That day, Arthur was busy mulling over ways to refine raw stones when Hermione came rushing back into the common room.
"Cousin, Harry and Ron got punished again!"
Arthur: ???
"Didn't they just lose a hundred points the other day? What did they do this time?"
"Looks like it's still because of sneaking out at night."
Arthur couldn't help but laugh.
Last time they got caught, he had already reminded them to bring the Invisibility Cloak next time—yet somehow, they still managed to get caught.
"Come on, let's go ask what happened."
The two of them found Harry and Ron. After some questioning, they finally pieced the story together.
It all started with Hagrid's dragon, Norbert.
After some growth, the dragon had already become bigger than Hagrid's dog Fang.
Arthur wasn't interested in Norbert at all—he had already slaughtered more than a few dragons in the game.
Hermione wasn't impressed either. Girls tended to prefer prettier creatures—like the unicorns in Arthur's Zen Garden.
Lately she had been running there three times a day just to spend more time with them.
But Harry and Ron were different.
The two of them were obsessed with the dragon, visiting Hagrid's hut every day just to "pet the dragon."
At one point, Ron even got his hand bitten, and since Norwegian Ridgeback saliva was slightly venomous, his hand swelled up like a pig's trotter.
Fortunately, Arthur had plenty of herbs on hand and quickly brewed up an antidote.
As Norbert grew larger and larger, Harry and Ron realized Hagrid wouldn't be able to hide it for much longer.
Sooner or later, someone would report him, and Hagrid would end up in Azkaban.
So, they persuaded him to send the dragon away to Charlie's dragon reserve.
Hagrid, though reluctant, agreed.
Ron contacted his brother, and they made arrangements to send Norbert off at night.
The plan was simple: take Norbert to an open spot in the castle grounds, where wizards on broomsticks would fly in to pick him up.
When Arthur heard this, he nearly burst out laughing.
Hogwarts was famed as the most secure place in the British wizarding world, layered with countless defensive enchantments.
He was certain that the moment those wizards flew in, Dumbledore would know.
In fact, Dumbledore must have known about Hagrid's dragon long ago—Hagrid's strange behavior and all those dragon books borrowed from the library couldn't possibly escape his eyes.
What amused Arthur even more was that they chose to smuggle the dragon out from within Hogwarts itself. Couldn't they have picked a quieter spot?
Or better yet, have Hagrid carry Norbert out to Hogsmeade first?
When he voiced his doubts, Harry explained that Hagrid couldn't bear to part with Norbert in person, so he asked them to handle it.
So the boys followed through with the plan and successfully handed Norbert off.
But on their way back, they left behind the Invisibility Cloak.
And this time, their luck ran out—they were caught by Professor Snape.
Snape's temper hadn't been good lately.
Even with the Philosopher's Stone in hand, his work on the Elixir of Life hadn't progressed much. No matter how he tried, the potions he brewed veered toward mere life-extension instead of true rejuvenation, almost as though the Stone itself was influencing him.
Frustrated, he went out for a walk to clear his head.
Just as inspiration struck, he ran into the two faces he despised the most.
And so, the boys were doomed. Not only did they suffer a barrage of insults, Gryffindor also lost another hundred points.
This time, Hermione was furious.
Last time, Gryffindor had still been more than a hundred points ahead, and with her cousin egging her on to "enjoy the fun," she hadn't cared.
But now that Gryffindor had dropped to second place, she couldn't let it slide.
She scolded Harry and Ron harshly, saying even pigs were smarter than them.
Arthur solemnly nodded along.
Indeed—how could anyone be careless enough to lose something as precious as the Invisibility Cloak?
If you're not going to use your brain, might as well donate it to someone who will.
To make matters worse, their punishment was once again to patrol the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid.
As Snape put it:
"Since you like staying up at night so much, then don't bother sleeping at all. Go patrol the forest."
What could Harry and Ron do but resign themselves to fate?
The very next morning, Harry dragged Arthur out of bed in a hurry.
In the common room, he breathlessly recounted everything he had seen the night before.
Apparently, he had witnessed a mysterious figure drinking unicorn blood.
Harry suspected it was Voldemort, weak and in desperate need of life-force. He believed Snape was stealing the Philosopher's Stone for him so he could regain power and rise again.
Arthur was stunned.
So Quirrell was still hard at work, huh? Even after suffering such a huge setback, he was still sneaking into the forest to hunt unicorns.
Arthur didn't know whether to praise Quirrell's courage or Voldemort's cunning—hiding behind the most dangerous place because "the safest place is the most dangerous one."
Of course, Voldemort hadn't gone himself at all. He was hiding in Quirrell's office, too traumatized by the killing curse rebounding to act directly.
Still, Harry's analysis left Ron trembling in fear.
"Merlin's beard! I was just worried about my Potions final, and now you tell me we also have to worry about the Dark Lord trying to kill you?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
She already knew the real threat came from Professor Quirrell, but thanks to her cousin's warning, she hadn't dared to approach him.
Hearing Harry's explanation, she finally understood why Quirrell was trying to kill him—he was serving Voldemort.
That realization was unsettling.
She had always believed Voldemort had been killed when his own curse rebounded. Yet here he was, still alive, hiding inside Hogwarts of all places—the supposedly safest place in Britain.
But she chose not to tell Harry the truth.
Who knew if he'd charge at Quirrell in a fit of Gryffindor bravado?
Besides, being the only one who knew the truth while everyone else remained in the dark did feel a little amusing.
Maybe that was why her cousin liked watching drama unfold so much.
So she "comforted" Harry:
"Relax. Think about it—who does Voldemort fear the most? Dumbledore. As long as Dumbledore's here, he won't dare touch you."
She didn't even believe her own words.
Hadn't Harry nearly fallen to his death during the Quidditch match?
But with wizarding medicine being what it was, as long as you didn't land head-first, chances were you'd survive.
Maybe that was exactly why Quirrell had cursed Harry then—hoping for a convenient "accident."
Arthur joined in, nodding gravely.
"Exactly. Instead of worrying about Voldemort, you two should focus on your finals. I don't want to see you repeating a year."
Ron was hopeless enough—using someone else's wand, bad at spellwork, and a complete slacker.
Harry, on the other hand, had been so busy with Quidditch practice that all he thought about in class was how to control his broom better.
Both boys gave Arthur a resentful look. They knew very well who had gotten the idea of repeating a year implemented at Hogwarts in the first place.
The truth was, Hogwarts never used to have such a rule.
But one day, Arthur had sighed about how life at Hogwarts was starting to resemble his old university days.
Then he remembered how, in his past life, his illness and his own reckless behavior had led him to fail so many classes that he had to repeat a year.
And he thought: Why should I be the only one to suffer?
So he wrote a letter to Dumbledore, righteously arguing that Hogwarts should take students' academics seriously and live up to its reputation as Britain's greatest magical academy.
Dumbledore not only accepted the suggestion, but even awarded Gryffindor fifty points for "improving Hogwarts' academic system."
From then on, every underachiever in the four Houses had looked at Arthur with nothing but hatred.
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