"It was him who insisted on standing up for Lawrence, which led to everything that followed. Cedric can't take part in the next Quidditch match, and he's not even allowed near the pitch!"
Sprout thought for a moment, then reluctantly agreed.
Slytherin had suffered a heavy loss this time—this could count as letting them save some face.
After the discussion was over, they all turned toward Dumbledore, who had been silent the whole time.
Dumbledore gave a faint, wry smile. "You've all decided already—what are you looking at me for?"
"Let's do it that way then.
Severus, go and help Poppy ; I expect she's running short on potions…"
That was the end of it as far as Wayne was concerned.
He was shown out of the Headmaster's office, where a good number of Hufflepuff badgers were waiting at the door.
Hufflepuff might have the advantage in numbers, but no fight ends without injuries.
Many of them were sporting bruises, but no one cared much about that—they were only concerned about what kind of punishment Wayne would be facing.
When they saw him come out, a crowd immediately surrounded him—Cedric, Toby, Norman, Hannah, Bones…
Wayne quickly told them the outcome, so they wouldn't worry.
When they heard it was only point deductions, everyone was overjoyed; if it weren't for fear of the professors inside overhearing, they would have cheered on the spot.
Wayne patted Cedric's shoulder. "Sorry for making you miss a Quidditch match."
Cedric shook his head without concern. "That's nothing. I'm guessing Professor Sprout only agreed to that so Professor Snape wouldn't lose too much face."
"Does the House have a backup Seeker?"
Cedric sighed slightly. "No. We'll just forfeit this one—thankfully it's against Ravenclaw, so we won't lose too badly."
"You'd better not say that out loud," Wayne teased. "If Cho hears you, she'll definitely come after you."
"If you don't tell her, how's she going to find out?" Cedric gave him a mock punch on the shoulder.
Wayne just smiled without replying.
The group marched back to the common room in high spirits.
Without another word—
They started celebrating!
Wayne immediately summoned Ho-Oh, and the pure white sacred flames fell, instantly healing all the minor injuries of the badgers.
Seeing everyone's curiosity toward Ho-Oh, he didn't send her away.
Touching her was out of the question—even if Wayne agreed, Ho-Oh's pride would never allow it.
And Wayne wouldn't do that to her anyway.
But letting everyone observe her up close, to feel her presence—
For the many badgers who loved magical creatures, that was a rare treat.
When they learned Ho-Oh liked herbs, a bunch of them excitedly dashed into their dormitories to bring out their treasures—a bizarre mix of all sorts.
The badgers had a feast, and Ho-Oh had a feast.
Everyone was happy.
Hufflepuff had never held its head so high before.
Slytherin, you claim to be the house of pure-blood aristocrats and look down on Hufflepuff, don't you?
After today's fight, let's see who dares say Hufflepuff's useless again.
Wayne was just as impressed.
In the wizarding world, unless your personal strength is overwhelming, numbers really are a major advantage.
The Weasley family might be considered poor as dirt, but they're still counted among the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Who dares to look down on them?
For no other reason than—they can produce.
Once Ginny comes of age, and the rest get married and have children, that family will have twenty wizards in total.
Who could compete with that?
Ask the Malfoys, with their nine generations of single heirs, to match that?
They wouldn't dare even with three times the courage.
Choosing Hufflepuff back then really was the best decision!
Wayne raised his juice-filled glass high and shouted:
"Make Hufflepuff Great Again!"
The badgers' spirits caught fire; they raised their cups and followed him:
"Make Hufflepuff Great Again!"
Late that night, Wayne lay in bed.
During the celebration, he had made sure to let Hermione and Cho know he was fine.
When he went to Gryffindor Tower, he almost couldn't make it back.
The Gryffindor lions had gone wild — as long as you beat up Slytherins, you were automatically their friend.
Harry knew that Wayne had created such chaos to help him, and he was deeply moved.
He even asked Wayne to visit Hagrid's hut together the next day.
But that wasn't the real story.
Partly, yes, Wayne had wanted to help Hermione — but the truth was, he had long been itching to teach those Slytherins a lesson.
Those jealous pure-blood brats — did they think he didn't know how much they'd badmouthed him behind his back?
When talent couldn't compare, they used their so-called "bloodline" to slander him, gossiping like old crones.
Did they really think Wayne didn't have a temper?
Everyone who got knocked out or had their nose broken today were exactly the ones he knew had insulted him, or had insulted Cho and Hermione because of him.
As for whether any slipped through the net — Wayne didn't know. But if he found out, they wouldn't get away.
[Major Event Settlement in Progress…]
The system's chime rang right on cue. Wayne wasn't surprised.
After all, he had just set the record for the largest mass brawl in Hogwarts history — it would be strange if there wasn't a critical-hit reward.
[Major Event — Shattering the Arrogance of the Pure-Bloods, completed.]
[Reward obtained: +3,500 points, one Major Event Gift Pack.]
Three thousand five hundred points, plus what he had saved up, brought his total to over five thousand.
Last time, shortly after filing the complaint against Quirrell, he had used his points — fifty draws in all, no gold-tier rewards, but a few purples.
Now, with more than five thousand points to spend, he was guaranteed another gold.
"System, open the Major Event Gift Pack."
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: Meditation Technique (Gold).]
Wayne shot upright in bed.
Meditation Technique?
As a flood of information poured into his mind, he understood what he had received:
Through meditation, one could refine the quality of one's mental power and also increase its quantity.
Extremely useful.
Unlike in many worlds, here mental power was not the same as magical power — the latter was purely a matter of talent.
A person with a strong mind didn't necessarily have a lot of magic, and someone with weak mental power might still have magic to burn.
But that didn't mean mental power was useless.
Wands, incantations, gestures — these three things were all aids to help a wizard focus and smoothly channel their internal magic to cast spells.
Once you were practiced enough, with mental power strong and focused, you could cast without a wand.
If Wayne kept training, he could learn spells and raise his proficiency much faster.
The second benefit was mental defense.
Legilimency — mind-reading magic — was closely tied to mental power. The stronger the mind, the stronger Occlumency became.
In his conversations with Dumbledore, Wayne had never used Occlumency — not because he didn't want to, but because his skill level was too low, making the attempt obvious.
That, in turn, would have reduced Dumbledore's trust in him.
So up to now, Wayne had been walking a tightrope, betting on Dumbledore's character not being that underhanded.
The old man wouldn't lightly suspect a student, much less dive into their mind without cause.
But now things would be different. With the Meditation Technique, Wayne instantly felt clear-headed.
On his status panel, Occlumency had jumped straight from Intermediate to Advanced.
At the Advanced level, it shouldn't be so easily detected.
Riding his wave of good luck, Wayne didn't hesitate — he began another round of draws.
Shards of glowing cards flashed by.
In the first forty draws, Wayne gained: Apparition, Finite Incantatem, and Fiendfyre.
All quite useful spells.
They also pushed his Finite Incantatem and Fiendfyre up to Advanced level, and his total magical power increased.
Finally, the last ten draws — golden light appeared right on schedule.
Heart pounding with anticipation, Wayne tapped the card, shattering it…
~~----------------------
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