Year One - Chapter 24

I was sitting in one of the chairs of McGonagall's office, it was a small office with a large fireplace, and I could see the Quidditch pitch from here, lit only by the light of the moon. McGonagall left me here to take Draco with my dad, I was surprised that she didn't just take me with him but I'm eternally grateful with her.

I was debating for a while if I should just stay here or leave and got to Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall will forget this in the morning, right? And I don't have classes with her until Tuesday, maybe if I take food out of the kitchens and avoid her the rest of the week, she'll forget this…

I tried to open the door and I wasn't surprised that it was locked, I pulled my wand out of my sock (I was wearing high socks only so that they could hold my wand because my pyjama didn't have pockets) and pointed it to the door, whispering Alohomora and as expected, it didn't work, there must be some kind of advanced spell in the lock… She must have thought I would try to leave, how little trust she has in me!

I heard some steps outside of the office, so I quickly ran to sit back in the chair, hitting my left leg against a table. Judging for the sound, it was more than one person, Merlin, I hope it's not McGonagall with my dad!

The door opened and I have never felt more relieved to hear Filch's voice, talking to someone else saying that they should wait here for McGonagall; looks like someone else was outside roaming the castle. Which is a good thing because if Filch is here and McGonagall is down in the dungeons, there was no-one who could catch…

—Harry? Hermione? —Hermione sat down next to me and Harry sat down next to her. She was so pale and shaking. I waited until Filch left to say something again. —What are you doing here? How did Filch catch you? Didn't you have the cape? Oh no! Did he saw Norbert?

—Don't worry, Eileen. —Harry said. It wasn't until he said that that I noticed I was holding my breath.— We managed to give Norbert to Charlie, but we forgot the cape in the tower.

The door opened again, and I heard a small squeal that Hermione made, so I grabbed her left hand with mine. Poor thing, I guess it's her first detention, and if they find out about Norbert, they won't hesitate to expel us.

—Harry!

—Neville? —I said confused, but he ignored me. What is he doing here?

—I was trying to find you and warn you about Malfoy, he said you had a dragon…

Harry shook his head to shut Neville up, but McGonagall still noticed, and she looked like she could spit fire at any moment, I wonder if she's half-dragon…

—I would have never believed it of any of you. Mr Filch said that you were in the Astronomy Tower. It's one in the morning. I want an explanation.

Hermione kept staring at the floor, and I started to feel her hand colder every moment that passed, is it because of the temperature in here or because she's scared? Doesn't matter, I gave a little squeeze to her hand and that made her relax just a little bit.

—I think I have an idea of what happened. You made up a story about some dragon so that Mr Malfoy would be out of bed and got into trouble. And you also thought it would be funny that Mr Longbottom and Miss Snape heard the story and fall for it as well, right?

I was surprised to hear that she thinks I wasn't involved in any of this, maybe I can manage to get out of this without detention…

—I'm disgusted. Five students out of bed in one night. Five! I've never heard of such thing before! Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense, and you, Mr Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this… Even you, Miss Snape, I know you have detention for the rest of the year, do you want them to keep up to your second year? The four of you will have detention… Yes, you too, Mr Longbottom and Miss Snape, nothing justifies that you're walking around the school during the night, especially these days, it's too dangerous… And 40 points will be taken from Gryffindor.

—40?

—40 each, Potter.

—But…

—Professor, you can't…

—Don't tell me what I can or can't do. Go back to bed, I'm extremely disappointed in all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students.

I got up from my seat and Hermione was still sitting, too shocked to process what McGonagall had just told us, so I grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the office, she never let go of my hand until we walked into our room; the second I opened the door she ran and jumped into her bed, closing the curtains around her bed.

From time to time I could hear her sobbing.

The next day was relatively normal and quiet, I spent all day in the library, no one knew what had happened to our points, but it wasn't until Monday during breakfast that the story had spread all over the school, now everyone knew that we had lost 160 points, leaving Slytherin in the first place for the House Cup.

On my way to the Great Hall, the Slytherins keep applauding me and saying things.

—Thanks, Snape! We knew you were a true snake!

—What a great strategy. —Said Tyler Blake, a fourth-year Slytherin while patting my back.— To get into Gryffindor and sabotage them

All the Slytherins that were around started to laugh, the worst of all? Roger was walking out of the Hall at that exact moment, he looked at me and was extremely disappointed and kept walking with his friends.

Should I follow him?

—Roger!

But he ignored me and kept walking, I hit Blake in the stomach with my elbow and walked into the Great Hall before he could do something to me; I sat next to Neville, he wasn't eating, he was only moving the food around his plate with a fork.

—Hi, Neville. —He murmured something, I didn't understand what he said but sounded close to 'hi Eileen' so I think he doesn't mind me sitting with him.— So, are you excited for today Herbology lesson? Remember that today we'll learn about Bouncing Bulbs and I remember you told me you were pretty excited.

—I guess…

Poor Neville, it looks like losing so many points affected him a lot. I started to spread some butter in my toast, I didn't know what to do to cheer Neville up. If talking about Herbology didn't work, I don't think something else will work.

—Eileen…

—Mmh? —I turned to see him with my mouth full of toast. I think I'm finally forgetting the manners that Aunt Cissy taught me.

—Why did you do that?

—Wha-? —I tried to talk with my mouth full, but I almost choke with the food and started to cough, Neville gave me a glass full of milk and I drank it in seconds. — What do you mean?

—Why did you make me believe there was a dragon?

—Oh, Nev… —I looked around to check if someone was listening, but classes were about to start soon so the table was a little bit empty. Still, I didn't want to take a risk so I started to whisper.— None of that was a lie, there was really a dragon here, if you don't believe me, you can ask Hagrid.

I don't know how to read the look on his face, I don't know if he was relieved or angrier, so I decided to shut up and keep eating my breakfast; Neville had already finished his and kept staring at the table. When I finished I put a hand on his shoulder and I spoke to him as nice as I could.

—Let's go, Nev, it's almost time to go to class.

He sighed, but the important thing is that he listened to me and got up, grabbing his bag. We were about to walk down the stairs in the Entrance Hall when I saw my dad talking with McGonagall, it looked like they were having a pretty strong discussion.

—Oh no.

—What's wrong, Leen?

—There's my dad speaking with McGonagall. If he sees me I have no doubt that he'll try to talk to me and give me detention for the rest of my life.

—Oh… —Neville turned to see where they were and then looked at me again.— We could take another route, but we wouldn't get on time to class.

—I don't know… Oh, I have an idea!

I grabbed my back and put it in front of my face. If I walk like this next to them, they won't know who it is, right?

—Is this your idea? —Neville said.— I don't think it's going to work…

—I said I had an idea, never said it was a good one. I don't think it's going to work either, but we don't have time to wait for them to leave. You can go first if you want, there's no reason for them to stop you and try to talk to you.

I lowered my bag to see him and smiled wide when I saw that he was also covering his face with his bag. Carefully we walked down the stairs and tried to stay as far away as possible from them.

—Eileen!

How did he know it's me?

—No, I'm not Eileen. —I said and I heard Neville chuckling.— Come one, Nev!

I grabbed his hand and started running, I let go of his hand when I knew that he would keep running and I didn't stop until I started to see the greenhouse and I fell to the ground, laughing; Neville did the same and we stopped after a while.

—I can't believe you ignored Professor Snape…

—It's my dad, I've been ignoring him for a long time. Let's go, we only have 5 minutes before class starts.

We walked up to the greenhouse and I sat next to Hermione, it was the only place empty, and Neville sat down next to me. Hermione still looked really sad for what happened, but I'm sure that when Professor Sprout starts asking questions, she'll forget about it and she'll be the same know-it-all again.

—Good day, children. As I mentioned the other day, today we'll learn about Bouncing Bulbs, but this is only a theoretical lesson, you'll handle them in your fourth year. —Some people (including me) let out a moan of disappointment.— But first, can someone tell how big can a Bouncing Bulb grow?

I knew the answer, but I didn't bother to try and raise my hand, I knew that Hermione already had her hand up even before Sprout had finished her question.

—No one?

Wait, what? I turned to see Hermione and she was only looking at her book, with her hands over her legs. I slowly raised my hand, I wanted to answer but at the same time, it felt weird that it was me and not Hermione the one answering.

—Ah, yes, Miss Snape?

—Uhm, a mature Bouncing Bulb can reach the size of doorways.

—Excellent, 5 points for Gryffindor.

I smiled and that cheered me up, maybe things won't be that bad and everyone will stop ignoring me if I manage to get enough points to get close to Slytherin… Even if it looks impossible.