[Chapter Size: 1700 Words.]
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"I'm really sorry, Harry, Hermione, and Neville. I saw Professor McGonagall and got worried I'd lose more points if I stayed, so…" In the common room, seeing Harry and the other two coming back with downcast faces, Ron stepped forward and apologized to them with a guilty look on his face. He felt deeply regretful for not being able to share both the joys and sorrows with his friends.
"Don't say that, Ron. I was worried at the time. I was really afraid you'd show up," Harry said, understanding his good friend's thoughts, but firmly believing Ron had made the right choice. Fifty points per person, although he didn't usually take House points seriously, he was still nervous about this time.
"Harry's right, Ron. Not stepping up this time was definitely one of the best things you've ever done," Hermione said firmly.
She cared much more about the outcome than Harry. Her heart ached at that moment. Fifty points! She couldn't even gather that many in a week, yet they were all deducted at once, for three people.
Hermione silently swore to herself she would never again be so curious. If she hadn't wanted to see the small dragon for the last time that night, at least she could have saved 50 points for Gryffindor.
Of course, it was impossible to hide the fact that 150 points had been deducted all at once.
The next day, the news spread throughout the school.
Harry, who was very popular in Gryffindor, and Ron, who was also quite popular, were suddenly ignored by everyone. As for Neville and Hermione, no one had really paid attention to them in the first place.
Harry felt uncomfortable at first, but later he felt fine since everyone had been a little overenthusiastic about him before. And probably because the points were deducted from Gryffindor, it didn't affect Padma.
The only thing that bothered him was that his teammates on the Quidditch team weren't very willing to talk to him. They only spoke when necessary, but rarely called his name. Even the Weasley twins, who loved to play pranks, seemed to care about losing 150 points all at once.
Hermione felt a bit better. First, she didn't have many friends to begin with, and second, exams were approaching, and her revision schedule was already tight. At that moment, she focused all her attention on studying, so she didn't have many feelings about it.
Harry decided to take a leaf out of Hermione's book. With less than two weeks left before the exams, and only one last Quidditch match remaining, the semester would soon end, and everything would be reset in the new semester. No one would remember these things, right?
For the next two days, Harry and the other three studied quietly in a corner. What made Harry a little uncomfortable was that, in the following days, Padma, perhaps influenced by her sister, also distanced herself a bit from Harry.
Fortunately, aside from Potions, Harry's other grades were very good. With Hermione helping him revise, everything seemed manageable.
At first, Harry thought he would be able to get through the semester without any problems, but just because he wasn't looking for trouble didn't mean trouble wouldn't find him.
On the third night after the incident at the Astronomy Tower, Harry returned from the library.
He had struggled to memorize a text that day, so he asked Hermione and the others to return and memorize it before heading back. When he came back, it was late at night, and there was almost no one in the corridor.
Harry left the library, walked through a few corridors, and descended two flights of stairs. He usually didn't take this route, but the stairs were in bad shape that day, so he had to take a longer detour. As he walked, he suddenly heard faint sobs coming from the classroom ahead.
Harry's cursed curiosity was piqued again, and he took a few steps forward.
"No… No… Don't do it again… Please…"
It was a voice full of fear, a familiar voice, it was Professor Quirrell!
…
"Then Snape succeeded. He learned from Professor Quirrell how to remove his magic?" In the common room, Harry told Hermione and the others what he had overheard, and Ron immediately formed a judgment.
"And Fluffy?" Hermione shook her head. "Didn't Snape fail to get past Fluffy last time? The three-headed dog is a very powerful magical creature. Most spells have little effect on it."
Since everyone was intentionally keeping a bit more distance from them, even though they were in the common room and no one else was around, no one would mind what they said, even if Hermione spoke a little quieter.
Ron didn't think so. Apparently, his Gryffindor instincts had kicked in again. After staying quiet for a few days, he wanted to cause trouble once more.
However, Ron's plan was interrupted by Hermione.
"Go tell Dumbledore. We can always do that, right?" Hermione said seriously. "Please, please don't do anything strange again. I really don't want to be expelled, seriously."
Neville nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
"But we don't have any evidence. We didn't have any in the beginning," Ron spread his hands. "I don't think Professor Quirrell would dare to point out Snape. He was almost crying when he faced Snape. Dumbledore will never believe us, especially after…"
Ron wanted to say this initially after breaking school rules and losing over 100 points, but he held back. "Comparatively speaking, Snape, as a professor, would make them not believe us more, unless…"
Ron's eyes lit up again. "Unless we find evidence, if we snoop around a little…"
"Stop!" Harry was really a little tempted, but Hermione wasn't: "We've already heard enough and know too much, much of what we shouldn't know. Now let's focus on preparing for the exam and end this discussion."
Hermione's stance was very firm.
Harry thought for a moment and nodded. Ron shrugged. He felt like he couldn't do anything without Harry and the others' support.
The next morning, at breakfast, a note appeared on the table where Harry, Hermione, and Neville were eating. The message was exactly the same:
"Your detention starts at 11:00 PM. See Mr. Filch in the Entrance Hall." The signature was from Professor McGonagall.
Four days had passed since the incident at the Astronomy Tower, and Harry had almost forgotten that the punishment included detention. But, of course, that wasn't something you could just forget.
"It's Filch," Neville said nervously.
Of all the staff members, besides Snape, Filch was the one he feared the most.
The reason was simple. Neville often got lost due to his poor memory. In fact, he still got lost sometimes and wandered around the castle. The result of walking around aimlessly was that he was easily caught by Filch.
Filch was very harsh. Every time he caught Neville, he would threaten him, saying he had broken certain school rules and would be expelled.
Neville had always had a terrible memory, and of course, he couldn't remember all the school rules. In fact, he still couldn't remember them, so he was always startled by Filch's intimidation.
Though Neville got lost less often now and hadn't been caught by Filch recently, the fear still lingered.
…
At ten minutes to eleven, Harry, Neville, and Hermione said goodbye to the embarrassed Ron and headed for the castle hall.
Filch was already waiting there, but in addition to him were Draco and Professor Mortney Camille, another Transfiguration teacher at the school, a young woman who was supposedly a student of Professor McGonagall and currently taught second and fourth-year students.
Only then did Harry remember that Draco would also be in detention, but he didn't know why Professor Camille was there.
"The nature of your punishment has changed," Professor Camille said, her expression lighter than Professor McGonagall's usual stern demeanor. She smiled faintly as she spoke to Hermione:
"Miss Granger, please come with me. I have a task for you as part of your punishment. As for Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, and Mr. Malfoy, you three should follow Mr. Filch."
Naturally, Hermione didn't dare disobey the professor, so she could only glance at Harry and the others before following Professor Camille.
"Alright, you three follow me," Filch said, walking ahead with a lantern and leading them out of the castle while muttering:
"What a pity. I think the punishment for breaking school rules is far too light these days. I really miss the old punishment of hanging students by their wrists from the ceiling with chains for days. I still have those chains in my office. Who knows, they might come in handy someday."
Harry and Neville ignored Filch and merely glared at Draco fiercely the entire way, but Draco completely ignored them.
The group of four walked through the dark hunting grounds, which made Harry wonder where Filch was taking them. However, observing Filch's fast pace and pleased expression, Harry suspected that this punishment wouldn't be easy.
Filch only seemed happy when physically punishing students, and the severity of the punishment appeared to be directly proportional to his happiness. Harry seriously suspected that the man had a mental illness.
A little farther ahead, the dense shadows of the trees became visible. It was a thick forest, the Forbidden Forest!
Harry could already see the lights of Hagrid's cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As he was still wondering what Hagrid was doing, he heard a gruff voice:
"Filch, is that you? You're late! I'm about to leave."
It was Hagrid's voice.
Harry and Neville exchanged glances and could see the joy on each other's faces. If they were going to be doing any work with Hagrid, it wouldn't be so bad in their opinion.
"What? You think you're going to stay here all night?" Filch seemed to notice their expressions and mocked them. "Think again, you stupid boy. You're going into the Forbidden Forest."
He then shouted toward Hagrid: "What difference does it make if you die a little earlier or a little later?"
"The Forbidden Forest?" Malfoy shouted before Harry and Neville could react. Clearly, this vocabulary was a bit beyond his ability to handle.
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