bioinnovel Chapter 77 Slytherin Through and Through
Chapter 77 Slytherin Through and Through
Chapter 77 Slytherin Through and Through
That evening, the year-end banquet was held as scheduled, and the auditorium was filled with people early on.
The Great Hall was newly decorated in Slytherin's green and silver to celebrate their seventh consecutive House Cup victory.
On the wall behind the main seating area hung a huge banner depicting the Slytherin Snake. Slytherin students proudly raised their heads, looking arrogantly at each student entering the Great Hall.
In the faculty seat, Professor McGonagall's face was calm and composed, revealing neither joy nor anger. She had personally extinguished Gryffindor's chance to win the House Cup.
Even though Gryffindor easily defeated Ravenclaw in the final Quidditch match, they still couldn't erase the 150 points that Professor McGonagall had personally deducted.
Snape was another person with a calm and composed expression. He remained remarkably composed, showing no signs of arrogance despite winning the House Cup twice in a row, displaying an air of superiority.
Compared to the two composed deans, Belvina seemed quite unsteady. She stared intently at Dumbledore, who sat in the main seat, as if the over-a-hundred-year-old headmaster had flowers blooming on his face.
"What are you looking at? Are you trying to cut off all of Professor Dumbledore's beard?" Bassheda asked in a low voice. "I advise you not to do that. I think Professor Dumbledore would look ugly without a beard."
Belvina wasn't interested in the headmaster's white beard; she just felt something was off about Dumbledore's smile and sensed he wasn't up to anything.
"I haven't even congratulated you yet, and Slytherin has won the House Cup again," Bassheda said with some annoyance. "Honestly, I'm tired of seeing Slytherin win."
"Don't rush to congratulate me, and don't rush to be disgusted. I have a feeling Professor Dumbledore is up to no good," Belvina said confidently. "Isn't it strange that the entire school believes Potter stopped Quirrell, yet the headmaster hasn't said a word?"
Not many people knew about the night Quirinas Quirrell took action.
Of those who were directly involved, Quirrell died, Harry was lying in the VIP room of the university hospital, Belvina wasn't a talkative person, and Ron and Hermione didn't have that much influence.
Among those in the know, whether it was Bathsheda, Professor McGonagall, or Snape, they had no reason to reveal this matter.
The answer is obvious: the source of the rumors is Hogwarts' headmaster, Dumbledore. He has the ability to spread the news throughout the morning, and he has his reasons for doing so.
What's puzzling is that after Dumbledore revealed the information, there was no further follow-up, leaving the whole matter remaining in the realm of rumors without official confirmation.
Then Harry and his two friends carelessly lost points again, and the reputation they gained from the rumors vanished before they could even warm up.
Belvina firmly believes that Dumbledore must have a backup plan, which he has been holding back for this day, in order to overthrow Slytherin's dominance of the House Cup at the year-end banquet.
With both the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup in hand, Harry Potter's prestige is likely to be far more than doubled.
A moment later, Dumbledore tapped his cup twice, and the noisy Great Hall immediately fell silent. Everyone looked at the headmaster who had stood up.
"Another year has passed!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Before we enjoy these delicacies, I must trouble you to listen to an old man's cliché."
As expected, Dumbledore's speech was full of clichés, praising all the students present. His unoriginal words made everyone drowsy.
"Now, as far as I know, we must first hold the College Cup awards ceremony, and the specific scores of each college are as follows:"
Fourth place: Hufflepuff, 352 points; Third place: Gryffindor, 362 points; Ravenclaw, 376 points; Slytherin, 472 points.
point."
A thunderous cheer and stomping erupted from the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy banged his wine glass on the table, his actions clearly demonstrating his excitement. Sighs echoed from the other three long tables, excluding Slytherin's. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw both hoped someone would pull Slytherin off the throne.
Gryffindor, needless to say, won the Quidditch Cup again after many years, but they missed out on the double crown.
Moreover, the biggest contributor to winning the Quidditch Cup was removing the culprit from the House Cup. If that 150 points hadn't been removed, Gryffindor would have won the House Cup by a huge margin and secured the honor of being Hogwarts' double champion.
Harry Potter clutched his head in regret, Ron Weasley's face was as red as his hair, and Hermione Granger slumped over the table, burying her face in her arms.
In the teachers' seat, Belvina already knew what was about to happen. She raised her hands to cover her cheeks, not knowing what she was doing.
"You don't think Professor Dumbledore will resort to such tactics at the last minute—" Bassheda said, "though it's a bit... well, it seems surprisingly suitable for Professor Snape."
If someone were to compile statistics on the points lost by each house, especially the specific points lost by Gryffindor, Snape would appear frequently.
As the Head of Slytherin and Professor of Potions, Snape always had various reasons to deduct Gryffindor points. After Harry Potter enrolled, Snape deducted Gryffindor points even more readily.
If Dumbledore had betrayed Snape at the last moment and delivered a last-minute, decisive blow, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Snape had only himself to blame; it's a case of the wicked getting their just desserts.
Belvina lowered her hand. She neither wept at Slytherin's bleak future nor laughed maniacally; instead, she remained calm.
But the calmer Belvina appeared, the closer Bassheda's heart was to her throat, because she had no idea what outrageous things Belvina would do next.
"Wait a moment. Whatever I do, don't interfere," Belvina said calmly. "Just stay here, do nothing, and say nothing."
"What exactly do you want?" Bassheda asked. "At least tell me something, so I have some idea!"
"Don't worry, it's neither illegal nor disorderly. I'm just expressing my attitude to Professor Dumbledore."
Just as the two elective professors were whispering, Dumbledore, as expected, pulled out a dagger and began frantically stabbing Snape in the lower back.
"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, there are a few important things to consider."
The Great Hall became eerily quiet; you could hear a pin drop. Even the Slytherins, who had been celebrating wildly, suppressed their smiles, and an unease spread among them.
Snape's face darkened as he sat in the teachers' seat, while the Potions Professor felt a dull ache in his lower back, a bad premonition creeping into his heart.
"Well, listen," Dumbledore cleared his throat, "I have a few last points to allocate. Let me see. Oh, Mr. Ron Weasley."
Ron's already ruddy face turned even redder, making him look like a sun-dried carrot.
"He won the most brilliant game of chess at Hogwarts in many years, and I awarded Gryffindor fifty points for it."
Cheers erupted in the Great Hall, and the frenzied Gryffindors nearly blew the roof off the castle; even the decorative stars in the Great Hall trembled slightly.
"Second 211 Miss Hermione Granger - She calmly reasoned in the face of fire, and I award her fifty points to Gryffindor."
Hermione looked up, then tucked her head back into her arms.
The Gryffindors were overjoyed, dancing and jumping for joy.
The Slytherins looked utterly dejected, their faces ashen, like defeated roosters.
Now that things have come to this, everyone can see what Dumbledore is up to. The headmaster of Hogwarts personally intervened and kicked Slytherin off their champion's throne.
"Third—Harry Potter—" Dumbledore said. The Great Hall fell silent. "—He displayed extraordinary courage and daring, for which I award Gryffindor fifty points."
One hundred and fifty points! The trio has regained the one hundred and fifty points they lost, and Gryffindor has returned to the top of the leaderboard. Gryffindor's total score has even exceeded five hundred points!
The noise was deafening.
Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw—everyone was celebrating Slytherin's crushing defeat.
No one in the Great Hall raised any objections. Gryffindors wouldn't do that, nor would Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.
Even among Slytherin, who should have been the most vocal in questioning, no one dared to utter a sound.
It's important to understand that whether it was Ron's brilliant chess game, Hermione's calm analysis, or Harry's courage and boldness, all of these were based on their disobeying the headmaster's orders and violating school rules.
If someone dares to stand up and raise questions, insisting on taking things seriously, shouldn't we deduct points from them first, and then bring up the matter of adding points?
Or perhaps their merits and demerits cancel each other out, and they are not commended?
Admittedly, the actions of Harry, his friends, and their companions went beyond mere bravery; they risked their lives to prevent evil from happening.
"This means," Dumbledore had to shout to drown out the thunderous cheers and applause.
He clapped his hands, and instantly the green hanging ribbons turned bright red, and the silver ones turned gold; the giant Slytherin snake disappeared, replaced by a majestic Gryffindor lion.
Belvina, sitting in the teacher's seat, didn't immediately go to do what she was supposed to do; she first looked at Snape.
At that moment, Snape was shaking hands with Professor McGonagall, forcing an awkward smile, which, though strained, was still quite polite.
Then, Belvina looked at the Slytherin table.
The students sitting around the long table were in a terrible state; anger, frustration, and resentment—all sorts of emotions lingered in the air around the table.
No one applauded to congratulate the opponent, no one stood up to encourage the others; they just sat there, offering no response from the oldest to the youngest, worse than a spineless dog.
Belvina looked away. Was she disappointed with the Slytherin of today?
She was somewhat disappointed when she first returned to Hogwarts, but now she is no longer disappointed. Even if you force a hopeless case onto a wall, it will still be hopeless.
When the thunderous applause and celebrations finally subsided, and the sumptuous banquet was about to begin, Belvina began her operation.
Suddenly, Belvina stood up. Her movements were completely unexpected, starting with zero frames. Even Dumbledore couldn't guess what she was going to do.
Belvina turned slightly to face Gryffindor and then slapped her breasts.
A solitary clap broke out as Belvina congratulated Gryffindor on winning the House Cup, a well-deserved congratulation from their rivals.
Tu Yuan's actions instantly attracted everyone's attention, their eyes filled with incomprehension and confusion.
Soon, the solitary applause ceased, and Belvina gracefully congratulated Gryffindor, but she did not return to her seat.
To everyone's astonishment, Belvina left her seat!
She left the teacher's seat, even pushing the high-backed chair back into place before leaving.
She walked silently through the aisles between the long tables in the college, without uttering a word, and pushed open the door to leave the auditorium.
Nobody knew why Belvina did this. She was an elective course professor, not a student. The College Cup competition had nothing to do with her, so why was she so agitated?
The professors were also puzzled. Professor Flitwick's mouth dropped open in surprise, while Professor Sprout turned to look for Bassheda.
Professor McGonagall's lips were pressed into a thin line, like a statue.
Snape's already embarrassed expression turned even more awkward; he now really wanted to drag Belvina back and give her a good beating.
Even Bathsheda couldn't fathom Belvina's intentions. Even if she wanted to express her stance to Dumbledore, there was no need to take such an extreme approach.
Of everyone in the Great Hall, only Dumbledore roughly understood Belvina's sudden and extreme behavior.
First of all, Belvina was expressing her dissatisfaction, not by protesting the extra points given to Harry, his two friends, and others, but by protesting that Gryffindor was only being given extra points now, and why all the Slytherins were being treated like monkeys.
Secondly, she made her stance clear: she chose to stand with Dumbledore to fight Voldemort together. She could be a henchman or a wingman, but she could never be a monkey being played around.
Some things need to be made clear early on, while the relationship and trust between the two people have just been established. It's better to clarify things first and then avoid disputes later.
Once the relationship between the two parties becomes closer, saying certain things will only make things worse and cause incalculable losses.
However, Belvina's approach was indeed too extreme, revealing a previously unknown side of her.
Dumbledore glanced casually at the commotion at the Slytherin table. Some students were eager to try, seemingly wanting to follow in Belvina's footsteps, while others sat there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the Great Hall doors.
Was this also within your expectations, Belvina?
It can both express one's own attitude and subtly convey a signal to certain people through the students' words—Belvina Black, no matter which side I'm on, I'm a Slytherin, a Slytherin through and through.