Link could understand the anxiety in John's heart, so he immediately pulled the little boy over and began examining him first.
Potion-makers usually also study some healer skills. Link's potion skills were among the best at Hogwarts, so naturally his healing abilities were far above John's and the others'.
But as soon as Link saw the wounds on the little boy's head and face, his brows furrowed.
He had noticed something that John hadn't.
Most of the boy's injuries were just ordinary burns, there were no signs of corrosion at all.
In fact, after John gave him the healing potion, his wounds had already begun to heal.
The only real issue was that his injuries looked rather gruesome, and because they had started to heal early, the skin was growing unevenly. But to Madam Pomfrey, restoring his appearance to normal would be an easy matter, nowhere near as serious as John had thought.
Just then, the boy, who was supposed to be unconscious, suddenly opened one eye and winked at Link.
At the same time, George and Fred, who had been locked up in the stinky classroom, finally burst out.
As soon as they came out, they started wailing and shouting, making a huge commotion.
Link glanced over the two of them and instantly understood.
This was probably just a staged performance, George and Fred had hired someone to act in order to fulfill their contract.
Once he figured that out, Link's expression barely changed. Keeping a stern face, he pointed to a Hufflepuff standing nearby and said, "You. Come here. Take this junior student to the infirmary. And don't try any tricks, or you can forget about graduating."
The Hufflepuff, nodding and bowing, picked up the little boy and ran straight for the hospital wing.
Link, meanwhile, helped John up and, together with Cedric, walked over to George and Fred.
At first he hadn't noticed, but once he got closer, Link finally saw that George and Fred were in a state that could no longer be described as simply "miserable."
Their robes were soaked through with the stench, reeking from head to toe, covered in vomit, faces pale as paper, weak to the point they could barely stand, leaning on each other at the doorway, looking ready to collapse.
When they saw Link coming, both of them began blinking desperately, their survival instincts in full force.
Unfortunately, Link firmly believed that if you were going to act, you had to commit to it completely. Ignoring their signals, he gave a cold laugh and said, "George, Fred, you two have some nerve. I remember I already ordered you to fix this illegal workshop, to improve safety standards here. It's only been a few days, and now you've managed to cause such a huge accident again?"
"Wait, Link, you've got it all wrong!" George and Fred immediately began protesting one after the other.
"Yeah, Link, it was an accident! We've been following the Student Council's safety guidance, we've even started upgrading the facilities and raised the workers' pay! We didn't do anything wrong!"
Before Link could even reply, John, supported by him, exploded in rage.
"Bullshit! What safety improvements? Your so-called upgrades are just locking the classroom after every accident! And pay raises? You call adding one Knut per hour a raise? You don't mention that after that one Knut, you raised our work quotas by almost thirty percent!"
John was trembling with fury. He turned toward Link and said, "Link, I didn't want to bring this up to you before, but this time they've gone too far! To keep what's happening here secret, they even stopped injured workers from getting treatment, they used force! This time we can't let them off! They're, they're scum!"
"That's right," Link said coldly. "Workshops like this, exploiting student workers, have no reason to exist."
His icy gaze swept over the crowd. Everyone instantly lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes, their earlier arrogance completely gone.
It was understandable.
Even setting aside Link's famous combat strength at Hogwarts, just his identity as a school board member was enough to crush any thought of rebellion.
After all, it was Link's funding that allowed these struggling students to study higher-level subjects in the first place. To them, he was their benefactor.
And naturally, if he could grant them opportunities, he could just as easily take them away.
If Link said the word, all their subsidies and benefits would disappear overnight.
So unless someone had a death wish, no one there would dare to go against him.
Seeing their reactions, Link nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the battered John and said in a cold voice, "You're one of my best friends. I won't stand by and watch you be bullied like this! Before the professors arrive, whoever hit you just now, go hit them back!"
"Link…"
Cedric frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but Link stopped him with a raised hand.
John, on the other hand, nodded firmly.
As Link's roommate, he'd long been influenced by Link's attitude, he didn't resist the idea of revenge at all.
George and Fred's faces changed instantly; they nearly jumped in panic.
But before they could say anything, John just gave them a cold sneer and limped over to the group of student workers who were either standing or lying around.
Clearly, he hated these accomplices even more than the supposed masterminds, George and Fred.
"You! You were the one shooting spells at me from the corner just now, feeling proud of yourself, huh?"
"And you, I actually thought you were a hardworking Slytherin! Turns out a dog never changes its nature! You were the one leading the others to help them bully us!"
"Why are you hiding? This bruise on my eye, you gave me that, didn't you?"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
As John limped through the crowd, a stream of curses and sharp slaps echoed nonstop.
The scene left Cedric stunned.
He turned to Link in disbelief and said, "I thought letting John go alone would put him at a disadvantage, but now… these people aren't even fighting back or talking back, this is…"
Cedric trailed off, words failing him. The sight before him had shattered his understanding of things.
Link just sneered. "What's so surprising? Tell me, what difference is there for them between being bullied by us and being exploited by George and Fred?"
"They've already been broken by George and Fred, they've lost all courage and backbone. If they still had the guts to fight back, today's mess would never have happened."
Cedric said nothing. What Link said, and what he was seeing, was something completely new to him, and he needed time to take it in.
Not far away, John finally stopped.
But not because he felt it was enough, or because he was tired.
It was because, from the far end of the hallway, Professor McGonagall was marching toward them with the Hufflepuff messenger at her side.
"Are you all trying to rebel!?"
Her voice came before she even arrived.
That one shout made many students, including George and Fred, shiver.
Especially the Gryffindors.
They knew all too well how strict and unyielding their Head of House was. In cases like this, being a Gryffindor didn't earn them any leniency, if anything, it made the punishment harsher.
Because they had disgraced Gryffindor House.
Sure enough, once Professor McGonagall stepped into the crowd, she didn't even glance at anyone else. Her eyes swept over the other Gryffindors with icy fury before going straight to George and Fred.
"Well! You two have really grown bold, now you're organizing riots and exploiting your fellow students! Someone gets injured, and not only do you refuse to send them to the hospital, you even block others from helping! Tell me, did you even have permission from any professor to open this so-called workshop!?"
It was obvious that she'd already heard the story from the messenger. Without asking further, she started scolding them right away.
George and Fred shrank under her glare, their heads hanging, faces full of guilt, not a trace of their usual mischievous grins left.
Seeing them silent, McGonagall trembled with anger, her lips quivering.
She jabbed her finger hard at their heads and snapped, "Detention! Both of you! For this entire term, every evening, one hour of detention and mandatory labor! Right here!"
"This workshop will be shut down and sealed off, and you'll clean and restore it yourselves! If it's not back to normal by the end of the year, you can forget about graduating! Also, because of you two, Gryffindor loses 100 points!"
The moment she finished, George and Fred panicked.
They didn't care about graduation, or losing points.
It was still early in the school year, and the hourglasses in the Great Hall didn't hold many points yet. With no negative scoring, the worst that could happen was they'd reset to zero.
But daily detention for a whole term? That they couldn't handle.
Fred's eyes reddened, he almost blurted out that Link was behind it all, but George quickly grabbed him and held up one finger.
McGonagall caught the gesture and barked, "What are you two plotting now? Are you hiding something from me? Speak up!"
But this time, her stern tone had no effect. Fred froze, realizing what George meant.
He glanced at Link, then at McGonagall, and finally lowered his head, gritting his teeth.
"No, Professor. Nothing. I just… can't accept it yet."
He couldn't help it, that was a thousand Galleons.
With that much money, their dream of opening a shop could finally come true.
And besides, they still had a contract with Link, they couldn't afford to break it.
"Hmph! You brought this on yourselves!" McGonagall snapped.
She turned toward the rest of the crowd and said sharply, "And the rest of you! You knew something like this was happening, and you didn't tell a professor? Instead, you went along with them, conspiring together! I'll inform your Heads of House, and each of you loses ten points!"
The crowd was silent.
Unlike George and Fred, none of them had the guts to talk back to Professor McGonagall.
Seeing that, her expression softened slightly.
She took a deep breath and turned to Link and Cedric.
"You two handled this well," she said.
"You sent word to me immediately, came here early to maintain order, and got the injured to the hospital. If it weren't for you, this could've ended far worse."
"You've lived up to Hogwarts' expectations. Hufflepuff, +50 points. And I'll also report this to Headmaster Dumbledore so he can commend you personally."
Link and Cedric exchanged smiles.
McGonagall, it seemed, was a fair and decent person.
Judging by the number of students penalized, all the Houses had probably lost nearly all their points.
If Snape had been handling it, he would've probably given Hufflepuff their points first, then announced the deductions, effectively canceling them out.
But with McGonagall's approach, the result was that the other three Houses were nearly reset to zero, while Hufflepuff, even though it had the most people involved, had suddenly jumped to first place thanks to Link and Cedric.
Cedric bowed gratefully.
Link, smiling faintly, said, "Professor McGonagall, helping you maintain order and discipline is the duty of the Student Council, it's simply what we should do. So we don't really deserve extra reward. But since you've already mentioned it… may I be bold enough to request a different kind of reward instead?"
McGonagall looked at him, clearly quite satisfied with the two of them, and said, "That's fine. Go ahead."
Link took a deep breath and deliberately raised his voice.
"Professor McGonagall, could you please withdraw your order to seal off this workshop?"
At those words, all the students who had just been hanging their heads in despair instantly looked up.
McGonagall's eyes widened, her expression, which had only just softened, froze over again.
She stared straight at Link. She didn't scold him like she did George and Fred, but neither did she agree. After a long silence, she said coldly, "Give me one good reason."
Link's lips curved upward.
Her reaction was exactly what he had expected.
It was simple, really, deep down, Professor McGonagall was a good person, a true lady of principle.
And a true lady… could always be persuaded by righteousness.