The Dragon Incident (Part 2)

Filch dragged them toward Professor McGonagall's office on the second floor, only to run into Sagreles, who had just left the library.

"Professor!" Filch jumped in fright. He bent at the waist and called out respectfully.

"Good evening, Filch." Sagreles swept his gaze over them and roughly understood what had happened.

"Good evening, Professor. I caught several young wizards wandering around after curfew and was just about to take them to Professor McGonagall..."

Sagreles nodded without speaking, but he didn't move aside either. Filch's expression gradually became awkward.

"Professor... I'll leave these young wizards to you. I'll pretend I never caught them..." Filch forced the words out. He assumed this professor, who had often wandered the halls at night as a student, wanted to pull some strings for Harry and the others.

"You misunderstand, Filch." Sagreles stopped him from continuing, extinguishing the freshly kindled hope in the three young wizards' eyes as well.

"This is what you should do. Taking them to Professor McGonagall is the right decision."

After saying that, he ignored Filch's astonished expression and walked up to the trio. He was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Harry, it seems you didn't take my words to heart."

He was referring to the warning he'd given Harry before the Mirror of Erised. Harry clearly understood what he meant and lowered his head in shame and disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Professor."

"You don't need to apologize to me." Sagreles shook his head, cutting him off. Looking at the pitiful trio, there wasn't a trace of pity in his tone.

"I only hope you had sufficient reasons for breaking school rules, rather than doing it for some boring prank..." He looked meaningfully at their slightly brightened eyes, then added, "And I also hope you ended up in this situation because you truly had no other choice, not because of your own stupidity, arrogance, and smugness..."

The trio felt even more ashamed.

After speaking, Sagreles stepped aside and nodded to Filch. Flattered, Filch bowed to him, then led the three onward to Professor McGonagall's office.

Filch took them to Professor McGonagall's study on the second floor. They stood there without saying a word.

Excuses, evasions, and pretty little lies whirled through their minds, but none of them would work. This time, they truly had no idea how to escape their predicament.

They were full of regret. At the same time, they felt Professor Greengrass had been absolutely right—they had been far too smug. How could they have been so foolish as to leave the Invisibility Cloak on the roof?

Most importantly, Professor McGonagall had scolded Malfoy for them, which was practically a guarantee on their behalf. She had to be furious now.

They had even considered telling her about Norbert, but dismissed the idea after thinking it over.

"Mr. Filch says you climbed to the top of the Astronomy Tower in the early hours of the morning. To be honest, I find that very hard to believe. Can someone explain themselves?" Professor McGonagall asked coldly.

This might have been the first time Hermione couldn't answer a teacher's question. The three lowered their heads and stared at Professor McGonagall's slippers, opening and closing their mouths, but ultimately saying nothing.

"None of you will speak? Then I'll do it for you..." Professor McGonagall's expression was stern and furious. "It doesn't take extraordinary intelligence to uncover the truth. You made up a story about a dragon solely to lure Draco Malfoy out of bed, so you could make a fool of him. And it worked. Do you find that amusing?"

The trio still said nothing.

"I simply cannot believe it..." Professor McGonagall said gravely. "Teasing a fellow student, breaking school rules, and wandering around the castle in the middle of the night! I've never heard of such a thing!"

"You, Miss Granger, I thought you knew better. And you, Mr. Potter, I thought you understood how to consider your house. As for you, Mr. Weasley, your brothers have never done anything like this. They've always taken pride in following the rules."

Ron couldn't help rolling his eyes inwardly. That's only because you've never caught George and Fred!

"All three of you will serve detention, and Gryffindor will lose fifty points because of this!"

"Fifty?" Harry gasped. Wouldn't that cost them first place? Those were points he'd worked so hard to win in Quidditch matches.

Hermione's eyes widened as well. Fifty points—how many questions would she have to answer in class to earn fifty points?

Ron found it even more unbelievable. After all, Malfoy had only lost twenty points, hadn't he?

"Fifty each," Professor McGonagall added angrily. Her long, pointed nose flared as she breathed, making her look more like a dragon than Norbert.

Hermione pleaded desperately, "Professor McGonagall, please..."

Harry cried anxiously, "Professor, you can't..."

Ron was about to speak as well, but Professor McGonagall cut them off roughly, roaring in a tone that allowed no argument, "Don't tell me what should and shouldn't be done!"

The three young wizards fell silent at once.

"Now, all of you get back to bed immediately!"

The trio returned to their dormitory like walking corpses, too despondent to say a word.

Having lost 150 points in one go, the three barely slept all night. Lying in their respective beds, they had never feared dawn's arrival so much.

Sure enough, when Gryffindor students heard the news, they were utterly incredulous. Potter became even more famous, but this time he was a target for everyone. No matter where he went, he could hear people mocking him.

Hermione and Ron had it a little better, since people always referred to "Harry and his two sidekicks." Harry had clearly drawn plenty of the fire away from them, though things still weren't good.

George said, "Hey, little Ronnie..."

Fred said, "Heard you lot cost Gryffindor 150 points?"

The twins approached with broad grins. Ever since last night, they were the only two people who had taken the initiative to speak to the trio.

"You two have been losing points ever since you started school too!" Ron shot back angrily.

"That's true..."

"But we've never lost 150 points in one go!"

"Not even half that."

"Maybe we have in total?"

"Not even in total!"

The twins traded lines as they walked away arm in arm.

"They're right. We're unbelievably stupid to have made such a mistake..." Hermione said sadly.

"Professor Greengrass could've let us off, but he didn't, did he?"

"Ron, you can't expect a professor to cover for you..."

"Of course. I was just saying." Ron understood that this had nothing to do with Sagreles.

"Actually, Professor Greengrass is already very different from the other professors..." Harry said quietly.

"By the way, Harry, what did he mean by what he said to you last night?" Ron recalled the first thing Sagreles had said to Harry. "He said you hadn't taken his words to heart. Had he said something to you before?"

"Before, when I stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas..." Harry said. "He knew every time we wandered around at night, and he knew about that mirror too."

"The time you lost forty points?" Ron asked in surprise.

"That's right. Professor Greengrass said he didn't really like Hogwarts' rules either. He only took points to tell me that we'd been too careless." Harry said dejectedly. "He warned me back then. He said Hogwarts only had one real rule: when you break school rules, never get caught in the act. But..."

"But we were caught in the act last night..." Hermione couldn't help interjecting. "Still, Professor Greengrass really is different. He..."

The young witch couldn't find the words to describe him, so she finally gave up.

"Do you think he knew everything we did last night from beginning to end too?" Ron suddenly asked in alarm.

"I think so." Hermione nodded firmly. "Don't forget what he said—we were caught because of our own stupidity, arrogance, and smugness..."

"So we can't blame anyone else!" Harry nodded as well.