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Richie watched his three roommates scurry off on their sudden "brainstorming" mission and just shook his head with a sigh.
"Those three..."
By then, Hermione had marched right up to him.
"Richie, I want to apologize on behalf of Harry and Ron," she said, looking genuinely guilty. "Because of them, you got dragged into this whole mess..."
Seeing her expression, Richie instantly understood why she was there.
His face hardened slightly. "Do they know you're apologizing for them? Did they ask you to?"
Hermione froze, suddenly quiet.
"They messed up. That's on them. You didn't do anything wrong, so there's no reason for you to take the fall for their mistakes."
Richie naturally clasped his hands behind his back, looking at her seriously.
"Honestly, everyone just needs to focus on handling their own business. Worrying too much about what other people are doing just drains your energy, and most of the time, it doesn't even end well."
"But you just stepped up and stopped them earlier..." Hermione instinctively argued back.
"Because if I hadn't stepped up right then, they literally would have started swinging at each other," Richie blinked, stating the obvious.
"Sometimes you have to step in. But when you do, you have to be ready to deal with the fallout."
"For example, my reputation just shot up. People are probably going to act a bit more distant around me now. And yelling at them like I did? I definitely pissed a few people off..."
"But honestly, it doesn't really matter. As long as it doesn't interrupt my studying, I don't care."
Fallout... impact...
Hermione chewed on Richie's words for a long time before finally letting out a deep breath.
"Is that how it is? ...I think I understand."
"By the way, there's something else I wanted to tell you..."
Richie raised an eyebrow as Hermione suddenly stood up straighter.
"I'm challenging you!"
Richie paused, blinking in surprise. "You're... challenging me?"
Hermione tilted her chin up, looking dead serious.
"We'll compete using the house points we earn in class! From now until the end of our first year, whoever earns the most points is the winner!"
Hearing the terms of the challenge, Richie let out a silent sigh of relief. He looked at the fiercely determined girl and decided to tease her a bit.
"House points from class, huh?"
"So the points I got earlier today don't count?"
Hermione's head snapped back and forth like a rattle drum.
Richie had just earned twenty—no, twenty-two points today alone! If those counted, she might as well just surrender right now. Besides, she firmly believed those weren't points earned through standard academic achievement.
"Haha, alright, fine," Richie agreed after a moment's thought.
"I'm currently sitting at eight points. Five in Charms, two in Transfiguration, and one in Potions."
Hermione nodded firmly. "I have two points right now. Both in Transfiguration."
"I might be behind now, but I promise you, I will pass you by the end of the year!"
Seeing the fiery competitive spirit blazing in Hermione's eyes, Richie gave a dismissive smirk.
A little kid thought she could beat him?
Richie matched her intensity, his own eyes locking onto hers with a fierce competitive spark.
"I, Richie Harland, accept your challenge!"
"Just don't go crying when you lose!"
"You're the one who's going to cry!" Hermione snapped back, spinning around and marching away.
"Weird. Was she here to collect a debt or something?"
Anthony watched the two of them from a distance, practically feeling the sparks flying through the air. It felt almost as tense as the argument earlier.
He scratched his head, totally confused. "Did I misread that?"
"Haha! If you can't even understand The Flying Broomstick Manual, how are you supposed to understand anything else?" Terry boasted, putting his hands on his hips and looking incredibly smug.
"If you beg me, I might just tell you what the book actually says!"
Anthony and Stephen just shook their heads at Terry's absolute cluelessness.
This idiot...
Not long after, Madam Hooch finally returned. Completely unaware of the massive incident that had just occurred, she immediately grouped the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs together to start their half of the lesson.
By silent, unspoken agreement, every single first-year chose to keep their mouths shut about the fight.
Professor McGonagall had already docked their points and slapped them with a massive essay. If Madam Hooch found out, she'd probably hand down an even worse punishment. They genuinely wouldn't survive it.
For the last fifteen minutes of class, Richie finally got to experience the thrill of riding a flying broomstick.
Madam Malkin was right—the school robes really were tailored for broomstick flight.
Richie could clearly feel the fabric around the seat magically shift, creating a supportive cushion. It felt exactly like sitting in a comfortable chair, with absolutely no chafing or discomfort.
Unfortunately, likely because of Neville's accident, Madam Hooch was incredibly strict and cautious. After only a few minutes in the air, she ordered the young wizards back to the ground.
When the bell finally rang, the first-years trudged off the pitch, their spirits completely crushed.
Lost points... a ten-inch essay...
It was Tuesday. According to their schedules, the second block of the afternoon was dedicated to Magical Practice and House Tutoring.
Essentially, it was a designated study hall where students could practice spells or track down professors to ask questions about the coursework. Compared to the mandatory self-study in the Great Hall, it was a lot more relaxed.
Since it was only the second day of term, the older students hadn't really run into any difficult material yet, so most of them treated the period as free time.
The first-years, however, had no such luxury. They were all stuck miserably trying to figure out how to stretch an apology into a ten-inch essay.
"WHAT?! We lost fifty points?!"
"Dammit! I get Gryffindor losing fifty, but why did we lose fifty?!"
"I bet it was those Gryffindors (Slytherins)! They definitely set us up!"
During the free period, several older Gryffindors and Slytherins passing through the Entrance Hall stopped dead in their tracks. The hourglasses tracking the house points for their respective houses had dropped significantly below their starting levels!
A quick mental calculation confirmed the horrifying truth: they were down exactly fifty points!
School had barely started, and they were already in a fifty-point hole!
And why were the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff hourglasses completely untouched?!
It was a conspiracy. An absolute conspiracy!!!
The prefects from Gryffindor and Slytherin immediately launched internal investigations to figure out how they had hemorrhaged so many points.
Very quickly, they both arrived at the same infuriating conclusion:
It was the first-years!
The first-years had nearly started a full-blown gang war during Flying Class that afternoon, and Professor McGonagall had dropped the hammer on them!
And the primary instigators were from Gryffindor and Slytherin!
The spark that lit the powder keg? Gryffindor's Harry Potter and Slytherin's Draco Malfoy blatantly ignoring their flying instructor's orders!
Once the truth came out, the reactions from the two houses were drastically different.
The Gryffindor lions only cared about two things: Did a fight actually happen, and did they win?
The Slytherin snakes were furious, demanding to know if their first-years had troll dung for brains. Why would they pick a physical fight with a bunch of Gryffindor meatheads, and how could they be so stupid as to drag the house's honor through the mud so early in the year?
Then, the name Richie Harland started circulating. According to the first-years from both houses, he was the one who had stepped up and prevented Hogwarts from making the front page of the Daily Prophet for a mass student brawl.
But before anyone could really process that, a massive, unbelievable bombshell dropped, completely hijacking the school's attention:
"Harry Potter—the Gryffindor first-year, the Boy Who Lived—just made the Gryffindor Quidditch team as their new Seeker!"
"Harry Potter?!"
"A Seeker?!"