"Alright, everyone. That's the end of this matter."
Sean sat lazily on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, looking completely relaxed despite the coldness in his voice. Higgs knelt in the middle of the common room, trembling uncontrollably while the surrounding Slytherins watched in silence.
"As for Mr. Higgs' punishment…"
Sean slowly raised his wand.
"Furnunculus."
"Silencio."
"Petrificus Totalus."
Three spells flashed in succession. Before Higgs could even scream, his body stiffened completely and flipped upside down into the air, hanging helplessly from the ceiling like a suspended puppet.
His eyes widened in panic, but not even a sound could escape his mouth.
"Whoever shares classes with him, remember to ask for leave on his behalf tomorrow," Sean said calmly. "And no one is allowed to help him down. No one is allowed to approach him either. The spell will automatically lift at this time tomorrow."
The common room was deathly quiet.
Sean looked up at the dangling boy and spoke flatly.
"This is your punishment, Mr. Higgs."
At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed from the wall.
"Which one of you is Sean Sebastian? Professor McGonagall is waiting for you in her office."
Everyone turned toward the portrait that had spoken. It was an unfamiliar wizard painting, one Sean had never seen in the Slytherin common room before.
"I understand."
Sean stood up immediately and walked toward the exit without another word.
As he left the underground corridors behind, his expression gradually darkened.
Someone had clearly tried to use Higgs to kill him.
But who?
Voldemort?
The thought lingered heavily in his mind as he made his way through the castle.
By the time he arrived outside Professor McGonagall's office, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Two Aurors stood guard outside the door.
Both men wore stern expressions, hands resting near their wands as though prepared for trouble at any moment.
Sean's heartbeat skipped.
Did something happen?
For a brief moment, he even considered turning around and leaving. Unfortunately, the instant he stopped moving, both Aurors locked their eyes onto him.
There was no backing out now.
Sean forced himself forward and entered the office.
The moment he stepped inside, Professor McGonagall looked up from behind her desk.
"Oh, Sean, you're finally here. This is Mr. Fudge, the Minister for Magic."
Sean froze.
Cornelius Fudge stood beside the desk wearing his usual smile and bowler hat.
Sean's face immediately became miserable.
"This can't be serious enough for the Minister himself to come arrest me, right?"
Professor McGonagall's expression stiffened slightly.
"Mr. Sebastian, Minister Fudge is not here to arrest you."
"Oh?"
"He's here to deliver a Medal of Honor."
Sean blinked in confusion and looked toward Fudge.
The Minister smiled warmly.
"Mr. Sebastian, several days ago your brother assisted the Ministry in Hogsmeade. He helped capture and eliminate three dangerous Dark wizards who had been evading arrest for quite some time."
Sean's heart nearly stopped.
"We attempted to contact your brother personally," Fudge continued, "but unfortunately he appears to have vanished again. Since we couldn't locate him, we decided to entrust this medal to you instead."
As he spoke, Fudge reached into his pocket and handed Sean a gleaming silver medal engraved with the Ministry seal.
"Actually," Fudge added casually, "there was an Auror in our department who refused to provide your brother's whereabouts. Very uncooperative behavior. We've already dismissed her from service. Otherwise, this medal would've reached you much earlier."
Sean's fingers tightened slightly around the medal.
"And naturally," Fudge said with a smile, "if your brother ever wishes to join the Ministry of Magic, our doors will always remain open for him."
Without waiting for a response, Fudge politely bid farewell to Professor McGonagall before leaving the office with surprising speed.
The room fell silent.
Sean stared blankly at the medal in his hands for several long seconds.
Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses and fixed him with a sharp gaze.
"I don't recall you ever mentioning an older brother, Mr. Sebastian."
Sean's throat instantly tightened.
For one terrifying moment, he thought everything had been exposed.
But after watching him silently for a few seconds, Professor McGonagall finally sighed.
"Still, the Ministry's inspection showed no signs of underage magic being cast with your wand outside school grounds." Her tone softened slightly. "So you may go."
Sean nearly exhaled in relief.
"Thank you, Professor."
He turned immediately and left the office without looking back.
The instant the door closed behind him, the portraits hanging around the office began speaking among themselves.
"It was obviously him, Minerva. You know perfectly well the boy has no older brother."
"He tried to fool us, but Hogwarts keeps records on every student."
Professor McGonagall rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"Whether it was him or not hardly matters at this point," she said quietly. "At the very least, he hasn't done anything evil."
Her eyes drifted toward the closed office door.
"I'm simply worried he's growing far too quickly."
The oldest portrait in the room narrowed his eyes.
"Like Tom Riddle once did."
Professor McGonagall fell silent for several seconds before speaking again.
"Perhaps even faster."
…
By the time Sean returned to the Slytherin dormitory, the common room was still crowded.
No one had gone to sleep.
However, the atmosphere now felt strangely heavy.
A girl crouched on the floor crying softly while several students surrounded her in silence.
Sean walked closer and saw several tiny mouse corpses lying on a cloth.
"What happened?"
Charlie lowered his voice.
"Jessica's mice gave birth to a third litter."
His expression darkened.
"But all of them died."
Sean crouched down for a closer look.
Every single newborn mouse was deformed.
Some lacked limbs. Others had twisted spines or misshapen skulls. A few looked so fragile they probably hadn't survived more than a few breaths after birth.
The surrounding Slytherins looked pale.
At that moment, Sean genuinely regretted what he had done.
He only wanted them to understand one thing—that blind obsession with blood purity would eventually lead to weakness, deformity, and death.
But seeing these younger students staring at the dead mice with tears in their eyes made the lesson feel unexpectedly cruel.
Unfortunately, there was no turning back now.
Sean slowly stood up.
"This," he said quietly, "is exactly what I wanted to show all of you."
The room remained silent.
"These are the consequences of extreme pure-blood breeding."
Jessica wiped her eyes desperately while clutching the edge of her robes.
Sean continued calmly.
"Pure blood does not equal nobility."
The first time he'd spoken those words, most of the Slytherins had looked at him with ridicule and disdain.
But tonight was different.
This time, he saw hesitation.
Fear.
Even agreement.
For the past several weeks, these students had personally raised the mice themselves. They'd watched them grow, watched them reproduce, and even named them one by one.
To some extent, those mice had become their pets.
Their responsibility.
Their little family.
Now the reality was sitting directly in front of them.
No lecture could compare to seeing it with their own eyes.
"Prefect…" one younger student asked weakly, "are all our mice going to die?"
Another girl bit her lip.
"Divin won't die too, right?"
"And Kick…" someone whispered shakily. "Kick can't die…"
Sean looked at the anxious faces surrounding him and sighed inwardly.
"Since the experiment has already begun," he said, "then let's see it through to the end."
His voice remained calm, but every word landed heavily.
"Take this as both a lesson and a warning."
The common room stayed quiet for a long moment.
Finally, Sean spoke again.
"If you want, after they die, you can build a small cemetery in the training room and bury them there."
Several younger students immediately lowered their heads.
Some were already crying quietly.
Sean knew the worst had only just begun.
The first deaths had already appeared, and before the semester ended, nearly every mouse in the colony would probably die due to inbreeding.
Only a handful from the earliest generation might survive.
Maybe.
By the third generation, genetic deformities and weakened immunity had already become severe. Once disease spread through the colony, entire litters would likely die one after another.
But Sean didn't say any of that aloud.
Some lessons couldn't simply be taught.
People had to experience them personally.
After silently organizing his thoughts, Sean turned toward Malfoy and the Quidditch players nearby.
"Tomorrow's the match against Gryffindor," he said. "Get as many points as possible. I believe in all of you."
The Slytherin players immediately straightened.
Sean rarely encouraged anyone directly.
"Don't worry, Prefect!"
"We definitely won't lose to Gryffindor!"
"For the boss!"
"Slytherin will win!"
.....
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