The Potions classroom, which was also Snape's private storage room and potion brewing room, finally gave Snape some time to handle his own affairs after a day's lessons.
Of course, this private affair was also about potion brewing, or dealing with various materials.
Now Snape was squeezing the pus from a Babbling Root, a huge, thick, black, wriggling mass covered in shining bumps that looked like a slug.
Along with the dripping of the yellow-green viscous liquid, a pungent smell of petroleum permeated the entire office.
Suddenly, a loud knocking interrupted Snape's work. He removed his dragonhide gloves and opened the door impatiently.
“If you can't give me a good reason, you'll be spending the week with Filch.”
Snape looked expressionlessly at the little snake in front of him, warning him in a cold tone.
He hated being disturbed when brewing potions. This Babbling Root was quite troublesome to deal with. One couldn't let the juice touch them, and it was also extremely valuable. If it had been someone else dealing with it, the herb might have been ruined.
“Headmaster, Barry Lagren and four others from our house got into a fight with Ethan Adrian, a first-year from Ravenclaw. Now one of them has a big hole blown in his stomach, and we don't know if he's dead.”
The little snake who came to report, looked at their Headmaster, trembling.
“Whose stomach was blown open?”
Closing the office door, Snape walked toward the scene of the incident, his face now as black as a pot. He had already guessed the outcome, but he still asked.
He couldn’t believe that his students had gotten into such a mess. He didn’t think it was Ethan who started the trouble. He knew what his students were like.
Besides, a first-year, even if they were trying to be reckless, couldn't possibly challenge five fourth-years. He himself had almost been driven to the brink of despair by four classmates in his year.
He could only pray that Ethan was alright. Otherwise, Flitwick wouldn’t let it go.
“It’s Willard Caulby!”
“Who?”
Snape stopped abruptly and looked at the little snake who brought the news.
“Willard Caulby!”
After confirming again, Snape fell silent and continued to the scene of the incident.
He knew Ethan was an absolute genius among the current batch of young wizards. Only Cassandra could rival him, but this outcome was still too ridiculous.
What were his students?
The same thing happened in the offices of the other Heads of Houses, but they weren’t as irritable as Snape.
…
“Mr. Adrian, you go to the Headmaster's office first. The password is 'Lemon Snow Treasure.'”
Having learned a little about the situation from the reporting students, Professor McGonagall felt that things were a bit complicated. She had no choice but to leave it to Dumbledore.
She still had to go to the Hospital Wing to see the situation.
“Okay, Professor McGonagall!”
Ethan turned and left. There was no overreaction, no nervousness, no fear.
When Professor McGonagall and the other professors arrived, the five snakes whose limbs were broken had already been carried into the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey's instructions. Only Ethan, the main character, and some spectators were left.
“Professor McGonagall, it was the Slytherins who started it. Ethan was just defending himself. According to the law…”
“Miss Granger, I'll investigate it.”
Professor McGonagall interrupted Hermione and headed straight to the Hospital Wing.
She still liked Ethan, a young wizard with great talent in Transfiguration, but she wasn’t sure how to punish him.
Familiar eighth floor, arrived in front of a huge stone beast, Ethan called out the password.
The next moment, the stone sculpture seemed to come to life, splitting in two, revealing a spiral staircase.
Ethan went straight to the Headmaster's office door along the stairs.
Knock! Knock!
“Come in!”
Pushing open the door, the first thing he saw were countless Headmaster portraits, a brightly colored bird standing on a nearby stand, and Dumbledore at his desk.
“Child, is there something wrong?”
Dumbledore had no idea what had happened. No one had notified him, or rather, if they wanted to notify him, they couldn’t enter the Headmaster’s office without the password.
“I had a conflict with five upperclassmen from Slytherin. They’re now in the Hospital Wing, and Professor McGonagall told me to come to you.”
“Oh, that’s the case!”
Although he didn't use Legilimency, with his life experience, he had already guessed what had happened.
Slytherin provoked Ethan, lost the fight, and was sent to the hospital, with some serious injuries.
Ethan’s indifferent attitude, though, was something Dumbledore had never seen before. Other troublesome young wizards would have been more or less nervous, anxious, or worried.
“Sit down and have a cup of pumpkin juice. We’ll deal with this later.”
Dumbledore tapped the table. A cup of pumpkin juice appeared on the table.
“Thank you, Headmaster!”
Ethan sat down without any hesitation, not afraid of Dumbledore giving him anything underhanded. He picked up the pumpkin juice and drank.
Shortly after, the four Heads of Houses arrived at the same time, though none of them looked happy.
Seeing this, Ethan stood up. The Heads of Houses were all standing, so how could Ethan sit?
Professor Flitwick came straight to Ethan and said bluntly, “Ethan, I know this isn’t your fault. You just need to tell me what happened.”
Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall also gave Ethan an encouraging look, expressing their attitude.
“I just borrowed a book from the library and was going back to the Ravenclaw dorm…”
From beginning to end, Ethan told everything. Besides the specific spells he used, he didn’t miss anything, nor did he deliberately say anything to his advantage, as there were still spectators present.
After Ethan finished, Professor McGonagall told Dumbledore about the condition of the little snakes.
“Breaking someone’s wand is a terrible act. Barry and the other five are also badly injured.”
“Well then, Ravenclaw loses fifty points. Ethan, you are to be confined for a month, patrolling the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. Start tonight. Filch will take you there. If you have any objections, you can tell me now.”
After a moment of thought, Dumbledore announced his punishment.
Over the past time, Dumbledore had occasionally paid attention to Ethan. He knew Ethan went to the Room of Requirement almost every day, and he was a very hard-working and talented child.
He also had family, friends, and especially a lot of little witches in the school. This was completely different from Voldemort.
Based on these two points, Dumbledore didn’t want to give too severe a punishment.
After all, talented children were favored everywhere.
“I have no objections. I will accept the punishment.”
Of course, Ethan would not refuse. Going to the Forbidden Forest openly, and he could even collect magical materials. How was that a punishment?
“Albus, are there no punishments for Slytherin?”
“They called Ethan a mudblood, and they started the fight. It was all their doing. Now, they are in the Hospital Wing, but they must bear the main responsibility.”
Flitwick stood up. He obviously wasn’t willing to accept the punishment where only his student suffered the loss.
Hearing the word “mudblood”, Snape’s face visibly changed. This was the pain of his entire life.
Because of this, Snape had refused to speak from beginning to end, allowing the situation to unfold. If it were him, he would not spare his five students either.
“Slytherin loses two hundred and fifty points, and they are confined for a month, to be enforced after they are discharged from the hospital.”
It could be said that Dumbledore had directly killed Slytherin’s chances for the House Cup this year.
Snape’s mouth moved, but he ultimately didn’t say anything.