Among Hogwarts' representatives for each year, only Sean's position as the second-year representative was completely uncontested.
In the other years, however, choosing a single candidate proved rather difficult.
Take the seventh year, for example.
There were three outstanding students:
Charlie Weasley from GryffindorNymphadora Tonks from HufflepuffKurt Malfoy from Slytherin
All three were top students in their year.
When it came to magical ability, even Sean couldn't guess whom Dumbledore would ultimately choose.
Charlie spoke frankly.
"Professor Dumbledore chose me. Kurt and Nymphadora are furious right now."
Sean raised an eyebrow.
"May I ask why the headmaster chose you? I've heard both of them are extremely capable as well."
Charlie pulled out the chair beside Sean and sat down, lowering his voice.
"Kurt's from your Slytherin house—you've probably interacted with him before. He's… a bit self-centered. To put it bluntly, he's rather authoritarian. A six-person team needs open discussion. The professors were worried that if he became captain, the atmosphere would become too rigid."
Sean immediately caught an important detail.
"Captain? So that means… you're the captain?"
Charlie smiled modestly.
"Didn't the professors tell you? The seventh-year representative also serves as team captain."
"What about Tonks?" Sean asked.
Charlie leaned closer and whispered,
"Tonks… well, you might not have interacted with her much. Her temper changes like the weather. The professors don't think she's suited to leading a team."
Sean gave an awkward smile.
Inwardly he thought,
Not only have I met her—I nearly got beaten up by her.
If Tonks became captain, the team atmosphere probably wouldn't be much better than with Kurt.
At least Kurt's temper was relatively stable.
"By the way," Sean asked, "who are the representatives from the other years?"
Charlie listed them off.
"Third year: Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw.
Fourth year: Percy Weasley from Gryffindor—he's my brother, you've seen him before.
Fifth year: Zacharias Abbott from Hufflepuff.
Sixth year: Theo Wald from Slytherin.
"With you and me included, that makes the six-person Hogwarts team."
Sean considered the names.
Aside from Zacharias Abbott, whom he hadn't met before, the others were either acquaintances or at least familiar names.
Penelope later dates Percy, doesn't she?
Zacharias Abbott… that surname must belong to one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families. Probably the older brother of that tough girl Hannah Abbott.
Charlie continued,
"I came to inform you that the team members need to return to school one week early during the summer. We'll train together and build some team coordination."
Sean actually wished he could stay at Hogwarts the entire summer.
That way, he'd have plenty of time to absorb the magical power of the Wizard's Heart.
Unfortunately, professors usually returned home during the holidays, and Hogwarts rarely allowed students to remain on campus.
"Understood," Sean replied readily.
When Sean returned to the Slytherin common room, he found Kurt angrily cursing Charlie.
His complaints were loud and completely lacking in decorum.
Something along the lines of:
What qualifications does Charlie Weasley have to replace me as the seventh-year representative?
That poor Weasley family is embarrassing Hogwarts.
Sean had expected Kurt to lose his temper.
What he didn't expect was that he would rant like this in the middle of the common room, abandoning his usual aristocratic composure.
Normally, Kurt always carried himself like a well-mannered noble.
"Sean."
Kurt called out to him.
Sean sighed inwardly and walked over.
"What is it?"
"You're the second-year representative, right?" Kurt asked bluntly.
"Yes. Professor Dumbledore spoke with me about it."
Kurt's expression twisted with frustration.
"You and Theo represent Slytherin. I should have been the captain. That Weasley must have slandered me in front of Dumbledore. That despicable bastard."
He leaned forward, his voice filled with resentment.
"No matter what happens, during the competition don't let that Weasley show off."
Theo suddenly spoke from the side.
"But if we target the Weasleys during a team competition, the other schools might take advantage of the chaos."
Sean thought silently,
Brother, can't you see he's furious right now? Terrible timing.
Kurt shot Theo an irritated glare.
"Are you defending the Weasleys? Remember—you're a Slytherin."
Theo, unjustly blamed, frowned.
"I know I'm a Slytherin. But I'm also a Hogwarts student."
Kurt sneered.
"So you're afraid of those foreigners? You think they're capable of exploiting our mistakes and beating Hogwarts?"
From Kurt's tone, Sean could clearly hear his contempt for the other three schools.
Sean deliberately asked,
"Are the other schools really that weak?"
Kurt glanced at him.
"In the past hundred years, there have been ten tournaments. Hogwarts has won seven of them."
"You tell me—are they weak?"
Sean nodded with a grin.
"Sounds like they are."
Judging by the numbers, Hogwarts indeed seemed overwhelmingly strong.
But since Sean hadn't seen the other schools himself, he wasn't ready to make assumptions.
The final week of June was known among Hogwarts students as Hell Week.
Fifth-year students were preparing for their O.W.L. exams, while seventh-years were taking their N.E.W.T.s.
The entire school was filled with a tense atmosphere of frantic studying.
Sean, however, looked completely out of place.
He had no exams to worry about, no Voldemort causing chaos.
If Bellatrix would just stop trying to kill him, life would be perfect.
"Sean… how about you take my exam for me?"
At dinner, Cassius pleaded pitifully.
Before Sean could respond, Chris rolled up her notebook and smacked Cassius on the head.
"Ow! Chris, why did you hit me?" Cassius complained, rubbing his head.
Chris pointed around the hall.
"Look around. Everyone else is reviewing while they eat, and you're thinking up crooked schemes. If you get caught, you'll embarrass yourself—and Slytherin might lose the House Cup because of the points deduction."
Sean immediately refused Cassius's request.
He had no intention of ruining his reputation.
Over the course of the year, the professors' opinion of him had gradually improved.
At first they thought he was arrogant, overly eager to prove himself, and unstable in temperament.
But after the Kees incident and the Yovitch incident, at least Snape now considered Sean a promising student with potential.
A day later, Hogwarts officially entered exam week.
Sean only needed to attend one exam—Potions—on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, Cassius was seated too far away for Sean to even help him cheat.
After the exam ended, Cassius looked miserable.
"It's over… I'm definitely getting a P in Potions."
The grading system worked like this:
Outstanding (O)Exceeds Expectations (E)Acceptable (A)Poor (P)Dreadful (D)Troll (T)
Cassius had predicted a P for himself.
In Sean's opinion, he still hadn't correctly evaluated his own academic abilities.
"Cassius," Sean said sympathetically, "next semester, if you have time, I can help tutor you in Potions."
"Really?! Thank you so much!"
Cassius nearly burst into tears and immediately hugged Sean.
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