For a moment, no one in the Slytherin common room spoke. Everyone was waiting for Eda's response.
Eda was universally acknowledged as the most powerful student in Hogwarts.
Part of that came from her own strength, and part of it came from Dumbledore's favoritism. Her position as Head Girl was effectively an official seal of approval from the school administration.
It could be said that as long as Hogwarts still belonged to Dumbledore, Eda could walk around the school with complete freedom.
Only if Dumbledore ceased to be headmaster and the next headmaster happened to dislike her would anyone have a chance to rally against her and drive her out of the school.
Unfortunately for them, Dumbledore was still sitting in the Headmaster's Office on the 7th floor.
No matter how dissatisfied they were, they could not openly oppose Eda.
More importantly, they could not beat her.
Draco Malfoy possessed neither exceptional talent nor remarkable personal charisma.
The Malfoy family had nothing but mountains of wealth. Lucius Malfoy let the Ministry push him around however it pleased. Hadn't he just made a large donation to St. Mungo's recently?
How were they supposed to compare?
There was no comparison at all.
Seeking advantage and avoiding harm was human nature.
No one was willing to completely alienate someone they could not afford to offend just for the sake of a spoiled young master.
The Malfoys certainly were not going to help them.
In the end, wouldn't they be the ones paying the price?
Any intelligent person could see the balance of interests involved.
Only fools still believed that Slytherin's honor had been insulted.
What honor did Slytherin have?
Interests came first.
Everything else existed to serve those interests.
From the moment Eda entered the common room, she had not been as aggressive as she usually was. Instead, she had made it clear that she was willing to talk.
That alone showed that she had no intention of ruining Malfoy completely.
She wanted to strike the mountain to scare the tiger, to kill the chicken and warn the monkeys.
People always said that a new official lit three fires upon taking office.
Eda had just taken office, and she had already started lighting hers.
She was waiting for someone foolish enough to crash into her so she could establish her authority through an example.
Malfoy had simply been blind enough to volunteer himself.
Who could he blame?
"A month and a half would work too," another boy beside Cody Avery suddenly spoke up. "If guests see Malfoy cleaning the castle, that would affect Hogwarts' image as well, wouldn't it?"
The truth was that Eda's silence had not been because she was dissatisfied with the punishment.
She had been thinking about how to wrap things up.
She had not expected an unexpected bonus.
"I'm very pleased to hear someone mention 'Hogwarts' image,'" Eda said, putting on her Head Girl demeanor. "It seems everyone still feels some sense of belonging toward the school."
"Whether it's one month or one and a half months, what I want is your promise."
Eda raised her head and looked around at the assembled Slytherins.
"At the prefects' meeting on the train, I said that I wanted everyone to unite, not embarrass ourselves in front of outsiders. If you have the ability, use it against outsiders instead of bullying your own people."
"But it's only the first day of school, and you're already causing trouble for me."
"Do you all think I'm easy to bully?"
"This was only Malfoy's personal behavior..." Avery began, but he could not finish.
It was true.
This was Malfoy's personal behavior.
The problem was that there were plenty of Slytherins who thought exactly the same way as Malfoy.
Most of them believed that this was Hogwarts and that Eda would not dare do anything excessive to students.
As a result, they had never really taken her demands seriously.
They had assumed that all they needed to do was behave themselves for a little while so that the new Head Girl could save face.
What they had never expected was that someone would lose patience on the very first day.
Nor had they expected that Eda was not simply putting on a show.
"I'm sitting right here," Eda said, completely ignoring Avery. "If any of you are dissatisfied, say it openly. Don't play games behind my back while pretending to cooperate."
A student in the crowd could not help asking,
"Twist, what if today's situation were reversed? What if Potter and Weasley had been the ones to provoke Malfoy first?"
Eda turned toward the speaker.
"Good question."
"If Potter and Weasley had been the ones provoking Malfoy, then Potter and Weasley would naturally receive the punishment they deserved."
"I deal with actions, not people."
"But answer honestly."
"In all these years, when has it not been Malfoy who started it first?"
Since arriving at Hogwarts in 1991, the conflict between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had only grown worse and worse.
Yet every single time, Malfoy had been the one to start trouble.
He constantly ran his mouth.
Frankly, even if someone beat him up, he would have deserved it.
Anyone whose eyes and ears worked properly knew this.
The Slytherin students knew it perfectly well too.
Even so, many of them continued to defend Malfoy.
After all, they had ended up with him as one of their own.
It was only because Harry had a good temper.
If the person standing before them now had been in Harry's place, the Slytherin students did not even dare imagine what things would look like.
Another student stepped out from the crowd. This time it was a little girl with curly blonde hair, long eyelashes, and a pair of cute dimples on her face. She looked quite young, probably only in her second or third year.
The girl timidly asked, "Prefect Avery said that you don't want to see any Hogwarts student bullied. Is that true? Does that include us Slytherins too?"
"Little girl, what's your name?" Eda asked kindly.
"Astoria. Astoria Greengrass."
"In my understanding, Hogwarts is made up of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Eda said gently. "Am I right, Astoria?"
The little girl named Greengrass looked about Ginny's age, but she wasn't as lively as Ginny, nor was she as arrogant as her older sister. She looked soft and delicate.
"Yes, Slytherin is one of the four houses of Hogwarts," Astoria answered. Her voice remained quiet, as if she were a little nervous.
Eda then looked at Cody Avery, who was standing nearby.
"Avery, when I spoke at the meeting, I said 'any Hogwarts student,' right?"
"That's right. You said 'any Hogwarts student.' That naturally includes us Slytherins," Cody Avery replied without hesitation.
"Then your question has no meaning, Astoria," Eda said. "However, there is one thing to keep in mind. I will protect you and make sure outsiders don't bully you, but if you're the ones at fault, punishment will still be unavoidable."
After hearing Eda's answer, Astoria quietly stepped back. A wave of murmuring spread through the crowd as the Slytherin students began whispering among themselves.
Ever since learning that Eda had become Head Girl, Slytherin had worried that she would abuse her authority for personal revenge. After all, the two sides had never gotten along, and conflicts between Slytherin and Gryffindor were common.
Tonight, they had received Eda's promise, a promise of fair treatment, and that satisfied most of the Slytherins. More often than not, being treated differently was something that hurt deeply.
Since Eda had already shown her sincerity, Slytherin needed to show its own sincerity in return.
Relationships were mutual. If you showed others respect, they would respect and value you in return.
Cody Avery discussed things briefly with the two students beside him before speaking.
"There won't be a next time. If there is, we'll take the initiative and give you an explanation that satisfies you."
"Good. Much better," Eda said as she rose from the armchair and headed toward the exit of the common room. "Since we've both made promises, I hope both sides will honor them."
After walking a few steps, Eda suddenly stopped. She turned around and looked at the boy she had frightened badly earlier.
That nearly made him collapse again. The other Slytherins were equally confused, unsure of what Eda intended to do now.
"Oh, right. Cody, you'd better find a healer to take a look at him."
Eda pointed at her own head.
"If you understand what I mean."
After saying that, Eda did not linger any longer. She walked out of the Slytherin common room, leaving the Slytherin students staring at one another in bewilderment.
Nearly ten minutes passed before someone finally spoke.
"Cody, what did Twist mean by that last gesture?"
Cody Avery scratched his head and answered uncertainly, "I'm not sure either. Maybe she meant we should find someone to check whether Brook has something wrong with his brain. That's probably what she meant. I can't say for sure."
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