"You all have such guts!"
Professor McGonagall walked into the Great Hall with a stern face.
Behind her followed Snape and Madam Pomfrey.
Only, unlike Professor McGonagall's posture of marching straight into the dragon's den, Snape and Madam Pomfrey first focused all their attention on the wounded students at the scene.
"Professor McGonagall, Link Flamel is the Heir! He just attacked someone in public!"
A Gryffindor boy in the crowd waved the newspaper and rushed toward Professor McGonagall.
But before he had run more than a few steps, he was forced back just by Professor McGonagall's gaze.
"Who the culprit is, we will decide ourselves, no need for you to remind us!"
Professor McGonagall's lips trembled in anger. "But your current behavior is an obvious violation of school rules!"
Upon hearing this, the once-furious crowd instantly quieted down, but that didn't mean they were convinced.
After all, they were the ones beaten just now, yet now Professor McGonagall didn't seem like she was going to stand up for them at all.
Looking at those faces full of resentment, McGonagall felt extremely irritated inside.
She knew very clearly, this whole incident had largely resulted from everyone's pent-up emotions boiling over.
If this kind of "soft confinement" continued, similar incidents were bound to happen again.
After hesitating slightly, she finally announced, "All students who took part in this matter will be punished! Also, starting this afternoon, classes will officially resume. All other arrangements remain unchanged!"
With that said, Professor McGonagall waved her hand.
A few prefects who hadn't taken part in the brawl, along with other professors, entered the crowd to treat the injured and take away the participants.
As for Link and Emily, they were taken out of the Great Hall by Snape.
"Starting today, you'll stay in my office for now." Snape said this as he walked down the corridor.
Hearing this, Link nonchalantly curled his lips and said, "No need. They can't hurt me."
"I'm afraid you'll hurt them!" Snape suddenly raised his voice.
Link was instantly speechless.
The three of them walked in silence until they arrived at the familiar Potions Master's office.
Snape quickly tidied up two simple rooms, then hurried off, with no intention of continuing to speak with Link.
Looking at the two rooms, then at Emily, Link asked with some confusion, "Emily, are you staying here too?"
Hearing this, Emily stared at Link for a moment with a complicated expression, then responded, by not answering his question at all, "Why didn't you run with me earlier?"
"That would've only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Even if I ran at the time, what difference would it make? Their prejudice against me has already sunk deep into their bones. They'd come after me again later."
"Only appropriate use of forceful deterrence can make them back off. And I also have the ability to control the situation. Look, isn't how things ended now perfect?" Link said this with a blank expression.
He was still under the effects of Occlumency, so everything he said was extremely rational.
Looking through that lens, what he said was also indeed the truth.
"But now they'll be even more convinced you're the Heir!"
"It doesn't matter. I don't care what they think.
I know I'm not, and you know it too, right?" Link said sincerely.
But upon hearing this, Emily fell silent. She stared at Link with a look that was almost on the verge of tears.
Shaking her head, she stepped into one of the rooms that Snape had just prepared.
Bang!
The door closed tightly.
Inside this slightly cramped and dim Potions office, only Link remained.
Feeling the sharp, aching pain in his chest, Link took a deep breath.
———
Several hours later, after receiving the notice about class resuming, all the students gathered in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Even though this class was again with that annoying Lockhart, it was still their first class in days.
So today, no one was late, everyone showed up chatting and laughing.
Then, Link appeared.
At this time, Link's face was gloomy, and he looked emotionally very low.
And the moment Link entered, the original cheerful atmosphere in the classroom instantly disappeared.
Everyone silently lowered their heads, not daring to look at Link.
But Link didn't care at all. He quietly walked into the classroom, then randomly picked a seat and sat down.
Sitting next to him was a Ravenclaw girl. Right now, she looked pale, her hands tightly clutching her skirt.
If possible, she really wanted to tell Link he had sat in the Ravenclaw section by mistake. But unfortunately, she didn't dare say a word to Link.
Not just her, even the other Ravenclaws sitting around Link didn't dare.
Because this morning in the Great Hall, the power Link showed was simply too terrifying.
One person taking on a whole group of upper-year students, he was practically a monster.
And it was even rumored that he was the Heir of Slytherin, that he could rip people's mouths open to make them smile…
Thinking of all the terrifying rumors about Link, the Ravenclaw girl felt like she was going to faint.
Just then, a gentle voice reached her ears, "Excuse me, could I switch seats with you?"
"Eh?"
The girl looked up in surprise, and saw a tall boy in Hufflepuff robes smiling brightly at her.
That smile was like spring sunshine, dazzling.
"O… okay!"
The girl's eyes lit up as she gave up her seat, and John, hearing this, sighed in relief.
This was his first time asking a Ravenclaw to switch seats, and he had thought he'd be rejected.
Sitting down carefully, John looked at Link beside him and said with concern, "Are you okay, Link?"
Link looked up at John with no expression. His gaze lingered on the bandage wrapped around John's head for a moment before he replied, "I'm fine. Is your injury serious?"
"Hahaha! This little wound's nothing! Madam Pomfrey already took care of it!" John laughed awkwardly a few times, then tried to change the subject, "But Professor McGonagall is too much! After everything that happened, she still makes us go to class! If you ask me, they should just temporarily shut Hogwarts down and send us all home!"
Hearing this, Link nodded, but didn't speak.
The reason Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore didn't shut down the school was because they wanted to trap that piece of Voldemort's soul.
He understood that clearly. But right now, he didn't want to explain anything to John.
Earlier, Emily's doubt had dealt him too big of a blow.
He had originally thought that Emily would give him 100% trust. But reality had slapped him hard.
Emily had actually doubted him…
Link closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
At the side, John looked like he wanted to say something but held back. He could tell that Link's mood wasn't right, and wanted to try comforting him.
Unfortunately, it didn't really help.
Just then, an excited voice rang out, "Students! Long time no see! Did you miss me? Your most beloved professor has returned!!"
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