52
00000
Possibility…
It was the next day when McGonagall had walked into the Gryffindor common room along with Professor Flitwick, Sprout, Snape and Pomfrey. The students looked confused, wondering why the faculties were there. However, Harry had an idea as he narrowly glanced towards Hermione who was sitting beside him at the corner table. She didn't notice him looking at her as she was more focused on the faculties, just like all the other students who were in the common room.
McGonagall told her prefects to call all the students who weren't there. Once everyone had come down the deputy headmistress signaled the four faculties. Snape and Flitwick headed for the boys' dormitories while Sprout and Pomfrey went for the girls'.
The students wondered what was going on. Cormac McLaggen, a sixth year, tried asking McGonagall but the Gryffindor head simply told him to fall back with the rest of the students. He didn't argue. Half an hour later Flitwick and Snape came down before the latter handed McGonagall a small vial, away from the eyes of the students. He then leaned in and whispered something in her ear and the old witch's eyes widened in shock. By that time Sprout and Pomfrey had also come down and Flitwick had informed them of their discovery. Just like McGonagall, the two witches were also shocked.
McGonagall looked at Ron. "Mr Weasely," she said in calm, yet slightly shaking tone as others looked at the red head too, "come with us to my office."
"Professor, what is going on?" George asked.
"I think it's best that you don't know, Mr Weasely," Flitwick told the seventh year.
"With all due respect sir," Fred said stepping forward, "Ron is our brother. If he has done something then we have a right to know."
Flitwick then looked at McGonagall who gave him a curt nod. "Alright," said the tiny professor. "You two can come. However, I will have to ask Ms Weasely to stay here."
Ginny wanted to come too, but Fred and George told her that it was alright. She didn't argue as she saw her brothers leave the common room with the faculties.
"What just happened?" Hermione said.
"I don't know," Harry said. He knew what was going on and he hoped that Ron gets the worst possible punishment that Hogwarts could offer him. What that boy had done was borderline criminal. If he had been of age then he would've straight-up landed in Azkaban for at least ten years. Compulsion magic of any kind – whether it was through a spell or potion – was frowned upon by the magical society all over the world which is why using them was considered to be one of the worst crimes in the eyes of magical laws.
The Weasely brothers returned an hour later. Fred and George were expressionless while Ron looked like he had been crying. He went straight to his dorm and returned sometime later with his trunk dragging behind him.
The Gryffindors looked on in confusion, wondering what was going on when Fred stopped Ron and planted a powerful slap on his face, causing the fifth year to stumble backwards and fall. Everyone was shocked, even Harry. This was the first time when they had seen the twins so angry. Neither of them came forward to stop Fred though as they were all afraid of him. George then stepped in, putting a hand on his twin's shoulder.
Ron got up. His pale face now carrying a large red imprint of Fred's palm, as he quickly left the common room feeling humiliated. George and Fred left after him, as did Ginny too, this time.
As soon as the Weaselys left, everyone started talking. Harry and Neville exchanged glances. The latter also knew what had actually happened. Harry had filled him in about it yesterday. The two were glad that Umbridge wasn't at Hogwarts today otherwise she would've definitely stopped McGonagall from taking any action against Ron, even more so if the inquisitor had realized that doing so would only annoy Harry.
As the day moved ahead, rumors started spreading about Ron's suspension as the entire Gryffindor had seen the red head leaving with his trunk. But then Dean and Seamus said that all of Ron's belongings were gone from the dorm. If he had just been suspended then he wouldn't have taken everything with him, just a few essentials.
When evening came Hermione was called by McGonagall in her office. She returned two hours later. Harry had been waiting for her in the corridor outside their common room. The moment she saw him, she ran and hugged him tightly before breaking down completely.
For the first few minutes, he said nothing. He just hugged her and waited for her to calm down. Once she had he had asked her what had happened. Hermione then told him what Ron had been doing to her since last year, how he had been dosing her with loyalty potion. Harry acted like he was shocked and angry. She then told him that Ron had been expelled. That one actually came as a surprise to him but he also felt happy about it. One could trust McGonagall to pass on fair judgment, although in this case Harry hoped that Ron could've been punished even more than with just an expulsion.
As the two stood in the corridor, a few students glanced at them while they were passing by. However, one glare from Harry and they all backed away, leaving him and Hermione alone. She then told him why she had never taken his side last year and why she had listened to Ron as realization hit her.
"I think that is why I could think a little clearly during the summer," she had said, "because Ron wasn't there to dose me. That is when I realized that I was in the wrong to not stand with you last year and I had immediately felt bad for it, knowing how I had made a mistake listening to Ron."
Harry had forgiven her. He was waiting for this moment. Ron had been expelled and wouldn't be a problem. Hermione finally knew what had happened to her and she will hopefully heal from this trauma down the line and Harry could now completely trust her with everything, just like old times. He felt a sense of relief wash over him. He had missed his best friend.
"I don't know why he did it though," Hermione had said next. "McGonagall didn't tell me about it and I forgot to ask her."
"I don't know what Ron would gain from dosing you," Harry said. "But what I do know is that he is not smart enough to concoct a loyalty potion on his own and there is no way he could get someone in Hogwarts to make it for him. Whoever supplied him with the potions is to be blamed equally."
Hermione realized that Harry was right. Ron could barely put the cauldron on fire, let alone concoct a potion. "But who could've done this?" she asked.
"That…we will have to find out," Harry said.
00000
It was Molly's fault.
That's the first thing that had come to Dumbledore's mind when he learnt about what had gone down at Hogwarts in his absence. When he had returned, he had found a stack of letters on his table and they were all from the Weasely matriarch. As he opened and read one of them he realized what had happened and had called McGonagall immediately, asking her for an explanation.
"You handed me the responsibility to run this school in your absence," McGonagall had replied flatly. "So I did what I thought was appropriate, although it was by a long shot. That boy deserved a much severe punishment for what he did to poor Ms Granger."
Much to her surprise, Dumbledore simply accepted her explanation before asking her to leave. McGonagall was wondering that he would undo her decision of Ron's expulsion, seeing how close friends he was with the Weaselys. But surprisingly he hadn't.
Once she had left Dumbledore sighed tiredly and looked at the stack of letters that Molly had sent him. He had told her not to go ahead with her plan for securing a 'wife' for Ron but the woman had not listened. She never did and now her youngest son was paying the price for that. He wondered whether Harry knew of Molly's involvement. If he didn't then he soon will, considering he had two of the smartest people on his side now – Daphne Greengrass and Hermione Granger. They both were logical and didn't just believe in anything without any proof. If having his emancipation and living with Sirius wasn't bad enough, Harry now had two of the most intelligent minds of his generation with him and that was the last thing Dumbledore wanted for the boy. That, and the fact that there had been new developments regarding Voldemort, Dumbledore had little time to attend to Molly's issues.
She had it coming. He had warned her about it but she hadn't listened. Dumbledore wondered how he could control her when he realized that there were three Weaselys who were yet to graduate. He could use them to make sure Molly didn't cause him any more problems.
00000
For Draco and his group, they didn't have time to wonder what was going on in the Gryffindor house because they had received their first order from Voldemort. It had come through Lucius so Draco had received the letter and thus, he knew about Voldemort's order before any of his 'friends'.
Their order was to find a tiara, more precisely the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. It was supposed to be somewhere in Hogwarts and Voldemort's order for the boys, was to find and bring it to him when they would return home for Christmas break.
Draco knew what this missing diadem actually was and why Voldemort wanted it so badly. After losing his snake and his mother's ring the dark lord had become paranoid and had ordered a select few from his inner circle to collect a few things from various places. One of them was this missing diadem and because it was in Hogwarts where Voldemort couldn't just barge in, he had entrusted the task of acquiring it to Draco and his group.
He knew what these things were – Draco. He had once heard his father tell his mother about them. These were the one weakness that Voldemort had so it made sense why the dark wizard was so paranoid over them. It also meant that whoever stole the snake and the ring also knew what they were which made Draco wonder, could this person know how to destroy them? As far as he knew, these things couldn't be destroyed but if there was a possibility that they could be, then it meant that there was a way to defeat Voldemort, once and for all.
00000
Thanks for reading…
