Harry Potter: Reborn as a Prisoner in Azkaban

"Percy, why is he here?"

Fred instinctively glanced toward George to ask, but after half-turning and not finding him, he realized; Oh, George is off cleaning toilets.

The thought amused him slightly, but it also made him uneasy. He and George had always shared detentions together, and not seeing George around for so long left him feeling a bit unsettled.

However, that worry quickly faded as Percy, who had initially found a seat, began striding toward him.

"George, why have you stopped?"

In front of everyone, Percy scolded him sharply.

"Professor, George's quill has been idle for a while now."

Under Fred's surprised gaze, Percy cast a puzzled look around before turning back to William, adopting a much gentler tone to report.

"It's fine. As long as the task gets done, a bit of hesitation while organizing is normal. Just make sure to finish within the allotted time. Of course, if it really doesn't work out, I've prepared a few sleeping bags. Though I hope they won't be needed."

"Oh, and if we do end up using the sleeping bags, the doors will be locked, and I'll ask a few gentlemen in the portraits to keep an eye on them."

William's additional remarks made the faces of a few gleeful students immediately fall. As someone who had been through his own student days and had listened to countless stories in Azkaban, William had a sharp sense of where students might find loopholes and was adept at blocking them.

***

"Not acceptable. Transcription isn't just reading it through; you need to remove unnecessary adjectives, such as 'vile' or 'filthy,' when describing events."

"Unacceptable. The formatting of the writing is incorrect."

"Redo it. You've omitted too many details about the incidents."

"..."

"…"

Once the students finished their first round of transcriptions, Percy began reviewing them with remarkable efficiency. His diligence was so noteworthy that William paused his test-writing to offer praise.

Just as Professor Binns had said during his recommendation, Percy was someone with exceptional patience, even for tedious work.

Strange. Binns was absolutely right, but how did he even notice?

With that thought lingering in his mind, William returned to preparing his test papers.

***

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on completing tonight's work ahead of schedule. We'll continue next weekend."

After Percy meticulously reviewed all the submissions, William officially declared the evening's work finished. Taking advantage of the time, he had also completed writing three new sets of test papers, leaving him feeling a deep sense of accomplishment.

"How's it going with those exam papers in the back? Feeling confident about submitting them early?" He cheerfully called out to the students working on their test papers in the back, but no one responded.

"Doesn't seem like it—" William shook his head and turned to the students up front. "All right, your work is done. Those of you who want to wait for your classmates can stay here in the classroom. If you're bored, feel free to come and ask me for another test paper—"

Before William could finish, the students bolted out of the classroom as if fleeing for their lives, leaving behind their grumbling, furiously writing companions.

"Well, it looks like these test papers aren't too popular," he remarked, waving at the last student slipping out the door. Then, he turned his attention to Percy.

"How's it going? Is everything running smoothly?"

"Very well, Professor." Percy, composed as ever, seemed to be restraining himself, and that made William feel a pang of guilt.

Was it too much to pull the best sixth-year student into this? This was Hogwarts' top-performing student; twelve certificates, a bona fide academic overachiever. Having him review records seemed like a terrible misuse of his talent.

"You've done an excellent job. Honestly, this task was supposed to be mine, but your efficiency has completely exceeded my expectations," William said, patting Percy on the shoulder approvingly before fishing a small pouch out of his pocket.

"Here's your stipend for today; don't decline it. They're here for detention, but you're working overtime. The school has a dedicated budget for maintaining the historical records. It's not much, but it's something."

"Professor, this is—"

"Take it. Next week will be even tougher. This week was the first large-scale transcription, so we used Quick-Quotes Quills for the less important parts. Next week, it'll be more labor-intensive. I'll discuss a pay raise with Professor McGonagall."

After handing over the stipend, William felt a lot less guilty about "exploiting" Percy as a labor force. He gave Percy's shoulder another pat.

"All right, head back to your dormitory and fulfill your prefect duties. Off you go."

Percy left the classroom looking visibly pleased, leaving William with the few students still scribbling furiously.

"Their detention is officially over. You all have twenty more minutes. If you can't finish, you can take the test papers with you."

***

"Ugh, has Percy gone mad? Mine was sent back twice!"

"Twice? That's nothing—I got mine sent back three times! This isn't reviewing; it's basically detention in disguise. Where does he get all that energy to keep checking everything?"

"You think that's bad? I only made a few spelling mistakes, and Percy still took my transcription to the Professor to discuss whether I should be sent to scrub toilets!"

Barely out of the classroom, a group of troublemakers slipped into an empty room. Though their usual meeting spot had been raided by Filch, they had backup locations prepared.

No sooner had they entered than everyone turned their complaints toward Percy. Only the combined authority of a prefect and a Professor had kept them in line; otherwise, they might have started an argument with Percy right in the classroom.

Just as the group was happily complaining, the classroom door suddenly swung open.

Everyone immediately ducked their heads and bolted toward the door; they suspected that last time, Filch had caught them based on their faces.

"Stop! What are you all thinking?" George's exasperated voice came from the doorway, and the rushing group awkwardly shuffled back to their seats, grinning sheepishly.

"What's that smell?"

"Shut up, Fred, you traitor—you'd smell the same after scrubbing toilets for three hours." Lee Jordan said this with mock seriousness.

"Oh, Lee, you cleaned bedpans."

George, unbothered, threw an arm around Lee's shoulder. After bumping into each other in the castle, the two had made their way to the empty classroom, sharing their woes and discovering that their ranks had a traitor.

The Toilet Gang and the Bedpan Crew smugly invaded the space of the others, forming an alliance and unapologetically crowding out the remaining factions. They strutted about like victors in a great battle.

"…"

"…"

"Speaking of which, why was Percy there? That big-headed prefect doesn't usually have anything to do with detentions. Why was he so smug today?"

After a long bout of laughter and chatter, the group finally circled back to today's hot topic; Percy and the detention room. No matter how they thought about it, the two just didn't go together.

"I'll tell you why—"

The classroom door opened again. This time, the newcomer was a student who looked utterly drained. They had narrowly survived William's brutal test papers and barely managed to pass the exam.

"We were there for detention, but Percy—he got a stipend from the Professor."

The air grew heavy and stifling in an instant.

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