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'It's over.'
'We're screwed.'
The moment Neville shouted all of that out, the group knew they were finished. The five of them deflated on the spot.
"Pranks... intimidation... attacking other students... how dare you?! What were you thinking?!"
Professor McGonagall's face was burning. She could no longer contain her fury and could only feel her blood pressure rising higher and higher, especially as she listened to Neville recount each and every one of those incidents. It was hard for her to believe that those children were really students she herself had been teaching.
"Now, all of you will come with me to Headmaster Dumbledore."
"I will tell him everything that has been happening, and he will decide what punishment you will receive."
It seemed as though McGonagall had used up all her strength just to say that. Her body swayed slightly, as if even a gust of wind could knock her over.
At that moment, she felt utterly exhausted, down to her very heart.
The truth was, she was a good professor, a very responsible one. Unlike Snape, who liked to favor Slytherin, she was fair and upright. The problem was simply that her energy was limited.
She could not take care of every student, nor could she keep track of each one's situation in time.
And that was something even Dumbledore himself could not avoid.
"As for you... Mr. Dursley, I believe you should come with me to the Headmaster's office as well."
Professor McGonagall's gaze passed over Dudley, Harry, Hermione, Neville, and the others, but in the end it settled on Dudley.
After all, he was the central figure in that incident.
And she was not blind. Those enormous lumps on the injured students' foreheads had clearly not been caused by spells.
"All right, Professor McGonagall."
Dudley behaved with complete obedience at that moment, which made Snape stare at his back for quite a while.
Although the matter in Slytherin had been suppressed by Carrow's words, news like that never stayed buried for long. In the end, Snape found out anyway.
"Severus, I think you should come too. After all, this child is from Slytherin."
Snape gave a blank nod, but inwardly he was far from as calm as he looked. As he stared at Dudley's broad back, an extremely complicated emotion passed through his eyes.
There was remembrance.
There was regret.
And more than anything, there was envy.
The scene before him also felt strangely familiar.
Only this time, the roles were reversed.
He protected that girl, and I...
If that had happened to me, would I have been able to do the same?
...
Dumbledore looked slightly surprised when the group suddenly entered his office. At that moment, he had been busy preparing the skeleton band for that evening's Halloween feast.
Though he was the greatest wizard of the twentieth century, he was not an omniscient, omnipotent god. He had no prophecy that allowed him to foresee everything, nor did he have a crystal ball constantly watching the lives of the young witches and wizards.
In the end, he was simply a wizard with a very fine mind.
Professor McGonagall carefully recounted the entire situation to Dumbledore in full detail. As he listened, his brows gradually drew together. Then he looked toward the children standing against the wall, trembling.
"Mr. Dursley, what do you think about this?"
Dumbledore asked. His blue eyes, like sapphires, met another pair of equally blue eyes.
At that moment, Dudley looked back at him calmly.
If you hadn't asked me, fine. But since you did...
"I think that in a situation like this, Hermione was not the first, and she will not be the last."
"Once this sort of thing begins and is met with only a light punishment, it becomes absolutely impossible to stop. That is why this kind of incident can never be tolerated. It must be punished severely."
"In my opinion, they should be expelled."
Though his tone was extremely calm, his words were firm. It sounded less like an answer and more like a verdict.
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.
Snape's expression darkened slightly, not because he thought the punishment was too severe. As far as Gryffindor was concerned, any punishment was acceptable to him. The real reason was that Dudley's words made him think of James and the others. The situation now was almost exactly the same as before. After all these years, Gryffindor still had not learned a thing.
"Have you considered that... they only made a mistake... that a punishment like this might be..."
Dumbledore kept his eyes fixed on Dudley. His deep blue pupils were like the ocean itself, as though they wanted to see straight through him.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
Dudley's voice rose sharply, resounding like thunder and a roar at the same time, making everyone's ears ring. Dumbledore's body even trembled slightly before he realized it.
"One must not commit evil simply because it seems small."
"Perhaps you think this is only a minor matter, but to me, this is merely the beginning of evil."
"If we go easy on them now, then the moment this precedent is set, it will never end. The consequences down the line would be endless."
"It has to be crushed in the cradle.
Otherwise, anyone could become an aggressor..."
"Today they can intimidate Hermione."
"Tomorrow they can intimidate Longbottom."
"Then they can intimidate Weasley."
"And after that, it will be Harry Potter."
His voice was so forceful that everyone was compelled to reflect.
In truth, Dudley was not exaggerating for no reason. With the kind of people that group was, Neville would absolutely have become a target. And they really had been provoking Ron too. If he had not become Harry's friend, if he had not had several older brothers in Hogwarts, Ron would have been a perfect target, just like Neville.
Because Ron was poor.
And also because his family was poor.
Aside from his brothers, he had never had a single friend since childhood.
Poverty itself was treated like an original sin.
"First they hid her shoes, then they moved on to her books... and after that, they were already brazen enough to act openly in the middle of class... so what do you think their next step would have been? Ruining Hermione's clothes!"
As he said that, Dudley completely abandoned the calm he had maintained until then. His tone changed entirely. It was as if a towering blaze had ignited behind him, and out of that fire rose a monstrous bear, roaring furiously at the sky.
You say what came before was just a joke?
If I didn't get angry, that would be the joke.
Among people who know each other, maybe that can still count as teasing.
But this had gone far beyond that.
This was evil.
And evil was evil.
What would come next? Stripping her in front of everyone? Or moving on to something even worse?
Do not think bullies would not do that.
And do not think that just because they are children, they understand nothing.
The early maturity of certain people goes far beyond what you imagine, not only in thought, but in body as well.
"We didn't want to do that!"
The five of them were still trying to defend themselves.
"Hmm?"
Dudley's gaze left Dumbledore and fell on the one who had spoken. It was the very boy who had cast Levicorpus at him earlier, the one Professor McGonagall had called Hansel. It only took one glance to make him tremble all over.
They were just ordinary blue eyes.
But to the five of them, those were not eyes at all.
They were a colossal dragon in a rage, about to descend upon them.
Not even Malfoy had experienced anything like that.
Hansel had no doubt whatsoever that if he dared to continue defending himself for even one more sentence, the other boy would lunge at them and tear them apart right there.
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