Chapter 156: The Disliked Cyrian
"A student out after curfew!"
Argus Filch's eyes suddenly lit up with frightening excitement. The blazing look in them even made Rubeus Hagrid feel uneasy.
But Hagrid had misunderstood.
Filch wasn't staring at him.
He was staring at the unconscious Cyrian in Hagrid's hands.
A student caught wandering at night—right in front of him. Filch had no intention of letting such an opportunity slip away.
"That won't do," Hagrid said firmly, shaking his head and clutching Cyrian more tightly. "I need to take him to Professor Dumbledore."
He eyed Filch warily. Who knew what the caretaker might do to the poor boy.
"Hagrid… you'll regret this," Filch hissed.
Seeing that his plan had failed, he cast Cyrian one last regretful glance, then shot Hagrid a venomous look before retreating slowly back into the shadows.
"What's wrong with that man…" Hagrid muttered irritably.
---
"I'm here to see Professor Dumbledore."
Hagrid walked up to the stone gargoyle outside the headmaster's office as if he had done it a thousand times before and greeted it cheerfully.
"Please wait," the Gargoyle of the Headmaster's Office replied, turning its head toward him.
Moments later, the passage to the office opened.
Soon, Albus Dumbledore appeared at the top of the stairs.
He was wearing light blue pajamas and looked rather sleepy.
"It's quite late," he said, rubbing his eyes slightly. "What seems to be the matter, Hagrid?"
His voice carried the groggy tone of someone who had just been woken up.
"Professor, I found this student at the edge of the Forbidden Forest," Hagrid explained as he set Cyrian down.
Cyrian had actually already regained consciousness.
But he didn't dare open his eyes.
Because he had just heard a voice he recognized—
Dumbledore.
He guessed immediately where he was.
The Headmaster's office.
Once upon a time, Cyrian had dreamed of entering this place. Dumbledore usually invited only the students he valued most to visit here.
Despite all his efforts over the years, Cyrian had never been invited even once.
But he had never imagined entering like this.
Am I going to be expelled? he wondered anxiously.
"Thank you for bringing him here, Hagrid," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile. "You should go get some rest now. I'll take care of the rest."
"Alright then, Professor. Good night."
Hagrid nodded and soon left.
---
"Mr. Rosier," Dumbledore said softly.
"Perhaps you could tell me why you were wandering in the Forbidden Forest at this hour?"
His voice remained calm and kind.
Yet Cyrian felt strangely cold hearing it.
"P-Professor… I was just… just curious," Cyrian stammered as he scrambled to his feet.
"Yes. Curious."
"A very good reason," Dumbledore replied with a nod.
"However, while your curiosity may have been satisfied tonight, your actions have unfortunately cost Slytherin House one hundred points."
"Professor… you mean… you're deducting one hundred points from me?" Cyrian asked in disbelief.
He had expected punishment.
But a hundred points still shocked him.
With such a penalty, Slytherin would fall straight to the bottom of the House rankings.
"That's correct, Mr. Rosier," Dumbledore said calmly.
"If you have nothing further to add, you may return to your dormitory."
Cyrian opened his mouth as if to say something.
But then he hesitated.
If Dumbledore discovered that five students had entered the forest together, the deduction might become even worse—possibly pushing Slytherin's score into negative numbers.
Better keep quiet.
"Good night, Professor," he said bitterly as Dumbledore escorted him out.
---
Meanwhile, Gluk and the others had been debating whether they should return to look for Cyrian.
Then someone suddenly said:
"When Cyrian ran away… did he think about us?"
The room fell silent.
Anyone who had considered searching for him immediately abandoned the idea.
After all, Cyrian had shown them no loyalty.
Why should they show any to him?
So when Cyrian finally stumbled back into the Slytherin common room later that night, exhausted and disheveled—
Everyone was already fast asleep.
Seeing them sleeping so peacefully, a surge of anger rose in Cyrian's chest.
Yes, he had abandoned them first.
But did that mean they were completely blameless?
He muttered a few curses under his breath.
Then exhaustion overwhelmed him.
He collapsed onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.
---
The next morning, Cyrian noticed something strange.
The students who used to follow his lead were suddenly ignoring him.
They didn't respond when he spoke, and when they passed him in the corridors they acted as if he were invisible.
Cyrian grew furious.
He finally confronted Gluk.
But Gluk's reply left him completely speechless.
"When you ran away by yourself," Gluk said coldly, "did you think about what would happen to the rest of us?"
After saying that, Gluk didn't wait for Cyrian's reply. He simply walked past him and left.
Cyrian felt completely shattered by those words.
But with so many students around, he couldn't explode in anger. All he could do was grind his teeth and rage silently to himself.
At the same time, something else had caused a huge stir among the Slytherins.
Overnight, their House points had been slashed dramatically.
The Slytherin students were stunned.
Where did our points go?
We had so many yesterday!
One furious student went to complain to Severus Snape, who then went to ask Albus Dumbledore about it.
Only then did the truth come out.
As a result, Cyrian—whose reputation in Slytherin had never been particularly good—now found it plunging even further.
Nearly everyone looked at him with open contempt.
Because of him, Slytherin had lost a full hundred points.
A hundred points!
Do you know how many questions you'd have to answer in class to earn that many back?
---
"What's wrong, Cyrian?" someone said suddenly.
"Who's made you angry this time?"
Cyrian turned and saw Flint standing beside him, grinning widely.
Seeing that stupid grin only made Cyrian even angrier.
But Flint had approached him out of concern, so Cyrian couldn't really snap at him.
He simply replied irritably,
"It's nothing. Just a bunch of ungrateful idiots."
Flint didn't pursue that line of conversation.
Instead, he brought up the real issue.
"Cyrian, tell me honestly… that hundred-point deduction—was it really because of you?"
Cyrian hesitated, then nodded reluctantly.
"Yes."
"But why a hundred?" Flint asked in confusion.
"Even if you were caught wandering at night, the most they usually deduct is fifty."
"I went into the Forbidden Forest."
"Ah… that explains it," Flint said thoughtfully, nodding.
Then he frowned.
"Wait—why would you go there?"
"You're not a Weasley. You don't need to rummage around in there collecting junk to support your family."
Even while asking, he couldn't resist mocking the Weasley twins.
"I followed Fythorne in," Cyrian said quietly.
"I wanted to teach him a lesson."
"Did it work?" Flint asked eagerly.
He knew about their plan—but he hadn't realized they had chased Russell all the way into the Forbidden Forest.
Cyrian's face darkened.
"No."
"It failed."
"We ran into a dark wizard in there."