Chapter 72
Chapter 72
The goddess of fortune brought their midnight expedition to a close.
In the excitement, Harry did not realise he had left the Invisibility Cloak atop the Astronomy Tower until they had descended the stairs.
As ill luck would have it, Filch appeared before the three of them at precisely that moment.
Thus, two hours after leaving Professor McGonagall’s office, Suer returned. Beside a deathly pale Hermione, he endured the professor’s volcanic fury.
“I cannot believe it.” Her lips trembled. “It is one o’clock in the morning, and you are wandering around the castle!”
“I believe I understand exactly what happened.”
“You used a ridiculous story about a dragon to lure Draco Malfoy from his bed, hoping that I would catch him. The truly absurd part is…”
“Suer Bones, I believed you to be a sensible child, much like Miss Granger. Surely you did not believe Mr Potter’s ridiculous story as well?”
Suer said nothing.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound interrupted Professor McGonagall’s rebuke. Lips pressed tightly together, she crossed the office and opened the door.
“Pardon me, Professor McGonagall. I’ve caught another young wizard.” Filch chuckled unpleasantly and pushed someone inside.
“Neville?” Harry cried.
“Harry, I heard Malfoy say he was going to catch you–” Neville began urgently, but Professor McGonagall interrupted.
“Excellent. Excellent, Mr Neville Longbottom.” Her fury had become laughter. “Another student deceived by your ridiculous story. Perhaps you find all this amusing?”
“I have never heard of such a thing. Five students out of bed in one night!”
“All of you will serve detention. Yes, that includes you, Mr Suer Bones. Whatever your reasons, you had no right to wander the castle after midnight. It is dangerous. Hufflepuff will lose fifty points.”
“And…” Professor McGonagall closed her eyes, looking deeply pained. “Gryffindor will lose fifty points as well!”
“For each of you!”
…
The next day, many students rubbed their eyes when they passed the house hourglasses.
After two Quidditch victories, Gryffindor had briefly overtaken Ravenclaw to claim first place. Overnight, it had fallen to fourth.
The little lions gave collective shrieks of disbelief.
What happened? Where are our points?
The new ranking placed Ravenclaw first, Hufflepuff second, Slytherin third and Gryffindor fourth.
Gryffindor had possessed a genuine chance of winning the House Cup. Because of Harry and the others, that chance had disappeared. When the students learnt how the points were lost, many little lions treated them badly.
The young badgers did not particularly mind. Whatever happened now, Slytherin could not win this year’s Cup.
For the little eagles, it was an unexpected delight.
“It’s all right, Hermione. Everyone will forget soon.” Suer comforted the dejected girl.
“Look at me. I lost Hufflepuff fifty points in one blow, and nothing terrible has happened.”
When Ron returned after recovering, he added that his brothers had been losing Gryffindor points ever since they arrived, yet everyone still liked them.
“But they never lost one hundred and fifty points at once,” Harry said miserably. He swore that he would never meddle again.
Professor Quirrell could go to hell.
Yes, and Snape could join him.
At least the approaching final exams distracted them from their misery.
Hermione created a series of revision timetables. Every day, they buried themselves in the library. With no attention left for anything else, everyone except the already brilliant Hermione improved quickly. Complicated potion formulas, important magical inventions, dates of goblin rebellions–facts Harry and Ron had once found impossible all fell before them.
And what of our protagonist, Suer?
Oh, he was still rewriting assignments in professors’ offices.
Professor McGonagall paused her quill and addressed Suer, who had completed the last piece of work and was preparing to leave.
“Mr Bones, please tell Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Mr Longbottom that your detention begins tomorrow night at eleven. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall.”
“Yes, Professor.” Suer nodded.
Time changed as quickly as Merlin changed his underpants.
“Merlin’s lacy stockings, are we serving detention in the Forbidden Forest?” Harry stared at the dark woodland ahead, his expression poor.
“W-we can’t go in there at night. My grandmother says everything lives in there–even werewolves…” Neville’s voice tightened.
“Werewolves?”
Malfoy’s steps faltered, and his face turned pale.
Yes, Malfoy was one of the students serving detention.
“You have only yourselves to blame, haven’t you?” Filch held up his lantern and spoke with sinister pleasure. “When you decided to make trouble, you should have remembered the werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, shouldn’t you?”
“I sincerely hope that when I come to collect you tomorrow, you haven’t already become fertiliser.”
At the back of the group, Suer heard Neville choke. He glanced at Hermione and found her face frighteningly white.
After mentally cursing ten thousand generations of Filch’s ancestors, Suer reached out and took Hermione’s cold hand, hoping the contact would ease her fear.
He was not especially frightened of the Forbidden Forest. Whenever Suer spent time at Hagrid’s hut, the giant told him about the creatures inside.
“They’re all little darlings. If you don’t enter dangerous places or deliberately expose yourself, the forest isn’t so frightening.”
Naturally, not entering at all remained safest.
Going into the Forbidden Forest was bad news.
The good news was that they would not enter alone.
Hagrid arrived with his enormous dog.
“About time. I’ve been waiting half an hour. How are you, Harry? Suer?”
“You shouldn’t be so friendly,” Filch said crossly. “They’re here to be punished!”
Filch and Hagrid began arguing. Plainly, Hagrid had heard the caretaker’s threats.
“I’ll come back at dawn to collect whatever’s left of you!”
With that final remark, Filch swayed away into the darkness carrying his lantern.
“This is servants’ work.” As the moment of entering the forest approached, Malfoy’s fear finally surfaced. “Students shouldn’t be doing it. I thought we’d be writing lines at worst. If my father knew I was doing this, he’d–”
“Obviously, if you refuse to go in, you can pack tomorrow and return to your family manor,” Hagrid retorted bluntly.
“If your father would rather see you expelled from Hogwarts–”
Malfoy remained where he was, face bloodless. He chose to stay at Hogwarts. He dared not imagine his father’s fury if he were expelled over this.
“Look, even Malfoy is frightened. It’s all right, Neville. Hagrid is with us. We’re safe.” At the back, Suer quietly comforted him.
Hagrid raised his lantern and pointed towards a path fading into the black forest.
At last, they were about to enter the Forbidden Forest.