Chapter 85 - William’s Reputation Takes a Turn

Although the twins worked with unprecedented enthusiasm, by the time the lights-out hour approached, they had only managed to complete a small portion of the task.

William nodded at the three students, acknowledging their effort for the night.

"All right, you've done well tonight. Tomorrow, you'll get half the day off. Come back at eight in the evening to continue."

As everyone knew, 'daytime' generally referred to the time before midnight. But to prevent them from avoiding detention, William had firmly set their return time.

The three Weasleys left the professor's office with relief written all over their faces, and with that, William's night's work was over as well.

In theory, he should have gone to bed at this point. However, whether it was because he had slept too much during the day or because meeting Tom had been too exciting, William found himself completely sleepless.

Maybe I should go for a walk?

Once this thought emerged, it became impossible to suppress. After all, curfews applied to students, not professors.

Acting on his impulse, William dressed, locked his office door behind him, and headed toward the castle's main gate.

By this time, Hogwarts Castle was almost devoid of activity. Even the figures in the portraits were lost in slumber, which instinctively caused William to tread more lightly.

***

"Stop right there, student!"

As William turned a corner, an oil lamp suddenly appeared.

He stopped, amused, and addressed the approaching light. "Don't worry, it's me, William."

"Ah, Professor William! I thought it was an upper-year student trying to sneak out on a weekend. You wouldn't believe how often that happens," Filch said, half regretful and half respectful.

"I couldn't sleep and decided to take a stroll. Has the castle gate been locked?"

"Yes, it has. I need to patrol the castle for students skipping curfew. If you want to go out, Professor, you'll have to wait until my patrol outside the castle in about an hour. That lock has been enchanted by Headmaster Dumbledore himself," Filch said with pride.

Given who had enchanted the lock, it was likely unbreakable by ordinary witches or wizards, even with brute force.

"Well, I'll leave it to you, Mr. Filch. It's been a while since I've seen the night sky."

"No trouble at all, Professor. The stars at Hogwarts are especially beautiful. If you don't mind, perhaps you could help me catch any students lingering outside the castle? Their behavior has grown increasingly bold. Just last year, I caught a first-year staying out all night!"

"A first-year?" William's mouth opened in surprise.

Even kids pulling all-nighters in internet cafes weren't this extreme. At eleven years old, weren't children usually sleep-deprived? Was Hogwarts' starry sky really that enticing?

"Who was it?" William asked the question almost instinctively.

"A Weasley kid and his two friends. Professor, if you ask me, there's not a single Weasley child who doesn't cause trouble!"

You couldn't blame everything on the Weasleys; William thought. The other two weren't exactly trouble-free, either. Just as he was about to say so, he suddenly recalled the drawer full of punishment records he had recently reviewed.

In other words, punishment records weren't necessarily directly related to the number of violations, but rather to how many violations had been caught. Given the level of those twin brothers, William found it hard to imagine them getting caught every time they broke the rules. Based on that drawer full of records, it seemed they had long mastered the art of escaping.

Seeing that William was convinced, Mr. Filch finally gave up on his patrol and led William toward the castle gates.

…

…

"By the way, Professor, something strange happened today. My cat seems really scared, do you think she's been cursed?"

When the two reached the hall, a proud-looking cat suddenly appeared. Filch walked over and petted her head before turning to William.

"Cursed? On a cat?" William squatted down and carefully examined the skinny cat. After a moment, he confidently said, "There's no curse, at least not based on my knowledge. She seems more afraid of something. Has a student been abusing her?"

"They wouldn't dare. Besides, the portraits in the castle are always watching, no one would risk such a serious violation of the school rules."

"Then she must have encountered some magical creature. Some of those nasty creatures are particularly obsessed with scaring people. Cats are great tools for absorbing fear. When I have some free time tomorrow, I'll go through the castle corners. Those creatures love to hide in those places."

Several terrifying creatures that lived by scaring people, like Boggarts, flashed through William's mind.

"Alright, thank you, Professor. I'll be patrolling outside the castle in an hour. I'll wait at the gate for you for ten minutes. If you miss me, I'll be waiting for you again after finishing my patrol, but by then, it'll be too late."

William nodded in agreement.

Filch was quite enthusiastic, though William couldn't quite understand why he was so obsessed with punishing students.

***

It's been a long time since I've sat quietly and looked at the stars. Thankfully, Hogwarts doesn't have much light pollution.

William walked alone on the grass, trying to find the most comfortable patch of grass to lie on and gaze at the stars. In the absence of other students' interruptions, such a spot wasn't hard to find.

However, when William finally lay down and began to reflect on the stars, something felt off.

Within his line of sight, two suspicious figures emerged from a nearby bush. They glanced around quickly, then, without a care, sat down.

Students? Did they really sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night for a date?

William immediately found himself in a dilemma; Should I catch them?

If he did, his reputation with the students would probably suffer even more. After all, after already earning the rumor of catching students sneaking out, adding the one about catching students on a late-night date would certainly make things worse. It had only been a week since he became a professor! For the sake of his future reputation, could he really catch them?

If I don't catch them, then what am I even doing as a professor? You guys are making me envy, and I'm a professor, you dare show public displays of affection in front of me. Am I a professor for nothing?

While William was tangled in his thoughts, he finally managed to vaguely recognize one of the two people. Under the brilliant starlight, a head of fiery red hair stood out brightly.

This unlucky kid, when a group of people mess up, they catch you first, and you don't even try to cover your hair?

William almost recognized the person. It was, if nothing had gone wrong, his student, Percy Weasley.

Catching his own student; Well, that didn't count as the cross-district enforcement from last time, right?

But soon, William found himself tangled again. If he remembered correctly, there were currently five Weasley siblings at this school, and if he caught this one, that meant he'd have four of them locked up, with only the youngest one left out...

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