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Chapter 89: The Student Who Skipped Class and Ran into a Professor
"Achoo!"
William let out a loud sneeze.
'Who's talking about me?'
He muttered to himself as he pulled his broomstick out of the chilling lake water—the Levitation Charm allowed him to leave the water with ease, avoiding the awkwardness of having to swim back dripping wet.
Controlling his slow drift toward the shore, William held his wand in one hand and the broom in the other, hovering about a meter above the Black Lake. From a distance, it looked quite impressive, like he was flying across the water—as long as no one got too close.
'To shine before others, one must suffer behind the scenes.'
William admonished himself while trying his best to ignore his dripping clothes and broom, feeling incredibly fortunate that no professors, and more importantly, no students, had followed him.
But the constant dripping onto the water's surface attracted the attention of an aquatic creature. A massive perch poked its head out, looking around the surface—had some small flying insect accidentally fallen into the water?
Just as William sensed a ripple on the surface, the man and the fish made eye contact.
Ten minutes later.
William was comfortably warming himself by a fire on the shore of the Black Lake.
'Magic is truly convenient. Even with practically no fuel, starting such a roaring fire is so easy.'
Although his robe had been cleaned with magic, William still felt, perhaps psychologically, that warming himself by the fire made him feel much more comfortable.
"Speaking of which, the broomstick's craftsmanship is so meticulous that it didn't get waterlogged even after being submerged. It should be ready to fly again soon."
Muttering to himself, William flipped the broomstick over to let it dry more evenly.
Turning his head, William looked at the skewered perch and found himself in a dilemma.
"Should I call Bart?"
Bart was a House-elf at Hogwarts. Although he technically belonged to the school, he mostly served William, as one of the benefits arranged for professors.
The House-elf could easily be summoned from this distance. Although William had cleaned and skewered the fish, he didn't even have any salt. Bart could easily bring the necessary spices—but if he did, William's fall into the water would be exposed.
After all, the broomstick wasn't dry yet.
'I'll wait a bit longer. Even though I intentionally dove into the lake because I lost control of the broom at a high altitude, it obviously wouldn't be easy to explain.'
For the sake of his professorial dignity, William decided he could let the fish wait a little longer.
—
Just as William felt the broom was almost dry, a voice suddenly sounded.
"You're skipping class too?"
What do you mean, "too"?
Also, my reputation among the students is already low enough. Could you delinquent students please report yourselves to Mr. Filch and not ruin the already decent relationship I have with the student body?
William grumbled internally as he turned to see which unlucky child was so clueless as to skip class and run straight into a professor.
However, this was one of the few times he was caught off guard. When he turned and saw no one, he immediately drew his wand, only to find that the person who had spoken was already staring blankly at his skewered perch.
She wasn't tall, likely a new first-year student. Right now, the little girl was staring intently at his perch, a sad look on her face.
'Don't tell me she befriended the fish?'
A peculiar thought popped into William's head. During his lesson preparation yesterday, he had learned that some people could communicate with specific magical creatures. Although this perch looked nothing like a magical creature, when it came to magic, who could say for sure?
"Are you going to roast it?"
'It's not completely dead yet. It was just gutted, but with a precious Potion, it could still live—'
The thought immediately surfaced in William's mind. He had used ordinary methods to kill the fish. As long as it wasn't harmed by Dark Magic or a special magical creature, missing a body part was a major problem, but a solvable one.
Though it was a bit of a waste to use on a fish, saving a new student's friend wasn't so bad—he was a professor, after all.
"This is a perch! It's meant to be steamed!"
*Crack—*
William distinctly heard something break.
Before he could react, the first-year student before him deftly pulled a pot, a knife, a cutting board, various seasonings, and finally a chef's hat and apron from a small bag.
'That bag is full of cooking utensils?'
While William was wondering if this new student had transferred to Hogwarts from a culinary academy, she had already set up the pot, started scoring the perch, and was now rubbing it with salt to marinate.
"Hufflepuff, fourth year. Selma Liang."
Fourth year?
William glanced at her height and shook his head almost imperceptibly.
Also, skipping class and running into a professor... are you sure you're not a Gryffindor student? Even they don't have this much courage!
Besides, I appeared at the Opening Ceremony. I might not be in the Great Hall for every single meal, but I'm there at least twice a day, right? It's been a week, young lady, how have you managed to not recognize me yet?
Perhaps because she didn't hear William's reply, she looked up curiously, her gaze sweeping quickly over the broomstick.
"Are you from Ravenclaw? Sixth year? Fifth year? Seventh year isn't out of the question either. I know everyone in Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor just added some younger players to their team last year. Only Ravenclaw would be skipping class these days to practice flying for the House Team tryouts."
She didn't mention Slytherin—because while most Slytherins were fine in the lower years, the older ones barely spoke to students from other Houses.
"The water is boiling. It's been about ten minutes. It's ready for steaming."
Without waiting for William's reply, she began stuffing the fish's cavity with ingredients—ginger, garlic—and then covered it with a layer of scallions before placing it in the pot.
"There's nothing wrong with liking Quidditch, and practicing in secret shows effort. Look at me, I love cooking, so I went to Hufflepuff. I've spent a long time researching menus, and now I can't help myself when I see good ingredients—so, I'm taking half, no problem, right?"
"Of course."
William nodded affirmatively. He only knew how to roast fish; he really had no idea what kind of fish was best prepared in which way.
"See? Talking to a Ravenclaw student is so easy."
She spoke with the tone of an adult, which suddenly made her seem like a fourth-year student. Any older, and they'd all be acting cutesy.
Seeing how forward the girl was, William almost didn't have the heart to let her face a harsh dose of reality.
But she quickly got carried away. As she brought the perch out of the pot, the pride on her face was impossible to suppress.
"For now, it's just a fish from the Black Lake, but before I graduate, I'm going to roast that giant squid in the Black Lake! Even if it's just one leg!"
That's the school's valuable property, and it saves countless drowning victims every year!
Why must you give me a reason to give you detention?
(end of chapter)
"Achoo!"
William let out a loud sneeze.
'Who's talking about me?'
He muttered to himself as he pulled his broomstick out of the chilling lake water—the Levitation Charm allowed him to leave the water with ease, avoiding the awkwardness of having to swim back dripping wet.
Controlling his slow drift toward the shore, William held his wand in one hand and the broom in the other, hovering about a meter above the Black Lake. From a distance, it looked quite impressive, like he was flying across the water—as long as no one got too close.
'To shine before others, one must suffer behind the scenes.'
William admonished himself while trying his best to ignore his dripping clothes and broom, feeling incredibly fortunate that no professors, and more importantly, no students, had followed him.
But the constant dripping onto the water's surface attracted the attention of an aquatic creature. A massive perch poked its head out, looking around the surface—had some small flying insect accidentally fallen into the water?
Just as William sensed a ripple on the surface, the man and the fish made eye contact.
Ten minutes later.
William was comfortably warming himself by a fire on the shore of the Black Lake.
'Magic is truly convenient. Even with practically no fuel, starting such a roaring fire is so easy.'
Although his robe had been cleaned with magic, William still felt, perhaps psychologically, that warming himself by the fire made him feel much more comfortable.
"Speaking of which, the broomstick's craftsmanship is so meticulous that it didn't get waterlogged even after being submerged. It should be ready to fly again soon."
Muttering to himself, William flipped the broomstick over to let it dry more evenly.
Turning his head, William looked at the skewered perch and found himself in a dilemma.
"Should I call Bart?"
Bart was a House-elf at Hogwarts. Although he technically belonged to the school, he mostly served William, as one of the benefits arranged for professors.
The House-elf could easily be summoned from this distance. Although William had cleaned and skewered the fish, he didn't even have any salt. Bart could easily bring the necessary spices—but if he did, William's fall into the water would be exposed.
After all, the broomstick wasn't dry yet.
'I'll wait a bit longer. Even though I intentionally dove into the lake because I lost control of the broom at a high altitude, it obviously wouldn't be easy to explain.'
For the sake of his professorial dignity, William decided he could let the fish wait a little longer.
—
Just as William felt the broom was almost dry, a voice suddenly sounded.
"You're skipping class too?"
What do you mean, "too"?
Also, my reputation among the students is already low enough. Could you delinquent students please report yourselves to Mr. Filch and not ruin the already decent relationship I have with the student body?
William grumbled internally as he turned to see which unlucky child was so clueless as to skip class and run straight into a professor.
However, this was one of the few times he was caught off guard. When he turned and saw no one, he immediately drew his wand, only to find that the person who had spoken was already staring blankly at his skewered perch.
She wasn't tall, likely a new first-year student. Right now, the little girl was staring intently at his perch, a sad look on her face.
'Don't tell me she befriended the fish?'
A peculiar thought popped into William's head. During his lesson preparation yesterday, he had learned that some people could communicate with specific magical creatures. Although this perch looked nothing like a magical creature, when it came to magic, who could say for sure?
"Are you going to roast it?"
'It's not completely dead yet. It was just gutted, but with a precious Potion, it could still live—'
The thought immediately surfaced in William's mind. He had used ordinary methods to kill the fish. As long as it wasn't harmed by Dark Magic or a special magical creature, missing a body part was a major problem, but a solvable one.
Though it was a bit of a waste to use on a fish, saving a new student's friend wasn't so bad—he was a professor, after all.
"This is a perch! It's meant to be steamed!"
*Crack—*
William distinctly heard something break.
Before he could react, the first-year student before him deftly pulled a pot, a knife, a cutting board, various seasonings, and finally a chef's hat and apron from a small bag.
'That bag is full of cooking utensils?'
While William was wondering if this new student had transferred to Hogwarts from a culinary academy, she had already set up the pot, started scoring the perch, and was now rubbing it with salt to marinate.
"Hufflepuff, fourth year. Selma Liang."
Fourth year?
William glanced at her height and shook his head almost imperceptibly.
Also, skipping class and running into a professor... are you sure you're not a Gryffindor student? Even they don't have this much courage!
Besides, I appeared at the Opening Ceremony. I might not be in the Great Hall for every single meal, but I'm there at least twice a day, right? It's been a week, young lady, how have you managed to not recognize me yet?
Perhaps because she didn't hear William's reply, she looked up curiously, her gaze sweeping quickly over the broomstick.
"Are you from Ravenclaw? Sixth year? Fifth year? Seventh year isn't out of the question either. I know everyone in Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor just added some younger players to their team last year. Only Ravenclaw would be skipping class these days to practice flying for the House Team tryouts."
She didn't mention Slytherin—because while most Slytherins were fine in the lower years, the older ones barely spoke to students from other Houses.
"The water is boiling. It's been about ten minutes. It's ready for steaming."
Without waiting for William's reply, she began stuffing the fish's cavity with ingredients—ginger, garlic—and then covered it with a layer of scallions before placing it in the pot.
"There's nothing wrong with liking Quidditch, and practicing in secret shows effort. Look at me, I love cooking, so I went to Hufflepuff. I've spent a long time researching menus, and now I can't help myself when I see good ingredients—so, I'm taking half, no problem, right?"
"Of course."
William nodded affirmatively. He only knew how to roast fish; he really had no idea what kind of fish was best prepared in which way.
"See? Talking to a Ravenclaw student is so easy."
She spoke with the tone of an adult, which suddenly made her seem like a fourth-year student. Any older, and they'd all be acting cutesy.
Seeing how forward the girl was, William almost didn't have the heart to let her face a harsh dose of reality.
But she quickly got carried away. As she brought the perch out of the pot, the pride on her face was impossible to suppress.
"For now, it's just a fish from the Black Lake, but before I graduate, I'm going to roast that giant squid in the Black Lake! Even if it's just one leg!"
That's the school's valuable property, and it saves countless drowning victims every year!
Why must you give me a reason to give you detention?
(end of chapter)
