There's Something About Potter

Chapter 7

In the week that followed, Headmistress McGonagall ordered an immediate investigation, as well as disciplinary action, against the perpetrators responsible for creating the terrible mess in the Great Hall.

Surprisingly, through the combined efforts of all the house prefects and the Hogwarts faculty, the investigation was resolved in a matter of days and the culprits responsible were identified.

After interviewing most of the students – and in particular, all the students from Slytherin house – they found out that the ones responsible for defiling the Great Hall were, in fact, two Slytherin second years named Luca Jones and and Olivert Fernsby. This was confirmed after the Head Boy and Head Girl spearheaded an inspection of everyone's rooms and discovered several opened cans of green, white, silver and black paint stashed in both second year boys' trunks.

Needless to say, the punishment for such acts of vandalism against school property was pretty severe and Aria heard from Blaise that Luca and Olivert were suspended for two weeks, followed by a series of weekly detentions for the remainder of the school year.

"Honestly, I'm just happy those two kids weren't expelled." Blaise told them with a weary sigh as he collapsed into one of the couches in the common room a few days later.

Fortunately, most of the younger Slytherins were still in class so it was just the 8th years who were lounging around in front of the fireplace that afternoon.

Aria and Hannah were seated together on one of the couches near the entrance, both cramming the required readings for their next class while Zach and Neville were sitting on the carpet close to the fire and playing a game of exploding snap. Morag was seated on the couch beside Blaise and was quietly proofreading her assignments for the day. Not surprisingly, Pansy, chose to sit way on the opposite side of the room, studying quietly on a small table by herself so that she was separated from everyone else.

"Ever since the war last year, the school board's become very strict about stuff like this. They want to prevent as much 'future dark lords' from graduating as much as possible." Blaise added.

"How dramatic." Draco retorted sarcastically as he looked up from where he was lounging lazily in his favorite armchair in front of the fireplace. "Really now, do they honestly expect another dark lord from a bunch of stupid kids who up and decided to parade their idiotic house pride by painting the bloody doors of the Great Hall at night?" He sneered at the thought.

"The board's reaction is a bit strange." Morag agreed with a slight frown before carefully turning a page of her book.

"You would at least expect them to impose punishment that's more commensurate to what was committed. I mean, the paint they used wasn't even permanent." She mused out loud, more to herself than anyone else.

"What are you so confused about? Isn't it obvious why McGonagall and the rest of the school board reacted that way?" Pansy snapped at the other girl from the other side of the room. "The deed was obviously committed by a Slytherin. From the very beginning, it was our house - our colors, our crest, and our bloody motto - that was painted all over the blasted doors. Why do you think the investigation focused mostly on us?!"

She didn't wait for any of them to answer before she went on, deliberately ignoring Blaise and Draco's warning glares.

"Thanks to what happened during the war, our house is now officially known as a breeding ground for future dark lords and death eaters. The entire wizarding world, including our school board of directors, hates all Slytherins now and would likely jump at any excuse to expel every single one of us given the chance. Well—"