"…Oh, Professor Snape, you've finally arrived!"

Madam Marchbanks frantically helped Freya, who had collapsed beside the stands, while glaring at the violent Gryffindor wizards around her with a look of venomous rage.

"Absolutely lawless! Lawless! This open attack with wands, with several of them ganging up… Hogwarts must deal with this seriously, expel them! These violent, barbaric, and rude students are simply—"

"Did you really say that just now? I mean, 'mudblood'."

Snape raised his hand, interrupting Madam Marchbanks's angry roar, and asked softly.

The Slytherin Head of House's voice was exceptionally calm, like the deep sea before a storm.

"Perhaps I did, maybe my language was a bit inappropriate in the heat of the moment, but everyone saw those little wizards attack. It was a despicable sneak attack from behind. I've never seen anything so vile, so shameless—"

"Hmm, I understand."

Snape's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at the wizards around him.

"Charlie Weasley, and the others who attacked, go directly to Professor McGonagall's office and wait—I will tell your Head of House what happened here, and she will handle it. As for the rest of you, you may leave now."

"They attacked me! In front of everyone!"

Madam Marchbanks stared at Snape for a couple of seconds in disbelief, and shouted shrilly.

"Expel them! This atrocious behavior warrants expulsion!"

"That is an undeniable fact, madam. I am confident that Professor McGonagall will deal with it seriously—"

Snape waved his right hand, a bit impatiently.

"But they are Gryffindor students, so this serious violation should be handled by their Head of House. Now, Miss Freya, come with me. I'll take you to the Hospital Wing to get checked over. Madam Marchbanks, you should come too. I heard you were knocked to the ground by Weasley's spell. Madam Pomfrey is very experienced in treating spell damage…"

"I was attacked! A despicable sneak attack!"

Madam Marchbanks roared furiously.

"If you feel my handling of this is inappropriate, there is another, more direct, method available at Hogwarts…"

Snape frowned, and said calmly, "As a full professor, I can serve as a witness for a duel. Given your status as the victim, I will allow you to issue a challenge to the wizard who attacked you. Bill Weasley, you will stay here for now. If Madam Marchbanks intends to retaliate in this way, you must accept…"

"Uh, well, alright."

Bill shrugged helplessly, drew his wand, and looked at the gloomy, venomous witch.

At Hogwarts, when conflicts arise between students of different or the same year, if the professors' mediation fails, they can resolve the conflict through a "fair duel"—a new rule that emerged after last year's "Potion Barrier."

However, this was not a pleasant option for Madam Marchbanks.

She stood there for a moment, her gaze flickering over Bill's burly frame. Charlie clearly saw her right hand twitch, as if she wanted to draw her wand, but she restrained herself.

"…I haven't sunk so low as to fight with such a savage whelp. First, to the Hospital Wing—"

She glared venomously at Bill and the redheads surrounding him, before grabbing her daughter's hand and hurriedly following Snape's directions out of the stands. The three of them quickly disappeared from the Gryffindors' sight.

"That was unbelievable!"

Fred said in a voice that sounded like Christmas had come early, looking around at his brothers and sister.

"Snape being so nice? I almost thought that was Professor McGonagall in disguise! We got away with everything! I was already prepared to serve detention for half a semester…"

"But you still have to go to Professor McGonagall's office, Fred."

Percy's expression remained serious, clearly not finding any humor in the situation. He said with utmost sincerity.

"I'll write to Mum as soon as we get back to the castle and tell her exactly what happened—the two of you taking Ginny with you to fight, and you, Bill, your actions were just reckless—"

"Wait, what do you mean 'the two of them taking me to fight'?"

Ginny popped out, stomped her foot, and protested loudly.

"I was the one who cast the spell first! Right, Luna? You were flying right next to me. Tell me, wasn't it me who cast the spell first, and then George and Fred drew their wands and cast spells after me?"

"…This is not something to be proud of! All of you come with me to Professor McGonagall's office!"

Percy seemed to be furious, his voice rising to drown out Ginny.

He puffed out his chest, wanting to shove his shining prefect badge into his siblings' eyes.

A moment later, Percy escorted the Weasley troublemakers away.

"Professor McGonagall won't expel them, will she? Should we go and explain—"

Hermione, looking worried, glanced at the direction the Weasley family had left.

"Don't worry, it's just a formality."

Eileen shook her head, looking bored and somewhat regretful.

"If Bill hadn't acted first, that old woman dared to call you a 'mudblood' in public. You could have pulled out your wand and blasted her to pieces, and you'd still have a defense in the Wizengamot… Too bad Bill was too quick—"

"But I don't know what that means. Of course, I can tell it's very rude—"

"It's more than just rude; it's practically the most vile insult in the wizarding world."

At that moment, Irina interjected.

They landed next to the Gryffindor stands' railing, following Ginny.

During the short time, they had gathered a rough understanding of the conflict from the surrounding students.

"'Mudblood' is a derogatory term for Muggle-borns—that is, those whose parents don't have magic. Some wizards, like Madam Marchbanks, always think they're superior to others because they are so-called pure-bloods. They think Muggle blood is like dirty, inferior filth. It's a very nasty term."

Irina frowned, her expression turning somber.

"It means dirty, inferior blood. If I had been here, I would have cast a spell too—"

"Okay, let's not think about things that make us unhappy…"

At that moment, Eileen clapped her hands together and said loudly.

"To celebrate today's victory, the Gryffindor common room is preparing a celebratory feast."

"And then, I thought about it and took the liberty of discussing it with Professor McGonagall. I asked the kitchens to prepare an extra batch of dishes and combine the first-year team's celebration feast with the Gryffindor one."

"Everyone at Hogwarts is welcome to come to the Gryffindor common room for the feast. Let's call it a House social…"

"Eh? What about Hufflepuff…"

Luna was stunned and asked abruptly.

"I guess some people will come, at least Hannah will, but don't expect too many—"

Eileen answered quickly, as if she had guessed why Luna was asking, while winking.

"Besides, the Gryffindor common room can't accommodate that many people. On the other hand, not many Slytherins will probably come either. Although it's open to the whole school, it's mainly for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

"Ravenclaw? Why would Ravenclaw…"

"Count yourselves. Besides Ginny, Irina, and Coach Hermione, aren't the rest of the first-year team players from Ravenclaw? They almost see you as 'promising future Ravenclaw team' now."

Eileen said with a strange expression, giving Hermione, who still had swollen eyes, a meaningful look.

"What do you think, Head Coach Granger?"

In fact, since last year's Potato War, the relationship between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor has been subtle.

Especially within Ravenclaw, boys like Roger Davies have become increasingly sarcastic and indifferent toward Gryffindor, while the girls are in a state of conflicted tension.

Many Ravenclaw witches are disgusted by Gryffindor's carelessness and insensitivity, while comfortably exploiting the boys who have long exceeded their "indentured servitude" agreement—

For example, paying the bill at the lovers' café in Hogsmeade, or passing the time on lonely evenings, or holding hands and hugging when they're cold…

On the other hand, the Gryffindor team members were the most enthusiastic upon learning that Ravenclaw would be participating in the social.

Even the usually shy Harry inadvertently asked Eileen during the afternoon game whether the first-year team and Gryffindor team members would be arranged in the same area at the celebration banquet.

Although the Boy Who Lived was using Quidditch as a pretext, Eileen saw through his motives at a glance.

The current Hogwarts first-year team has both Ginny Weasley and Cho Chang, two great beauties.

With the intense Quidditch training over the past month or two, they quickly became inseparable confidantes.

More importantly, Cho's crush on Hufflepuff's Cedric and Ginny's crush on Gryffindor's Harry are no longer secrets within the first-year team.

Hermione had even seriously considered using the "honey trap" strategy, as it could potentially "take out" two top teams.

However, considering that there was also a chance of losing out, and that the situation was not yet so dire, under the persuasion of a certain little angel, the head coach reluctantly suppressed the idea for now and decided to observe for a while longer.

And tonight's celebration + social party is undoubtedly the best time to observe.

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Yay!