Dumbledore's words seemed to press the pause button on the field, everyone remained frozen in their positions, not daring to move.
For the first time, Tom felt the oppressive power of the name Albus Dumbledore amidst the heavy, stifling atmosphere.
The White Wizard was terrifying; he dared not provoke him, nor could he afford to.
Professor McGonagall and Snape, who had climbed back to his feet, also arrived at the brawl scene, and the Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch match naturally couldn't continue.
Waving her wand to separate the still-cursing two factions, Professor McGonagall scanned the crowd before her; everyone felt the contained fury, and the students who had just been spewing profanities instantly fell silent.
"Never in Hogwarts' history has such a severe group brawl occurred. Can anyone explain to me what happened?"
The moment Professor McGonagall spoke, everyone involuntarily shivered and turned their heads in unison to look at Ron.
Hollis Carow of Slytherin immediately shouted, "Report! It was Weasley who first attacked Professor Snape and started the conflict. We intended to apprehend him and hand him over to the Professors, but he not only refused to surrender but also counter-attacked us. I am a victim of his crime." He then pointed to his swollen face. This smooth and practiced way of tattling indicated he was no stranger to such despicable acts.
Professor McGonagall, having found the instigator, stared down at Ron and sternly asked, "Mr. Weasley, what do you have to say? It seems the Howler your mother sent you recently wasn't a deep enough lesson."
Upon hearing this, Ron trembled like a sieve, and the nightmarish memories he wished to banish slowly resurfaced.
If, if he had to endure another incident like that day in the Great Hall, with his mother's Howler publicly berating him for being unworthy of the Weasley family, Ron felt he might completely die of social embarrassment.
Thinking this, a surge of courage welled up in Ron, and he looked directly at Professor McGonagall: "Dean, I didn't mean to; I attacked Snape because Snape was casting a dark curse on Harry, trying to kill him. I was simply trying to save my friend."
"You're saying a Professor tried to kill his own student? How is that possible?" Professor McGonagall glanced at the grim-faced Snape, clearly not believing Ron's explanation.
Before Snape could speak, Tom, who appeared from who knows where, said, "Professor Snape did cast a spell, but~"
Professor McGonagall looked at Snape in surprise, not expecting him to actually do such a thing, but hearing Tom's drawn-out trailing sound, it was clear there was a twist to the story. She glared at Tom in annoyance: "Say what you need to say all at once, don't speak in halves."
Seeing Professor McGonagall showing signs of anger, Tom put away his playful thoughts and took the initiative to explain for Snape: "However, Professor Snape did not cast a dark curse. We were sitting right next to the Dean at the time, and the spell he was casting was to help Harry control his broom and prevent him from falling and getting injured. If you don't believe it, Veritaserum or Legilimency can verify it. You should know that the Dean is the least likely person in the world to harm Harry."
"Ah!" Ron hadn't expected Tom to pull such a stunt. Looking at his confident demeanor, it seemed to be true. But still stubborn, he retorted, "What makes you say that?"
Tom looked at Ron with an expression reserved for idiots and calmly uttered a name: "Lily!"
Upon hearing this name, everyone present suddenly understood, exchanging knowing smiles that said, "I get it."
Snape's face grew even darker, and he said viciously, "Weasley, as the instigator, for attacking a Professor and starting a brawl, Gryffindor loses 100 points. Starting tomorrow, you will serve detention every night until the end of this school year."
Professor McGonagall also announced her punishment: "Gryffindor and Slytherin each lose 300 points. All participants in the brawl will have detention three times a week for 8 weeks, starting tomorrow."
Just as things were about to settle, Dumbledore, always late, finally arrived. He was about to give a concluding speech when Tom raised his hand and loudly exclaimed, "Professor, I have an opinion on Hogwarts' education."
Seeing everyone's attention focused on him, Tom cleared his throat and said with utmost seriousness, "Dear Professors, as the best magic school, Hogwarts has already fallen to seventh place in the ranking of magic schools this year. The spell our young Wizards are best at is actually their fists. I am deeply saddened by this. How about we change our name? Let's call it Hogwarts Combat Vocational Training Technical School, how about that?"
With one sentence, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape's faces all darkened. Dumbledore coughed and turned to Professor McGonagall, saying, "Regarding this egregious incident, I think detention three times a week for 8 weeks is too light a punishment. How about we change the detention to five times a week for 16 weeks, Minerva? What do you think?"
"Albus, I'll follow your lead. Oh, and given this group brawl, both Slytherin and Gryffindor are disqualified from this Quidditch match." Professor McGonagall wholeheartedly agreed, adding another penalty.
"Alas, perhaps Tom is right; our education truly seems to have a problem. I hope that in the coming days, we can educate our students to become qualified Wizards." Dumbledore's tone was full of regret, as if they had truly committed some heinous act, but smart people immediately sensed from Dumbledore's words that the coming days would definitely not be easy.
Seeing Tom's casual remark double everyone's hardship, Slytherin and Gryffindor, for once, united in their animosity, glaring at him.
Tom pretended not to notice, even whistling, but Dumbledore's meaningful glance at him as he left made his fragile little heart feel the world's deep malice.
Please, he was just an innocent bystander; this had nothing to do with him. Did he have to take the blame for this too?
Why make things so difficult for an 11-year-old child?
In the following days, the students of Gryffindor and Slytherin had a tough time. The large number of participants in the brawl meant that most of the students from both houses were bogged down in detention, and the empty common rooms often had no one around.
Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were also affected; their already increased coursework became even more burdensome, taking on a bit of a Chinese education flavor. After all, Dumbledore had said he wanted to educate the students to become qualified Wizards.
As for Tom, the culprit who caused everyone's punishment to double, he was constantly subjected to covert and overt sneak attacks from the young Wizards during this period. For Tom, such attacks were naturally like playing house; at first, he even enjoyed playing with them to spice up his boring campus life. But after a while, he inevitably grew tired of it. At this point, Tom wished he could slap himself for being so sharp-tongued.
The only one truly happy was probably Filch; no one complains about too much free labor. Now, not only did he have people helping to clean the Castle, but violations of school rules were almost disappearing, which he thought was wonderful.
It wasn't until the Christmas holidays that Tom noticed this year's applications for leaving school to go home were more thorough than in previous years.
Upon asking, he learned that everyone could no longer stand to stay in Hogwarts, this den of dragons and tigers, for even a moment.
Tom offered his sincere 'apologies' for this.