The Headmaster's Only Mistake

The Philosopher's Stone

"Harry! It's time for lunch! Are you here?"

···

When Harry and Susan received letters from their guardians that the cerberus in the third floor was going to be removed, Harry panicked.

Yes, student safety was important, but Harry had plans, and getting the cerberus away from the school so early was not part of the plan. Well, it wasn't really early, it was May eighth, after all, but in his plans, the cerberus wasn't to be removed until later in the month

His friends were whispering excitedly, pointing to the letters in front of them and grinning. At the head table, Dumbledore was reading what seemed to be an incredibly long letter. It also seemed to be very infuriating if the way his hands were clenching the parchment was anything to go by. Harry was shocked that the parchment had yet to rip, but maybe it had been spelled against destruction.

The headmaster's face remained passive, but Harry's own panic was almost forgotten as he watched in amusement as he watched the fury in the blue eyes increase as he continued to read.

However, his panic returned when an excited Theo pointed out that the letter said they would be coming in the day after tomorrow and that Dumbledore was receiving his second official warning from the school's Board of Governors.

This is bad, Harry thought to himself. Bad, bad, very, very bad.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Draco asked from beside him. "You seem oddly pale."

Harry smiled at Draco in what he hoped was a reassuring way. " 'm fine. Just a bit tired." Harry was happy to see his brother was slowly starting to act as he used to.

"You do look a bit peaky." Mandy agreed from Harry's other side. She was gnawing her lip and looking at him worriedly.

"I'm fine, I swear! You believe me, don't you, Terry?"

The Ravenclaw gave him a once-over and shrugged, "You look a bit pale, maybe you need a Pepper-Up."

"I don't see what you're talking about." Tracy disagreed with a shrug. "Harry looks fine. You lot are just over-reacting." She rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Tracy." Harry smiled at her.

"Harry's perfectly fine," Luna agreed dreamily.

Daphne and Hermione frowned at her for a moment, then frowned at Harry. The two of them were usually against most of what Luna said, as they were mostly fact based.

"You're sure you're fine, Harry?" Daphne asked, flipping her blonde hair.

"Spiffing, even." It warmed his heart to see his friends so worried, but really, he was just slightly pale.

"You said that last time as well," Blaise pointed out, referring to the day of the last quidditch game, "and you were out of it for days once we finally managed to get you to rest."

"Yeah, and that started with you getting pale as well." Mandy agreed.

Harry rolled his eyes, "You guys are overreacting, but fine, I'll go to Madame Pomfrey during break." All of his friends smiled warmly at him before returning to their discussion on the cerberus.

"So, what do you think Dumbledore is going to try and pull when the Board and Law Enforcement get here to get Fluffy?" Hannah asked eagerly.

"Dear God, I don't want to know." Hermione answered, her face looking as if she had just bit a sour lemon. "It's disgusting, really, that the man still has any power." Daphne agreed with her, hair swishing as she nodded.