Going with the flow.
"Don't worry about me!" Wayne sniffled and wiped his nose.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll send a complaint letter to the Headmaster's office!"
With that, he turned and walked into the boys' dormitory corridor, heading back to his room.
A crowd of little Hufflepuffs was left behind, exchanging uncertain glances.
No one wanted Wayne to be expelled—but none of them could talk him out of it.
Cedric gritted his teeth:
"I'll write a letter too!"
"If it's just Wayne, the Headmaster will be furious. I'll help him share the blame."
Unity is the tradition of Hufflepuff.
When they heard Cedric's suggestion, everyone began nodding.
Susan Bones spoke up loudly:
"Count me in! My aunt works at the Ministry of Magic—I can talk to her too!"
"Me too!"
"And me!"
Nearly everyone joined in, pulling out parchment and quills to start writing complaint letters.
Outside the dormitory entrance, Wayne—who was eavesdropping—couldn't help but reveal a knowing smile.
The next morning.
All the Hufflepuffs were waiting for Wayne to show up in the common room.
Finally, surrounded by his two roommates, Wayne emerged from the dormitory.
Everyone had an envelope in hand.
A thunderous cheer erupted in the common room, and then everyone surged out together.
Instead of heading to their beloved Great Hall for breakfast, they marched upstairs.
Over a hundred young wizards formed a small tidal wave—leaving students from other houses completely stunned.
They had no idea what was going on.
Just coming downstairs, Harry also bumped into Wayne's group.
Ron shivered slightly.
"Why do I feel a murderous aura?"
Harry ignored Ron's comment and asked curiously:
"Where are you all headed?"
"Judging by the direction... is it the eighth floor?"
"What's on the eighth floor?" Ron asked.
Harry thought for a moment, then finally pulled out the Marauder's Map and confirmed:
"The Headmaster's office!"
"Wayne, is this the place?"
"How are we going to give our letters to the Headmaster?"
Once they reached the eighth floor, everyone suddenly got nervous.
The aggressive energy from earlier turned into tiptoeing and whispered steps—like they were out sneaking around at night.
Wayne shook his head.
"No need. The Headmaster's office has its own mailbox.
We'll just drop the letters in there."
Hearing that, the Hufflepuffs breathed a collective sigh of relief.
They arrived at the entrance to the Headmaster's office—still guarded by the familiar gargoyle statue.
Sensing Wayne's presence, the gargoyle—who had been dozing with its eyes closed—suddenly woke up.
"Huh? It's you again, kid. What brings you here so early?
Dumbledore's probably not even awake yet."
"Thank goodness the password's been changed.
It's lemon snowdrop. Just say it, and I'll open the door."
The younger students behind Wayne were dumbfounded.
This guardian... was surprisingly enthusiastic.
Worried Wayne wouldn't remember the password, it had even gone ahead and told him directly.
It was only then that the gargoyle noticed the crowd behind Wayne, and asked, puzzled:
"What are all of them doing here?
I'm only authorized to let you in. The rest can't enter."
"No need," Wayne waved his hand.
"I'm not here to see the Headmaster. I wrote him a letter."
"You can help me pass it along."
"Oh, I see."
The gargoyle opened its mouth:
"Then go ahead and put it in.
I'll remind him when he comes in through the front door."
Without hesitation, Wayne placed the letter into its mouth.
Cedric tugged on Wayne's sleeve and whispered:
"Wait... that's the mailbox?"
"Yup. Go ahead and put yours in too.
Once we're done, we can go eat."
Summoning his courage, Cedric dropped his letter into the gargoyle's mouth.
"Eh? You have a letter for Dumbledore too?"
"Wait—what are you all doing?!"
"No! Stop! Stop right now!"
"You're going to stuff it full!"
"Don't be so rough! Be gentle!"
Finally, when the last young wizard shoved their letter into the mouth of the gargoyle, it swallowed them all with tears in its eyes.
Its belly visibly swelled by a full size.
"Thank you for your hard work," Wayne patted its head.
"Make sure to remind the Headmaster, okay?"
With that, he bolted—leading all the Hufflepuffs in a full retreat.
Everyone's face was flushed with an unusual shade of red.
It was just... too exciting.
In the entire history of Hogwarts, this had never happened before:
An entire House of students filing a collective complaint against a professor.
They were about to make history!
This was huge!
At Hogwarts, there are no secrets. Within a single day, news of the entire Hufflepuff House filing complaints about Professor Quirrell spread across the school like a whirlwind.
When people first heard the shocking news, their first reaction was disbelief.
But every Hufflepuff student confirmed it—and on top of that, many had seen them heading toward the upper floors in the morning.
Boom!
The entire school exploded with gossip.
Hufflepuff had always been known as the most low-key House—never causing trouble, and never being bothered by others.
Their presence was practically non-existent.
Even parents would tell their kids, "If you don't stand out, you'll get sorted into Hufflepuff."
But this time, Hufflepuff did something that made Gryffindor envious, Slytherin mocking, and Ravenclaw do a double take.
At dinner.
The atmosphere in the Great Hall was extremely tense.
Very few teachers were present at the head table.
Dumbledore, Snape, and Quirrell—three seats sat empty.
Professor Sprout looked restless, holding her fork and knife the wrong way.
"Pomona," Professor McGonagall sighed, hesitated, then said,
"You should've stopped them."
Professor Sprout set down her utensils with resignation.
"You think I didn't want to?"
"The thing is… I only found out about it this afternoon."
McGonagall's eyelids twitched in shock.
"This big of a thing, and they didn't tell you?"
She could hardly believe that this was something Hufflepuff students would do.
If it had been Gryffindor, she wouldn't have been so surprised.
Though, in truth, what Professor McGonagall didn't know was that… after hearing about the bold move by the Badgers, the Lions were inspired to act too.)
No way Hufflepuff was going to hog all the spotlight.
So over the course of the afternoon, nearly another hundred complaint letters from Gryffindor ended up in the gargoyle's belly.
(Of course, McGonagall knew none of this—yet.)
She quickly pressed Sprout for more information.
"What exactly happened? Who started all this?"
Nearby, Professor Flitwick also cast a curious glance over, clearly concerned.
Professor Sprout gave a wry smile.
"It was… Mr. Lawrence."
Both professors were stunned.
Lawrence…
A first-year student… was this bold already?
At the Hufflepuff table, Wayne was being swarmed by students—Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors alike.
The Weasley twins even bowed dramatically to him like devoted followers.
"Wayne, this was brilliant! We never even dreamed something like this was possible!"
Bang!
A figure suddenly shoved through the crowd, stepping in front of Wayne and, without a word, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away.
"Whoa…" Cedric whispered in surprise.
"Wait, that's not a Gryffindor… Isn't that Ravenclaw's new Seeker?"
~~----------------------
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