The next day, inside the Hufflepuff dormitory.
"Link, wake up, come on, we have to get up…"
In a hazy daze, Link suddenly heard a familiar voice growing louder and closer.
At the same time, someone kept shaking his arm.
"Ugh!"
Link finally opened his eyes.
In front of him was John's tired yet still-excited face.
"You're finally awake! Come on! Let's wash up, grab breakfast, and then head to class. We'll work hard for Hufflepuff's rise! This year, the House Cup is ours!"
Seeing Link awake, John finally stopped shaking him and got up with some effort as he spoke enthusiastically.
At his words, Link groaned, pulled his pillow over his face, and beside him, Arkam, who had also been woken up, yawned wide in a threatening gesture toward John.
Yesterday, the Hufflepuffs had partied until late at night.
Normally, that was nothing for Link, someone used to long hours without sleep, but later on, John, who had been "invisible" ever since the Hogwarts Express ride, was moved by Link's speech and suddenly came out of hiding to join them.
That guy had changed astonishingly over the summer.
Not only had he shot up in height, but he'd also dyed his hair black using a magical coloring potion.
According to him, black hair made him look more mysterious, brooding, and handsome, and at least Lillian really liked it.
Also, rumor had it that John had become a diehard fan of a famous Muggle soccer team. He'd spent almost the entire summer at pubs with other fans, drinking and watching matches.
If it had just been that, Link and Cedric wouldn't have cared much.
But the problem was, John hadn't only been drinking himself, he'd secretly smuggled in almost a small warehouse's worth of Muggle alcohol into Hogwarts using the Extension Charm Link had given him before.
And so, with John's generous "sponsorship," the Hufflepuff party had completely gotten out of hand.
Link himself had ended up passed out after John practically forced him to drink.
Remembering the details of last night, the corner of Link's mouth twitched.
Even he had gotten completely drunk because he hadn't had time to take a sobering potion, so the others were probably in even worse shape.
A lot of Hufflepuffs would likely be late today because of hangovers, Professor Sprout would definitely notice that.
And since he'd been the one to kick off the whole "celebration," would he be getting called in for a talk later?
Link shook his head and finally dragged himself out of bed.
After a quick wash and getting dressed, he and John jogged to the Great Hall to have breakfast.
The entire way there, John was still talking non-stop about strategies for beating the other three houses and winning this year's House Cup.
Link didn't respond at all. He just kept his head down, focused on eating, today's breakfast included porridge, surprisingly. It had black pepper in it, which made it taste a little odd, but Link wasn't going to pass it up.
After breakfast, students started leaving the hall in groups, heading toward their classrooms.
At that point, Link realized his earlier worries had been unnecessary.
Plenty of Hufflepuffs had been just as fired up by his speech as John was. Holding to their "never abandon, never give up" motto, they'd dragged every last sleepyhead out of bed for breakfast.
They were even offering to escort and guide first-years to class.
That was downright bizarre, almost eerie.
After all, Hogwarts castle was a maze full of traps and trick steps, and every upper-year student had embarrassed themselves at least once by falling for one of them.
And now they'd all given up the "prank the first-years" tradition just because of Link's speech?
That said a lot about how powerful his influence had become.
Anyway, unlike most students, Link, John, and the others didn't leave the hall right after breakfast. They stayed seated, waiting for Professor Sprout to come down from the staff table to assign and hand out class schedules.
Starting this year, Link, John, and the rest of their year would have very different timetables.
They could freely choose the advanced N.E.W.T. classes they wanted, depending on their interests. That gave them a lot more free time, some could even spend whole periods sitting in classrooms doing nothing if they wished.
But to actually enroll, each student had to pass Professor Sprout's review, confirming that their O.W.L. results met the minimum requirement for that subject's N.E.W.T.-level course.
It was a tedious and difficult process, since many students tried to be sneaky and sign up for classes they clearly hadn't scored high enough for.
Fortunately, most Hufflepuffs were honest kids, so Professor Sprout's work was much easier.
As the students in the front rows received their timetables one by one, Link noticed John's face had gone pale. His hand, hidden under the table, was gripping his robes tightly, he looked very nervous.
"What's wrong?"
Link frowned, but John just forced a stiff smile and said nothing.
"John, your turn."
Professor Sprout finally stood in front of John and Link.
"Herbology, good. You got an 'Outstanding' in your O.W.L., I'm glad to keep teaching you. And Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions…" She flipped through her notes, her smile slowly fading.
"Very good. Looks like you took my career advice to heart and are planning to become an Auror. But there's a problem with Charms. John, if I recall correctly, your Charms grade was only a 'Pass,' wasn't it?"
John forced a pained smile.
"Yes, that's right, Professor Sprout. I wasn't trying to deceive you, I just… wanted to give it a try…"
"It's alright, child." Professor Sprout patted his head kindly. "Actually, your score is high enough to enroll in Charms. I was just worried you might struggle to keep up."
"Huh?"
John froze mid-tear, letting out a choked, confused sound.
Professor Sprout explained, "Professor Flitwick is always so kindhearted. He believes every young wizard deserves to study the full Charms curriculum, it's their right as wizards. So this year, he lowered the grade requirement."
"That's… amazing!"
John exclaimed, but then Professor Sprout tapped his head lightly.
"However, for smuggling contraband into Hogwarts, Hufflepuff loses 50 points! And you, personally, have twenty hours of community service, Friday evenings in my greenhouse. Oh, and bring me whatever's left of the alcohol."
With that, Professor Sprout moved on, leaving John's smile frozen stiff, and turned to Link.
"Now, you, Link."
She gave him a meaningful look, clearly, she knew he'd had something to do with last night's party too.
But she didn't punish him. Instead, she flipped through her notes.
"Let's see, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. All fine. You meet all the requirements perfectly."
She closed her notebook. "But Link, are you sure you don't want to take a few more? Your grades would let you add at least three more subjects, it would make your N.E.W.T. record look even better."
"No, Professor," Link said, standing up. "I'll need more time this term to focus on other things."
"Like rallying your housemates to win the House Cup?"
Professor Sprout smiled. Without waiting for an answer, she handed him his schedule and moved on to the next student.
As soon as she left, John leaned over, trembling with excitement.
"Link! I did it! I can become an Auror!"
Link could clearly feel his enthusiasm. To be honest, he was surprised that John had managed to qualify for so many courses, and none of them were easy ones.
Especially Potions, getting into Snape's N.E.W.T.-level class meant John's potion skills were among the best in Hogwarts.
Still, that didn't stop Link from shrugging off John's hand.
"Yeah, congratulations. But remember, you've only enrolled in the prerequisite N.E.W.T. courses for becoming an Auror. If you don't pass all of them, and with at least an 'Acceptable' or better, you still won't qualify."
John's smile froze again, and Link chuckled.
"Don't worry too much. The Ministry gives out a few student spots each year to attend Auror Training Camp. Maybe I can get you one. If you manage that, as long as your grades aren't terrible, you'll practically have a guaranteed future as a trainee Auror."
He stood up. "Alright, Potions class is about to start. Let's go."
With that, Link walked out of the hall without looking back. John hurried after him, full of joy, asking eagerly for details about the Auror training camp.
Thanks to Link's efforts, the Daily Prophet hadn't reported anything about Fudge's political defeat.
So in John's, and the general public's, understanding, Fudge was still in charge of the Ministry, and both Link and Dumbledore were supposedly on bad terms with it after Harry's trial.
By that logic, Link shouldn't have any pull to get John an Auror training spot, Fudge might even cancel the whole program to spite Dumbledore.
But John didn't care.
He knew Link too well. Whenever Link said something, he'd find a way to make it happen.
After all these years, John practically had blind faith in him.
And besides, it was the Aurors.
Sure, the job was dangerous, but the pay and status were among the best.
If he really could become an Auror, maybe Lillian's parents would finally stop opposing their relationship.
Lost in bright dreams of the future, John followed Link down into the dungeons to the Potions classroom.
The cold, damp air hit them as they entered, making Link frown and instantly sobering John up.
They looked around. Many students were already there, sitting apart from each other in silence.
It was obvious they were nervous, this was Potions, after all.
Unlike O.W.L. classes, most N.E.W.T.-level ones were mixed across all four houses because of smaller class sizes.
So in the room were not just Ravenclaws, but also Slytherins and Gryffindors.
Of course, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were fewest in number, the green of Slytherin still dominated the room.
Once they were inside, Link stopped paying attention to John.
Scanning the room, he quickly spotted Emily, who was surrounded by a group of Slytherins and smiling as she waved at him.
A smile finally appeared on Link's face too.
He walked over quickly, and a Slytherin girl courteously vacated a seat so he could sit beside Emily.
"Why are you here so early?" Link asked, naturally taking Emily's small hand in his.
Sometimes, you had to admit, after that kind of night, a relationship between a man and a woman reached a new, more intimate level where neither felt awkward anymore.
At least after that wild night, Emily didn't even react to Link's casual gestures anymore.
Before, if he'd dared to hold her hand in front of classmates, she would've blushed so red she couldn't even speak.
Now she just said calmly, "It's you who's late. Professor Snape handed out our timetables last night. Unlike other professors, he doesn't wait until morning."
"That's not fair," Link countered. "It was already late. The other professors only waited till today because they wanted us to get a good night's rest."
He wasn't about to let anyone, Emily included, criticize his Head of House.
"Oh? Did you rest well then?" Emily's eyes sparkled.
"Because I heard you lot were drinking last night?"
Link froze, then laughed awkwardly.
"Ha! Just a little! They drank, I didn't drink much, haha."
As Link and Emily chatted, the tense atmosphere in the room began to ease.
Seeing that, others started whispering in small groups too, and the classroom filled with low murmurs.
But as a familiar, heavy set of footsteps slowly approached from the side door, the room fell completely silent again.