Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 28 A Deal

During the second half of the Charms class, Hermione didn't say another word to Siron, sitting there sulking to herself.

Xilun didn't understand why she was angry, but it didn't matter anyway, get out of class was almost over.

After the spell came Transfiguration class. To avoid a similar incident from happening again, Siron deliberately sat to Hermione's right and behind, so that even if they practiced in groups again, there would be no need to worry about them being grouped together.

"Well done." Ron suddenly turned to Siron and gave him a thumbs up.

"What?" Xilun didn't understand.

"It's about Charms class," Ron whispered. "That Hermione Granger, always so arrogant. She even thought Harry couldn't join the Gryffindor team because he broke the rules!"

Although she deliberately lowered her voice, the classroom was so big, and everyone wasn't too far apart, that Hermione couldn't possibly not hear it at all.

Her face turned even uglier.

"Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Weasley. I almost forgot that Mr. Potter also broke the school rules." Professor McGonagall appeared beside him at some point, her lips tightly pursed.

Ron turned around abruptly, nearly jumping up in fright.

"Joining the team was my special permission, but that doesn't offset the punishment for violating school rules," Professor McGonagall continued, looking at Harry. "Disrupting class, flying without permission, solitary confinement... Come to my office next Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, you and Mr. Malfoy together."

"I understand, Professor McGonagall," Harry replied with a pained expression.

"When did she arrive?" Ron was pale, clearly still recovering from the shock he had just experienced.

"I don't know either," Celen said. "Cats usually walk silently unless you can see them, and it seems Professor McGonagall is the same."

"I understand." Harry looked at Ron with a wistful expression. "Why did you have to say that extra sentence?"

Ron was also quite embarrassed; his face quickly went from pale to flushed. "I...I don't know..."

"Never mind," Harry sighed. "Solitary confinement isn't so bad, but being with Malfoy... it's a nightmare."

Ron's face turned even redder, just like his hair.

"Oh, right, there's something I need to correct." At this moment, Celen seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "I didn't target Hermione in Charms class. It's a good thing that she's willing to teach Neville, so why would I target her?"

Ron was struck dumb, looking at Siron as if he had been betrayed.

"But you two... you clearly had a fight, and she won't even talk to you anymore."

"It's just a difference in philosophy." Celen shrugged. "Muggle freshmen are all in similar situations because they haven't been exposed to magic for very long. There are some things they can't understand yet, but they'll be more or less ready in a few years."

"Alright, that's enough," Harry interrupted their conversation.

He had intended to advise Ron against saying that about Hermione, because he had also noticed that only Hermione was willing to patiently teach Neville.

But now, he couldn't bring himself to say those words, because in the whole affair, he had inexplicably become the only one who got hurt.

Who knows? Everything was fine until suddenly there was a detention center, and it was with Malfoy no less.

Harry felt a pang of regret; he should have just pinched Ron's mouth shut without hesitation.

The atmosphere in this transformation class was strange.

Harry and Ron finished the entire class in a sullen mood, and Hermione's expression was also quite strange, with her head down and looking absent-minded.

She poked two of the beetles that were being used as teaching aids to death, something that would have been absolutely impossible before.

As Xilun watched from the side, a thought suddenly occurred to him: would the trio fall apart because of this?

But after observing for a while, he realized that such a thing was unlikely, at least not for Ron and Harry.

Although Ron secured a detention for Harry, Harry did not distance himself from him and remained inseparable from him, whether in class or after class.

They even convinced themselves that since Malfoy also had an extra prison sentence, it wasn't a complete loss.

That's quite surprising.

As for Hermione, she ran away as soon as get out of class ended, and remained silent throughout the afternoon classes, until all classes were over.

The group walked together toward the hall to attend the Halloween Eve banquet.

The auditorium was now decorated with colorful Halloween ornaments, and dozens or even hundreds of huge pumpkins had been hollowed out and made into various shapes, floating in mid-air.

Upon seeing this, Harry instantly forgot about his solitary confinement.

Xiren and the others stopped abruptly before entering the auditorium.

"Oh, you guys go ahead, I think I dropped something."

"What is it? Where did it fall?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, maybe on the way here," Xilun said casually.

"I'll go find it for you." Harry immediately turned to walk back.

"It's alright, it's nothing important." Xilun reached out to stop him. "You guys go in first, I'll just look around, it doesn't matter if I don't find it."

Hearing that it wasn't important, Harry stopped talking and, urged by Siron, walked into the Great Hall with the others.

Siron then found the Weasley brothers waiting nearby.

"How is it? Where's what I asked for?" he asked in a low voice.

"You can rest assured about how we handle things," Fred said sternly. "We've already got the goods."

"What about our payment?" George stepped forward.

"Here it is." Xiren pulled a handful of silver shiko from his pocket. "You'll get your share."

"Six silver scimitars in total, that's right." Fred counted them and then handed a bulging brown paper bag to Siron.

"It was a pleasure working with you. Remember to contact us again if you need our help next time."

"We'll see," Xilun said, sounding a little distressed. "Your delivery fee is too expensive; I only need three Xicos."

"You can't say that," George shook his finger. "If it were Hogsmeade Week, we'd buy you things for free, no problem. But it's class time now, and students aren't allowed to go out. Only we have connections to get to Hogsmeade."

"We took a lot of risks on this trip, so this price is actually very reasonable."

"Alright," Siren said. "Thank you for your hard work."

"It won't be hard for you if you patronize our business a little more," George said with a grin. "Regular customers even get a discount."

"If I need it."

"You definitely will." Fred raised an eyebrow. "We can tell you're not a law-abiding little wizard."

"We'll definitely have a lot in common in the future."

Xilun shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

"To show our sincerity, we've decided to give you a small gift." Fred suddenly leaned over and took out a piece of parchment from his pocket.

"What is this?"

"Map," George said.

Xilun suddenly became somewhat excited; parchment, map, could it be...?

"Map of the secret passage on the fourth floor of the school."

Okay, it's not Marauder's Map after all.

Xilun's heart, which had just been in his throat, was put back at ease.

“We drew this ourselves,” Fred continued. “If you run into the professor there again, it should help you avoid getting caught.”

"However, Filch also knows about these secret passages."

"Use with care."

……