Harry Styles and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest

Things couldn't have been worse.

Consuelos took them down to Professor Gomez's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Ariana was trembling. Excuses, alibis, and wild cover-up stories chased each other around Harry's brain, each more feeble than the last. He couldn't see how they were going to get out of trouble this time. They were cornered. How could they have been so stupid as to forget the cloak? There was no reason on earth that Professor Gomez would accept for their being out of bed and creeping around the school in the dead of night, let alone being up the tallest astronomy tower, which was out-of-bounds except for classes. Add Norbert and the invisibility cloak, and they might as well be packing their bags already.

Had Harry thought that things couldn't have been worse? He was wrong. When Professor Gomez appeared, she was leading Liam.

"Harry!" Liam burst out, the moment he saw the other two. "I was trying to find you and warn you that I heard Hemmings saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag -"

Harry shook his head violently to shut Liam up, but Professor Gomez had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the three of them.

"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Consuelos says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o' clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."

It was the first time Ariana had ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," said Professor Gomez. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Luke Hemmings some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Payne here heard the story and believed it, too?"

Harry caught Liam's eyes and tried to tell him without words that this wasn't true, because Liam was looking stunned and hurt. Poor, blundering Liam – Harry knew what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.

"I'm disgusted," said Professor Gomez. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Grande, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Styles, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions – yes, you too, Mr. Payne, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous – and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped – they would lose the lead, the lead he'd won in the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points each," said Professor Gomez, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.

"Professor – please –"

"You can't –"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Styles. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

A hundred and fifty points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup. Harry felt as thought the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. How could they ever make up for this?

Harry didn't sleep all night. He could hear Neville sobbing into his pillow for what seemed like hours. Harry couldn't think of anything to say to comfort him. He knew Liam, like himself, was dreading the dawn. What would happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out what they'd done?

At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the house points the next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have a hundred and fifty points fewer than yesterday? And then the story started to spread: Harry Styles, the famous Harry Styles, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.