "daytime" refers to the time before midnight, but to prevent them from skipping detention, William still specified the time they were to return.
The three Weasleys left the professor's office with looks of relief, and William's work for the night was also considered finished.
Theoretically, he should have gone to sleep, but whether it was because he'd slept too much during the day or was too excited from seeing Old Tom, William didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy.
'Should I go for a walk?'
Once the thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed—the curfew only applied to students, never to professors.
No sooner said than done. William put on his clothes, locked his office door behind him, and headed toward the castle's main doors.
At this hour, there were hardly any students active in Hogwarts Castle. Even the portraits had fallen asleep, which made William unconsciously lighten his steps.
——
"You there, student, halt!"
As William rounded a corner, an oil lamp suddenly appeared.
He stopped in his tracks, amused, and called out to the rapidly moving lamp, "Don't be alarmed. It's me, William."
"Professor William! I thought it was an upper-year student trying to sneak out for the weekend. You wouldn't believe it, they're always like this."
Filch said, half disappointed and half respectful.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a stroll. Are the castle's main doors locked?"
"They're locked. I have to patrol the castle for any students breaking curfew. So, Professor, if you go out, you'll have to wait at least an hour until I'm patrolling outside the castle to get back in—Dumbledore himself enchanted that lock."
Mr. Filch spoke of the lock with pride. And considering who cast the spell, an ordinary wizard probably couldn't open it at all, not even with brute force.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Filch. It's been a long time since I've really looked at the starry sky."
"Not at all, Professor. The starry sky at Hogwarts is especially beautiful. If you don't mind, you could help me catch any students lingering outside the castle. They're getting bolder and bolder. Last year, I even caught a first-year student who stayed out all night!"
A first-year student? William's jaw dropped slightly in surprise.
Even kids who stay out all night aren't usually eleven years old. At that age, kids need their sleep. Are the stars at Hogwarts really that beautiful?
If it's not for stargazing, isn't first year a bit early for that sort of thing?
"Who was it?"
William asked the question almost subconsciously.
"A Weasley child and his two friends—Professor, if you ask me, there isn't a single Weasley child who isn't a troublemaker!"
You can't blame it all on the Weasleys; the other two were surely troublemakers as well—William was just about to say this when he instantly recalled the entire drawer full of punishment records he had just seen.
Let's put it this way: the punishment record isn't directly correlated with the number of violations, but rather with the number of times one is caught violating the rules. Given the skill level of those two twin brothers, William found it hard to believe they were caught every time they broke a rule. Judging by that drawer full of records, their basic escape skills must have been honed long ago.
Seeing William nod in agreement, Mr. Filch finally paused his patrol to lead William to the castle doorway.
——
"By the way, Professor, I don't know what happened today, but my cat seems very frightened. Has she been cursed?"
As the two arrived in the Great Hall, a standoffish-looking cat suddenly appeared. Filch walked over, stroked her head, and then turned to ask William.
"A curse? On a cat?"
William crouched down, looked at the excessively thin cat, and began to examine her seriously. After a moment, he said with certainty:
"There's no curse. At least, based on my knowledge, there isn't one. She seems more like she's afraid of something. Have any students been abusing cats?"
"They wouldn't dare. Besides, the portraits in the castle are always watching. No one would dare to do something that so severely violates the school rules."
"Then she probably encountered some magical creature. Some of those nasty things are particularly fond of frightening people. To them, a cat is a good prop for absorbing fear. When I have time tomorrow, I'll search the corners of the castle. Those creatures love to hide there."
Several creatures that live on frightening others came to William's mind, like a Boggart or something similar.
"Alright then, thank you, Professor. I'll be patrolling outside the castle in an hour. I'll wait for you at the doorway for ten minutes. If you miss it, I'll wait for you at the castle doorway after I finish my patrol, but that would be very late."
William quickly nodded in agreement—this caretaker was incredibly enthusiastic, but for some reason, he had a strange obsession with administering corporal punishment to students.
——
'It's been a long time since I've calmed down and looked at the starry sky—it's a good thing Hogwarts doesn't have much pollution.'
William walked alone on the lawn, trying to find the most comfortable patch of grass to lie on and watch the starry sky.
Without any other students around to disturb him, such a spot was incredibly easy to find.
But as William lay down and gazed at the starry sky with a sense of wonder, he suddenly noticed something was off.
Within his line of sight, two furtive figures emerged from a shrubbery, gave their surroundings a quick scan, and then sat down without a care.
'Students, I assume? Did they really sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night for a date?'
William was suddenly caught in a dilemma—to catch them or not?
If he caught them, another new rumor would probably be added to his reputation among the students tomorrow. After "chases students off-campus for skipping," he'd have "stays up all night to catch dating couples" added to the list—heavens have mercy, he'd only been a professor for a week. For the sake of his future reputation, could he really catch them?
But if he didn't catch them... Before he was a professor, he couldn't care less about their public displays of affection. But now he *was* a professor, and they were doing it right under his nose. Was he a professor for nothing?
While William was wrestling with his dilemma, he finally managed to make out one of the two figures—under the brilliant starlight, a head of fiery red hair was incredibly conspicuous.
'This unlucky kid. If a group of you were committing an offense, you'd be the first one caught. Don't you even know to cover up your hair?'
William had more or less recognized the person—if he wasn't mistaken, it was his student, Percy Weasley.
Catching his own student doesn't count as overstepping his bounds like last time, does it?
But William quickly found himself conflicted again—if he remembered correctly, there were currently five Weasleys at this school. If he caught this one, then all four of them, except for the youngest, would be in detention under his supervision...
PS: Daytime, there is... maybe?
(end of chapter)
Although the Weasley Twins worked with unprecedented enthusiasm, by the time it was nearly lights out, they had still only completed a small portion of their task.
William nodded at the three students, acknowledging their work for the evening.
"Alright, you've done good work today. I'll give you half the day off tomorrow. Come back at eight in the evening to continue."
As everyone knows, "daytime" refers to the time before midnight, but to prevent them from skipping detention, William still specified the time they were to return.
The three Weasleys left the professor's office with looks of relief, and William's work for the night was also considered finished.
Theoretically, he should have gone to sleep, but whether it was because he'd slept too much during the day or was too excited from seeing Old Tom, William didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy.
'Should I go for a walk?'
Once the thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed—the curfew only applied to students, never to professors.
No sooner said than done. William put on his clothes, locked his office door behind him, and headed toward the castle's main doors.
At this hour, there were hardly any students active in Hogwarts Castle. Even the portraits had fallen asleep, which made William unconsciously lighten his steps.
——
"You there, student, halt!"
As William rounded a corner, an oil lamp suddenly appeared.
He stopped in his tracks, amused, and called out to the rapidly moving lamp, "Don't be alarmed. It's me, William."
"Professor William! I thought it was an upper-year student trying to sneak out for the weekend. You wouldn't believe it, they're always like this."
Filch said, half disappointed and half respectful.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a stroll. Are the castle's main doors locked?"
"They're locked. I have to patrol the castle for any students breaking curfew. So, Professor, if you go out, you'll have to wait at least an hour until I'm patrolling outside the castle to get back in—Dumbledore himself enchanted that lock."
Mr. Filch spoke of the lock with pride. And considering who cast the spell, an ordinary wizard probably couldn't open it at all, not even with brute force.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Filch. It's been a long time since I've really looked at the starry sky."
"Not at all, Professor. The starry sky at Hogwarts is especially beautiful. If you don't mind, you could help me catch any students lingering outside the castle. They're getting bolder and bolder. Last year, I even caught a first-year student who stayed out all night!"
A first-year student? William's jaw dropped slightly in surprise.
Even kids who stay out all night aren't usually eleven years old. At that age, kids need their sleep. Are the stars at Hogwarts really that beautiful?
If it's not for stargazing, isn't first year a bit early for that sort of thing?
"Who was it?"
William asked the question almost subconsciously.
"A Weasley child and his two friends—Professor, if you ask me, there isn't a single Weasley child who isn't a troublemaker!"
You can't blame it all on the Weasleys; the other two were surely troublemakers as well—William was just about to say this when he instantly recalled the entire drawer full of punishment records he had just seen.
Let's put it this way: the punishment record isn't directly correlated with the number of violations, but rather with the number of times one is caught violating the rules. Given the skill level of those two twin brothers, William found it hard to believe they were caught every time they broke a rule. Judging by that drawer full of records, their basic escape skills must have been honed long ago.
Seeing William nod in agreement, Mr. Filch finally paused his patrol to lead William to the castle doorway.
——
"By the way, Professor, I don't know what happened today, but my cat seems very frightened. Has she been cursed?"
As the two arrived in the Great Hall, a standoffish-looking cat suddenly appeared. Filch walked over, stroked her head, and then turned to ask William.
"A curse? On a cat?"
William crouched down, looked at the excessively thin cat, and began to examine her seriously. After a moment, he said with certainty:
"There's no curse. At least, based on my knowledge, there isn't one. She seems more like she's afraid of something. Have any students been abusing cats?"
"They wouldn't dare. Besides, the portraits in the castle are always watching. No one would dare to do something that so severely violates the school rules."
"Then she probably encountered some magical creature. Some of those nasty things are particularly fond of frightening people. To them, a cat is a good prop for absorbing fear. When I have time tomorrow, I'll search the corners of the castle. Those creatures love to hide there."
Several creatures that live on frightening others came to William's mind, like a Boggart or something similar.
"Alright then, thank you, Professor. I'll be patrolling outside the castle in an hour. I'll wait for you at the doorway for ten minutes. If you miss it, I'll wait for you at the castle doorway after I finish my patrol, but that would be very late."
William quickly nodded in agreement—this caretaker was incredibly enthusiastic, but for some reason, he had a strange obsession with administering corporal punishment to students.
——
'It's been a long time since I've calmed down and looked at the starry sky—it's a good thing Hogwarts doesn't have much pollution.'
William walked alone on the lawn, trying to find the most comfortable patch of grass to lie on and watch the starry sky.
Without any other students around to disturb him, such a spot was incredibly easy to find.
But as William lay down and gazed at the starry sky with a sense of wonder, he suddenly noticed something was off.
Within his line of sight, two furtive figures emerged from a shrubbery, gave their surroundings a quick scan, and then sat down without a care.
'Students, I assume? Did they really sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night for a date?'
William was suddenly caught in a dilemma—to catch them or not?
If he caught them, another new rumor would probably be added to his reputation among the students tomorrow. After "chases students off-campus for skipping," he'd have "stays up all night to catch dating couples" added to the list—heavens have mercy, he'd only been a professor for a week. For the sake of his future reputation, could he really catch them?
But if he didn't catch them... Before he was a professor, he couldn't care less about their public displays of affection. But now he *was* a professor, and they were doing it right under his nose. Was he a professor for nothing?
While William was wrestling with his dilemma, he finally managed to make out one of the two figures—under the brilliant starlight, a head of fiery red hair was incredibly conspicuous.
'This unlucky kid. If a group of you were committing an offense, you'd be the first one caught. Don't you even know to cover up your hair?'
William had more or less recognized the person—if he wasn't mistaken, it was his student, Percy Weasley.
Catching his own student doesn't count as overstepping his bounds like last time, does it?
But William quickly found himself conflicted again—if he remembered correctly, there were currently five Weasleys at this school. If he caught this one, then all four of them, except for the youngest, would be in detention under his supervision...
PS: Daytime, there is... maybe?
(end of chapter)
