Two minutes later, Draco was already gone.
And at Link's feet there was now an extra skunk.
This skunk looked extremely agitated. Its little paws and big tail were flailing nonstop as it tried to roll over and bite Link's foot, but it was pinned down and couldn't move.
Link slightly pointed his wand, lifted it into the air under control, and made it strike all kinds of humiliating poses, which made the people around burst into laughter.
After looking it over carefully for a while and confirming that this guy still hadn't mastered the skill of spraying stench, Link muttered, "Draco may be stupid and he may be bad, but at least he hasn't reached the point of being completely beyond saving."
"In my view there's no difference," Emily said coldly. "If he keeps courting death like this, sooner or later he's going to get himself killed."
Under Emily's icy stare, the skunk that Draco had turned into suddenly went stiff all over. It stopped struggling and just started trembling nonstop.
Link laughed and said, "Ha! Emily, this guy thinks we're going to kill him!"
"Honestly, his stupidity really gives me the urge to kill him. He's too embarrassing for Slytherin!"
Emily said this coldly with narrowed eyes.
And hearing that, Skunk Draco started trembling even harder.
Just then, a large group of people hurried over from the direction of the Great Hall.
Before they even arrived, Professor McGonagall, who was leading them, shouted anxiously, "What happened here? Oh, Merlin! Quick, notify Madam Pomfrey!"
The ice statues and injured people all over the ground clearly startled Professor McGonagall.
She suddenly sped up and, without thinking, came right in front of Link, pressing her lips tightly together as she said, "Mr. Flamel, tell me what happened here!"
Link pulled Skunk Draco back with magic as it was desperately flailing and trying to get toward Professor McGonagall, then smiled and said, "As you can see, Professor McGonagall."
"Everyone was reading the notices on the bulletin board when they had some small conflicts with Umbridge's newly formed Inquisitorial Squad."
"Two upper-year Gryffindors from your house were directly detained by the squad on the grounds of 'disturbing public order.'"
"Uh, speaking of that, I have to interrupt for a moment."
"This is something many of us are confused about."
"Professor McGonagall, does Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad really have more power to reward and punish than prefects do?"
Hearing this, Professor McGonagall instinctively glanced at the notice board in the distance and at the frozen Inquisitorial Squad members, and her expression became extremely ugly.
As the head of Gryffindor, she knew her students' tempers all too well.
These people absolutely couldn't stand what was written on that notice board, and naturally they also couldn't stand the arrogant Inquisitorial Squad.
Taking a deep breath, Professor McGonagall said seriously, "At Hogwarts, only Dumbledore has absolute authority to reward and punish! No one else, not even Umbridge, has the right to bypass Dumbledore and carry out disciplinary actions!"
"All right, go on."
Link nodded, though the smile on his face now carried a trace of mockery.
Professor McGonagall's words sounded like the strictest explanation.
But in reality, they said nothing at all.
It was basically like farting.
After all, just not long ago, even when Umbridge wanted to send Hagrid to the Ministry, these professors hadn't been able to stop it.
That already proved how much power Umbridge had.
The reason Professor McGonagall could say such tough words now was nothing more than because Dumbledore was there backing her up.
Mocking her a bit in his heart, Link continued, "I understand, Professor McGonagall."
"After that, things were actually very simple."
"The reason those two Gryffindors were detained was ridiculously far-fetched, and a lot of people in the Entrance Hall were very unhappy about it."
"Then, led by Draco Malfoy, the Inquisitorial Squad kept making insulting remarks about everyone, mainly centered on the word 'Mudblood,'"
"so the conflict between the squad and the ordinary students broke out."
Link smiled and pointed at himself, "But fortunately, I was right there."
"When something like that happens, as a Hufflepuff prefect I naturally couldn't just sit by and do nothing, so I stepped in and made them all calm down a bit."
Professor McGonagall swept her gaze over all the ice statues around them, her expression looking extremely unpleasant.
Obviously, she could not agree with this kind of physically enforced "calming down."
Seeing that, Link shook his head and explained, "Don't worry, Professor McGonagall. I was very measured when I acted. These people are all just restrained."
"As long as the outer ice is melted away, their vital signs will fully recover. At most they'll just have a bit of frostbite."
As soon as these words came out, Skunk Draco, who was tightly bound by Link's magic, let out a sigh of relief, and his whole body instantly relaxed.
Professor McGonagall reacted much the same way.
But that didn't mean she was satisfied with Link's behavior.
In fact, she was actually quite unhappy inside.
Because from what she knew of Link, he should have had even better ways to deal with the situation.
The scene now was really a bit too ugly.
She even somewhat suspected that this whole incident had been pushed along behind the scenes by Link.
And because of that, she really wanted to give him a warning.
Unfortunately, Link didn't give her any chance.
After thinking about it in a jumble for a moment, Professor McGonagall suddenly noticed the skunk that had been struggling next to her and now had suddenly gone still.
She frowned slightly and said in confusion, "Where did this skunk come from? It's winter now, this little fellow shouldn't be here."
"Oh? You mean this one?" Link said with a smile as he jiggled Draco. "This is Draco Malfoy."
"What?!"
Professor McGonagall couldn't help exclaiming.
She raised her wand and drew several mysterious shapes in the air. Then, with a flash of white light, the skunk twisted and changed in midair, finally turning into Draco.
"Goyle! Crabbe!"
The moment Draco hit the ground he shouted, crying as he hugged the ice statues of Goyle and Crabbe. He curled up into a ball, trembling nonstop, his mouth still babbling stupid things like "just you wait" and "my father."
These words made everyone around burst into laughter.
The entire Entrance Hall was filled with a happy atmosphere.
Professor McGonagall was the only exception.
With a dark face and eyes reddened by anger, she stared straight at Link and said slowly, word by word, "You turned him into a skunk?"
Link said indifferently, "Just a small punishment. It was also a necessary way to subdue him."
"You probably don't know, he was completely out of his mind at the time."
"I remember you were just questioning whether Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad has the right to arbitrarily punish students,"
Professor McGonagall continued, "But now you're doing the same thing, aren't you?"
"And this isn't a reason for you to turn a fellow student into a skunk."
"Hogwarts has never had a rule about using Transfiguration to punish students!"
Link's originally bright smile slowly faded and became strange.
"So you think I was wrong," Link said. "And you want to punish me?"
Professor McGonagall's eyes flickered, but before she could say anything, Emily, who had been silent up to now, suddenly spoke, "How could Professor McGonagall do something like that?"
"Link just organized a large-scale brawl and saved students' lives."
"If anyone should be punished, it should be those Inquisitorial Squad members who were running wild."
Hearing this, Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows and said, "Miss Victoria, this matter seems to have nothing to do with you, does it?"
"How could it have nothing to do with me?"
Emily spread her hands. "This matter doesn't just concern me, it concerns every student in Hogwarts."
"If Link, who did a good deed, is punished, what do you think the other students will think?"
"Then who will still go and do good deeds in the future?"
"Next time something like this happens, everyone will probably just stand by and watch."
"That's a blow to the moral standards of all Hogwarts students!"
Professor McGonagall didn't get led astray by Emily's attempt to pin labels on things and said directly, "As students, the best way for you to handle something like this is to notify a professor immediately!"
"Sigh! Professor McGonagall, you don't understand what it was like back then, so that's why you can say that."
This time it was John speaking. He stepped forward with a distressed look and said, "In fact, we sent someone to notify you the very moment it happened."
"But the scene was already completely chaotic."
"Those Inquisitorial Squad dogs kept firing spells at us, and we had no choice but to fire back."
"By the time it went on, nobody could stop anymore."
"In that situation, if we had waited for you to come instead of Link stepping in, some people would have been beaten to death already."
After saying that, John gave a meaningful glance at the ice statues of the Inquisitorial Squad by the entrance, and at Draco crying while hugging Goyle and Crabbe.
The students behind him who were still able to move instantly understood and let out weird laughs one after another.
And it wasn't just them.
By now, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered in the Entrance Hall.
As soon as John finished speaking, students led by Slytherin and Hufflepuff immediately started cheering.
Surrounded by wave after wave of cheers and applause, Professor McGonagall was practically about to explode with anger.
Slytherin and Hufflepuff cheering was one thing.
These were originally Link and Emily's lackeys. At most they were just making noise and didn't prove anything.
But the key point was that besides them, quite a few Ravenclaw and even Gryffindor students were also joining in and cheering.
That was what really made Professor McGonagall feel cold inside.
Looking around at all the indignant faces around her, Professor McGonagall finally fixed her gaze on Link, who wore a half-smile.
She understood that at this point, Link's wings had fully grown, and he was no longer someone she could interfere with.
Taking a deep breath, Professor McGonagall said flatly, "Link Flamel attacked fellow students without authorization. Hufflepuff loses 50 points!"
With that, Professor McGonagall turned and left the Entrance Hall.
But her back as she walked away carried a sense of dejection.
This struggle between her and Link could already be called a failure.
Even though Professor McGonagall still deducted 50 points from Hufflepuff in the end, that was nothing more than the last fig leaf to preserve her dignity.
This kind of punishment meant nothing to Link, or to Hufflepuff as a whole.
Because they had never cared about house points in the first place.
"Do you think she'll go get Dumbledore to come save her?"
Emily leaned over and whispered into Link's ear.
"That's inevitable," Link shook his head. "But Dumbledore definitely won't step out at a moment like this. That much I'm certain of."
Hearing this, Emily wanted to say something more, but the cheering crowd had already gathered around Link and Emily.
They clapped and chanted in rhythm, almost wanting to throw Link up in the air in celebration.
It was as if they had just won a battle with wands.
Some even went over to Draco and the ice statues of the Inquisitorial Squad and started all kinds of malicious pranks and revenge-style venting.
If Madam Pomfrey and the other support staff hadn't arrived, Draco probably wouldn't have made it out of the Entrance Hall in one piece today.
This kind of revelry only gradually ended when the class bell rang.
As the various ice statues and injured people were taken away by Madam Pomfrey, everyone else reluctantly left the Entrance Hall.
Link and Emily, who had no morning classes, finally returned to the Great Hall to enjoy the breakfast that the house-elves had specially saved for them.
This was something Link did every day without fail.
The reason was simple, among all the feasts at Hogwarts, opening banquets, end-of-year feasts, even Christmas dinners, the thing Link liked the most was actually this simple breakfast.
Whether it was the soft, tender sunny-side-up eggs fried without oil using magic, or the sausages and bacon deeply grilled and then sprinkled with a small amount of sea salt and white pepper, or the fresh milk specially delivered into Hogwarts by Portkey, all of these were Link's favorites.
Slowly putting a piece of fried egg into his mouth and chewing carefully, feeling the mix of softness and crispness and the rich protein aroma filling his mouth, Link's expression became one of pure enjoyment.
Compared to that, Emily sitting next to him looked a bit distracted.
She absent-mindedly stirred the milk in her cup, and only after Link had completely swallowed what was in his mouth did she finally say what she had wanted to say earlier but had been interrupted by the crowd, "Link, do you think what we did today means we've taken the bait too?"
"You mean, will what we did in the Entrance Hall today make Dumbledore more alert, and then maybe he'll shift his main focus onto us because we're acting even tougher than Umbridge?"
Link said this while wiping his mouth. After getting Emily's confirmation, he smiled and said, "You really don't need to worry about that."
"Dumbledore being wary of us isn't something that started today."
"Otherwise, when he left Hogwarts and when he came back, he should have informed us and told us to be more careful."
"But even so, he has no way to make a move against us in the short term."
"In fact, he even has to give us a certain amount of support!"
"Do you know why?" Emily frowned deeply.
What Link was talking about was still a bit too obscure for her, given her lack of real-world experience.
And she was too stubborn to keep asking questions like some ignorant fool.
Seeing how conflicted she looked, Link laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
"It's fine, just think about it slowly. Anyway, this afternoon is Herbology. Even if we skip it, Professor Sprout won't deduct our points."