Disclaimer: I didn't create Harry Potter, nor do I own it, and I'm not making any money from this story.
Warning(s): There's some language in this chapter.
Shoutouts: Thanks to codla for reviewing!
Recap:
Harry didn't watch as Terry Boot took to the air, but then a minute later, he heard more cheers and yelling, and then felt his teammates jump on top of him. And then he realized that that they had won.
Chapter 25: Caught Red Handed
The party celebrating Slytherin's win was epic. The seventh years smuggled in butterbeer, Firewhiskey, and chocolate in from Hogsmeade, and Harry and his friends brought food from the kitchen.
Although the night had been fun, the following week, it was time to buckle down, and return to work. Ginny, Colin, and Luna had their O.W.L.'s approaching, so Hermione drew up a study schedule for them and monitored their work.
What put a slight damper on the end of the year, other than exams, was the investigation into the culprit behind the tampering with Harry's broom during the championship game.
Harry learned what happened when Professor Slughorn told him one night in the common room that the headmaster had requested his presence. Harry and his head of house went to the headmaster's office. After Professor Slughorn said the password, which was 'licorice wands' to the gargoyle, the guardian moved out of the way. Then the rotating spiral stairs brought them to the headmaster's office, and Harry and Slughorn stepped inside.
"Hello, Mr. Potter, Horace. We have discovered who the culprit behind the incident was. They and their parents should be here shortly."
Soon, the fireplace in Dumbledore's office flashed green, and Mrs. Weasley, followed by Mr. Weasley, stepped out of the fireplace.
"Hello, Dumbledore," Molly Weasley said. "You wanted to discuss something with us?"
"Yes, I'm just waiting for the arrival of your son."
Harry barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course, it would be Ron Weasley. Who else? It was a bit of a surprise that he had managed the magic, though.
Eventually, a red-faced Ron Weasley, escorted by Professor McGonagall, arrived at the headmaster's office.
"Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, "would you like to inform your parents of your actions, or should I?" Ron stayed silent, so the headmaster continued. "Molly, Arthur, your son attempted to cheat during the final game for the Quidditch Cup by tampering with Mr. Potter's broom."
"WHAT?"
"Your son used a severing charm in order to cut Mr. Potter's broom in half while he was in the air, chasing the snitch," Professor McGonagall said.
"Luckily, Mr. Nott was there to prevent Mr. Potter from falling to the ground," Professor Slughorn added.
"WHAT?"
"Would you like some tea, Molly?" Dumbledore asked.
Mrs. Weasley nodded and sat down, and her husband followed suit. Dumbledore conjured a silver tea set and poured two cups of tea for Ron's parents.
Professor McGonagall asked, "Is there anything you would like to say for yourself, Mr. Weasley?"
Ron shook his head.
"Then I have no choice but to take 200 points from Gryffindor, permanently suspend you from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and suspend you from Hogwarts for the remainder of the school year. You will be allowed to sit for your exams in June, but you may not take classes or stay in the castle." Dumbledore said.
Ron jumped out of his seat. "You can't do that!"
"Mr. Weasley, this is the second time this year that you have made an effort to harm Mr. Potter in a Quidditch match, not to mention that this time, it was cheating," Professor McGonagall said. "If I had things my way, you wouldn't be returning next year."
"I also expect that you will send a formal apology to Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. "That is all. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I apologize for putting you through this. Do you mind waiting here while your son collects his belongings?"
"Not at all," Mr. Weasley said. The look on his face promised a long lecture for when they returned home.
After Ron left the office, escorted by his head of house, Mrs. Weasley got up and engulfed Harry in a crushing hug.
"I am so sorry, Harry. I knew you two didn't exactly get along, but I never..."
"It's alright, Mrs. Weasley. It's not as if I got hurt. Everything's fine."
Fifteen minutes later, Ron returned with his satchel and battered trunk, and he and his parents left without a word.
Afterwards, Harry returned to his common room, to tell his friends what had transpired.
"What did Dumbledore want?" Daphne asked the moment he returned.
"He and the other teachers figured out what happened to my broom. It was a severing charm." He looked at Ginny as he spoke.
She said, "It was Ron, wasn't it?"
Harry nodded. "Dumbledore kicked him off the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and he's suspended from school for the rest of the year. And he lost 200 points for Gryffindor."
"Bloody hell," Draco said. "I would've loved to hear what his parents had to say."
"They didn't say anything. It was scarier than Mrs. Weasley's howlers. At least then, you know she's angry. He's probably being ripped to shreds right now."
"He went home already?" Pansy asked.
Harry nodded. "He had to pack his stuff and leave."
"Well someone's nonexistent Quidditch career is over," Ginny said. "He wanted to play for the Canons," she explained.
Draco snorted. "The Canons have been the worst team in the league for the past century. You'd have to be desperate to play for them."
"That's why I'm aiming for the Harpies or the Prides," Ginny said. "At least those are decent teams."
Talk turned to Quidditch, and they all forgot about Ron.
After things had calmed down, Harry, Neville, and Draco focused on achieving the animagus transformation, and they managed it a week before exams. Now they just had to wait for the end of July. Even though Draco turned seventeen in May, Narcissa would be throwing a huge party for all three of them over the summer.
But first, they had to surprise Remus.
The next full moon took place the night before their first exams. Harry watched the Marauders' Map until he saw Remus go to the Whomping Willow, and then he, Neville, and Draco snuck out of the castle. The three of them could no longer fit under Harry's invisibility cloak together, so they simply used the map to avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris.
They walked in the shadows along the outside wall of the castle, and then they sprinted across the lawn to the Whomping Willow. Draco spelled a pebble to hit the knot at the base of the tree, something they learned from the Marauder's book of Pranks, and then they entered the passageway and transformed.
They moved slowly and cautiously, until they reached the room at the end. They heard the snarling coming from the werewolf inside.
As the stag, wolf, and horse stepped inside the room, the werewolf looked up from the corner. He was bleeding from self-inflicted scratches and bites.
The three of them stood cautiously near the exit, in case they needed to run, but after the werewolf got up on his hind legs, and then inspected and sniffed them, he let them be. He then curled up on a tattered rug, and seemed to be at peace.
Harry, Neville, and Draco, stayed most of the night, but left towards dawn so that they could sneak back into the castle.
The next morning, Draco, Neville, and Harry barely stayed awake through their first exam, which was Transfiguration. Luckily, all of them were suitably proficient in the subject, and after it ended, they were all confident that they had managed to pass.
They were going to return to their dormitories to catch a few hours of sleep, as their Charms exam was in the afternoon. But as they returned to the dungeons, Remus caught up with them. "Harry, can I talk to you for a moment? In my office?"
Harry felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he still said, "Sure." He gesture for Draco and Neville to leave, and then he followed Remus to his office.
"Was that you last night in the Shrieking Shack?"
Harry nodded.
Remus sighed. "What you did was incredibly dangerous. I don't know what I would have done had I hurt you. I'm guessing the other two were Draco and Neville?"
"Yeah. Neville's the wolf, Draco's the horse."
"I can't believe you three did that. I should tell Dumbledore. But I won't. I will tell your parents and Sirius, though. I'm sure they'd love to have a talk with you once they find out."
Harry cringed and looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry, Remus. I really am. I just wanted to help you."
"And I'm grateful for that. You may look like your father, but sometimes, you're a lot more like your mother. I was terrified when she figured out that I was a werewolf. I was terrified that she would shun me and that she would tell everyone. But she told me, 'Remus, I don't care about your furry little problem, you're still the same person on the inside.' Harry, your mother had a great gift. She was able to see the beauty in others, even when they couldn't see it for themselves. And I think she passed that gift onto you."
"Thanks."
"Now why don't you get some sleep until your Charms exam? I don't think Professor Flitwick will appreciate you falling asleep during his test." As Harry left, Remus called him back. "And don't forget to register, come July."
"Of course, Remus."
Harry left and returned to the dungeons in order to catch a small amount of sleep before lunch and his second exam.
The remainder of exams went well, and at the end of year feast, Slytherin once again one the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup. They were on the best streak in fifty years, and it looked like none of the other houses could break it.
The train ride home was relatively relaxing, and they all talked about their summer plans.
"Harry, what are you planning to do this summer?" Daphne asked.
"Quidditch," Harry answered automatically. "I need to get a new broom, and then start talking to coaches and managers."
"Fun," Draco said. "I get to start working on my application for Auror training."
"Let's not forget about stopping by the Ministry," Neville murmured.
"Why do you need to stop by the Ministry?"
Harry answered quickly, "Wizengamot business!"
Daphne rolled her eyes, "What are you hiding? And it better not be illegal."
Draco, Neville, and Harry shared a look, and then Draco threw up a privacy ward. "If you tell anyone what we're about to tell you, I'll hunt you down and feed you to a dragon."
"We're animagi," Neville said.
Silence.
Then Theo said, "Two questions. One, what the bloody hell were you thinking? Two, do you three have death wishes?"
"First of all, we were helping Remus," Harry said. "And no, we don't have death wishes."
"So what are your forms?" Astoria asked.
"I'm a stag," Harry answered.
Draco said, "I'm a horse."
Neville added, "I'm a wolf."
"And the three of you are insane," Daphne said. "I'm guessing you're going to register once you're all seventeen?"
"Obviously," Draco said. "We're not planning on being arrested. After all, I do want to become an Auror."
After Harry, Neville, and Draco had dropped their bombshell, they went back into the easy rhythm of conversation that almost always accompanied their journeys on the Hogwarts Express. Eventually, they arrived at King's Cross Station, where all of their parents were waiting.
Remus was there as well, standing with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.
"Both of your parents want to have a word with you," he said to Neville and Harry. "Draco, I believe your mother and father want to speak to you as well."
All three boys gulped, but went to Malfoy Manor, and the flooed to their own ancestral homes.
Harry braced himself as he stepped out of the fireplace. Movements later, he found himself subjected to Lily Potter's infamous temper.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?"
"I'm sorry, Mum. I'm really, really sorry. I wasn't thinking. None of us were. We just wanted to help Remus. We didn't know how else we could've done."
Lily sighed, and her anger seemed to fade. "Even if you managed to do it sweetie, things could have gone terribly wrong. I wouldn't be able to stand it if something happened to you."
"Your mother's right Harry. Sirius and I may have done it, but that doesn't mean that you should have too. You could have waited, at least until you were of age."
"But you didn't wait."
"We were young and stupid," Sirius said from his frame. "In hindsight, what we did was incredibly dumb. Not only the transformation, but we ran around with a werewolf in the middle of the night."
"We didn't leave the Whomping Willow," Harry said defensively. All we did was stay there and keep Remus company."
"Well at least you're not as dumb as your father and his friends were," Lily said with an affectionate smile. "But please, no more life threatening activities. At least for now."
"Yes, mum."
Later that day, Harry, Neville, and Draco met up at Malfoy Manor. All of them looked suitably cowed.
"I thought my father was going to give me a thrashing," Draco said once they were in the relative privacy of his room.
"My mum gave me a verbal thrashing," Neville said.
"So did mine," Harry said. "She's louder than Mrs. Weasley."
"On the bright side," Draco said, "anything else we do is going to look pretty mild compared to this."
A few weeks later, they made a trip to Diagon Alley, to get their dress robes fitted for their combined seventeenth birthday celebration. Invitations had been sent out, and Narcissa was expecting a little over three hundred guests.
Harry also used the trip as an opportunity to stop by Quality Quidditch Supplies and purchase a new Firebolt. He and Neville stopped by the twins store to see that business was still booming.
"My mother chose the most uncomfortable robes on the planet on purpose," Draco complained, pulling at his collar. It was the night of August first, and they were about to enter the ball that the Malfoys were hosting to celebrate Draco's, Neville's, and Harry's seventeenth birthdays.
They would be opening the ball with a dance. Harry was escorting Daphne, Draco was accompanied by Ginny, and Neville had Hannah on his arm.
The doors opened and they walked in one at a time. Draco and Ginny went in first, as Draco was the oldest.
"Formally announcing Draco Abraxas Malfoy, scion of the Noble House of Malfoy, joined by Miss Ginevra Weasley."
Then it was Neville's turn, as his birthday had been two days prior.
"Formally announcing Lord Neville Franklin Longbottom of the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, joined by Miss Hannah Abbott."
Then it was Harry's turn.
"Formally announcing Lord Harry James Potter of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter and the Ancient and Noble House of Black, joined by Lady Daphne Greengrass, of the Noble House of Greengrass."
Once all of them were assembled on the marble dance floor, a waltz began to play and they put their dancing skills to good use.
After an hour of dancing and hors d'oeuvres, it was time for the eight-course feast prepared by the Malfoys' house elves. Afterwards there was more dancing, but towards midnight, the guests of honor managed to sneak away with their friends in their year.
Theo brought out a bottle of Firewhiskey that he had hidden under Draco's bed. He popped of the cork and said, "To being seventeen!" He took a swig of it, and then passed the bottle around the room. Everyone, even Hermione, took a sip. After a few passes around the room, the bottle was empty.
Theo then pulled out three more bottles of Firewhiskey and handed one to Harry, one to Neville, and one to Draco.
They all got amazingly drunk, and that's how Mr. Malfoy found then the following morning.
"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, Neville Franklin Longbottom, and Harry James Potter. You have ten minutes to help your friends to return home, get dressed, and join Narcissa, Remus and I for breakfast. Hangover potions are on the dresser."
Draco groaned, and got up from where he had passed out on the floor. "Can we never do that again?"
"Agreed," Harry said, as he sleepily lifted his head. He patted Daphne's shoulders, as her head was resting on his stomach and said, "Daphne, we have to get up."
Draco tossed Harry to vials of the potion that Mr. Malfoy had provided.
"Here, Daphne, drink up."
Daphne sat up so Harry could help her pour oozing green liquid down her throat.
"That tasted vile," she said.
Once they were all awake and their hangovers were cured, Theo, Daphne, Pansy, Susan, and Hannah flooed to their respective homes. Hermione flooed to Daphne's home, as she had told her parents that she would be sleeping there.
Harry, Draco, and Neville then went to their own rooms and quickly changed out of their wrinkled robes, something Draco's mother would not be happy about. They then ran down the stairs and managed to make it down to the dining room.
"Did you boys have fun last night?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, mother, the party was lovely."
"And did you have fun afterwards?"
Crap. The three boys simply looked at their plates and picked at their food.
"Just be careful," Remus said. "I have stories about when my friends and I celebrated our seventeenth birthdays. It was fun then, but looking back on it a lot of things we did were really dumb."
The boys were saved from further lecturing when their Hogwarts letters arrived for the very last time. Once again, Harry was Quidditch captain for Slytherin.
"What the fuck?"
"Neville," Mrs. Malfoy said, "watch your language."
"Let me see," Harry said. Sure enough, a gold badge with an 'H' on it sat in Neville's hand. "That's awesome, Neville. I wonder who the head girl is. And who got your prefect spot."
Neville sat there in shock while the others continued their breakfasts.
"What if it's a mistake?"
"It's not, Neville," Remus said. "Dumbledore probably chose you because you were the most likely to hold certain people," here he looked at Harry and Draco, "in line."
"You're acting like we're a bad influence," Harry said.
Remus gave him a cheeky grin. "You're the son and godson of two of the Marauders. How could you not be a bad influence?"
A/N: I hope you liked it (I proofed this really fast, so I apologize for any errors)! Don't forget to review :)