The night grew deeper. Minerva, dressed in a tartan dressing gown with her small bun securely fastened by a hairnet, was in her office, working at a desk piled high with stacks of parchment in front of the window.
The flickering candlelight made her eyes ache. Minerva blinked hard, pushing up her square-framed glasses which had slipped down her nose, trying to make out the unruly handwriting on the [Application Form] in front of her.
It was from one of Minerva's colleagues—Professor Sybill Trelawney.
Objectively speaking, she did not appreciate her colleague's teaching style... or to put it bluntly, she didn't consider what Professor Trelawney did in Divination class to be teaching at all, but rather a comical performance.
"Comical" was the perfect word for it—just like this [Application Form] she had submitted.
"...Seventh-year NEWT students need to understand some regionally specific divination methods—requesting a batch of sherry... Oh, preferably vintage?"
Minerva pursed her lips tightly.
"Oh, come off it, Sybill, I saw through you long ago... fraud!"
Minerva stared coldly at the parchment, critiquing her colleague with scathing words she would never utter in front of others.
The candle on the candelabra had burned down significantly.
After staring blankly at the parchment for a while, Minerva suddenly sighed, dipped her quill in ink, and wrote on the application—[Approved (Note: Vintage is unnecessary.)]
After approving it, she placed the parchment on the stack to her right... those all needed the Headmaster's countersignature.
Then, she flipped through the documents awaiting her review:
Poppy needed to buy a batch of blood-replenishing potion, Pomona wanted to purchase dragon dung, Silvanus was applying for retirement, Ares wanted a raise... even Argus had submitted a report to buy polish for restoring portraits in the castle.
It would take her about another hour to finish these reports. After that, she had to write replies to letters from some parents and members of the magical community, addressing their concerns about the Hogwarts Express runaway incident.
That would probably take another hour.
Finally, she had to write annotations for two Transfiguration papers as an external expert for Transfiguration Today... If she was quick, she might make it to bed before midnight!
This lightened Minerva's mood slightly... she wouldn't have many more 'leisurely' days like this.
Since school had just started, she didn't have to deal with grading homework for all years and lesson planning yet. Once that started—oh...
Suddenly, Minerva, still bent over her desk, twitched her nose.
She smelled the night air of Hogwarts under the summer sky; there was a hint of dampness in it.
It might rain tomorrow—the thought crossed Minerva's mind.
Having lived in this school for decades, she knew every subtle change here by heart.
So—
Speaking of rain... oh no, Poppy's application—this was something she had to strongly support. The disaster a few days ago had probably cleared out Poppy's stock, so—
Ah, come to think of it, the bill from St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would probably arrive in a day or two... maybe it had already arrived!
Owls had been flying into Hogwarts non-stop these past two days. Filch was handling all those owls... he couldn't do magic, was inefficient, and might make mistakes...
Should she go check Argus's office?
Just as the thought crossed Minerva's mind... did she actually hear Argus's voice?
Was he yelling?
Frowning deeply, Minerva stopped her restless quill and cocked her ear to listen—
It was Filch's voice... what was he shouting about?
Minerva blinked hard and looked sideways at the clock on the wall—nine o'clock sharp. Curfew time?
So, Filch had caught students still wandering around?
Minerva moved her tightly pursed lips—she prepared to get up and check the situation... but before she did, she abandoned the idea.
Since Filch had already discovered them, he would handle it.
Although she didn't appreciate Filch's habit of constantly threatening students who broke school rules, since those students dared to break rules on the first day of school, they deserved a bit of suffering at Filch's hands.
Thinking this, Minerva focused on her work again.
However, the noise outside didn't die down.
Filch's shouting grew louder... as if he wouldn't rest until he woke everyone in the castle.
Additionally, other noises appeared.
Minerva furrowed her brows, looking at the candelabra on the top right corner of her desk—the candlelight was flickering more and more violently.
She glanced up at the window—it was closed, so it wasn't the wind.
That was... oh, the floor was vibrating!
Minerva finally reacted. With a look of horror, she threw down her quill, knocked over her stool, and pulled open the office door!
The vibration seemed to be instantly amplified a thousand times. The ancient stone walls in front of her were trembling slightly in the tremors.
"The students are all swarming to the Great Hall!"
Minerva looked down the corridor and saw Filch flailing his arms in panic, running towards her while shouting nonsense.
"The students are revolting!!!"
"What nonsense are you shouting, Filch!"
Minerva scolded sternly.
"Pro—Professor McGonagall!"
Filch, with a string of snot hanging from his large nose, stopped in front of Minerva, clutching his cat tightly, looking absolutely terrified.
"The students are revolting! They're all refusing to sleep, refusing to obey, and they've all gone downstairs to the Great Hall!"
"All of them?"
Minerva's eyebrows shot up so high they almost touched her hairline. She looked incredulous.
"You must be speaking nonsense, Filch. What would they all go to the Great Hall for now... the school isn't serving them a midnight snack!"
"You—you can go see for yourself... Quick, before those little brats blow the school sky-high!"
Filch knew he couldn't explain clearly, so he could only speak through tears and snot.
Minerva glared fiercely at Filch, who couldn't even speak clearly. She didn't have time to change clothes, so she rushed down towards the Great Hall in her dressing gown.
On the way, the chatter of the portraits hanging on the side of the spiral staircase made Minerva's face look even grimmer.
Filch didn't seem to be talking nonsense—
At bedtime, many students had indeed rushed out of their common rooms simultaneously, all heading for the Great Hall.
And the largest number seemed to be from her own house—Gryffindor!
Did something happen that she didn't know about?
In her nearly half-century teaching career, such a thing had never happened before!
Somehow, Ares Delfino's face suddenly flashed before Minerva's eyes...
But that didn't make sense. Aside from that one time he got expelled, that student had never actively caused trouble when he was at Hogwarts before!
Minerva's face was tense as she stormed towards the Great Hall.
Indeed, many ghosts and some students had gathered at the Great Hall... but not a single Gryffindor could be seen. These students were crowded in the brightly lit Entrance Hall, craning their necks excitedly to look out at the grounds!
"What is going on? What kind of tricks are you playing?!"
Minerva scolded those students sternly.
"Make way!"
The surging crowd immediately parted to form a path for her and Filch.
She walked onto the marble platform outside the castle's main doors and looked into the distance. With just one glance, her expression froze!
"Professor Delfino, make it even more spectacular!!!"
Minerva heard Fred Weasley shouting, followed by George Weasley.
"We need it to be even livelier, Professor Delfino!!!"
"Watch this!"
Ares said with a beaming smile.
He suddenly raised his hand, palm facing the night sky illuminated by brilliant fireworks. A ball of golden flame bloomed from his palm and scattered into the night sky!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like rolling thunder exploding, the main tower of Hogwarts Castle, the Gryffindor Tower, the Ravenclaw Tower, and the school's highest Astronomy Tower...
They were on fire!