Hermione, however, was a different case. As far as he knew, she had not yet voiced her opinions on Harry's name emerging from the goblet. There was a possibility that she did not believe that he had entered his name. If that were the case, he would be the one asking for forgiveness, not the other way around.
"Hello, Harry." said Hermione, "I haven't seen you in a while, I suppose you've been staying wherever you used to vanish off to?"
"I am." replied Harry. Hermione nodded sagely, clearly having expected the given answer.
"Professor McGonagall wasn't particularly happy with your disappearance." said Hermione, "She was disappointed with us for not being there for you, and with you for leaving. I heard she's been wanting to speak with you."
Harry shrugged.
"I felt like my presence wasn't wanted, so I left."
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, Hermione continuing to eat her toast. When the silence was finally broken, it was done so by Harry.
"You don't think I entered my name, do you?" he asked hesitantly.
"I'm . . . not sure, really."
"And why is that?" said Harry, suppressing his sudden rush of annoyance.
"You've changed, I guess." said Hermione, "Half the time you're nowhere to be found. And when you are there, you seem less innocent, I guess. Less pure."
"My life hasn't exactly been a bright ray of sunshine, you know." said Harry.
"I know, but even then, you were always so happy and kind, so innocent . . ."
"So do you think I entered myself?" asked Harry, his anger with the situation starting to get to him.
"Like I said . . . I'm not quite sure."
Harry stood up, brushing himself off. He had gotten the answer he had been looking for, and even though it had not been the one he wanted, it was still an answer. He walked away from the lakeside at a quick pace, ignoring Hermione's calls for him to come back.
....
"Just when I think you can not possibly make things even worse for yourself," said Salazar, his voice resonating through the study, "You find something worse, and you do it."
"I already told you, it was an accident!" complained Harry.
"What a load of dragon dung!" roared Salazar, "You set the boy on fire, using your wandless magics! That was no accident!"
"It riled me up, didn't it? I lost control of my emotions, and in turn, my intent. Since wandless magic relies upon intent, it did what I wanted it to do!"
"You do remember that you're not the only Mage I've taught, correct?" asked Salazar, "Your intent would have had to be very specific; you would have had to literally envision the boy catching on fire, and then having the flames vanish a second later! I can only wonder what kind of trouble you have gotten yourself into!"
"Detention." replied Harry casually, "McGonagall found me when I was coming back from my chat with Hermione. I have it in like fifteen minutes, actually."
"There is absolutely no way you got off with a simple detention. Not even your generation can have lowered behavioral standards so drastically."
Harry shrugged.
"I said it was accidental magic, and they don't have a reason to not believe me." replied Harry, "To be honest, a detention for accidental magic seems a tad bit unfair."
"The oldest recorded case of accidental magic, at least from when I was alive, was thirteen."
"Well I'm fourteen, big difference."
"We digress. You have to have wanted him to catch fire, or it would not have happened. There is no such thing as accidental Mage Magic - it can release itself in strange or unintended ways, but it will not occur without some form of potent intent."
"Either way, I lost control of my emotions, didn't I?" argued Harry, "If I had learnt Occlumency, things like this might not happen in the future!"
Salazar's eyes narrowed.
"You have not developed so much as a basic control or understanding over your emotions; having you learn Occlumency now would tear your brain apart. You posses, without a doubt, an unusually low level on natural Occlumency."
"You said Occlumency would help me control my emotions. I could work on both at the same time!"
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, before Salazar eventually spoke.
"We will begin after you have overcome the first task." said the portrait, "You still remain incapable of doing magic after conjuring the chains."
"I'm working on it." said Harry, "I'm getting better, hopefully I'll be capable of restraining whatever beast they bring - the smaller, the better."
Salazar nodded.
"You have progressed impressively in your offensive magic, which you can use in case of an emergency. Aim for the eyes of the beast; almost all magical creatures are weak there."
"Alright. I can work on accuracy when I come back from my detention, but I need to leave now or I'll get in trouble - McGonagall was furious."
"Good, and refrain from getting caught doing anything Gryffindorish in the future."
"How very amusing." Harry remarked.
Upon leaving the chamber, Harry had made his way over to Professor McGonagall's classroom for his detention. It was a few minutes before 9:15, the time that had been scheduled for his detention.