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The Queen of Gryffindor was only one of the names being shouted.
There were also titles like the Lioness of Gryffindor.
After all, Hermione was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindor's representative animal was the lion.
Hermione simply did not like that title.
Dudley did not like it either.
If Hermione was the lioness, then what was he?
In a pride of lions, the lionesses were the ones responsible for hunting, while the male lion was only responsible for eating... and protecting the pride.
But if they were the same size, a male lion might not necessarily beat a lioness.
One hunted every day and was covered in lean muscle.
The other barely moved except when mating.
Most importantly, a male lion only lasted five seconds at a time.
At the shortest, one second.
Ron looked at the whole crowd cheering and nudged Neville beside him with his elbow.
"Hey, Neville. Hermione stole all the spotlight. The two of us look like NPCs."
Neville said in a muffled voice, "What does that matter? I don't like being in the spotlight. You should know that."
A Gryffindor who did not like being in the spotlight?
How could Gryffindor have that kind of wizard...
Hm?
If there was such a Gryffindor, maybe Dumbledore counted?
Hearing the faint cheers coming from the other side of the castle, Draco straightened his collar.
In his hand, he gripped the walking stick Dudley had given him.
His expression and movements closely resembled those of his father, Lucius, yet they were also somewhat different.
"Father, I believe my companions are waiting for me. I will take my leave now."
After saying that, Draco did not wait for his father to speak.
He stood and walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he glanced at the seven Nimbus 2001s arranged side by side.
"I do not need to obtain honor through petty little tricks like this."
"I will seize it with my own hands, just like the ancestors of the Malfoy family once did."
The former glory of the Malfoy family's ancestors would be restored in my hands, Draco thought.
Lucius simply stared blankly at Draco's back, lost for words.
His thoughts seemed to return to many years ago, when he too had been so full of confidence and had spoken much the same way.
The only difference was that Draco had said it standing before him.
Lucius, on the other hand, had said it before a certain portrait.
Yes, a certain portrait of an ancestor who had died of dragon pox and syphilis.
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"A total of thirty-two mistakes, seventy-two missing syllables, and ninety-five details handled poorly."
Dudley: "..."
"That fellow named Alex!"
Hermione emphasized loudly.
"Every single one of those mistakes was an opportunity to cast faster and more accurately. What a pity that he never noticed from beginning to end..."
After handling the incident with Luna, especially after seeing Dudley in the crowd, Hermione could no longer keep her composure.
Now that they were away from everyone else, she exploded completely and kept talking nonstop in front of Dudley.
She was reviewing the entire process of the battle, trying to find her own shortcomings.
All right, she was mainly finding Alex's shortcomings and pointing out, one by one, every place where his casting had gone wrong.
After all, that was her specialty.
Just now, she had only been imitating Dudley.
"Oh, my queen... please spare me today."
Dudley dug forcefully at his ear and put on a pleading expression.
If it had only been once or twice, that would have been fine.
Dudley could even have joined in.
But this was already the seventh time he had heard it today.
That was simply Hermione.
Muttering was Hermione's nature.
Only now, she behaved like this only in front of Dudley.
In front of other people, she maintained her cold and lofty front.
Dudley's huge build, combined with his exaggerated movements and rich facial expression, made Hermione giggle nonstop.
"You're Slytherin's king yourself," Hermione said, then punched Dudley in the chest.
But as soon as she finished speaking, as if she had thought of something, a faint blush rose on her face.
Before Dudley could speak, she changed the topic herself.
"What do you think the Headmaster and the others will do? Will they be expelled?"
Dudley's attention seemed to be drawn away by Hermione's question.
"Tormenting classmates can be treated as either a big matter or a small one, especially before it causes serious consequences."
"If Professor McGonagall handles it, I suspect those three girls will probably receive a formal punishment, lose points, serve detention, and do a few days of labor, and that will be the end of it. Her heart is too soft."
Professor McGonagall merely looked strict.
In reality, she was surprisingly softhearted.
Besides, what happened last year had caused a real stir.
Hogwarts had expelled five students in total.
This year, Dumbledore probably would not expel anyone lightly.
"In their eyes, being expelled from Hogwarts means you can only go to another magical school. It means you will no longer receive the best education. It means you cannot become an outstanding wizard. Under most circumstances, they will not do that."
The disciplinary group had only recently been established, and every aspect of it was still immature.
Otherwise, they would not even need to go through the professors or the Headmaster.
They could simply use the reason of correcting school discipline and expel them directly.
In Dudley's view, correcting the school atmosphere and discipline was one of the most important matters of all.
In any case, after graduation, those people would most likely become enemies.
Rather than that, it would be better to strangle the danger in the cradle from the start.
"Then doesn't that mean everything we did was for nothing?"
Hermione's mood sank a little.
She thought of Luna.
Luna had clearly done nothing wrong.
Why should she have been treated that way?
It was true that nothing major had happened this time.
But if Hermione had not stopped them then, Luna's forehead would definitely have struck the corner of the table.
If everyone protected the future of tormentors, then who would protect the future of those they tormented?
"How could it be for nothing?"
Dudley shook his head gently.
"What you did, and the effort you put in, were seen by the others."
"You used your actions to tell them that the disciplinary group is not their competitor, not the professors' lapdog, and certainly not some high-and-mighty class enemy."
"Not everyone is malicious, and not everyone takes pleasure in tormenting others. We will win more support. We will gain more companions. Fairness, justice, due process, honesty, civility, harmony, freedom... how many people long for things like that in their hearts?"
Only a very small minority of abnormal people took pleasure in tormenting others.
They were called antisocial personalities.
"People resent unfairness because of injustice."
As an old saying put it, people do not fear having too little nearly as much as they fear being treated unequally.
"And we have brought them fairness."
When Dudley said this, he ruffled Hermione's bushy waves.
The feel was top-tier.
"Even Slytherin, which outsiders used to see as a gathering place for Dark wizards, seeks fairness too, doesn't it?"
"Wait quietly. Time will prove everything."
In fact, not much time passed at all.
The very next day, they received a large number of letters.
Every letter, between the lines, expressed the same meaning.
They hoped to join the disciplinary group.
That left them with plenty of sorting to do.
Not everyone was qualified to join the disciplinary group.
An army did not need to be large.
It needed to be elite.
Dudley's preferred candidates had been decided from the beginning.
There was only one principle.
Better to have none than to accept the unworthy.
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