While Viktor was still pondering exactly how to deal with these two troublemakers, Dumbledore spoke up with a gentle smile.
"Alright, Viktor, neither of them meant any real harm. And Hogwarts didn't suffer any actual damage—in fact, we got to see a rather… unique side of the castle today. Let's just let them off this once."
Hearing Dumbledore step in to smooth things over, Tom and Peeves immediately snapped to attention in perfect unison. Both put on identical ingratiating smiles and turned the exact same pitiful, watery-eyed gaze toward Viktor.
Viktor's mouth twitched violently.
Hogwarts had literally taken flight, and this was "no real harm"?
If Tom had actually blown the place up, Viktor doubted old Dumbledore would still be standing here chuckling and playing peacemaker.
But since the Headmaster himself wasn't pressing charges, there was no point in Viktor dragging it out.
He shot one last ferocious glare at the cat and the ghost, waving his oversized custom flyswatter for emphasis.
"No next time—got it? If there is a next time, hmph~"
Tom immediately went full submissive mode, nodding so fast his head blurred with little boing-boing sound effects.
Peeves, seeing this, hurriedly nodded along like his afterlife depended on it.
By now the castle's ghosts and portraits had started drifting or floating in—drawn by the commotion or summoned by the noise—but Dumbledore gently waved them all away before anyone could start asking questions.
He also asked Kettleburn to head back to the Forbidden Forest and look after the little creatures, calm them down after the earthquake-like bouncing.
Soon the corridor was empty again.
Dumbledore looked at Tom—who was now standing obediently while Viktor lectured him—with a deeply complicated expression.
Right now, two tiny versions of himself were fighting in his head.
One kept insisting: This isn't magic. This isn't even science.
The other was shouting back: This is PEAK magic! This is the magic called miracles!
For a moment Dumbledore genuinely wondered whether someone had slipped some colourful hallucinogenic mushrooms into breakfast.
"Er… Viktor, about Tom…?"
Viktor scratched his head at the Headmaster's hesitant tone.
"Don't worry, Headmaster. Sure, Tom can conjure things out of thin air, soul-project, carry himself while flying, and pull off all sorts of bizarre skills… but he's actually a very good cat. Um. Probably."
Even Viktor sounded a little unsure by the end.
He glanced at the perfectly behaved Tom one more time before nodding firmly.
Tom cooperated by giving Dumbledore an enthusiastic nod of agreement.
Seeing that, Dumbledore tried to relax—then immediately realised he couldn't.
The cat had only been at school for one day and already made Hogwarts do a full tap-dance routine.
If one day he actually demolished the place, Dumbledore's hundred-and-something-year-old heart might not survive the shock.
He looked at Tom, then at the miraculously intact castle, then mentally replayed his own earlier words about "welcoming unique souls no matter the form."
Right now Dumbledore desperately wished he could travel back in time and swallow those words whole.
Do all beings named Tom have to be this… this headache-inducing? Even when it's just a cat?
In the end, he let out a very tired sigh.
"Very well then, Viktor. In the future, please make sure our Assistant Tom… exercises a bit more… restraint."
"Of course, Headmaster. I'll keep a close eye on him from now on."
Hearing that he was off the hook, Tom's eyes lit up. He snapped to attention and threw Dumbledore a crisp military salute.
Dumbledore gave a weak wave of his hand—clearly exhausted—and turned to shuffle toward his office.
Things he couldn't understand shouldn't torture him alone. Time to write a letter to Aberforth and share the pain.
Watching the Headmaster's suddenly frail-looking back as he walked away, McGonagall's expression was equally complicated as she stared at Tom.
Unlike Dumbledore—who had a thousand bigger worries—McGonagall's concern was much simpler.
Cat Professor was purely dreading the day Gryffindor turned into Gryff-"f"-indor once the Weasley twins inevitably met this cat.
That said… she actually quite liked Tom. He was clever, spirited, and undeniably beautiful.
After one last grumpy ruffle of his fur, she hurried off to comfort the house-elves, who were still sobbing hysterically over their beloved castle having done the Highland fling.
With everyone gone, Viktor didn't bother scolding Tom any further.
He simply grabbed the cat by the scruff of fate (his neck) and marched toward the Forbidden Forest, looking thoroughly fed up.
Peeves watched Tom being carried off, waving a little handkerchief with genuine reluctance.
In his ghostly heart, he had already accepted a new pecking order for Hogwarts:
Heaven first, Earth second, Tom third.
And the great Peeves? Proud fourth place.
...
Viktor spent the rest of the morning in the Forbidden Forest with Kettleburn, treating the little creatures who'd been shaken up, helping the healed ones settle into their new territory, and laying down the ground rules:
Live peacefully in the Forest. No hurting students. Fulfil your ecological duties. Etc.
Lunch was prepared on-site by the three Snail Maidens Viktor had hired from China—fresh, authentic Chinese home cooking using whatever ingredients they could forage or conjure.
Kettleburn and Hagrid both devoured it with exclamations of delight.
After the meal, at Hagrid's enthusiastic invitation, Viktor and Tom toured Hagrid's hybridization "research base."
The results… were indescribable.
And they left poor Tom with some very deep, very fresh psychological scars on his innocent little soul.
By the time the afternoon sun began to slant westward,
After sampling the house-elves' enthusiastic (if not entirely authentic) lavish Chinese-style lunch,
Viktor lounged in a rocking chair, idly petting the now perfectly behaved Tom curled up in his lap, while flipping through the student records in his hand.
"Hmm, let's see… any outstanding little badgers in Hufflepuff these past few years?"
"Oh ho—Cedric Diggory. Outstanding in every subject. Truly an excellent junior. Bit on the quiet side, though… I wonder if he's inherited the Badger Spirit I left behind back in the day."