The moment the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall swung open, the evening meal was derailed by a sight that would have made a Mandrake blush. Several older students marched toward their respective house tables, their skin glowing with a vibrant, neon luminescence that looked less like a tan and more like they had been dipped in radioactive lime juice.
"What in Merlin's name happened to you?" a third-year Hufflepuff shouted, dropping his spoon into his soup. "Are you bioluminescent now? Is that a new trend?"
"Did Professor Swann finally lose it?" another voice piped up from the Ravenclaw table. "It looks like you've been hit by a very specific, very persistent Lumos spell."
Within seconds, the "sacrificed" students were surrounded. The curiosity was infectious. While some students looked on with genuine concern, the Muggle-borns were having a completely different reaction. They stood up on the benches, eyes wide with recognition.
"Seamus, look!" one boy yelled, tugging at his friend's sleeve. "It's happening! The Professor is a genius! He's teaching them how to be the Hulk!"
"Quick, transform!" another girl shouted at a glowing Gryffindor sixth-year. "Get angry! Do we need to throw something at you? Smash the table! Show us the green giant!"
Initially, the green-skinned students had been dying of embarrassment. Sebastian's lecture on "sacrifice" had hit them hard, making them feel like the tactical failures of the century. They had planned to hide behind their napkins and hope the candles were dim. But being greeted like comic-book heroes changed the vibe instantly. Their backs straightened. Their expressions shifted from shame to a sort of mysterious, smug confidence.
"I can't talk about it," Ernie Macmillan said, looking down his neon-green nose at a group of wide-eyed second years. "Classified Auror business. Signed a pact with the Ministry, didn't we? It's part of the... uh... physiological adaptation phase."
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, burying his face in his hands. The secondhand embarrassment was physically painful. Across from him, Seamus Finnigan was vibrating with excitement.
"Harry, tell the truth," Seamus whispered, leaning in so close he nearly tipped over his goblet. "Is the Professor really teaching you how to turn into a green monster? Can you do it too? Or is your skin just tougher than theirs?"
"What's a 'Hulk'?" Ron asked, tearing off a piece of crusty bread. "Is it some kind of rare forest troll? And why would anyone want to be green? It clashes with the robes."
"It's a Muggle thing, Ron," Seamus explained impatiently. "He's a giant who gets stronger the angrier he gets. He's basically invincible. Even cannons can't stop him."
Ron looked at Harry, then at the glowing upperclassmen. "Brilliant! But look at Harry. He's normal. He's even a bit pale. Maybe he's not angry enough yet?"
Hermione, however, wasn't following the "Hulk" narrative. She was watching the green students with a frown that suggested she was mentally scanning every page of Advanced Potion-Making. She knew about the Hulk—she'd seen the comics in London—but she didn't believe for a second that Sebastian was teaching people how to become gamma-radiated monsters.
"It's a marker," she muttered, turning to Harry. "It's not a transformation, is it? It's a tracking hex or a contact-dye. Harry, tell me—is this part of a high-level Human Metamorphosis curriculum? Is that why only the older students are affected? I need to know if I should be researching skin-permeable charms or alchemical pigments."
Harry felt like his head was going to spin right off his neck. "Hermione, please. It has nothing to do with Transfiguration. And Seamus, no one is turning into a giant. It was a punishment. They touched something they shouldn't have, and the Professor 'killed' them."
"He killed them?!" Ron choked on his pumpkin juice.
"Figuratively!" Harry shouted over the din. "It's a secrecy agreement, okay? I literally can't tell you the details without my tongue probably shriveling up. If you want to know how to turn green, go ask Sebastian. But trust me, you don't want to fail his missions."
At the other end of the table, Fred and George were staring at the glowing students with a look of pure, unadulterated inspiration.
"Did you hear that, George?" Fred whispered, his eyes gleaming. "Creative. That's the word for it. Our Professor is a visionary."
"I see it, Fred," George replied, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Why limit ourselves to Skiving Snackboxes? Why not 'Chromatic Candies'? Eat a lemon drop, turn yellow. Eat a lime one, turn green. We could sell them as 'Invisibility-Adjacent' treats."
"Let's skip the pudding," Fred said, standing up. "We've got a cauldron to prep."
The twins vanished from the Hall, their minds already churning with recipes for neon-tinted mischief.
While the Great Hall was a theater of chaos and green skin, Sebastian was walking through the quiet, torch-lit corridors toward the staff wing. He had caught the tail end of the "Hulk" conversation as he left the High Table and couldn't help but smirk. Let them think it was a superpower; it made the "dead" students feel better and the others more curious.
He arrived at his office door, but he didn't go inside. Instead, he stopped at the door right next to his—the one marked Professor M. Swann, Visiting Healer.
Professor McGonagall had been surprisingly romantic for a woman who spent half her life as a tabby cat. She had placed Mia's office and quarters directly adjacent to Sebastian's. It was a kind gesture, though Sebastian found the idea of walking out into the public hallway just to visit his wife a bit tedious.
I'll have to carve a hidden door tonight, he thought. A simple revolving bookshelf or a tapestry-gate. We can't have the students seeing me in my pajamas in the corridor at midnight.
He knocked softly and stepped inside. The room was already filled with the mouth-watering aroma of authentic Chinese cuisine. Mia had transformed her desk into a dining table, complete with steaming bowls of mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, and stir-fried greens.
"You're late, Professor," Mia teased, looking up from a stack of medical charts. She looked radiant in the soft lamplight, her eyes bright with the excitement of her first day. "I almost started without you."
"I had to wait for the 'sacrificed' students to finish their walk of shame," Sebastian laughed, sitting down and reaching for a bottle of cola he had brought from his own private stash. He poured two glasses, the bubbles hissing in the quiet room. "A toast. To the first day of the Swann Era at Hogwarts."
"Cheers," Mia said, clinking her glass against his. She took a long sip and sighed happily. "I have to say, Sebastian, the students here are wonderful. They're so much more focused than I remember us being. Even the second years—Miss Granger is... well, she's a force of nature."
"She's a genius," Sebastian agreed, digging into the tofu. "And a workaholic. She'll have the St. Mungo's manual memorized by Christmas."
"I was worried she wouldn't keep up with the older students," Mia admitted, "but she was correcting a seventh-year's diagnostic charm today. If I can train her for a year, she won't just meet the recruitment requirements; she'll be overqualified. But Sebastian..." Her smile faltered slightly as she looked around the room.
"What is it?"
"The food," she said, pointing to the delicious spread. "The Hogwarts elves are incredibly busy with the start of term, so I didn't want to bother them. I called Jeff from the Manor. He popped in, laid the table, and popped out."
Sebastian stopped chewing. He looked at the empty space where his house-elf had been just moments ago.
"Jeff came here? Into the school?"
"Yes," Mia said, looking puzzled by his sudden serious tone. "He's an elf, Sebastian. They can bypass most wards. You know that."
Sebastian leaned back, his appetite suddenly vanishing. He looked at the stone walls of the office. "That," he said slowly, "is exactly the problem. If Jeff can get in here because he's bound to our family, who else can get in? Or what else?"
Mia's face showed genuine surprise. "Are you saying Hogwarts isn't secure? It's supposed to be the safest place in Britain."
"It's safe from wizards," Sebastian muttered, his mind racing through the events he knew were coming. "But it has gaps, Mia. Gaps large enough for a house-elf to walk through—or a giant serpent. I think it's time we put 'Hogwarts Defense Upgrades' on the top of our to-do list."