Just as the Gryffindor students were laughing to the point of suffocation, two suffocatingly powerful presence waves swept over from the direction of the castle doors.
The laughter cut off instantly.
The students turned around in terror to see Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape walking briskly toward them, one behind the other.
Professor McGonagall’s face was drawn tightly, her lips pressed into a severe, thin line.
Snape, behind her, presented an entirely different picture.
Rayleigh had never seen Snape so utterly enraged.
His timeless black robes fluttered wildly with his rapid stride, making him look precisely like a giant bat swooping out of hell.
His face, which rarely saw sunlight, was dark enough to wring water out of.
Was it because the Savior, Potter, had been ambushed with a hex during Flying Class by one of his own students?
Was it because his most cherished platinum little aristocrat, Malfoy, was currently putting on a high-flying jet-propulsion show in front of the entire school?
Or was it because of the pack of Slytherin snakes at his feet, drenched in yellow stains, reeking of an unmentionable odor, and crying for their mothers?
Perhaps it was all three.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Snape waved his wand.
A gentle force brought Malfoy—who had ceased spraying and was now clinging weakly and precariously to his broom—steadily down to the ground.
After all, inventory was limited.
The moment Malfoy hit the grass, his legs buckled and he collapsed into a heap, radiating a total despair toward life.
Snape didn’t even glance at the mess on the ground; his gaze pierced right through the crowd and locked firmly onto Rayleigh.
It was a glare that threatened to swallow a person alive.
However, before Snape could explode, Professor McGonagall took action first.
Stepping forward with grand strides, her left hand moved like lightning, grabbing Rayleigh right by the ear.
“Ow!” Rayleigh cried out in pain.
Next, her right hand reached out and grasped Harry’s arm relatively gently.
“You two, come with me!” Holding Rayleigh by the ear in one hand and Harry by the arm in the other, Professor McGonagall turned and marched back toward the castle.
Rayleigh was forced to tiptoe along, grimacing with pain while cursing internally.
*Why!* *Why pull my ear, but only grab the Savior by his arm!* *Is this the double standard between the main character and a side character?
My ear’s gonna fall off, Professor!* “Wait a moment, Minerva!” A voice suppressed with anger sounded behind them.
Snape blocked their path.
“Hand him over to me.” Snape pointed at Rayleigh, squeezing every word through his gritted teeth.
Professor McGonagall pulled Rayleigh and Harry slightly behind her back, refusing to yield an inch.
“Severus, he is a student of my House.
If there is punishment to be dealt, I shall be the one to do it.” “Punishment?” Snape let out a low, cold sneer.
“Look closely, Minerva!
Look at my students!
Look at Draco!
Look at this lawn!
This is no simple prank!
This is an insult to the entire Slytherin House!
He must be made to pay the price!” Snape could temporarily overlook Harry’s unauthorized flying.
But he could absolutely not let off the Stark boy who had humiliated the entire Slytherin House!
“Malfoy attacked Potter with a hex first!” Professor McGonagall fired back without backing down.
Protecting her own was a traditional virtue of Gryffindor’s Head of House, and she was displaying it to the absolute fullest right now.
“I will handle it, Severus.
Now, please move aside.
I need to take them back to my office.” Professor McGonagall unleashed her full aura, her authority as Deputy Headmistress making the surrounding air heavy and dense.
Snape glared fixedly at Rayleigh.
After several seconds, he stepped aside with extreme reluctance.
He shot Rayleigh a menacing glare, swished his robes, gathered up the unconscious and utterly exhausted Malfoy from the ground, and headed straight for the dungeons without looking back.
He didn’t go to the hospital wing.
Snape couldn’t afford to lose face like that.
He was a Potions Master himself; curing a diarrhea hex was child’s play for him.
Besides, it gave him a chance to analyze the components of this new spell on the way.
Watching Snape’s receding back, Rayleigh rubbed his burning ear and let out a long sigh of relief.
*Thank goodness super-cat came through.
If I’d been dragged away by the old bat, I’d be a goner.* Inside Professor McGonagall’s office, the atmosphere was oppressive.
Rayleigh and Harry stood side by side like two criminals awaiting judgment.
Harry looked extremely nervous, completely at a loss as to where to put his hands.
Rayleigh, on the other hand, was quite relaxed, even finding the leisure to examine the decor around the office.
However, Professor McGonagall merely gave them a stern glance before leaving them in the office and turning to walk back out.
The door shut with a loud *thump*.
Harry and Rayleigh looked at each other.
“What…
what is she going to do?” Harry asked softly.
“Who knows?
Probably going to get our expulsion notices,” Rayleigh answered casually.
“Expulsion?!” Harry panicked.
“Will we really be expelled for this?” “Hard to say.” Rayleigh stroked his chin, analyzing the situation in all seriousness.
“You broke rules by flying, and I…
well, I caused a nuclear disaster.
By school rules, both are grounds for expulsion.” Seeing Harry’s face go instantly pale, Rayleigh patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Harry.
The sky isn’t falling.
Worst-case scenario, we just launch a media campaign.” “A media campaign?” Harry looked utterly bewildered.
“Yeah!” Rayleigh grew enthusiastic, lowering his voice as he leaned in close to Harry’s ear.
“Think about it.
What would be the headline for the *Daily Prophet* tomorrow?
Let me draft a few titles for you.” “‘SHOCKING!
Hogwarts Expels the Boy Who Lived Just to Appease a Death Eater’s Son!'” “‘The Savior’s Best Friend Persecuted by Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for Inventing Painless Laxative Spell!'” “‘Hogwarts Abandons the Savior—Is the Magical World Facing the Next Obscurus?'” “And here’s an even wilder one!” Rayleigh got more excited the more he spoke.
“‘The Savior’s Expulsion—All to Clear the Path for HIM?
The Untold Story Between Dumbledore and Female Professors!'” “‘Is the Savior Just a Toy?
Insiders Reveal Hogwarts Ready to Seek Next Replacement!'” Harry listened in stunned silence, completely unable to comprehend Rayleigh’s train of thought.
Right at that moment, the office door creaked open.
Professor McGonagall walked in, followed by a tall, heavily built senior student.
As luck would have it, she happened to catch the tail end of Rayleigh’s grand blueprint.
A vein throbbed on Professor McGonagall’s temple.
She strode up to Rayleigh, raised her hand, bent her index finger, and rapped him firmly on the forehead.
*BONK!* Crisp and clear.
“Ow!” Rayleigh clutched his head, tears almost brimming in his eyes.
That hurt way more than having his ear pulled.
“Mr.
Stark, I thoroughly admire your wild imagination.
But if you dare utter another word of such utter nonsense, I wouldn’t mind letting you personally experience just how many types of detention options I have in my office.” This was the first time Professor McGonagall had used corporal punishment on a student.
She couldn’t help it; this boy was simply too good at causing trouble.
His destructive capacity surpassed even the Weasley twins combined.
“Oliver,” Professor McGonagall turned to the older student behind her, “this is Harry Potter.
I’ve found your new Seeker.” The young man named Oliver was none other than Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
His eyes scanned Harry up and down, filled with surprise and scrutiny.
“Take him to the pitch and test him out,” Professor McGonagall instructed.
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Wood pulled the still-dazed Harry out the door, muttering constantly about “Awesome!” and “The House Cup is ours this year!” The office door closed once again.
This time, only Rayleigh and Professor McGonagall remained.
The atmosphere dropped to freezing point in an instant.
Rayleigh rubbed his forehead, not daring to make a peep.
Professor McGonagall sat back behind her desk, her hands folded, looking at him with an intensely serious, scrutinizing gaze.
“Mr.
Stark.” Her voice carried no emotional inflection whatsoever.
“Where did that spell come from?” “Reporting to the professor, it was shot out from my wand,” Rayleigh instinctively cracked a joke.
What answered him was Professor McGonagall’s even sharper stare.
That gaze made him feel as though he were being picked apart from the inside out.
Rayleigh shrank his neck, knowing he couldn’t fool his way past this.
Under the overwhelming pressure of Professor McGonagall’s formidable aura, he chose to tell the truth.
“Alright…
I bought a tattered, ancient spellbook at a secondhand shop in Diagon Alley.” “Mm-hmm?” “Many pages were missing, but tucked inside a hidden flap, I found a single fragment.” Rayleigh carefully observed Professor McGonagall’s reaction.
“It recorded a spell called the Bowel-Plucking Curse.” Professor McGonagall leaned slightly forward; she clearly knew of this dark magic.
“I studied it and realized the spell was far too dangerous and thoroughly inhumane.
If I didn’t control the power right, it could actually kill someone.” Rayleigh hurried to state his moral stance.
“Killing the goose for the golden eggs is shortsighted…
I mean, life is precious!
So I wondered if I could modify it.” “Modify it?” “Yes!” Rayleigh explained.
“I kept its core burst mechanic, but changed the target from the intestines themselves to…
the contents inside the intestinal tract.
Then I used Aguamenti as a conduit to increase the liquid volume, and applied a simple muscle relaxation charm to unlock the final restraint.
Thus, a brand-new, painless, low-risk, eco-friendly…
Laxativa spell was born!” A long silence descended upon the office.
Professor McGonagall maintained her posture, gazing motionless at Rayleigh.
Her expression was extremely peculiar.
It was no longer the anger or sternness from before, but rather…
a complex mix of shock, disbelief, and deep inquiry.
An eleven-year-old first-year student.
He had actually managed to independently analyze the structure of an ancient dark magic spell, successfully combine it with several other spells, and invent a completely original, highly effective hex?
This was no longer a simple prank.
Was this…
a genius?
A genius who had strayed onto the wrong path?