In the end, Dracula did not receive the punishment of being placed on probation.
On the contrary, Snape—the Head of Slytherin House and a seasoned Potions professor—was placed on probation by Professor McGonagall for privately instigating conflict between professors. He also had half a year's salary deducted for his troubles.
According to the very gossipy (and usually reliable) old Professor Kettleburn, it seemed that Professor McGonagall had wanted to do this for a very long time indeed but had been unable to find a suitable opportunity and thus had not acted.
As the Head of Slytherin House, Snape usually targeted Gryffindor House far too often. Coupled with his "excellent" habit of never deducting points from his own house while always finding reasons to deduct points from Gryffindor, Gryffindor had been languishing at the bottom of the house point standings for several frustrating years.
Professor McGonagall itched with a deep-seated hatred for this injustice, but in order to maintain her carefully cultivated impartiality as Deputy Headmistress, she could not really do anything overt about it.
Now that she had finally caught Snape red-handed, how could she not make good use of the situation?
But Snape, in truth, was actually very innocent in this particular instance.
He himself had no real intention of attacking Dracula. It could be said that this rather bad idea was entirely arranged by Dumbledore—and this arrangement had even resulted in him being severely beaten for his troubles.
To this end, the old headmaster, as the true culprit behind the scheme, could only shrug his shoulders with a sigh. The big landlord of Hogwarts could not be offended, so he could only let the diligent—if perpetually grumpy—Snape be the unfortunate scapegoat.
The time in November quietly passed. The weather became colder, and Christmas was getting closer and closer.
One early morning in mid-December, the students of Hogwarts woke from their dreams and suddenly found that their surroundings were covered with several feet of snow. The lake was frozen solid with hard, unyielding ice.
The Weasley twins were punished by Professor McGonagall because they had cast a spell on several snowballs, causing them to chase Quirrell relentlessly around the grounds. They finally smashed the enchanted snowballs soundly into the back of his purple turban.
Quirrell, who was hit squarely, fell face-first into the snow. He looked extremely embarrassed, completely unlike a teaching assistant should look.
But, privately, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since Voldemort had obtained the Horcrux diary, the weak remnant soul that had been residing in Quirrell's body had abandoned Quirrell's unfortunate form and usurped the territory of that soul fragment within the diary Horcrux. Nowadays, Quirrell wore the turban not for Voldemort's sake but only to cover the ugly, tell-tale scar on the back of his head.
Quirrell pulled his arm out of the snow and touched the back of his head. He secretly rejoiced that Voldemort had moved his "position" and was not directly hit by the snowballs of the 2 troublemakers. Otherwise, Voldemort, feeling humiliated, would definitely—and could only—vent his considerable anger on Quirrell, and his life would undoubtedly become very difficult.
However, before Quirrell could even get up from the snow, his expression suddenly trembled.
As if he had remembered something terrible, he hurriedly stood up. Looking at the diary in his arms that was now completely soaked through with snow, Quirrell immediately wore a mournful face, revealing an expression of extreme, heart-wrenching grief…
Outside the castle, it was snowing heavily. Inside the castle, every classroom had a roaring fireplace, burning the air warm and comfortable. In such an environment, the students were yawning one by one, their eyelids heavy.
Dracula held his textbook and frowned as he looked at the yawning young wizards arrayed below the platform.
'What are you doing, Weasley?!' he suddenly amplified his voice and shouted loudly, the sound cutting through the sleepy haze.
The twins, who were nodding off, were startled and jumped up at once, nearly falling out of their seats.
'Ah, report, Professor! We did not do anything!' the 2 of them said in perfect, panicked unison.
'Then explain it. Are you 2 so sleepy that you dare to actually sleep in my class?' Dracula asked, a dangerous sneer playing on his lips.
'Professor, we were given detention by Professor McGonagall yesterday and were detained until curfew! Then we had to rush to finish the homework you assigned when we returned to the dormitory,' Fred began to complain earnestly to Dracula. 'Last night, we only slept for 3 hours, and we really could not hold on any longer…'
'What bad things did you 2 do again?' Dracula asked, a flicker of genuine interest in his eyes. 'Why do I feel like Professor McGonagall detains you once every 2 days?'
George first glanced surreptitiously at Dracula's face. Seeing that he seemed to be in a reasonably good mood, he opened his mouth and said, with a hint of pride: 'Professor, do you not know about this? We hit Professor Quirrell's head with snowballs!'
After saying this, the twins looked at each other, then straightened their chests and showed a decidedly proud, unrepentant expression.
Dracula looked at Fred and George's smug, triumphant looks and shook his head with a bit of wry amusement.
Under the action of shaking his head, his gaze inadvertently turned to the window. He glanced at the snowflakes fluttering lazily outside, and an interesting, decidedly unconventional, idea arose in his mind—
'Well, I think everyone is quite sleepy in this kind of weather.' Dracula's mouth curled into a mischievous, almost wicked, smile. He said to the students assembled below the platform, 'In that case, today we will learn something a little different.'
As he said that, he walked to the window of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and, with a grand wave of his hand, pushed all the windows wide open.
The biting cold wind from outside poured into the classroom, instantly causing the young wizards who were still dozing off to shiver violently.
This time, they were completely, utterly awake.
'Today's class will be conducted on the lawn outside the castle,' Dracula announced, his voice carrying easily over the sudden gasps of the students. 'Now, in order to save time, everyone will jump out of the window with me. Do not worry—I will catch you outside!'
He then took the lead, skilfully vaulting out of the window. This directly stunned the young wizards into shocked silence.
The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom on the 2nd floor was still far too low for Dracula's liking. He did not even need to use magic. He landed lightly, almost silently, on the lawn now covered with a thick blanket of fresh snow.
'You can come down now!' Dracula shouted up to the young wizards still huddled in the classroom upstairs as he stepped onto the soft, yielding snow.
Fred and George were no longer sleepy in the slightest when they saw Dracula's dramatic posture. The 2 of them immediately gathered at the window, ready to learn from the professor's dashing, if somewhat alarming, example and jump down themselves.
Lee Jordan, who was dark-skinned and generally more cautious, quickly grabbed the hoods of the 2 boys' school robes in fright. He said in a panicked voice:
'Hey, are you 2 not afraid that something will happen? What if Professor Dracula accidentally fails to catch you?'
'Oh, is our little baby Lee Jordan scared?' Fred joked with a wide, cheeky grin. 'Do not be afraid, little cutie! Falling directly from the 2nd floor is just a matter of lying in the school hospital for 2 days. Madam Pomfrey will cure you right up!'
Before he finished speaking, Fred stepped over the windowsill and, with a whoop, jumped down.
George looked at Lee Jordan, who was still shaking and looking utterly flustered. He patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.
'Lee, do not worry. Professor Dracula can even catch Harry when he falls from a great height. How can he possibly not catch us when we are just jumping from the 2nd floor?'
Then he screamed strangely, put his arm around Lee Jordan's shoulders, and, against Lee's frantic protests, dragged him towards the open window.
Amid Lee's terrified screams, the 2 of them jumped down together.
***********
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