In the Mirror of Erised, Owen saw himself as an adult. A party was being held at a manor, and many people were there.
Dumbledore was eating candy and drinking hot chocolate.
Master Nicolas Flamel and his wife were showing off their latest invention to the guests.
Master Newt and Tina were there—one feeding a Wampus Cat, the other baking cookies.
The old Dark Lord was playing Wizard's Chess.
Most importantly, his parents from both his lives were there. Whatever they were saying made the adult Owen shyly bury his face in his mother's shoulder, twisting and squirming like a little child, which caused everyone around them to burst into laughter...
A grown man acting like a baby with his mother...
Blushing!
But after the shyness passed, Owen looked at his parents in the mirror with a nostalgic smile. "Headmaster, do you think... that after people die, they become stars, shining down to light the night for their loved ones?"
Before the old wizard could answer, Owen smiled and continued, "On the night my parents left, the whole sky was gray and overcast. But there were two stars that shone exceptionally bright..."
The old wizard sighed and gently hugged the boy. "Yes, I believe you are right, my dear boy. But I think you should rest. How about... taking tomorrow off?"
"Don't worry about me, Headmaster..." Owen's eyes were a bit red, and his nose tingled, but his gaze was clearer than ever. "Although they are gone, I am still here. I want to live out their hopes and live an even better, more brilliant life. Otherwise... they would be disappointed."
The old wizard had nothing left to say. He simply held the boy in a deep embrace.
Life went on. Early the next morning, Owen continued his training. He saw Hermione, who looked surprisingly energetic. He didn't say much, but after the workout, he taught the young witch a different breathing technique. Then, he watched as she fell asleep right there.
A breathing technique for rapid entry into deep sleep. Simple.
Two hours later, when the young witch woke up to find all her fatigue gone, she treated the technique like a precious treasure. Without Owen's permission, she wouldn't tell a soul about it!
The day passed normally. But two minutes before curfew, Owen entered the Gryffindor common room. He summoned all students, from first to seventh years, and announced a new policy. Instantly, lions big and small froze as if hit by a Petrification Charm...
Activity Reports!
Starting tomorrow, all Gryffindor students below the fifth year would be subject to a daily activity reporting system. Outside of normal classes and daily life, if they wanted to do anything, they had to write a report.
Time, location, participants, number of people, objective, and a detailed plan of how to achieve that objective—all had to be included in the report!
For example, if the Weasley twins wanted to pull a prank, fine!
But before executing it, they had to submit a report. The content had to be truthful and valid. They had to execute the prank exactly according to the plan in the report, without a single deviation. Since the objective was set, it had to be completed!
Don't want to write it?
You could try not writing one. But if you acted without a report... Owen demonstrated on the spot what "Thunder and Lightning in a Tornado" felt like to the assembled lions.
No one wanted to be struck by lightning inside a tornado...
"Don't delude yourselves into thinking you can hide from me. Let me put it this way: all the ghosts, portraits, and even the animals and plants in this castle are my eyes and ears. I've already briefed them. If you want to slip past my surveillance and do something..."
Owen smiled benevolently. "Even Headmaster Dumbledore couldn't do it. If you don't believe me, feel free to try. By the way, please hand all reports to Mr. Weasley. Ron, please deliver the reports to me before breakfast tomorrow. If it's past breakfast time, I'm sorry, but the reports will be invalid."
Just as he was about to leave, Owen suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. Your reports are confidential. I won't tell anyone. If you can replicate your plan 100% as written, there will be rewards. If there are errors, there will be punishments. The report is only valid for one day. I will destroy them at midnight that night."
Owen opened his palm. A fist-sized blue phoenix made of Fiendfyre began circling him. "Trust me, the burning will be thorough. Fiendfyre is quite efficient at destroying evidence."
For slackers, the most painful things in life are asking for permission and writing reports.
This wasn't meant to torment the little lions, but to force them to clearly understand what they were doing before they did it.
Of course, not everything can be predicted. If unexpected situations arose, a supplementary report could be filed afterward, but it had to match the facts perfectly, without a single discrepancy.
For instance, getting into a brawl with Slytherin...
Silence. Absolute silence!
Owen had left, but no one in the common room went back to bed.
"No, wait! Why should we listen to him?!"
Ron exploded. He was furious. But he couldn't fight Owen alone, so he looked to rally the troops, hoping to twist everyone into a rope to resist the tyrant's oppression!
After shouting, he immediately looked at his twin brothers. Knowing their nature, they should be the first to back him up.
But to Ron's despair, the twins looked grim, yet showed no intention of rebelling. Instead, they hung their heads and trudged back to their dormitory to sleep. Their night-wandering plan for the evening was forcibly cancelled.
The students in fifth year and above didn't care much. Besides, they didn't have the energy to worry about trivial matters—their critical exams were putting them under immense pressure!
As for fourth years and below wanting to rebel?
Heh.
If the Weasley twins didn't even entertain the thought, who else would? And honestly, the number of Gryffindors who genuinely loved causing trouble wasn't that high—just a minority.
And a portion of that minority would be fifth years next year anyway, escaping Owen's jurisdiction...
So, absolutely no one responded to Ron. First, they didn't have the strength. Second, they really couldn't beat Owen.
Ron refused to give up. The next day, he went to Professor McGonagall. But to his horror, after hearing his complaint, McGonagall's eyes lit up. She then decided to include the sixth years in the system too.
Fifth years had O.W.L.s, seventh years had N.E.W.T.s, but sixth years had nothing!
Ron despaired... even his own Head of House was biased. There was no hope.
Gryffindor's freedom was sunk. But Professors Flitwick and Sprout weren't happy!
"My dear, you know Hufflepuff doesn't lack ability; they just lack fighting spirit. You must find a way to ignite their drive, won't you?"
"Owen, in terms of comprehensive ability, Ravenclaw is the strongest. You can't give up on Ravenclaw."
He couldn't refuse!
When a kind witch and a pitiful half-goblin looked at him with misty eyes... Owen had to agree. However, he wouldn't act immediately. In his view, these two Houses didn't have major issues, so he needed time to formulate a proper plan.
The two professors left satisfied. Owen returned to his room, saw the resting Wampus Cat, picked her up without a word, and collapsed onto the bed.
Being a student was mentally exhausting!
Regardless, study time couldn't be changed, and training time couldn't be reduced. Collecting reports was Ron's job. Supervision was handled by ghosts and portraits. So, grading the reports naturally fell to the most responsible young witch.
Hermione felt immense pressure...
Not from the work itself, but from reading the contents. "How can there be such stupid ideas and such foolish plans? Oh my god. I always thought Gryffindor was the best House. If I had known it was like this, I should have listened to the Sorting Hat and gone to Ravenclaw!"