The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 345: The Magical Effect of Confinement
The OWLs and NEWTs exams were over, and the fifth and seventh year students finally breathed a sigh of relief. While waiting for the holiday, they either played chess and chatted in the common room, or went to Hogsmeade to kill time, or lay on the green grass, covering their faces with newspapers or magazines to block the sunlight through the gaps in the leaves, and let a few flying insects fly around them. On sunny days, if the Quidditch field was not reserved by any team, some students would take brooms from the broom shed and fly around the goalposts a few times, throwing mint hard candies the size of quaffles and bludgers transformed from teapots to each other.

Meanwhile, students in other grades were preparing for their final exams. More than once, Anthony heard students in class complain about how jealous they were of those seniors who had nothing to do.

"I have received your final papers from some of you," Anthony said before a class for the fourth years. "I would like to remind those who may have forgotten that the assessment method for this school year is to buy a ticket in the Muggle way - coupons do not count as 'tickets'. Those who have already handed in their tickets to me can decide for themselves whether to continue to attend the revision classes in the next few weeks, or whether they want to submit a new ticket before the end of the term."

Before he had even finished his sentence, the room was buzzing with conversation, with everyone trying to figure out who had finished their final exams early (and how they had sneaked out of school), hoping to get some advice.

"This week you will receive an application form for leaving school for the Muggle Studies assessment. Please remember to give it to your guardian and dean for signature." Anthony raised his voice slightly, "Please note that entrusting others to buy things on your behalf or helping others to buy things on their behalf will be considered cheating -"

"What?" Fred protested. "That's not fair!"

George chimed in, "Professor, you should have told us before we gave you the ticket!"

Angelina turned her head sharply. "You got the tickets? Both of you?"

Fred said smugly, "Of course."

"And Roger and Emery," George said, "if you give us a small reward, we can also..."

Anthony motioned for them to be quiet.

"Who of you commissioned whom, gentlemen?" he asked. "I do find that you gave me a ticket for the same train day."

"Well..."

"We don't know."

The Weasley twins looked up and met Anthony's gaze with identical, frank, slightly confused expressions.

"You didn't use a Confounding Charm, did you?"

"No," the two assured, "We were just standing on the side of the road very pitifully and politely."

“Then a gentleman asked us what happened.”

"We said we wanted to take a ride but we had no money."

Anthony said, "Tell me you didn't..." He didn't want to hear at the end of the semester that all his students had become amateur swindlers, beggars, or vagabonds.

“The gentleman told us we should go find Jincha and then left.”

Anthony breathed a sigh of relief and corrected at the same time as another student: "Police."

"Yes, police, Muggle beaters and Aurors. Then, an old lady came over and asked if we needed help."

"We told her we had made a bet to see if anyone would help us buy the tickets. We didn't care where the next stop was, as long as it was four train tickets."

Anthony said, "Oh..."

"She then taught us that we shouldn't get involved in gambling and the like, while taking us to the station and buying tickets for us."

"This shouldn't be considered cheating, Professor!" After Fred saw Anthony's expression, he put away his smug and cunning smile and spoke faster, "We didn't provide nothing! We said nice things to her and complimented her hat and earrings; we helped her carry the shopping bag of vegetables and gave her some toffee and peanut butter candy."

“And she’s happy about it,” his brother added.

Anthony thought for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "Okay, you convinced me. You didn't use magic, didn't get into conflict, communicated with Muggles, and got the ticket - good job."

Fred grinned and nudged George with his shoulder in celebration.

Anthony said, "But I must remind you that you were able to get the ticket because you met a kind person who believed in you." He turned to the students, "I know everyone understands that trust is not something that can be played with. So I attribute Mr. Weasley's success - the success of getting the ticket - to their sincerity and kindness. Anyone who intends to emulate them, please don't forget this."

He glanced at a student in the row in front of him who looked eager to try. The student smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"In addition, Mr. Filch wishes me to reiterate that leaving the school grounds without permission is against school rules," said Anthony. "Gentlemen, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick will arrange your detention."

……

Throughout the entire class, whenever Anthony glanced at the Weasley twins, he could see them lowering their heads and whispering to each other, red-haired next to red-haired. As soon as the bell rang, the two of them grabbed their bags and nimbly rushed out the door.

Anthony and other students watched them disappear, shrugged, lowered his head to pack up, and occasionally responded to students' goodbyes. Suddenly he heard a somewhat chaotic sound, raised his head and saw the window was pulled open, and the heads of the Weasley twins popped into the classroom one after another.

"Professor Anthony," Fred said, leaning against the window sill, slightly panting, "We passed the final exam, right?"

Anthony was a little surprised: "Of course."

"great."

The two tufts of red hair disappeared again. Anthony shrugged, put the lesson plan into his bag, and handed a bag of crumpled chocolate chips to students passing by the podium. He heard Angelina commenting on the Weasley twins - "They should use this trick later" - and the consequences of detention - "If it is arranged during training time, Wood will eat them."

“Unless the detention happens to involve cleaning bathrooms,” her friend said.

"That's Filch's favorite form of punishment," another person interrupted. "But how did they leave Hogwarts? Umbridge's Investigative Team has been hanging around lately..."

Anthony looked up and reminded, "If you plan to buy tickets from Muggles, remember to sign the application form for leaving school."

Several students were startled, exchanged glances with each other, and smiled in silence.

“Most of the tickets I received were during the Christmas holidays,” Anthony said, not mentioning how many of them were for Christmas markets (some looked like they had been picked up from the ground). “I must admit that I didn’t consider at first how difficult it would be for you to leave school.”

"What did you want us to do, Professor Anthony?" Angelina asked. "Just walk up to the Muggles?"

Anthony nodded. "Go to the Muggles. I think... I hope... after last year's practical activities, people will understand that there is not such a big difference between Muggles and wizards. At least the difference is not so big that it hinders our communication."

"But the Statute of Confidentiality--" "You have already gained my trust. Besides, I thought you would consult your Muggle-born friends." He suddenly became curious and asked the still worried student, "I remember you said that one of your roommates is from a Muggle family, right?"

"Yes, Richard - but I don't see him all day," the student replied, in a tone of indignation. "Umbridge gave him a month's detention just because he threw a toad in her water glass! And Filch and Snape, they either made him sweep the corridors without magic, or made him spend the whole evening picking out beetle eyes."

"He has three detentions a week?" Anthony confirmed.

"Four times. Twice with Umbridge, once with Filch, and once with Snape."

Another student lamented: "Life is like hell!"

"We have been helping him write his paper, but I think Professor McGonagall has begun to suspect... Oh..." The student who spoke raised his head with some regret, looked at Anthony, and begged, "Can you please not tell her, Professor Anthony? Richard can't be detained again."

"What?" Anthony said. "Would you mind repeating that? I'm afraid I was so absorbed in packing my things that I didn't pay attention to what you were saying."

Everyone laughed. Anthony also laughed, nodded goodbye to them, and left the classroom.

Most people went to the hall to have lunch. Anthony didn't feel hungry, so he just walked slowly along the empty corridor, thinking about his own things while walking downstairs. The fifth-year OWLs were over, but he hadn't heard any news about the results; Professor Burbage had been busy again recently, and it seemed that the voices against the Muggle Protection Act in the Ministry of Magic were getting louder; Arthur Weasley didn't mention these things in his letter, but instead asked Anthony about the principles of the subway with great interest...

"Please drink as much as you can, and may your stomach be healthy and your body strong!" a portrait shouted at him, holding up a wine glass and looking a little drunk.

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"I dare not disobey your command, your majesty," Antony replied.

He thought about Scrimgeour's visit to him and secretly wondered whether the Ministry of Magic had found Voldemort's wand. He had not seen any news reports about it in the newspapers, and the professors had not discussed it. It sounded like Umbridge had directed those people to Myrtle's bathroom, but he didn't know why...

Perhaps because he thought of Myrtle, he felt that he actually heard a familiar cry.

He recalled that the last time he had talked to Umbridge, she had even hinted that she thought Anthony paid too much attention to that bathroom; but Anthony hadn't seen Myrtle much recently, ever since she and Nick had joined Lockhart's club activities, she had been keen on reading Lockhart's adventure series while sitting on the toilet seat, and had only cried once when Peeves had taken the book away...

The faint sound of crying still did not disappear, and even became clearer, with vague, childish mumblings in between. Anthony suddenly came to his senses and realized that it was really someone crying.

Without any hesitation, he walked back and forth several times with light steps. After determining the direction, he walked quickly towards the source of the sobbing - the loud sound of blowing his nose helped him a lot - and soon, he saw a junior student sitting with his head down on a secluded staircase, crying and muttering some ugly words like "old witch".

"Mr Creevy?" he asked uncertainly.

Colin Creevey looked up in shock and looked at Anthony standing at the bottom of the stairs. His hair was messy, his nose was red and shiny, and his face was covered with tears. He pulled up the hem of his wizard robe and wiped his face carelessly: "I'm sorry, professor, I'll go to class now."

"It's not time for class yet," said Anthony, still standing with his head raised. "Have you had lunch, Creevey?"

Colin sniffed and shook his head.

"You should go to dinner, then," said Anthony, walking up the steps slowly and stopping in front of Colin. "I heard that it was sausage and mash for lunch today, but I suspect they've eaten most of the sausages by now and only have mashed potatoes. Do you like mashed potatoes with peas?"

Colin thought for a moment and said in a muffled voice, "I don't like it."

"What a shame." Anthony sat down next to him. "What happened?"

"I--it's Umbridge!" Colin's tone, which had been gradually calming, became excited again, and he shouted in dissatisfaction, "She always arranges my detention at lunch or dinner time, and makes me wax the floor of her room or clean the cat dishes!"

"what?"

"But I had an argument with her today. I was hungry, so I yelled at her and broke some of the dishes." Colin's shrill little boy's voice echoed in the stairwell, and he sounded a little proud. "She was so angry that her face was twisted! If Fred and George hadn't come, I would have broken more!"

"Fred and George?"

"It was Ron's brother - Ron was Harry's friend. They threw a firework through the door into Umbridge's office and nearly set her hair on fire! Umbridge said they were going to give them detentions and they said Professor McGonagall was going to give them detentions, and then they ran off. Umbridge started writing a letter to Professor McGonagall, but as she was writing she started talking to me."

Colin sniffed again. Anthony asked quietly, "What did she say?"

"She said I followed Harry around all day, but Harry had been fed up with me for a long time. She also said Harry would probably thank her because I didn't have time to bother him anymore... She said I was uneducated for taking pictures everywhere, and that my family were all ignorant Muggles, so it wasn't surprising... She also said that sooner or later I would be expelled from Hogwarts..." Colin's voice trailed off. "I don't know what happened, but I suddenly started crying." He pursed his lips embarrassedly, as if he found it very shameful, and wiped his eyes with his robe.

"She's not very polite," Anthony said, fumbling with the tissue paper he'd used to wrap the candy in and turning it into a handkerchief. "Here, Creevey. Those are all lies, but I can understand why you're mad."

Colin took the handkerchief, clenched it in his hand, and after a long while he said in a sobbing voice: "But - but I think what she said is true!" He burst into tears.

"Then don't feel that way," Anthony suggested.

Colin cried a few more times, then gradually stopped crying out of confusion: "What?"

"Don't think so." Anthony repeated, "Ask Mr. Potter what he thinks, ask the people in front of your camera what they think, if they don't like it, then change it until you are both satisfied. But no matter what, it doesn't mean that you are a bad person, and it has nothing to do with whether you come from a Muggle family."

Colin asked, "Really?"

"It's really uneducated, Mr. Creevey, to worry about the trouble he's causing others," said Anthony, standing up. "Oh, and you won't be expelled. But if we don't leave now, we won't have lunch today."

Colin smiled, wiped his face with a crumpled handkerchief, stood up with the help of the railing, and nodded to Anthony.

"You just said that Ms. Umbridge often arranges your detention at lunch or dinner time?" Anthony walked downstairs with him. "Does Professor McGonagall know about this?"

"I haven't told her." Colin said briskly, jumping down the next step. "It's not a big deal. I just started crying a lot during detention recently - I'm not like this usually, Professor Anthony! Besides, there are more troublesome detentions. I heard that Richard from the fourth grade always finishes detention late at night, and Melinda and Gregory from the fifth grade are always distracted and don't want to talk for several days..."

As Anthony listened to Colin rattle off the names of the students Umbridge had given detentions to, he realized how many she had. This was odd. Normally, professors considered detentions a more time-consuming and labor-intensive form of punishment than deducting marks, and only gave them when necessary (or when they were really angry). But it sounded like Umbridge was giving students detentions around the clock.

He counted the students silently in his mind and suddenly realized something unusual. There were no Weasley twins, no Roger Davis, no Emory Sim, and not even Harry Potter on the list... Even for the third to fifth graders, who were the most familiar to him, Colin mentioned names that were not very familiar to him.

There were three types of students that never appeared in his class: those who were not in the right grade, those with pure-blood tendencies, and Muggle-borns.

"Mr. Creevy," Anthony said quietly, "are all these people from Muggle families?"

(End of this chapter)