Chapter 119: Conflicts Abound

"By Merlin's beard—have the professors gone mad?"

The Slytherin common room echoed with groans and complaints.

Though it was already one in the morning, the common rooms of all four houses were still brightly lit.

A quill, a lamp, and a long night ahead—the students were about to create a miracle.

"Can you believe Professor Sprout made me shell half a greenhouse of beans? Is she some kind of devil's snare?"

Draco shouted in frustration as his quill scratched furiously against parchment.

"She stood right next to me, watching as I shelled each one! For every bean I dropped, she added another plant!"

"I feel like my arm is about to fall off—"

Pansy, squished onto the couch beside him, immediately let out a sympathetic cry.

"Oh—Draco, how could she treat you like this!"

Blaise snickered, glancing sideways at Draco while scribbling furiously.

"Forget about that. You should be worrying about Professor Flitwick's essay. Haven't you fallen two weeks behind on your assignments?"

Their exchange drew sighs from the other young Slytherins.

The professors, in their "dark mode," had seemingly transformed into Dementors.

They assigned mountains of essays, homework, and manual labor to all the students who had feigned illness and skipped classes.

Their backs ached, their hands cramped, and they felt as if their souls had been sucked out, leaving them utterly drained.

But no one had it worse than Jane Yu.

Her punishment essays were custom-assigned by the professors, citing the rationale that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Theodore and Daphne, fighting off sleep, yawned as they flipped through books to help her gather references.

"If the professors gave me this much work, I'd have my parents pull me out of school immediately," Daphne said, shaking her head. "Why do you need to write about the principles of Apparition now? Or the reasons Veritaserum might fail? And what's with this ancient runes nonsense…"

Unfortunately, Jane didn't have the "call my parents to take me home" option on her menu. Her guardians were all too happy about the situation and even took advantage of the chaos to assign her two additional essays on ancient runes.

When she protested, "You said there wouldn't be any extra homework," Dumbledore merely smiled and winked.

"This isn't homework—it's a consequence for your mistake."

Theodore folded the corners of pages in a thick stack of Potions books that discussed Veritaserum, marking them for Jane to reference. He was so exhausted he could barely speak and felt like he needed a vial of Invigoration Draught.

"I don't know how you guys managed to stay up until five in the morning playing games," he muttered.

The next moment, Pansy's sharp voice rang out in the common room.

"Exactly. If it weren't for that filthy game console spreading everywhere, none of us would be punished and losing sleep!"

Though her words ostensibly criticized the game consoles, they were clearly aimed at Jane.

Pansy had grown to despise her.

The game consoles had consumed nearly all of Draco's attention. Whenever he had free time, he would either run off to find Jane or disappear entirely—

He even started skipping classes, and when he did attend, he always sat next to Jane!

Her opportunities to spend time with him had been completely destroyed!

Since the start of the term, she had barely had a chance to speak with Draco!

It had to be Jane's fault. She must be scheming to ensnare Draco and the Malfoy family by using these devices to steal his soul!

But Pansy's attempt to vent her frustrations backfired spectacularly.

In a room full of hardcore game console fans, insulting the consoles and one of their designers was a surefire way to provoke outrage.

Hearing her veiled jab, everyone stopped writing. The scratching of quills ceased, and all eyes turned toward her.

Even Blaise, who usually got along with her, scowled.

"Shut up! What do you know?" Draco snapped, frowning in open rebuke. To him, insulting the game consoles felt like a personal attack.

"This is a great endeavor, a ladder to progress, a source of joy!"

"For the sake of such a noble cause, being punished by the professors is a price worth paying! My father always says, 'Success is always preceded by challenges and hardships!'"

Pansy was dumbfounded.

She felt as though Draco had been cursed.

"Draco, what are you talking about?" she shrieked. "You shelled half a greenhouse of beans, wrote eight or nine essays, and are pulling all-nighters for a week!"

Draco's face turned red. He slammed his hand on the couch in anger.

"I already said, this is just a temporary setback! You're not the one shelling beans or writing essays!"

"You don't even like the game consoles, and the professors didn't punish you, so why are you here, bothering us while we're trying to do our assignments?"

If not for their long-standing friendship, Draco might have resorted to harsher words to defend the things he loved.

Even the usually taciturn Theodore chimed in coldly.

"I think respecting other people's interests is basic courtesy. You wouldn't dare insult Quidditch in front of Captain Flint, would you?"

Though he wasn't as passionate about the game consoles as Draco, he immediately picked up on the implied insult in Pansy's words.

The drama unfolding before her made Jane instinctively reach for a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Peanuts, sunflower seeds, eight-treasure porridge, beer, soda, mineral water!

Bring it all on!

This was the freshest melon she'd tasted in ages!

Pansy felt as though her pride had been ground into the dirt. Her frustration and anger immediately turned toward Jane, who was innocently munching on her beans. Her bloodshot eyes glared daggers at Jane as she blurted out:

"What kind of curse did you put on Draco?"

Jane, in her melon-eating mode, was utterly baffled.

What did this have to do with her?

How had she gone from an innocent bystander to the target of the drama?

Pansy continued her tirade. Perhaps the combination of sleep deprivation and her long-standing resentment toward Jane had eroded her self-control. Her words grew increasingly venomous:

"You vile little Mud—"

Her voice was abruptly cut off.

Daphne screamed, "How dare you!" and lunged at her. Grabbing a fistful of Pansy's hair, she began yanking with all her might. Pansy retaliated by seizing Daphne's blonde hair and clawing at her face with her nails.

The two girls rolled on the floor, slapping and scratching each other. Daphne smacked Pansy across the face, and Pansy shrieked, calling her a "bitch's dog" before biting Daphne's hand. They hurled insults at each other as they wrestled, completely forgetting they were witches capable of casting spells.

Chairs were kicked over, tables toppled, and ink, parchment, and quills scattered across the floor. The common room descended into chaos.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Jane immobilized Pansy with a Full Body-Bind Curse. Her frozen expression was twisted with hatred and resentment, her face covered in scratch marks, her nose bleeding, and her eyes blackened. She glared at Jane with bloodshot eyes.

The others quickly pulled Daphne away.

Though she bore her own share of injuries, her bruised and battered face radiated a sense of pride and satisfaction, as if she had finally avenged her grievances.

Daphne, feeling vindicated, looked as though she could take on ten more fights.

"I won!" she declared triumphantly, raising her hand toward Jane in celebration, her eyes sparkling. "I didn't let you down!"

The prefect, Gemma, stumbled into the scene, nearly tripping over her own feet.

"Fighting in the common room? Parkinson, Greengrass?" she said sternly. "Do you want Professor Snape to find out and drag our house points into the negatives?"

"Parkinson called Jane that word!" Daphne tattled. "She says it behind her back all the time!"

Hearing that Jane had been insulted, Gemma's face darkened, rivaling the color of Snape's robes.

"Perhaps I should inform Professor Snape so he can write to your parents and have them wash your mouth out, Parkinson," she said, barely containing her anger. "I can't believe such uncivilized behavior exists in Slytherin."

Freed from the spell, Pansy turned pale and begged for mercy.

"Slytherin's points are already at zero," Gemma warned her. "I don't want to see any more bullying in this house. If you can't learn to get along with others, our nine-year winning streak in the House Cup will end here."

"You wouldn't want to experience the consequences of that, would you, Parkinson?"

The farce finally ended under Gemma's authority.

But Pansy wasn't ready to let it go.

Standing in the common room, she bit her lip and flashed a venomous smile.

"She won't stay here for long!"

She decided to write to Mr. Greengrass, informing him that his daughter Daphne had been fighting and bullying her at school.

She also planned to send another letter to Mr. Malfoy.

This time, she would tell him that Draco had been neglecting his studies and becoming obsessed with a Muggle-born witch's game console.

She would use this to pressure Lucius into influencing Dumbledore and getting Jane expelled from Hogwarts!

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