Because the first-year young witches and wizards didn’t know much about the Head of Slytherin House, they had no idea just how great a shock today’s events would deal to all of Gryffindor and Slytherin.
The two houses always shared Potions class together and knew all too well how brutally ruthless Snape could be when targeting Gryffindors.
Class continued as normal.
Snape’s lesson remained purely theoretical, focusing on learning potion names and their required ingredients.
Potion ingredients were expensive.
Even though Hogwarts could supply some of its own herbs and magical creature components, ingredients with long growth cycles were still limited, and they couldn’t allow first-years to waste them on their very first lesson.
The hourglass on the podium flipped itself over after emptying, but the sand did not trickle down again.
That meant class was over.
Snape dismissed the class, scooped up the origami crane letter, whipped his cloak around, and strode briskly out of his classroom.
Raven knew he was heading to the Headmaster’s office.
The young Gryffindors crowded around Harry, bombarding him with a flurry of questions.
“Harry, you were so brave! If Snape glared at me like that, I wouldn’t have been able to utter a word,” Neville said.
Harry hadn’t expected that answering Snape’s questions would earn him the title of brave.
He turned to Neville and said, “Snape isn’t that terrifying. I was startled at first too, but I snapped out of it pretty quickly. I think Raven is the bravest one—he actually dared to argue logically with a professor!”
Raven waved his hands quickly, signaling the Gryffindors to direct their attention back to Harry.
Only Hermione and Ron were left standing beside Raven, having been squeezed out of the crowd around Harry.
As for Malfoy, he had long since fled with his two lackeys.
He didn’t dare get anywhere near Raven right now.
Their House Head was furious today, and if Snape heard Malfoy was hanging around with Raven, he might end up in detention starting tomorrow.
Malfoy figured Raven would understand.
The young witch, however, was focused on Hufflepuff losing points.
She asked Raven, “Raven, you lost ten points today. Hufflepuff only had thirty points to begin with, so now you’re down to twenty. Will you be in trouble?”
Ron added, “And you weren’t even wearing your Hufflepuff uniform today—you look like a Gryffindor. Won’t Professor Pomona Sprout expel you outright when she finds out? How about we go find Percy? He’s a prefect. We can ask him to talk to Professor McGonagall about letting you transfer houses!”
Listening to their concern, Raven felt amused yet warmed in his heart.
He reassured the two young kids.
“It’s fine. Let me take you to the Great Hall for lunch. The House Point Hourglasses are right over there. When we walk past, you’ll see that no points were deducted.”
The hourglasses sat right by the double doors leading to the Great Hall.
To make his words more convincing, Raven pointed to his robe and said, “This isn’t an ordinary uniform. This is the Gryffindor House Relic Uniform, and it comes with certain privileges.”
“A House Relic Uniform? I feel like I’ve read about that somewhere—maybe in a book I picked up in the library for light reading. I’ll look for it later,” Hermione said, a thoughtful look on her face. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Leaving Harry behind, still encircled by his fan club, Raven walked briskly toward the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron.
He had specifically asked the kitchens to prepare Beggar’s Chicken for lunch and have it delivered to the Gryffindor table.
He couldn’t let those mischievous troublemakers ruin it.
However, just as they reached the point hourglasses before entering the Great Hall, Raven felt both of his legs grabbed.
“We heard about the good deed you pulled off, Raven!”
“Standing up to that old bat was so cool!”
“And we heard you have a super cool Gryffindor robe!”
“You’re a Gryffindor traitor, so this robe belongs to us now!”
“What’s yours is mine anyway!”
“We’re practically brothers, aren’t we?”
And there they were—the dynamic duo.
Or rather, Fred and George.
Hermione had already run over to check the house point hourglasses, while Ron watched the infighting with gloating amusement.
Fred and George flanked him, trying to forcibly strip the robe off Raven while muttering, “Come on, lend it to us for a day! Don’t be so stingy, Raven!”
Yet the robe didn’t budge, clinging tightly to Raven.
Oh, wait—not entirely motionless.
The gold-embroidered pattern flashed with light, throwing both Fred and George flat onto their backs.
Raven spread his hands innocently.
“It wasn’t me! This robe is soul-bound—only I can wear it. You two were grabbing at it for too long, so it automatically retaliated.”
*Though I did intentionally switch on the auto-retaliation function,* Raven added in his mind.
George glanced at Fred and said, “Raven did that on purpose just now, didn’t he? He didn’t look surprised at all.”
Fred recalled the moment and confirmed, “I think so too. We can sense each other’s feelings—he definitely did it on purpose.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
“Snatch his chicken! He made that Beggar’s Chicken at home before—he definitely ordered it!”
Raven admitted he panicked a little—otherwise, how could his hand have slipped so conveniently, turning his twin brothers into stone?
“Oops~ my~ hand~ slipped~”
He dragged the petrified twins toward the Gryffindor table.
As punishment, those two would have to watch him eat lunch.
Meanwhile, in the Headmaster’s office.
Snape had the gargoyle at the entrance announce him to Dumbledore.
Who wanted to memorize those absurd passwords anyway?
Besides, at this hour, the old man was bound to be in his office; he wasn’t in the habit of having lunch so early.
The door to the office soon opened, and just as Snape expected, Dumbledore was dozing inside, matching the portraits of former Headmasters lining the walls.
Snape slammed the origami crane letter onto Dumbledore’s desk.
The sharp slap not only startled Dumbledore, but also shocked the portraits of former Headmasters hanging around the room.
“Severus, whatever has happened to make you so upset?” Having recovered his senses, Dumbledore retained his usual lazy demeanor.
“This letter claims to originate from the Headmaster’s Office. I would like to know if you authorized it.” Snape handed the letter to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore put on his spectacles and read it carefully.
[Objection sustained.
Penalty invalidated.
Notice hereby served.] [Hogwarts, Headmaster’s Office]
Dumbledore read the letter word for word, allowing the past Headmasters to understand the situation as well.
“It feels like it’s been nearly two centuries since a professor quarreled with an Inheritor. What memories,” spoke Dilys Derwent, an eighteenth-century female Headmistress who was also a remarkably gifted Healer.
“After all, objections raised by an Inheritor must be judged by Hogwarts, and the professors generally respect those judgments.”
“I experienced such a dispute in my day, but everyone agreed Hogwarts’ decision was flawless, so it never escalated to the Headmaster’s Office.”
“Still, it really has been about two centuries since we last heard anything about an Inheritor. Does anyone know why?”
“Speaking of which, what exactly is an Inheritor? Why haven’t I heard of this before?”
The portrait unable to join the topic was Armando Dippet, Dumbledore’s predecessor.
All eyes immediately turned to Headmaster Dippet’s portrait.
He hurriedly added, “My predecessor never passed this information down to me!”
So, everyone’s gaze shifted to the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black.