A piercing cat yowl rang out in the distance, and Harry and the others beneath the Invisibility Cloak flinched.
They no longer dared move—hugging the corridor wall, waiting for sleek-furred Mrs. Norris to pass.
Instead, Mrs. Norris glided straight over, pressed herself to Sean's ankles, and let out a loud meow.
Justin glanced at Sean, thoughtful; Harry and the others held their breath completely.
"We've been caught… we're going to be expelled…"
Harry's mind was a jumble.
He was finished. Not even one full school year in—and soon he'd be packing his trunk and sent home. What would the Dursleys say when he showed up at their door?
"Harry, don't say that…"
Hermione's face had gone white, but she forced herself to sound steady.
"I'm starving. Can I at least have a last meal at Hogwarts…?"
Ron sounded dazed, saying whatever came to mind.
"Ron—"
Hermione shot him a glare.
"I really… am hungry."
Then, suddenly, a reprieve.
Sean slowly dissolved his Disillusionment, petted the soft pad of Mrs. Norris's paw, and exchanged a look with Justin.
Justin took out a whole tin of silvered dried fish from his bag; Mrs. Norris let out a prim hum toward Harry's hiding place, then picked up the fish and padded away.
"I should've thought of it—Mrs. Norris is always so obedient around Sean…"
Ron breathed, relief flooding him.
"Let's move—"
Harry snapped back to himself. He just wanted Norbert gone.
"Almost there!"
They reached the corridor one floor below the topmost tower. Harry, panting, pointed up.
The spiral stair to the tower felt like the easiest climb in the world. They watched as four brooms swept in, and a cheerful team of wizards lashed ropes around Norbert's crate.
The ropes were enchanted, they said—Norbert would be fine—and told them to say their goodbyes.
Under the night sky, Sean met Norbert's gaze; he walked over until dragon and boy pressed forehead to forehead.
Sean tapped a tiny "tracking" button charm onto Norbert's scales, then watched the four brooms arrow away into the dark.
Norbert was gone… Sean stared down the corridor.
Filch didn't seem to be nearby; hidden Malfoy hadn't been caught; perhaps the night run would go unnoticed… So Sean parted from Justin and the others—he had to hurry back and "work out" a ritual.
Night passed quickly.
The next day, Sean was heading from the Great Hall to the alchemy office to hash out dragon-ritual details with Professor Tayra—and to fetch McGonagall's notes on draconic forms—when he saw Professor McGonagall take the staff dais with a stormy face.
A realization flickered; at the entry, students clustered loudly.
"How could we suddenly be down a hundred and fifty points since yesterday?!"
Sean heard a Gryffindor shout.
Then McGonagall—with no mercy—announced Potter & Co.'s midnight wanderings.
It turned out Malfoy, who had gone out to find them, had instead been caught by Professor McGonagall; once nabbed, he promptly ratted out Harry. In the end, the three were collared outside the Gryffindor common room by a furious Head of House.
"I am extremely displeased," McGonagall said, "Three students out of bed at night! I've never heard the like! You, Miss Granger—I expected better judgment. And you, Mr. Potter—I thought you valued Gryffindor's honor highly.
"All three of you are to have detention—and I don't care the reason, you've no right to roam the castle at midnight; it's extremely dangerous—Gryffindor is docked fifty points."
"Fifty?"
Harry felt the breath knocked from him—they'd only just pulled even with Slytherin!
"Fifty each!"
McGonagall's long nose flared.
That was the most ill-timed thing Harry could have said.
Now it wasn't only hostile Slytherins—Gryffindors were shunning him, too. Even Hermione didn't understand why he'd argued when McGonagall was fuming. Harry was isolated—obviously.
Ron fared slightly better—he wasn't as famous; Hermione, meanwhile, had turned her frustration inward—speaking little in class, burying herself in study in the Hope Nook.
It was undeniable: the three now loathed themselves—and Malfoy, too.
"They think they were wrong. They blame themselves, but not Hagrid—and they didn't breathe a word about the dragon," Justin murmured to Sean.
"Sean, you know what my mother would say?
"Never sell someone out to advance yourself—that's called integrity. And courage.
"And do you know what I would say?"
He glanced for Sean's assent, then whispered a few words.
Sean nodded, thoughtful. Harry's trio were easily swayed by opinion—swap in two different people and things would change. Justin's plan sounded good.
"Professor—I snuck out too! And Sean! Sean came as well!"
Justin—like a lorry ramming head-on—blurted it to the staff table, startling the professors.
"Mr. Finch-Fletchley, oh—"
Professor Sprout seemed to understand; she dabbed at her eye.
"I must deduct fifty from Hufflepuff!"
"Mr. Green—honestly—"
Professor Flitwick fake-scolded, tugging Sean aside; then he winked—as if to say, It's alright, we'll earn it back—and docked Ravenclaw fifty.
Now all four hourglasses sank sharply (Malfoy's house lost points too), and, just like that, Harry and his friends were no longer pariahs.
McGonagall, however, was incandescent—and marched Sean off immediately.
Until now, wherever Harry had walked, people pointed and muttered, not even lowering their voices for insults. Across the aisle, Slytherins clapped and whooped every time: "Thanks, Potter! You've done us a great favor!"
Now everyone was buzzing about Mr. Green's first point deductions—a rarity!
They'd all assumed a gifted boy like that would have no cause to break rules.
Harry and his friends stood stock-still. Harry's eyes stung—vision blurring.
Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back tears; Ron's head was bowed and trembling.
Justin, meanwhile, was mobbed by indignant Badgers; he promised to compile the best first-year Herbology Guide for finals, and they finally let him go.
"Looks like I'm busy then?" he said with a warm smile.
Harry's trio couldn't speak—nor find the strength to say the joke wasn't funny at all.
~~~
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