Slytherin Style

Edmund later learned that, generally speaking, "cleaning up" is not something that can be used on humans.

But Professor Flitwick was clearly very confident, just as he had previously hinted when instructing Lily: spells should have a clear target, which will help you achieve a level of precision that ordinary wizards cannot.

Professor Flitwick flicked his wrist like the letter "S," and the ink on Avery's face vanished. His expression was like that of an enraged bulldog, which startled Professor Flitwick before he looked in the direction of Avery's gaze.

Most of the young wizards on the Gryffindor side looked tense, never expecting that their two jinxes would cause such a big mess in the blink of an eye.

"It's...it's Potter's, Professor!"

Annelid Mullerseber, not wanting to offend the wealthy and powerful Black, shifted the blame to James Porter, who was laughing at the scene.

This only enraged Sirius. The handsome boy glared at Anneli with hatred, causing the girl to take two steps back in fright.

"What a huge misunderstanding, Professor." He regained his composure in the next second. Sirius said lazily, "I saw that Evert's spell wasn't working, and the ink bottle was about to hit him on the head, so I wanted to help him."

"My name is Avery!"

"Who knew I wasn't skilled enough, and maybe I didn't recite the incantation correctly? That's why my good intentions backfired."

Edmund couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Pollyanna instinctively slapped his arm, trying to tell him to keep his distance. Edmund then noticed that the little witch looked very uneasy.

Her face was pale and expressionless. At first glance, she didn't seem nervous at all, appearing more relaxed than the other female classmates who were frowning.

But this expression reminded Edmund of Harrison, and Edmund became somewhat curious:

Pollyanna seems to be particularly sensitive to these kinds of scenes that resemble bullying. Has she been bullied badly by someone before?

At the same time, Professor Flitwick also heard Edmund's low laughter, but he didn't care about that anymore.

The short Ravenclaw Dean stopped smiling; he frowned seriously and stared at Sirius Black, who remained almost unmoved.

"...Mr. Black, I'll give you one more chance."

"Please tell me, what exactly happened just now?"

Seeing this, Sirius stopped smiling. He lowered his eyes, realizing that Professor Flitwick was not easy to deal with. Just as he was pondering how to broach the subject, James stepped forward first.

James seemed a little nervous. Unlike Sirius, who genuinely loved and defied his parents, James Porter was still somewhat restrained at this moment. His tone carried a forced nonchalance, but his words were full of promise.

He said it was all his fault.

James admitted that he and Avery had some disagreements. Sirius only "accidentally" unscrewed the bottle cap to stand up for him.

Ironically, Blake probably didn't expect that James would only admit to the part of the story that was unfavorable to him, without emphasizing that Avery struck first. The usually lazy eldest son of the Blake family had to constantly chime in to try and salvage the situation for James.

Edmund suspected Pollyanna wanted to turn around and punch him, because he was laughing so hard he was shaking and had to bite his lower lip to keep quiet. It was hilarious, except Professor Flitwick looked a little pathetic.

If Professor Flitwick could spew steam, he'd probably be as angry as the Hogwarts Express. The short professor, furious like a wind-up toy, spun around twice before finally managing to deduct points:

"Absolutely outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!! Slytherin deduct 1 point! Gryffindor deduct 3 points!!"

"You two—each of you, copy 'I am a rational wizard, not a savage baboon' fifty times!"

Fortunately, Professor Flitwick chuckled as he finished speaking, as if amused by his own words. James and Blake also seized the opportunity to apologize to him. The atmosphere eased a little.

However, judging from the hostile glances on his own side of the house, Edmund knew this matter was far from over.

He was quite curious whether anyone would offend Blake for Avery's sake.

As far as Edmund knew, the former family was almost in decline, lacking both power and wealth; while the latter, claiming to be the "oldest and noblest," was an old money family that was more low-key than the Malfoys, yet even more obsessed with the doctrine of pure blood.

If Sirius Black were also in Slytherin, he would undoubtedly be among the highest of the high-ranking members. Even though they are both members of the "Holy Twenty-Eight Families," Avery's repeated defiance of him would likely result in him being immediately demoted to a blood bag.

Thinking about it that way, Avery should actually thank Sirius for being the Black family's rebellious son!

"Do you think they'll fight amongst themselves? Won't these self-proclaimed saints, these self-proclaimed pure Englishmen, pick up their wands and teach the traitors a lesson?"

Edmund asked another Englishman in a low voice.

They had returned to the Slytherin common room. Edmund pulled out a Galleon and claimed a table in the corner. He and Travers had both finished their assignments; the latter had gone to chat with the Moorselbers. Only Pollyanna remained, continuing to write her paper in tiny, dense handwriting.

The dark lake outside the window was exceptionally gloomy, casting a deep green hue over the indoor light.

Pollyanna raised her head and gave Edmund a harmless glare. Then she lowered her head again, not intending to speak.

Seeing that his follower was ignoring him, Edmund stopped trying to embarrass himself. He pondered the concept of the "Twenty-Eight Holy Families," a slight smile playing on his lips. He had learned of this concept from books sent by his mother.

Although the "Pure-Blood Register" doesn't contain much interesting content, it's more like an assassination list dedicated to Dumbledore than a way to prove one's nobility.

If this old man ever decides to stop playing by the rules, he can go after each family one by one. In Edmund's opinion, there's no one who can escape the white-bearded old man's curse.

However, he did find many familiar surnames among them:

Avery, Black, Carroll, Longbottom, Malfoy, Travers. This year's freshmen are truly full of talent…

The vast majority of these "noble" surnames are from Slytherin House, and the families are Slytherin families.

Thinking about this, Edmund couldn't help but feel an itch on his head.

No wonder that wicked old man said he came to Slytherin for the most fun. Voldemort's forces, at their peak, were already stirring outside the school, and many of Slytherin's new students were beneficiaries of the pure-blood theory... Naturally, they could have as much fun as they wanted.

"Cobblestone! Pollyanna Cobblestone!" Just then, a dark-haired upperclassman walked in from outside the lounge, frowning and looking around.

Pollyanna, who was doing her homework, immediately stood up. The older students glanced around and saw that Soman was also there, so they smiled.

She said Narcissa Black had something to talk to Copport about.

...This doesn't seem like a good sign. Pollyanna glanced instinctively at Edmund, who found it somewhat amusing. He wasn't the little witch's guardian or protector.

But in order to fulfill his duties as "leader," he adopted Sirius Black's attitude and gave the older students a lazy glance.

The witch was quite clever; she patted Pollyanna on the shoulder with a grin and said it was nothing, that Narcissa was just relaying a message.

Pollyanna clenched her fists, hesitated for a moment, and then obediently followed the other person. A full half hour later, she hurriedly ran back, her face filled with surprise and uncertainty.

"What, did she hit you?" Edmund asked, fiddling with his wand, his expression subtle.

"no."

When Edmund finally understood the whole thing, he didn't know whether to laugh or not: This was so typical of Slytherin!

The upperclassmen took Pollyanna to see Narcissa, but Narcissa didn't even look at Pollyanna. She said to the air in the corner that the headmaster had asked her to pass on a message to Pollyanna, asking her to come see him.

Pollyanna hurried to the Potions classroom, only to be cheerfully told by Professor Slughorn that the headmaster actually needed her to come over.

"...What layers of outsourcing?" Edmund laughed uncontrollably. "And then? And then you came to me?"

"What, you want me to run errands for you and tell the principal you don't want to see him?"