Human potential is truly limitless—Snape never imagined that a first-year student could land him in such a mess.
Though it was Malfoy who lost face, it was clear the other three Houses had already escalated the incident to a matter of House pride.
And Malfoy, unfortunately, was the face of Slytherin.
It was like one bad apple... spoiling an entire barrel of bad apples.
No wonder his students had been strangely silent just now—that wasn't the Slytherin way at all. But clearly, they had neither the face nor the justification to speak up.
Even if Snape dragged one of them forward, none of them had the nerve to say a word.
Right now, Snape had the overwhelming urge to run away. If Professor McGonagall found out, the look she'd shoot him with those sharp eyes of hers would be... "interesting," to say the least.
But he couldn't just not go back—Dumbledore was still waiting for his reply.
Snape impatiently waved away the prefect he had summoned and returned to the high table with a stormy expression, muttering something low to Dumbledore.
The old man's face visibly shifted—he looked increasingly... bewildered.
Though Snape had kept his voice down, it wasn't like he could whisper directly into Dumbledore's ear.
Naturally, the other nearby Heads of House had perked up their ears and picked up enough of the conversation to make out the gist—and their expressions turned just as colorful.
Professor Sprout was grinning, completely uninvolved and more than happy to enjoy this like a juicy piece of gossip.
Professor Flitwick was also smiling, though his brow was furrowed.
A great lover of dueling—he had even been a Dueling Champion in his youth—he considered dueling a sacred and honorable tradition. Malfoy's conduct, in his eyes, was deeply disappointing.
As for Professor McGonagall, she didn't even know what sort of expression to put on anymore.
"Well…"
Even Dumbledore was a bit speechless. He'd thought something truly serious had happened, but it turned out to be... this kind of conflict.
But precisely because it wasn't a major incident, it made handling it that much trickier.
What was he supposed to do? Tell the students to shut their mouths and not gossip about it?
"Professor McGonagall," Snape suddenly turned the issue toward her. "Let's set everything else aside for now. At the very least, Potter and Weasley clearly broke school rules by wandering the castle at night. That's a fact, wouldn't you agree?"
McGonagall could tell Snape was trying to deflect the blame onto her students, and she wasn't having it.
"Snape," she said coolly, "shouldn't we first ask Mr. Malfoy why Potter and Weasley were wandering the castle in the first place?"
"Surely we should identify the instigator before deciding on punishment."
She bit down hard on the word instigator, and Snape understood exactly what she meant—his face twitched in frustration.
"In that case, let's bring them in," Dumbledore said, playing mediator. The two professors gave low grunts of agreement and turned away from each other.
Fifteen minutes later.
Harry, Ron, Malfoy, Crabbe, Filch, and Mrs. Norris were all brought to a small side room off the corridor.
Dumbledore did not come—only the two involved Heads of House.
He trusted that Professor McGonagall would be fair in her judgment.
Even Snape trusted that McGonagall would be impartial—that she wouldn't favor her own students.
That's what we call credibility—something Snape sorely lacked.
"Potter, tell me," Professor McGonagall said sternly, eyeing the boys, "Is it true, as rumored, that you and Mr. Weasley were out wandering the castle Thursday night? Did you go to the Trophy Room?"
"It was them, Professor McGonagall!" Filch blurted before Harry could speak. "I almost caught them that night—would have too, if it weren't for that blasted Peeves! Covered for those brats and threw me off!"
"Mr. Filch, I'll speak with you shortly," McGonagall said calmly, silencing him with a look. Then she turned her piercing gaze back to Harry.
"Yes, Professor," Harry said, meeting her eyes. "Ron and I did go to the Trophy Room Thursday at midnight. Not long after we got there, Mr. Filch and his cat showed up—clearly expecting us."
At this point, there was no backing down. Harry laid it all out, dragging Malfoy down with him.
Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to mention Hermione or Neville—and Tom was deliberately left out of the story.
This was enough to nail Malfoy to the wall.
"Mr. Malfoy, do you have anything to say?" McGonagall turned her gaze on the pale, bloodless boy. Malfoy stammered for a while but couldn't form a coherent sentence.
Snape was staring daggers at him, as though he were already a corpse.
"Mr. Filch, was it Mr. Malfoy who told you someone would be in the Trophy Room that night?"
"No, it was the big one who's always with him—not here today."
"That would be Mr. Goyle," McGonagall nodded and made her conclusion.
"The situation is clear. Mr. Malfoy instigated a duel with Mr. Potter, informed Mr. Filch, and then conveniently did not show up himself. Correct?"
No one responded—but McGonagall was waiting for Snape's acknowledgment.
"That seems accurate," Snape finally said through clenched teeth. "Professor McGonagall, you may issue your punishments. I have no objections."
"Potter and Weasley violated school rules by wandering the castle at night. Fifty points will be deducted each. Starting next week, both of you will report to my office for detention every night for a week."
Her tone was calm—but her words were devastating. With just a sentence, Gryffindor's house points were nearly wiped out.
Ron's legs buckled—he nearly collapsed, and Harry had to catch him.
Not that Harry was doing much better—he had braced himself for punishment, but this was brutal.
A hundred points gone... he hadn't even earned a tenth of that yet.
Well—Harry's current point total was still a nice, round zero.
Normally, Snape would've been grinning ear to ear to see Gryffindor punished like this.
But today, he wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked even more grim.
Because if she was being this harsh to her own, then what would happen to Malfoy?
Sure enough, McGonagall's next words confirmed Snape's worst fears.
"Mr. Malfoy, while you didn't violate curfew, initiating a duel without permission is a serious offense. On top of that, you misled your classmates…"
"For the sake of your family's reputation, I will officially state that you and Mr. Crabbe were also wandering the castle that night. Therefore, Slytherin will also lose one hundred points. Both of you will serve detention in Professor Snape's office."
"I've said my piece. Any objections?"