Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Over the next few days, the trouble appeared to subside. Professor Snape also stopped maliciously targeting Hufflepuff.
The atmosphere in the Hufflepuff common room, however, was not quite right.
One evening, Gabriel stood upon a sofa before the assembled house.
“Our Head of House is such a good person. For Hufflepuff’s sake, she was forced to bow her head to Snape!”
“Do you know what I saw when I went to serve detention in the greenhouses?” Pain crossed Gabriel’s face. “Professor Sprout sat alone on a bench, drinking and weeping as she stared at a plant!”
Weeping? Suer was speechless. Surely not…
Had the prefect perhaps read a little too much into the scene?
“But, Prefect, Headmaster Dumbledore made Professor Sprout and Snape shake hands and reconcile in public,” one young badger said, raising a hand.
“Exactly! That means we cannot openly oppose Slytherin.” Gabriel swept his gaze across the room. “But Hufflepuffs always repay their grudges!”
“We cannot let kind, gentle Professor Sprout shed tears because of us.”
“If we have no hope of winning the House Cup this year, then Slytherin will not win it either!”
“Prefect, Slytherin is already second from last,” Hannah pointed out.
Gabriel froze, then snarled, “Then we’ll put them dead last!”
“How?” A tall, thin student pushed his glasses higher on his nose.
“Yes, Prefect. We’ll follow your orders.”
“Excellent! Listen closely.” Gabriel climbed down from the sofa as the students formed a circle around him. “The next Quidditch match is coming. We’ll do this… and then that…”
“What about us?” Justin eagerly raised his hand.
“Hm…” Gabriel studied the bright-eyed first- and second-years, lowering his head in thought. “I’ve got it!”
“Forget about fighting. Even if several of you ambushed an older student together, you still couldn’t win.”
“Our suppression of Slytherin will be comprehensive!”
“Since Snape will never award us points, we’ll earn them from other professors.”
“Remember: our goal is to prevent Slytherin from gaining a single point from anyone except their Head of House.”
“Anyone taking part in an attack must protect themselves and conceal their identity. If a plan cannot succeed, abandon it. Do not let Filch or another professor catch you.”
“There is still a long time before the end of term.” A sinister smile spread across Gabriel’s face.
“Better to let a Slytherin escape than lose Hufflepuff points.”
“Does everyone understand?” he shouted.
“Hurrah!” The young wizards flung their hands into the air and cheered.
Suer raised his hand with the crowd and sighed. He could already imagine the blows awaiting Slytherin’s little snakes.
United badgers were terrifying.
Potions aside, whenever a Slytherin raised a hand to answer a question in any other lesson, a Hufflepuff hand inevitably appeared as well.
They truly succeeded. Outside Potions, Slytherin did not earn a single classroom point, yet no Slytherin noticed the pattern.
That was mostly because the many excellent students in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw already competed for chances to answer.
Voldemort Quirinus Quirrell had wrapped a scarf around his head again, but not a single student discussed poor Professor Quirrell any longer.
Once they knew the reason, nobody had the heart to torment a bald man–especially one who had lost his hair in his thirties.
Besides, earning points in Quirrell’s lessons was extremely easy. One only had to read the whole chapter beforehand, for Professor Quirrell never taught anything beyond theory.
Then there was History of Magic.
Professor Binns was very old–so old that remembering every student’s name had become almost impossible.
Many people knew this. One young badger, however, discovered an entirely new use for the fact.
“No questions in my lesson!” Professor Binns had been driven to anger by the endless raised hands. For the first time, rage appeared on his habitually placid face.
“What is your name?”
“Ashe Tryndamere. I’m a Slytherin, Professor,” the selected badger answered cheerfully, rising to stand.
“Slytherin?” Professor Binns looked around the classroom in confusion. He could have sworn Slytherin was not scheduled for this lesson. Had he remembered incorrectly again?
Never mind!
“Five points from Slytherin!” Professor Binns declared.
“Thank you, Professor.” With the goal achieved, Ashe sat down in delight, bewildering the little lions who shared the lesson with Hufflepuff that day.
“Gervas, when did you change your name?” a Gryffindor acquaintance asked during the break.
“Want to know? Lean closer and I’ll tell you a secret.” Gervas smiled wickedly.
Gryffindor disliked Slytherin too. They could easily be drawn into the same boat.
As a great man once said, the enemy of one’s enemy was one’s friend!
“What is wrong with all of you? Five points from Slytherin!”
“Five points from Slytherin!”
“Five points!”
“This is the worst class of Slytherins I have ever taught!”
The ghostly Professor Binns’s furious shouts echoed through the classroom.
In a thousand years, he had never been so angry.
More and more false “Slytherins” joined the queue to lose points. Professor Binns’s entire ghostly being went numb. Did Slytherin truly have so many students?
Unfortunately, History of Magic took place only once a week. Worse still, Professor Binns’s soporific powers were so formidable that many malicious “Slytherins” could remain awake for only half a lesson.
Naturally, the falling score in Slytherin’s hourglass attracted attention. Someone reported it to their Head of House.
Snape angrily confronted Professor Binns, but the ghost’s memory was poor. He usually forgot a student’s name as soon as he deducted the points.
Snape could only leave empty-handed and seething. He began awarding points with brazen abandon while deducting vast numbers from the other houses. Harry suffered most of all.
His behaviour drew complaints from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw alike.
Snape remained unmoved. After some time, his efforts actually carried Slytherin back into the lead.
Then, prompted by a few “kind-hearted people”, more little eagles and lions began farming points from Professor Binns as well.
The three houses deliberately concealed the truth from Slytherin and formed a secret alliance. After all, the hourglasses recorded only points, not the identity of the student who had lost them.
The enormous hourglasses in the Great Hall rose and fell, fell and rose.
At that moment, the young badgers withdrew at the height of success. They stopped impersonating Slytherins and hid their involvement perfectly. Their only goal had been to hold Slytherin in last place.
Supreme Strategist Gabriel expressed his complete approval of the younger students’ tactics.