Only Minerva spared them any sympathy and that was only because she was still having a hard time understanding they deserved the marks they wore. To her, they were just children. Some of her favorite children at that. And Mr. Potter hadn't followed protocol. It was her place to punish her students when they misbehaved. Not his. Yet he had and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't even punish him because her fellow staff members would turn on her if she tried to.
Her mind kept justifying their behavior with past stories they'd told of things Harry had done to them. Stories she wouldn't admit mightn't have been the truth any more than the one they'd told her about how they got the marks was. She couldn't help denying they were the thieves and betrayers those runes proclaimed them to be. They were children and while children could do bad things, you simply sat them down, explained why what they'd done was bad, administered a suitable punishment and moved on. You didn't give them such a long lasting punishment such as this. This was a punishment for an adult but they weren't adults.
It didn't stop her being cold and absolutely correct in her dealings with them, though. They had lied to her and been caught in the act by her fellow staff. But she just couldn't wrap her head around the idea they truly weren't the children she thought they were. She still believed they were good children. Good children who had done something wrong. But still good children overall.
Ron and Ginny, who had replaced Oliver and Harry on the Gryffindor quiditch team, found themselves kicked off the team with no real explanation. But since this was virtually the same thing that had happened to Harry - twice - the team felt no remorse for their decision now. The pair knew the twins were behind their expulsion from the team but there was nothing they could do about it since Professor McGonagal wasn't sparing them any time these days. She was angry with them and letting them know it.
But for the team, they'd truly believed Harry had acted dishonorably when they'd expelled him from the team because Ronald Weasely, with Hermione Granger ardently backing him up, had told them he had. Now it turned out the pair had been lying to them because Ron and Ginerva wanted on the team too and hadn't been given a place. Ron wanted to play as the Keeper while Ginerva had wanted to be the Seeker. Something she couldn't be so long as Harry held the position. It was they who had no honor. It was they who'd acted dishonorably and brought shame upon the House of Gryffindor. The team, well really all of Gryffindor Tower, wanted vengeance and this was just about the only way they could get it since their Head of House was still sympathetic towards the unholy trio. They knew they wouldn't be allowed to expel the three from the tower as she'd allowed them to do to Harry. All because she didn't think Harry fit his Father's legacy well enough. They knew that now. Nor would she allow any in-house punishments on them as she claimed they'd been punished enough. So this was all they could do.
Ginny had been delighted to replace Harry as Seeker and swore she was even better at the position than he'd been although everyone knew she wasn't. Harry was a natural flier and he seemed to have a sixth sense for where the snitch would be. And once it showed itself nothing the poor snitch could do would deter Harry from it's tail. He had never missed the snitch during games he played. Even when he had passed out fifty feet above the ground thanks to the dementors swarming the playing field, he'd caught the snitch during his fall from his broom. And he flew like he had been born with wings. No one could match his skill in the air and everyone in the school knew it. Despite her bragging. She claimed she was better than him because flying wasn't a natural skill for her. She had to work at it which meant when she caught the snitch and won the game, she truly had something to brag about while he didn't.
Ron had become the new Keeper when Oliver had graduated and often bragged about how great he was in the position and how he'd make professional after he graduated. Everyone knew he wouldn't and not because of the mark on his face either. He simply wasn't as good as he thought he was. Even before Harry had marked him, everyone knew the only way Ron would play professionally was if Harry bought him the spot on whichever team he played for. Either Harry directly or through Ron's flagrant use of Harry's name and fame. But now, given how he and the rest of the Unholy Trio had delighted in trashing Harry's reputation, even that was unlikely to work once the students of Hogwarts spread the word beyond the halls of the school.
Now that the team knew what they had been doing to Harry, whom the trio had bragged was their friend, they kicked them off without a moments hesitation and banned them from the field whenever there was a practice. The team even went to Professor McGonagal to see if they could prevent them from being allowed to even attend the games Gryffindor played in. She said no, of course, since they were her favored students. But that didn't stop the students and other teachers from working together to keep the trio away from the games. Professor Snape was only too happy to assign them detentions that just so happened to correspond to days and times when there was a quiditch game being played. Since they weren't on the team there was nothing stopping him from doing so as any complaint Minerva tried to make was silenced by the fact that the students didn't have a guaranteed right to attend the games whether their house was playing or not. It was understood the players wouldn't be given a detention during game time for their own house but even they could be according to the school charter and Minerva knew it.
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