William rolled his eyes speechlessly. He wasn't the one being punished, so why did he have to do it too? Nevertheless, he obediently walked to the front and demonstrated the push-ups to everyone.
Watching William easily complete a few, the young wizards on the stage felt relieved. It looked like a simple movement, and William didn't seem particularly tired.
"Did you see clearly? Remember, the movements must be standard, and your body cannot touch the ground. Listen to my command. I will count thirty for you," Alan shouted, looking at the group. "Push-up position!"
The six students crawled down onto the stone platform, waiting for Alan's command. At this point, their expressions were still relatively relaxed.
"One!"
Alan called out, and they all mimicked him, lowering themselves.
"One!" he shouted again after the six people pushed themselves back up.
At this moment, everyone realized something was wrong. Why did he shout "one" twice? Did he misremember? Impossible, it had only just begun. They all looked at Alan with puzzled eyes.
"Some of your movements are not standard enough. If everyone does not meet the standard, I will not continue the count," Alan said coldly.
The few students lying on the ground could only exchange bitter smiles.
"One!"
"One! Still not standard."
"One!"
"Two!"...
Alan conducted the punishment with relentless precision. For the first few counts, none of the six could pass on the first try. By the time Alan finally reached ten, they had realized the true difficulty of the exercise.
They were doing them one by one. Continuous push-ups could utilize the rebound force of the joints to lessen fatigue, but stopping after each repetition made the effort strenuous. By the time Alan counted to ten, they had actually performed at least twenty. Even from below the stage, it was clear that their hands were trembling uncontrollably against the floor, and sweat was dripping from their noses.
"Twenty-five!" "Twenty-five!" "Twenty-five!" "Twenty-six!"
As time wore on, the movements of the exhausted individuals began to fail again. They were so close to the end, yet they kept repeating counts due to poor form.
"Thirty!"
When Alan finally finished counting, the six people on stage were completely spent, lying motionless on the ground and breathing heavily.
"The self-study attendance punishment is over. Return to your seats." Alan urged them to get up, then shifted his gaze back to the room.
"The attendance punishment is over. Theoretically, it should be time for self-study, but... your performance today has truly disappointed me!" Alan scanned the hall with a stern expression.
Everyone below the stage flinched at his roar and lowered their heads in shame.
"I had intended to discuss this after evening self-study, but too many people violated the rules today. It seems I must preempt some study time to teach you what respect and reverence mean."
"Let's go through it item by item." Alan took out his record board, glancing coldly at the crowd. "First, internal affairs violations. Starting this morning, some individuals left the Slytherin common room with messy and sloppy appearances."
"Among them are second-year Gael Murray, who did not wear his House badge, and fourth-years Lumen Haywood and Dante Mulenga, who did not button their uniform collars..."
Alan quickly named several people whose attire did not meet the regulations. Each time a name was called, the student flinched. He had apparently seen everything.
"Those whose names were called, stand up and step forward!" Under Alan's sharp command, the errant young wizards stood up, crestfallen.
Among them, fourth-year Lumen Haywood had just finished thirty push-ups for being late; hearing his name again made his legs almost give out from fright.
"And their grade leaders, stand up as well," Alan bellowed.
Watching the named leaders stand, Alan slowly walked down the steps to approach them. "Do you know why I called you up?"
"Yes, it's because our inspection was not thorough enough," Joey stammered as Alan drew near.
"Not thorough enough? No..." Alan shook his head.
"I saw your behavior this morning clearly. You, Joey—you knew they had issues but did not demand a correction. You are maliciously condoning it!" Alan walked up to Joey, staring sternly, and shouted sharply.
"No, I'm not. I just thought... I thought it was just a button, and they covered it with their ties anyway, so it wasn't serious. And they know they were wrong..." Joey looked at Alan with nervousness, pleading for the two classmates beside him.
"Know they were wrong? Not particularly serious?" Alan let out a cold laugh.
"Do you know what your actions mean? The moment you condone them, your standards begin to drop. Today it is one button; tomorrow it will be a complete mess; the day after, it will be a total disregard for discipline."
Alan's gaze swept past Joey to the rest of the room.
"Even if you want to change the world, you must start by organizing your attire and your bed. If you organize your internal affairs every morning, you complete your first task of the day. This gives you a sense of accomplishment and motivates you to complete more. You will find that the first task you finish prompts you to achieve even more."
"This reflects a simple fact: every small thing in life is important. If you can't even do a small thing well, you certainly cannot do great things. Joey, you think you're being kind? Wrong! You are harming them, and you are harming yourself," Alan shouted angrily.
Both Joey and the surrounding young wizards lowered their heads in shame.
"Chief, I was wrong." Joey looked at Alan apologetically. "But it's my fault. If you want to punish someone, punish me. I am willing to accept the punishment for Lumen and Dante."