Lively Corridor

Anthony returned to the office after class and opened the Transfiguration textbook to start his study today. He was gritting his teeth and trying to turn his desk into a horse. The cat lying on his lap suddenly shook its ears, stood up, and slid the textbook to the ground.

There were sounds of quarreling in the corridor outside. His and Professor Quirrell's offices were in the same corridor, which was relatively remote. Except for students who came to ask them questions, few people would pass by here.

He opened the office and looked over. It's Neville again. There was also a student he didn't recognize - judging from the way he spoke, he was a Slytherin. He was waving his wand lazily and pressing his leg on Neville who is trying to stand up. 

"You'd better look up to me and talk to me, you weak coward." The Slytherin said, "It's no fun bullying a coward like you, but your existence has caused trouble to me, I don't want it too. I don't wanna hear more nonsense like 'his distant aunt drove Longbottom's parents crazy'. 

Neville was shaking, tears welling up in his eyes, and he glared stubbornly at the senior student.

Anthony touched his wand. The student's language was really outrageous, and the professors in the staff room seemed not to be surprised by the dispute between the two houses, and even thought it was okay. Cultivate students' fighting ability.

"If you see a fight within the house, you can call their dean." Professor Burbage told him. "If you see a fight between houses, you can deduct points from both sides. But if you see Gryffindor and Slytherin fight, let them fight, they have been fighting for years, both in and out of school."

Anthony paid attention to the situation in the corridor and made up his mind that if the senior student used one more spell, he would rush out and deduct points. If Snape wants to come to him to settle accounts, he can just come and talk to him about the moral education of students.

"I'm not a weak coward!" shouted Neville, putting his hands on the ground and gasping in pain.

The Slytherin's eyes flashed with malice: "Hey, if you weren't a coward, would you dare to go to the corridor upstairs?"

"But that corridor..." Neville said stumblingly, "We can't go in that corridor! If we are discovered, we will lose points..."

"Ha! Points!" the other party sneered, "You should be able to find a better excuse for your cowardice, Longbottom. Think about it... Oh, I forgot, it is difficult for you to think" He laughed.

Neville's face turned red and white. He took a deep breath and said, "Then..."

Anthony felt he had to intervene. Even if the student wanted Neville to break into Snape's office, he would probably continue to pay attention to what was going on. But not the corridor on the second floor. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall emphasized the importance of that corridor to all staff and told them that it was really dangerous and that if students were seen wandering nearby, they should be kicked out immediately.

"If it's Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said through gritted teeth, "I suggest you start deducting 20 points per person. Deductions of less than 10 points will no longer work for them."

The professors all felt that Gryffindor was most likely to want to challenge that corridor. From the opening party, Anthony felt that Dumbledore's speech was a disguised version of "Brave hero, please help me get rid of the evil dragon", and he has always been worried that students who don't know the heights of heaven and earth will try their courage. I didn't expect to encounter Slytherin encouraging Gryffindor today.

He pretended that he was about to go out, put on his shoes at the door for a while, and walked into the corridor holding the lesson plan. The Slytherin let go of Neville at an astonishing speed, just passing by Anthony who opened the door, and even nodded politely to him.

Neville stood against the wall, his face still stained with tears and dust, staring blankly in the direction where the Slytherin disappeared.

"Professor Anthony." He looked at Anthony standing at the door and asked in a low voice, "How do brave people deal with bullying?"

"I don't know, Mr. Longbottom, you have to find the answer yourself. But I know that bullying others is not a brave thing to do."

…

After seeing off the comforted Neville, Anthony stood in the corridor for a while, lost in thought. It was only after he came to Hogwarts that he gradually realized that the impact of the last war on the wizarding world was so profound that traces can still be seen among the students. Perhaps because he didn't live through those war-torn years, his feelings for Voldemort were almost the same as his feelings for the Goblin Rebellion: A Few Chapters in the History of Magic.

As he communicates with the students ("I'm a half-blood. My father is a Muggle-born and my mother is a Muggle, but they both died in the Wizarding War. I wonder what they might have done if they were still alive."), and he learned more and more about that war.

He once asked Professor Burbage how many children in Hogwarts had lost relatives in that war? Professor Burbage looked at him for a while and told him that because the British wizarding community was so small, it was almost everyone who had wizarding relatives. This is why Harry Potter is so famous.

"I'm so glad Voldemort is dead," Anthony said.

"Me too." Professor Burbage smiled.

…

He was about to go back to his room just in time to see the Weasley brothers coming down the stairs. That staircase happens to be connected to the "Don't go there if you don't want to die miserably" corridor on the right side of the third floor. Perhaps because he had just heard the Slytherin student trying to encourage Neville to go on an "adventure", Anthony was a little worried about what the Weasley brothers were doing up there.

He stopped them: "Good afternoon, Weasley."

"Good afternoon, Professor," they replied in unison.

"What are you doing upstairs?" Anthony asked bluntly.

"It's a really nice day today -" one person said.

"So we decided to go see the beautiful scenery of Hogwarts." Another person answered.

"Professor, seriously, you should go up there and take a look."

"You can even see into the depths of the Forbidden Forest."

"The sun shines on the lake, it's so beautiful."

"I almost want to write poetry."

Anthony rubbed his forehead in confusion. He didn't know why the Weasley brothers went upstairs, but it sounded like they went to a very high place and had nothing to do with the third-floor corridor.

"I remember Gryffindor's dormitories are in the tower, and the view should be just as good there," he said before waving them off.

Both brothers said in unison: "Yes, Professor."

Anthony smiled as he watched them run away, and when he turned around, he discovered that Professor Quirrell was also coming down the stairs.

"Good afternoon, Professor Anthony," Quirrell said, staring in the direction of the Weasley brothers.

Anthony suddenly remembered the prank he had heard in the staff room. The Weasley brothers were not at ease in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

"I'm worried that they went to the second-floor corridor." Anthony said to Quirrell.

Quirrell's body trembled violently, and he looked at Anthony with wide eyes: "Students cannot go there."

Anthony reassured him before returning to his office.

As soon as Anthony sat down, his cat jumped into his lap. It doesn't like the smell of living people. Anthony hugged the cat: "I know, the corridor is too noisy today."