Integrity do haha brrrrr NO
also I want Ron to be a good mate so yeah
some canon!
To put it simply, Harry loathes Umbridge.
It was only the third detention, and he already feels like stabbing the bloody quill (no pun intended) into the toad multiple times.
Feeling the painful numbness on his right hand on his way back to the dormitory, Harry has never been so panicked and relieved to see Ron and his broomstick. Something to take off his mind from the pain is greatly appreciated.
Harry should've expected that they would attract someone. They weren't trying hard to lower their voice, and Ron tends to get excited when he talks about Quidditch.
"It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really cool if you got onto the team! I've never seen you play Keeper, are you good?"
"I'm not ba-"
"-What are you two doing here in the middle of the night?" A slightly accented voice makes Harry and Ron whirl around.
The Caretaker walks toward them at an idle pace. Harry notices that, unlike Filch, Mr. Eragon doesn't carry a lantern with him, or a creepy cat that looks at him like he's a piece of trash.
Most importantly, the new Caretaker didn't scare him by having the appearance of a ghoul with a bad attitude, which is quite a nice change, considering Harry usually runs into the Caretakers
"Well?" Eragon crosses his arms, the usual faint smile slightly fainter than usual.
"I-I just came back from detention with Umbridge." Harry says, while covertly trying to hide his right hand.
The Caretaker hums noncommittally, his eyes flicking to Harry's small movement briefly.
The corners of his lips go flat, but Harry didn't notice that.
"And you?" Mr. Eragon turns to Ron, who seems almost pinned down by his gaze.
"I..."
"What are you doing here?" Harry blurts out, not wanting Ron to get into trouble. "You're not following us, are you?"
Mr. Eragon raises an eyebrow, "I am on patrol to ensure that no students are out in the corridors without permission." Harry flushes as he realizes the idiocy of his question, his mind whirling at what to do next.
"He – er – Ron was waiting me," Harry lands on a plausible explanation. "My detention ended just a few minutes ago, so, er, yeah." He ends eloquently. He turns slightly to see Ron's look of gratitude and his own stammering explanation of "yeah because I'm his mate and the broomstick is actually a rat" and other incomprehensible lines
The Caretaker stares at them for a good minute, his expression unreadable. Harry tries not to fiddle under the immensely awkward silence.
Eventually, he says, "I will talk to Professor McGonagall about this." Harry's breath hitches right before the Caretaker continues, "I cannot accept having students running around the corridors at midnight due to detentions."
Harry doesn't know what is happening, "So…"
"You two can go." Mr. Eragon steps back, the smile now back on his face. Harry and Ron breathe out in relief, now in a hurry to scramble back to their dormitory.
The smooth voice interrupts them once more, "Actually, one more thing, Mr. Potter," Harry turns back to meet Eragon's stare. Couldn't he have said it before we were moving?
The Caretaker motions to let Harry alone come to him. When Harry shuffles close enough – Mr. Eragon's air of impassiveness makes him nervous, ok? – that is deemed acceptable, the Caretaker lowers his voice and says, "I would recommend Murtlap Essence for your hand. Cursed wounds are always a headache, and I doubt Madam Pomfrey will let you go so easily."
Harry's heart stills for a moment, before forcibly nodding his head and quickly walking back to Ron, not meeting his mate's questioning eyes as he hisses, "I'll tell you later, c'mon, let's go."
How does he know? The throbbing in his hand seemed to increase. He shouldn't have seen that, that's not possible!
"What was that?" Ron asks Harry as they step through the portrait.
"Nothing!" Harry snaps and instantly regrets it as he sees the hurt and suspicion on Ron's face.
"It's…nothing. Mr. Eragon was just telling me about the detentions." Which was true in a sense because his wounds are caused by them.
Ron grabs Harry's shoulders and looks at him for a long moment.
"I know that look."
"What look?"
Ron rolls his eyes, "The 'there's something that's happening to me but I don't want to say it to my best mate until he finds out by accident' look." He pauses slightly to breathe. "Is it Umbridge?"
Harry curses at Ron's sudden perceptiveness internally, "N-no." He curses himself more for the stammer. "It's nothing."
Ron raises an eyebrow, and Harry braces himself for more interrogation.
It didn't come. Instead, Ron simply says, "Alright then. We'll be taking you to Hospital Wing tomorrow."
"What?" Harry jerks back. "There's nothing wrong with me!"
Ron snorts, "Yeah, right."
The next morning, Harry fails to evade Ron and Hermione, who was informed of Harry's dodgy behavior, and is dragged to Madam Pomfrey.
On the way, Harry sees Mr. Eragon dusting the paintings.
He swears he sees the Caretaker's smile widen when their eyes meet.
Note: Madam Pomfrey was not pleased.
