#28 - Section 28
As the incident spread like wildfire, more and more students gathered to watch. Twins, Cedric, Cho Chang, and Harry all heard the commotion and rushed over to inquire about the situation and express their concern to Ethan.
Of course, Malfoy, one of the main culprits, was also hiding in the crowd, observing.
The five unlucky Slytherins were contacted by them, and the two parties had met before departure. Therefore, Draco and the others were waiting not far away for the good news to arrive, but they didn't expect such a result.
Now, looking at the crippled group, he was already sweating. Ethan was so capable, hammering five fourth-year students, and so ruthless.
When the conflict occurred on the train, he really held back a lot.
He just didn't know if he and the others had been exposed. If he was mentioned and Ethan knew that he was the one who instigated it.
Thinking of this, Draco's legs trembled, and he couldn't help but want to slap himself. Why did he have to provoke him?
"Goyle, Crabbe, let's go back!"
Draco was walking unsteadily, so he had the two of them support him as they walked towards the Slytherin dormitory. He just wanted to stay far away from Ethan.
Chapter 51: Punishment
The Potions classroom office was also Snape's private storage room and potion brewing room. Snape, who had finished a day of teaching, finally had time to deal with his private affairs.
Of course, these private affairs were brewing potions or processing various materials.
Right now, Snape was squeezing the pus from Bubotuber bulbs. These were huge, thick, black, and wriggling lumps, covered with shiny pimples, looking like slugs.
As the yellow-green viscous liquid dripped, the entire office was filled with a pungent petroleum smell.
Suddenly, a series of violent knocks interrupted Snape's work. Taking off his dragon-hide gloves, Snape impatiently opened the door.
"If you can't give me a good reason, you'll be spending this week with Filch."
Snape looked at the little snake in front of him expressionlessly and warned in a cold tone.
He hated being disturbed while brewing potions the most. Processing Bubotuber bulbs was quite troublesome, the juice couldn't get on anything, and they were extremely valuable. If someone else had been handling it just now, the medicinal material might have been ruined.
"Head of House, Barry Raglon led four people from our house and Ravenclaw first-year Ethan Adrian into a fight. Now one of them has a big hole blasted in their stomach, and I don't know if they're dead or not."
The little snake who came to report looked at his Head of House and said tremblingly.
"Whose stomach was blasted open?"
Closing the office door, Snape, who was on his way to the scene, already had a face as black as the bottom of a pot. Although he had already guessed the result, he still asked.
He really didn't expect the students in his house to cause him such a big problem.
Snape didn't think that Ethan had started the incident. He knew exactly what his students were like.
Besides, a first-year, no matter how much of a troublemaker, couldn't possibly provoke five fourth-year students. He himself had almost been driven to depression by four classmates back then.
Now he could only pray that Ethan was alright, otherwise Flitwick wouldn't let it go easily.
"It's Willard Colby!"
"Who?"
Snape suddenly stopped and looked at the little snake who was reporting!
"Willard Colby!"
After confirming again, Snape was silent, and then continued to the scene.
Although he knew that Ethan was definitely a genius among this year's young wizards, and only Cassandra could compete with him, the result was too outrageous.
What kind of trash were his students?
The same thing happened in the offices of the other Heads of House, except they weren't as irritable as Snape!
......
"Mr. Adrian, please go to the Headmaster's office first. The password is 'Lemon Drop'."
Professor McGonagall, who had briefly learned about the situation from the reporting young wizard, felt that the matter was a bit complicated and could only be handed over to Dumbledore.
She still had to rush to the school hospital to see the specific situation.
"Understood, Professor McGonagall!"
Saying that, Ethan turned and left, without any excessive reaction, nor any emotions such as tension or fear.
When McGonagall and the other professors arrived, the five little snakes with broken limbs had already been carried into the school infirmary by Madam Pomfrey. Only Ethan, the protagonist, and some onlookers were left at the scene.
"Professor McGonagall, the Slytherins made the first move. Ethan was just defending himself, according to the law..."
"Miss Granger, I will investigate clearly."
Professor McGonagall interrupted Hermione's words and went straight to the school hospital.
She still had a good impression of Ethan, a young wizard with great talent in Transfiguration, but she didn't know how to punish him.
Familiar with the eighth floor, he came to a huge stone beast, and Ethan shouted the password.
The next moment, the stone statue seemed to come alive, immediately splitting in half, revealing a spiral staircase.
Following the stairs, Ethan went straight to the door of the Headmaster's office.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in!"
Pushing open the door, the first thing he saw were countless headmaster portraits, a colorful bird standing on a shelf, and Dumbledore at the desk.
"Child, what's the matter?"
Dumbledore was still unaware of what had happened. After all, no one had notified him, or rather, even if they wanted to notify him, they couldn't enter the Headmaster's office without the password.
"I had a conflict with five older students from Slytherin. Now they are in the school hospital, and Professor McGonagall asked me to come here."
"I see!"
Although he didn't use Legilimency, with his life experience, he had already guessed what happened.
The Slytherins provoked Ethan, lost the fight, went to the hospital, and were seriously injured.
It was just that Ethan's indifferent appearance was something Dumbledore had never seen before. Other troublemaking young wizards would be more or less nervous, uneasy, or worried.
"Sit down first and have some pumpkin juice. We'll deal with this matter later."
Dumbledore tapped the table, and a glass of pumpkin juice appeared on the surface.
"Thank you, Headmaster!"
Ethan sat down without any reservations, not worried that Dumbledore might put something in his drink, and picked up the pumpkin juice to drink.
Before long, the four Heads of House arrived at the same time, but their expressions were not very good.
Seeing this, Ethan also stood up. With the Heads of House standing, how could Ethan sit?
Professor Flitwick went directly to Ethan's side and said without ceremony, "Ethan, I know this is not your fault. You just need to tell us what happened just now."
Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall also gave Ethan encouraging glances, while also expressing their attitude.
"I just borrowed a book from the library and was preparing to return to the Ravenclaw dormitory…"
From beginning to end, Ethan told everything, except for the specific magic he used, without any omissions. He didn't deliberately say anything that would benefit him, after all, there were still spectators present.
After Ethan finished speaking, Professor McGonagall also told Dumbledore the current state of the snakes.
"Breaking a wand is an extremely bad thing, and Barry and the other four are also seriously injured."
"In this case, Ravenclaw will lose fifty points. Ethan, you will serve a month of detention, patrolling the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, starting tonight, escorted by Filch. If you have any objections, you can tell me now."
After a little thought, Dumbledore announced his punishment result.
During this period, Dumbledore would occasionally pay attention to Ethan, and naturally knew that Ethan went to the Room of Requirement almost every day. He was a very hardworking, diligent, and extremely talented child.
At the same time, he had family and friends, especially the young witches at the school, with whom he had quite good relationships, which was completely different from Voldemort.
Based on these two points, Dumbledore didn't want to give any overly severe punishment.
After all, talented children are favored everywhere.
"I have no objection and am willing to accept the school's punishment."
Ethan naturally wouldn't refuse. To go to the Forbidden Forest openly and collect magical materials, what kind of punishment was that!
"Albus, isn't there any punishment for Slytherin?"
"They called Ethan a Mudblood, and they were the ones who made the first move. All of this was provoked by them. Although they are now in the school hospital, they need to bear the main responsibility."
Flitwick stood up, obviously not accepting that only his little wizard would suffer.
Hearing the word 'Mudblood,' Snape's expression changed obviously. This was the pain of his life.
Because of this, Snape didn't want to say anything from beginning to end, letting the situation develop. If it were him, he wouldn't have spared his five students lightly.
"Slytherin will lose two hundred and fifty points and serve a month of detention, starting after they are discharged from the hospital."
It could be said that Dumbledore directly killed Slytherin's chances of winning the House Cup this year.
Snape's mouth moved, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
Chapter 52: Forbidden Forest Patrol
Leaving the Headmaster's office, there was already a row of people waiting at the staircase on the eighth floor, most of whom were from Ravenclaw, and some from Hufflepuff.
After Ethan briefly explained his punishment, he left with the crowd.
At night, Ethan appeared at the door of Filch's office.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in!"
A hoarse voice came from inside the door.
As soon as he entered, Ethan smelled a very strong smell of grilled fish. A skinny Maine Coon cat with dull fur was squatting on the chair, staring at Ethan.
"Come with me!"
Filch simply tidied up and led Ethan out of the office, limping with a lantern.
Along the way, Filch didn't say a word, not at all like Fred and George said, possessing extreme verbal abuse.
In fact, Filch didn't want to cause trouble. He knew everything about what Ethan did in the afternoon. This was not a good person, unlike other little wizards.
Verbal abuse towards Ethan? Filch wasn't afraid of being retaliated against, nor did he care.
But if something happened to his cat, Mrs. Norris, that would be unacceptable to him.
So he also catered to people. He knew very well who he could verbally abuse and who he couldn't.
"This is it. Go by yourself!"
After sending Ethan to Hagrid's hut, Filch turned around and left, without any hesitation.
Looking at Filch, who was limping but still leaving as soon as possible, Ethan was a little puzzled. He hadn't done anything to him!
Even the night patrols, he hadn't encountered him.
Woof~ Woof~
Two dog barks came from the darkness. The next moment, Fang didn't know where he came from and ran out, wagging his tail and circling around Ethan.
"Ethan, is that you? Come in!"
The door was pushed open, and Hagrid stood at the door, shouting in the direction of the dog's bark.
Hearing Fang's bark, Hagrid knew that the person who came must be an acquaintance.
He also received the news during dinner that Ethan would come to patrol with him.
"It's me, Hagrid!"
Ethan replied and then walked into Hagrid's hut with Fang.
At this moment, the fireplace inside the wooden house was burning quite vigorously, so much so that it was a bit hot after entering. There was a large pot of venison and a plate of fried pork rinds on the table, next to Hagrid's favorite rock cakes.
"Eat something first. The Forbidden Forest is quite cold now, and the patrol time is very long."
Closing the door, Hagrid directly invited Ethan to sit down and poured a bowl of venison soup for Ethan.
In the Forbidden Forest in October, the nighttime temperature was already close to zero, and basically every patrol lasted several hours. It was really unbearable without eating something.
"Thank you!"
