Chapter 132 — Howler

Chapter 132: Chapter 132 — Howler

Chapter 132 — Howler

Harry was so disappointed that he felt this had to be the most painful punishment in the world.

But Snape was obviously not satisfied.

He glared angrily at Dumbledore.

"I don’t think writing to Vesey is a good idea."

Dumbledore stared at Snape.

"I think Vesey would be quite willing to receive it."

Snape opened his mouth.

He looked as though someone had just cancelled Christmas, leaving him completely speechless.

But after thinking about it, he couldn’t help saying,

"These two students have caused an enormous disturbance, and they’ve also caused serious damage to the school’s precious Whomping Willow..."

Dumbledore sighed softly.

"Let Professor McGonagall decide their punishment, Severus. She is the Head of their House."

Snape still looked dissatisfied, so Dumbledore pulled him outside.

"All right, Severus. Don’t you want to go and tell Vesey the good news? When I came here just now, I noticed she hadn’t eaten yet..."

Harry immediately quickened his pace when he heard this.

But before he could get outside, Professor McGonagall stopped him.

"All right, Mr. Potter. You haven’t forgotten that you have another punishment to receive, have you?"

Harry’s heart skipped another beat.

Professor McGonagall watched the two boys like a hawk.

"Something like this has happened, so I must punish you. Gryffindor..."

Harry hurriedly said,

"Professor, when we were driving the car, the school year hadn’t officially started yet. So there shouldn’t be any House Points deducted, right?"

Professor McGonagall calmly nodded.

"That is true."

Harry and Ron immediately brightened.

But Professor McGonagall continued,

"I know that. But I’m deducting points because I’m angry, and I want you to remember this lesson!"

"Fifty points from Gryffindor, and one detention each. The two of you haven’t made Gryffindor proud. You’ve only embarrassed me!"

Professor McGonagall said angrily.

Harry and Ron immediately lowered their heads in guilt.

"I’m going to leave you here for now!"

Professor McGonagall stared at them for a moment before waving her wand.

A large plate appeared in front of them, piled high with sandwiches.

Beside it was a jug of pumpkin juice and two cups.

"You two will eat here. After you’ve finished, go to the hospital wing!"

Professor McGonagall glanced at the wound on Ron’s face.

Ron shook his head.

"It’s fine. It’s just a small injury."

Then he asked nervously,

"Professor, which House was Ginny sorted into?"

Professor McGonagall’s tightly pursed lips relaxed slightly.

She snorted.

"Gryffindor."

With that, she opened the door and left.

Once she was gone, Ron finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He happily grabbed a sandwich and took a bite.

"I thought we were going to be in serious trouble!"

Ron sighed.

Harry nodded.

He had thought the same thing.

"We really are unlucky. Everyone else made it through, but we couldn’t."

Ron spoke with his mouth full.

"And Fred and George—they must have flown that car plenty of times, but they never got spotted by a Muggle even once!"

Harry nodded.

He took a sip of pumpkin juice and said somewhat sadly,

"I really wish I could have gone to the feast. Then Vesey wouldn’t have had to keep worrying after she saw me."

Ron nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. But I think she’s afraid we’d make a big spectacle of ourselves. She doesn’t want everyone thinking that flying a car to school is something to be proud of."

Maybe that was true.

In other words, this was what the world would have been like without Vesey.

There would probably have been plenty of students admiring them.

But this time was different.

After Harry and Ron finished eating, they wanted to return to the common room.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know the password and could only linger outside the entrance.

Eventually, someone came out, and they quickly slipped inside.

But once they entered the common room, they were immediately subjected to everyone’s criticism.

Even Fred and George were angry with them.

They thought Harry and Ron had been incredibly selfish for making Vesey miss dinner.

Harry felt terrible.

He wanted to find Vesey, but he had no idea how to get into the Slytherin common room.

Vesey hadn’t eaten dinner.

She probably hadn’t eaten much on the train either.

Is she hungry now?

Is she thirsty?

Didn’t the professors tell her that I’m already back at school?

Harry subconsciously went looking for Hermione.

Hermione told him that Vesey hadn’t eaten at first because she hadn’t known whether Harry would return safely.

And afterward, she stopped eating because she had received a letter from Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore gave her a letter, and after reading it, she just sat there sobbing at the table. When she finally went back to her dormitory, her eyes were almost swollen shut!"

Hermione said angrily.

Harry felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

He knew Vesey must have been devastated.

He also knew that this was Dumbledore’s punishment for him.

Everyone understood that making Vesey so upset that she couldn’t even eat was far more painful than punishing Harry directly.

Because of this, Harry couldn’t sleep well that night.

Unfortunately, when you’re already feeling miserable, life always seems to find a way to make things even worse.

The next morning—

Harry had originally planned to get up early and have a proper talk with Vesey.

Unfortunately, he had gone to bed too late and ended up waking late.

By the time he reached the Great Hall, Vesey was already sitting at the Slytherin table eating.

She still wasn’t eating much.

She was holding a bowl of porridge and slowly sipping it, looking rather unwell.

Harry felt miserable.

He wanted to go talk to her after breakfast, but before he could do so, the owls arrived with the morning post.

One of the red, smoking letters flew straight toward Ron.

Ron nearly collapsed in his seat from fright.

"You’d better open it," Neville said softly. "It’ll be even scarier if you leave it unopened forever."

Harry was still wondering what it was when Ron finally gathered his courage and opened the letter.

Neville immediately covered his ears.

Harry understood why the very next second.

At first, he almost thought the letter had exploded.

A booming voice erupted from inside the envelope.

"...We wouldn’t be surprised if you were expelled for stealing a car!"

"You probably never even thought about how frightened your father and I were..."

"I received Dumbledore’s letter last night. Your father and I were absolutely mortified..."

"If you don’t behave yourself from now on, we’ll come and take you home ourselves!"

The Howler finally burst into flames and turned to ashes.

The Great Hall erupted in laughter.

Students began discussing all sorts of things Harry and Ron had done in the past.

Harry and Ron were so embarrassed that they didn’t even dare raise their heads.

At that moment, Vesey stood up from the Slytherin table.

She walked over to Harry and Ron with a forced smile.

"All right. Shall we go to class?"

[Ding! Energy Points +10]

[Ding! Energy Points +10]

[Ding! Energy Points +10]

[...]

Everyone knew that Vesey was trying to help Harry and Ron escape the embarrassment.

She hadn’t eaten much that morning.

She hadn’t even finished a single bowl of porridge.

But for Harry’s sake, she had still stood up and come over to take them away.

She really was a very, very good girl.