Luna Lovegood

To celebrate the start of the new semester, a grand feast was held in the great hall. The tables were bowing under the weight of all the food prepared for the event, the drinks were constantly replenished and the hall itself was elaborately decorated, bringing a festive mood among the students returning from the holidays.

Luna found the feast quite enjoyable as well, as it was quite a nice change from the modest meals she had at home during the holidays. Although she enjoyed her dad's cooking, he had a tendency to forget about the meal while it was being prepared, often ending up burning the dish. In comparison, meals at Hogwarts were always meticulously prepared, which was very much to her liking.

Since Michael was still busy with his 'battle of wits with ministry agents' as he liked to call it, Luna decided to start eating alone, knowing that Michael wouldn't touch anything on the table anyway, fearing poisoning by house elves, so there was no point in waiting for him. Once she tried to give him a necklace to protect him from poison, but he politely declined, arguing that it wouldn't be enough to protect him. She believed in its power, but accepted his refusal, knowing that Michael was extremely cautious when it came to danger.

Nearly an hour of the feast had passed when Luna, having just eaten the delicious apple pie that had appeared a few minutes earlier, finally saw Michael arriving in the great hall. She was about to greet him, but stopped herself when she noticed something rather unusual on the face of the approaching boy. For some reason Michael's cheek looked bruised and somewhat swollen, giving the impression that he had been hit with something during his absence. Michael didn't seem overly concerned about it, moving toward Luna with the usual smile on his face, but once in a few seconds he would wince slightly, most likely feeling pain from the injury.

"Sorry for being late" Michael said simply and sat down next to Luna, apparently seeing no need to elaborate on his current state.

"Michael, what happened?" Luna asked, a little alarmed. He was supposed to just talk with the Gryffindor trio, so why was he returning bruised?

"Ah, It's nothing really. I was just assaulted by a regime enforcer who was enraged that I wasn't afraid to speak the truth," Michael replied casually, causing Luna to furrow her eyebrows. This did not help her understand the situation in the slightest. Seeing her frown, Michael tried to reassure her "You really don't have to worry. The culprit has already received her punishment. And I only got a day of detention, so..."

"Wait, you received a detention?" Luna interrupted, trying to understand what had happened. Why had Michael also been punished? Was he inconsiderate again? "What exactly did you get punished for?"

"That's...not important, right? All that matters is that everything is settled, don't you think?" Michael asked hesitantly, for some reason avoiding eye contact with her. Finding it suspicious, Luna began to look at Michael in silence, trying to pressure him into telling her exactly what had happened. He was almost about to crack, as evidenced by the sweat forming on his forehead, when he was saved by Professor Dumbledore rising from his seat.

"Excuse me, may I please have your attention!" Professor Dumbledore exclaimed, causing the entire hall to fall silent. Almost all of the students stopped chatting among themselves, focusing on the headmaster. Seeing that everyone was listening to him, Dumbledore continued

"I would like to welcome you all for your second semester at Hogwarts. I am sure you are as happy as I am, despite recent events. Although I realize that the recent string of petrifications is probably still fresh in your minds, making it somewhat difficult for you to enjoy the feast, I'm pleased to announce that we finally have some good news on the matter.

As most of you probably already know, your fellow student, Draco Malfoy, was one of the victims of petrification. This was a heavy blow to all of us, but I have been recently informed that his father, Lucius Malfoy, was able to obtain Mandrake Restorative Draught, curing his son of petrification. Although it was deemed too dangerous for Draco to return to Hogwarts, I am sure you are overjoyed to hear of his recovery. In a few months, the mandrakes procured by Professor Sprout will also reach maturity, allowing us to cure all the victims.

Remember, the heir of Slytherin can be defeated. One of his victims has already been cured, and the rest will soon follow. That's why I want you all to remain positive, showing everyone that your spirits have not been broken by the heir's cowardly attacks. I ask you to eat, drink and laugh to your heart's content tonight. That's all I want to say. Enjoy yourselves"

Professor Dumbledore then sat down. The room was mostly filled with applause and cheers, although Luna was also able to hear some less positive murmurs around the tables. They came mostly from members of the Heirs of Slytherin, which she guessed made sense based on the topics they discussed during the meetings, though some whispers also came from unaffiliated students.

"Malfoy was cured? His father probably just bought a draught on some black market,"

"These purebloods think they can just throw money at their problems and forget about them."

"And he purchased the cure just for his son. He didn't even think about buying some for his son's sidekicks. These purebloods think only about themselves"

"No one would care if it was a muggle born who got petrified, but when it's a pureblood, everyone freaks out"

"And Dumbledore agrees with purebloods. He cooperates with them"

"Master predicted that something like this would happen. That's why he recruited us. This school has to change,"

"Not so loud, we'll talk about it at the meeting"

Strange. However, she had more important things on her mind. She turned to Michael again.

"So, Why did you get detention?" asked Luna, making Michael wince as he probably hoped she had already forgotten about it.

Hermione Granger

Scrub. Scrub. Scrub.

For the past hour, the potions classroom had been filled with the sound of scrubbing, Hermione's constant companion since the beginning of her detention.

After her outburst in the courtyard, she was taken to Professor McGonagall for questioning. Although Hermione would have loved to explain herself and expose Brown's true nature, his earlier blackmail prevented her from doing so. Therefore, unable to reveal the true reason for her punch, she was forced to endure McGonagall's disappointment and subsequent punishment in silence, despite its unfairness.

Her punishment was severe, as not only did she receive a week of detention, which she would mostly spend scrubbing dirty cauldrons in the dungeons, but she also lost twenty points. For the past two years she had been trying to be a model student, and now she was being treated like some sort of delinquent. It was truly devastating, especially since it wasn't even her fault! Brown was deliberately antagonizing her, doing everything he could to sow chaos!

This however didn't mean she would slack off during her detention. She had been given a task and would perform it gracefully, regardless of its unfairness. That's why she scrubbed her cauldron with methodical precision, putting as much effort into it as she would have put into any other task. The punishment she received was harsh and time-consuming, but not impossible. She would finish it, proving that she had learned her lesson.

It would have been much easier to accomplish her task, however, if her current company had not been an even greater punishment than detention itself.

"Do you also think that all this 'cauldron cleaning' is just a cover for something more sinister? Like we're getting rid of evidence that the faculty is brewing some illegal concoctions on the side?" Brown chatted cheerfully beside her, patiently scrubbing his own cauldron. Seeing Hermione's glare, he shrugged his shoulders and continued "No? Maybe it's just me. I've always been quite sensitive to these sorts of things."

Hermione honestly couldn't fathom why Professor McGonagall and Flitwick decided it would be a good idea to make them spend the detention together. Granted, they would only do it once, as making fun of Malfoy's petrification only warranted a day of detention instead of Hermione's week, but it was hard to bear Brown's presence for even one day! Every action of this boy seemed to be geared to annoy her!

"Can you please just shut up? It's bad enough that I have to spend the evening with you. I don't want to listen to your nonsensical theories as well" - Hermione asked, not in the mood to interact with the boy responsible for her current predicament. Especially since for some reason he was given preferential treatment by the head of his house! "And why was I the only one who lost points? You laughed at the victim of the petrification. You shouldn't be punished with only a day of detention"

"Well, I don't have any concrete proof, but I'm fairly certain that the teachers are forbidden to take any points away from me at this point," Brown replied nonchalantly, completely unconcerned by what he said. Didn't he have any problem with it? It was hard enough for Hermione to lose even twenty points, but this guy blatantly admitted that he had lost enough points for the teachers to stop taking them away! How can someone like that be allowed to attend Hogwarts?! "Moreover, if we look at it rationally, what you did was arguably much worse. Hitting a younger student in front of so many witnesses? You're quite a delinquent, Granger"

"I... just... shut up," Hermione replied tersely, knowing full well that another argument with Brown wouldn't do her any good. That's why it was best to just ignore him for the time being, no matter how much he irritated her. She would gratefully serve her detention, regain the points she had lost, and then find a way to expose Brown. The future of the school depended on it.

"Sure, no problem," Brown replied cheerfully, then turned away from her and began whistling some unfamiliar tune under his breath, apparently content to spend the evening scrubbing cauldrons. Like he forgot he was being punished.

Hermione bit her lip, refraining from commenting on his overly relaxed reaction. She also had to fight the urge to hit him again.

January passed relatively quietly. Since there were no further attacks, most students seemed to gradually forget about the threat posed by the Heir, slowly returning to their normal routine. People began to think that perhaps the danger had passed and there would be no further petrifications. Everything however changed with the beginning of February.

On the first of February, Hestia Travers was petrified.

On the second of February, Albus Dumbledore was suspended and forced to leave Hogwarts.

On the third of February, protests began.