The Weasley twins' punishment was clearly not as light as they made it out to be.
On Tuesday afternoon, asWadeand his classmates left Herbology class, they saw the twins cleaning out a pigsty.
Both wore scarves as masks over their faces, using shovels and brooms to clear out pig manure. Two large buckets sat nearby.
AsWadepassed by, he saw Percy, the twins' older brother, standing outside the pigsty. An argument seemed to be taking place between them, and Percy's face was very grim.
Seeing the second-year students watching from a distance, Percy's pale face flushed crimson.
He angrily said something to his brothers, then stomped away with heavy steps.
The twins shrugged, unconcerned, and continued working.
The Slytherins chuckled, whispering, "Look… just as I thought, the stinky Weasleys, smelling all of pig manure…"
Wade thought it was Malfoy speaking again, but when he looked up, he saw Malfoy walking sullenly toward the castle alone.
His two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, however, were walking with other Slytherin students, as if they hadn't noticed Malfoy leaving.
"Wade, I'll go to the Umbrella House later."
Michael said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He naturally blended into a group of Slytherin students, and soon had a few girls giggling.
Crabbe and Goyle stood at the edge of the circle, looking eager to join in.
Wade then looked at Padma beside him, who walked on with a normal expression, seemingly oblivious to Michael's intimate chatting and laughing with the Slytherin girls.
—What are those two up to?
Wade was puzzled, so he simply asked directly.
"Don't tell anyone," Padma pulled him aside and whispered, "Michael's getting revenge on Malfoy!"
"Revenge… on Malfoy?"
Wade was surprised.
The last time Malfoy insulted Michael, he ended up in detention, forced to work under Filch, whom all the students detested.Wadethought that incident was over.
But for Michael, it clearly wasn't.
"You know, Michael actually has a decent relationship with the Slytherins."
Padma whispered, "He said he's going to dismantle Malfoy's little clique, so he can't swagger around like before."
"…How will he dismantle it?"Wadeasked in return. "Isn't Michael afraid his intentions will be seen through? Slytherins are vindictive too."
"He's not afraid at all!" Padma said. "He's not spreading rumors to make them misunderstand Malfoy or suspect each other; he's just pointing out facts."
Facing Wade's skeptical gaze, Padma added two more points:
"Uh… and he's also slightly used the art of language, tapping into their own inner emotions like jealousy, inferiority, vanity, anger, and so on…"
"You know, some things… if you phrase them slightly differently, they make people uncomfortable, and then conflicts arise…"
"Haven't you noticed that Crabbe and Goyle haven't been following Malfoy these past few days?"
"They used to be perfectly happy being his cronies, but recently… they suddenly realized that Malfoy always looked down on them and decided to become dignified people…"
What an amazing development!
Wade was utterly astonished.
He couldn't help but gossip, "I remember their fathers are also Mr. Malfoy Sr.'s cronies, aren't they?"
"They are…"
Padma's gaze drifted for a moment.
"But Crabbe and Goyle now think that the Malfoy family is past its prime, and there's nothing special about them except for their money. This summer, Ron Weasley's father even raided them for dark artifacts."
"So Draco Malfoy has no right to boss them around all the time… they're all just students, and they're even bigger and stronger than Malfoy…"
"As long as they're not constantly trailing behind Malfoy like bodyguards, girls will see their bravery and strength, and be willing to talk to them, even smile at them…"
Wade looked towards the courtyard.
Under Michael's guidance, some girls did indeed smile at the two big boys, but it was unclear whether those were mocking or polite smiles.
Crabbe and Goyle, however, were flushed with excitement, clumsily saying something that made everyone burst into laughter again.
Wade muttered to himself, "I really want to know… how exactly did Michael brainwash them?… Did he say a barrelful of bad things about Malfoy?"
Padma covered her mouth with a smile, a cunning glint in her eyes.
"No… he never publicly disparaged Malfoy… he's been saying good things about Malfoy!"
Padma returned to the castle with her roommate, andWadeno longer paid attention to Michael's revenge game.
If Malfoy had provoked Wade,Wadewould have fought back on the spot, and that would have been the end of it.
But he insulted Michael, and Michael said nothing at the time. His subsequent revenge, however, was subtle yet ceaseless.
Malfoy had casually insulted and bullied others more than once or twice; he probably never expected that an ordinary student like Michael, a non-pureblood with no particular family background, would turn out to be an untouchable force.
He was isolated by the Slytherin students, but he probably still didn't know why he was being isolated.
Wade turned and walked towards the pigsty.
The Weasley twins had finally cleaned the pig manure. Fred was currently spraying cleaner on the pigsty fence, while George was scrubbing behind him with a large brush.
As soon asWadeapproached, he caught a strong odor. He quickly cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, cutting off the foul air.
"Hi, Wade!"
Fred pointed to his head. "Give us one too! Otherwise, I suspect I won't be able to eat dinner tonight!"
George made a gagging motion behind him.
Soon, all three had a large spherical bubble around their heads, as if their heads were stuck in a soap bubble.
"Thank Merlin! I can finally breathe!" George let out a long sigh of relief.
Fred corrected him, "You should say thanks to Wade."
"Of course!" George bowed exaggeratedly. "Thank you, Wade. You've saved two poor pig handlers!"
Wade asked, "You two seem to have been punished pretty severely this time?"
"Yeah," Fred said proudly. "Because we snuck into the Forbidden Forest on Friday night…"
"You know, there's a big guy in the Forbidden Forest, and we've always wanted to get acquainted with it…" George said.
"You mean the dragon?"Wadeasked.
All the students knew that a dragon had appeared at the school last year and had been kept on the Quidditch Pitch for a few weeks.
Once it could hunt on its own, Hogwarts found a place in the Forbidden Forest to house it and enchanted it so the dragon couldn't break into the school and harm students.
At the start-of-term feast, Dumbledore had also reminded them that students were not allowed into the Forbidden Forest.
In student legends, it was a terrifying place with vampires, werewolves, and dragons.
The Weasley twins were clearly not the type of students who would meekly obey.