Chapter 11: Consequences
Authors Note: I know that
I haven't put disclaimers on all the chapters of this story, so here goes:
Disclaimer: All
recognisable characters in all the chapters of this story always have and
always will belong to J.K. Rowling, and are trademarked by Warner Bros and a
lot of other people, including Mattel. I own anyone you don't recognise in all
chapters of the story, such as Professors Hadley and Dunworthy, and Esmerelda
and Orion Black, David and Luke Potter and of course Toots, the cat. Now for the story!
"At least we got them back." James said gloomily.
"They didn't bloody need
those stretchers. They weren't that injured!" Lily complained bitterly.
They were standing outside
the gargoyle, as instructed, and the threat of the consequences was weighing
them all down. Remus felt like saying 'I told you so', but he knew it wouldn't
help and he refrained. But what was the point anyway? They were going to be
expelled. After he had thought he could never come to Hogwarts he was going to
be expelled in his first year.
Headley suddenly appeared from around a corner. She
walked straight up to the gargoyle, ignoring them, and said clearly: "Mars
Bars."
The gargoyle sprang aside, revealing a moving
staircase. Headley stepped on to it, then beckoned to them. They travelled up
to Dumbledore's office in silence. Then a door opened in front of them.
Headley entered to see the Headmaster sitting at his
desk. "Professor!" he began jovially, but he stopped when he saw the look on
the woman's face. "What has happened?" he asked seriously.
"These four…students,"
Headly spat out the word as though it was distasteful, "assaulted six members
of my house without provocation. Snape, Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle
on their way to the library when they were attacked, out of the blue, and they
say they can think of no reason why. They have always been perfectly civil to
the Gryffindors!" hearing this, James and Lily stepped forward in disbelief.
"Wait." Dumbledore said
heavily. He indicated that Professor Headley should sit down, then conjured
four more chairs for the students.
Dumbledore looked at them each closely, noting the
fury of James and Lily, the terror on Peter's face and the realisation
beginning to dawn on Remus' face. "Remus, tell me what happened." Headley
looked enraged that they should be given a chance to defend themselves.
"Well, it all started like
this," Remus told the tale of the previous night, then added at the end, "And as
for always being civil to Gryffindors, that's a load of rubbish. Apart from
beating up Sirius, they called Lily a mudblood, tried to split us up by telling
Sirius' family secrets, then when that didn't work, they told us we were first
in line if ever a Dark Wizard rose again!" Dumbledore frowned.
"You can't believe them,
Dumbledore!" Headley shrieked.
"I need to hear all sides
of the story before I pass any judgement, Erica," he replied calmly. "Peter,
would you go and fetch Sirius for me, and Professor, would you get Professor
Dunworthy?" They left the room and Dumbledore turned to the remaining three. He
looked very sad.
"I am very ashamed of
you," he said, "Whatever the real story is here, you obviously initiated the
fight this morning."
"Honestly, Professor, they
attacked us first!" Lily exclaimed.
"But you provoked it,
Lily." Lily looked cowed. "And, to be honest with you, I understand your anger.
But you didn't do the sensible thing and come to me, or Professor Dunworthy,
you chose to deal with it yourselves and get into a lot of trouble. What you
did, confronting six people, three of them older than you, might have been very
brave, but it was also incredibly stupid. However, what I feel most strongly
about is the way you treated Peter. He is supposed to be your friend, and you
know how easily he is led by you, yet you still embarked on a course of action
that would get him into trouble." Dumbledore was pleased to see the three
looking ashamed. "I thought you had more compassion, and more sense."
They felt terrible. They were now sure they were
going to be expelled, and they felt bad about Peter. They were feeling very
sorry for themselves when Dunworthy and Headley strode in.
"What's your take on
things, Dumbledore?" Dunworthy asked. Headley looked furious that he hadn't
accepted her version of events.
"We will wait until Mr
Black gets here," Dumbledore replied. The room was silent until Peter entered
with a very battered and exhausted looking Sirius. "Well, I see that that part
of the story is true," Dumbledore said, after taking a look at Sirius.
"They probably had a fight
amongst themselves and decided to pin it on my innocent students!" Dunworthy
began to cough, but Dumbledore ignored her.
"Now all that is left to
decide is your punishments…" he said.