(original chapter in between chapters 7 and 8 in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

A few days after the detention, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the library to confer with Ben and do their homework. As Harry spotted him, he noticed that there were two blonde girls seated with him. One was the girl from the train, now in a Ravenclaw robe, and the other was a Slytherin. The Slytherin was faintly smiling as Ben and his housemate were laughing. Ben spotted them and waved them over.

After the trio was seated at the table, even as Ron looked suspiciously at the Slytherin, Ben smiled and said, "Luna, Daphne, these are my friends, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, guys, these are Luna Lovegood and Daphne Greengrass, my friends."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione said there hellos with various levels of caution, Daphne responded with about Harry's level, and Luna responded with no caution in her voice. Ben frowned at the tense atmosphere.

"Is something wrong?" Ben asked.

Ron responded passionately, "Why're sitting with a Slytherin? They're evil!"

Daphne and Ben's expressions darked, but it was Ben who responded. "Not all Slytherins are evil, Ronald. That'd be like saying that all Hogwarts professors are fair and just."

Ron paused, confusion clear on his face as Hermione, though scandalized, didn't protest. Harry knew they were both thinking of Snape.

"Still … " Ron weakly protested.

Daphne spoke, in a calm tone that Harry found a bit forced. "The Greengrass family have prided themselves on their neutrality in the Wizarding Wars of the last three centuries. We may have never publicly supported the Light, but neither have we supported the Dark."

"Those terms are rather inaccurate, anyway," Ben stated. "Good and evil, light and dark, both are a bit subjective. What many would define as evil or dark may merely be misunderstood. I don't support Voldemort or blood purists," Ben tone changed sharply as Ron and Hermione seemed like they were about to protest. "But neither do I support a viewpoint that bans knowledge just based on the fact that it has been used for foul purposes. If we preached understanding as much as we preached about magical might, then there'd be less … oh, what's th - ah, intolerance in this world."

"You truly believe that?" Harry asked, slightly stunned by Ben's rant.

"I do," Ben stated. "The root of all intolerance is misunderstanding. If you knew what you hated or feared, would you hate or fear it as intensely?"

Harry pondered this. Certainly, if he knew more about Voldemort's history, he might have more pity for him. How did he become like that, Harry wondered, slightly curious now.

"Wrackspurts seem to have surrounded them, Ben," Luna piped up.

"What?" Hermione asked, clearly confused.

"Wrackspurts … They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy, I thought I felt some zooming around in here."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged bewildered glances as Ben and Daphne appeared to be attempting not to laugh. Well, Ben appeared to be, Daphne was merely smiling faintly.

"Luna's, well, unique," Ben stated, still struggling not to laugh. "She has views on animals not yet discovered by conventional means. It certainly helps that her father owns The Quibbler." Hermione appeared to be about to say something before looking at Luna and restraining herself. Ben, appearing to not have noticed, still gained a sour expression. "She's still having trouble here."

"Trouble?" Harry asked.

"I'm being called Loony and my stuff is being stolen," Luna said, appearing unbothered by what's been happening.

"What?!" Hermione hissed in anger. "Why haven't the teachers -"

"We tried reporting it to Professor Flitwick," Daphne said, disdain in her voice. "He told us that official policy is that 'name-calling never hurt anyone'."

"Who created this policy?" Hermione asked, still hissing.

"The Headmaster, of course," Ben said, fury still in his eyes.

"What?!" Harry and Hermione hissed in tandem.

Ron looked confused. "What's the big deal? I mean -"

"Do you enjoy being called a blood traitor?" Ben interrupted. "Does it harm you? If I said you'd never amount to anything, which is not my view, wouldn't it hurt?"

Ron looked hurt before adopting a more understanding look. "I see."

"Since school policy is such, I'm retaliating. Tomorrow at breakfast, my retaliation will come into effect," Ben stated.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"You'll see."

-Break-

The next day, Harry woke up curious about what Ben was planning. After he woke Ron up and met Hermione in the common room, the trio headed to breakfast. As they sat down Harry noticed Ben had finished eating and was sitting next to Luna, in deep discussion. He looked up from his discussion every so often to sweep his eyes across his house table. During one of these sweeps, Harry noticed that Ginny walked in and sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table.

About twenty minutes until breakfast was done, Ben smiled after he finished his sweep and tapped his fork against his goblet. Students all across the Ravenclaw table stiffened, the word 'thief' appearing on the back of their robes as they started to sing, "I admit that in the past I've been a nasty …", which Harry recognized from a movie that Ben and Hope made him watch. The muggle raised students started laughing at the others' confusion, some even singing along.

As the song ended, the students who started singing seemed distressed. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Dumbledore all went over to the Ravenclaw table, wands raised. As Professors Flitwick and McGonagall attempted to dispel the enchantment, Professor Dumbledore asked the table, "Who is responsible for this?"

Ben stood and bowed. "I am, Headmaster. Since you adopted a policy that doesn't punish thieves, I decided to do it for you. Oh, and Professors, the full enchantment will only dispel if the thieves return what was stolen in a public area in front of at least twenty students and apologize and declare themselves thieves. Oh, and at least five points must be taken from each of them."

Harry noticed that Flitwick was proud of this while McGonagall looked conflicted. All those under the enchantment looked mortified while Dumbledore radiated grandfatherly disappointment. He said, "Mr. Black, you must learn to forgive, my boy."

Ben rolled his eyes. "I do forgive and give a second chance to those who truly repent, but these are repeat offenders. You wouldn't let a mass murderer go just because he said he's sorry, right? All I'm doing is name-calling, and," Ben shifted slightly to mimic Dumbledore's posture, "that never hurt anyone, right?"

Flitwick was openly smiling while McGonagall's lips were twitching. Harry looked around the hall to see how everyone was reacting to the discussion. Many seemed to agree with it, although some, such as Hermione and Percy, seemed conflicted. Daphne was nodding and smiling slightly, while Ron was smiling widely, clearly thinking about how much Malfoy would get in trouble. Ginny was writing furiously in a diary of some kind. Malfoy and Dumbledore, however, looked like they had been punched in the gut.

Flitwick spoke out now. "While I don't approve of your methods, I support your idea. Five points will be awarded for a well reasoned idea and take another twenty for your spellwork." He turned to the group of 'thieves'. "As for you, know that I'm extremely disappointed in your behavior. Each of you is losing five points for each day, starting today, that the word 'thief' is on your back and receiving a detention for stealing from a student."

Ben nodded. Harry thought that he was thinking something along the lines of justice is done.

The fallout of this was immediate. Those who bullied Luna returned her things by the next day at the latest. Ravenclaw lost a total of over a hundred points due to the fallout. Ben could often be seen discussing various things with students from a variety of houses. With Hufflepuffs, justice and fairness often seemed to be the topics of choice, while with Gryffindors it was the moments to act against an unfair system.

Harry asked Ben how he felt about being the center of attention about a week later.

Ben looked tiredly at Harry. "It's bloody exhausting. I don't know how you put up with it."

Ron chose that moment to speak up. "What d'you mean? It looks brilliant."

Ben switched his tired gaze to Ron. "I'm an introvert." At Ron's clueless look, he elaborated. "That means I don't feel energized by social situations, quite the contrary, I feel drained when I interact with a large amount of people. Being a bit shy also exacerbates it. An extrovert is the opposite, are you an extrovert?"

Ron started thinking. He opened and closed his mouth several times. He replied with a yes in an unsure tone. Harry knew that he, himself, was an introvert.

Ben nodded at Ron's response as he stood. "Right, now we've got a potions essay due in a week, so I'd suggest you get started now. I'm off to talk to Daphne."

Ron groaned at the thought of doing his homework this early.

AN: I hope everyone's doing well. I want to address some of the comments I've been getting. To everyone who's liked, followed, or reviewed this story, I want to thank you. And to AsTheyBurnInHell'sFlames, I'm not going to go out of my way to bash Dumbledore, although I do enjoy those fics. Thank you all for your support, I'm not used to having my writing praised (even though this is mostly editing).

Uploaded Apr. 17th, 2020, Edited Jan 10th, 2025