Kassandra Bauer and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 11: Prophecy and the Forbidden Forest.

Well, I've once again, got good news and bad news. The good news is that there was absolutely nothing linking me to being outside my Common Room at night. So I didn't get in trouble with McGonagall. Thank Tyche.

The bad news... was that Harry and Hermione were not so fortunate. And Neville too. Apparently, Neville had heard about what happened with the Dragon too and he tried to get to Harry. But McGonagall had caught him. Filch brought them all to McGonagall. They all received detention. And to make matters worse. McGonagall also took away 50 points from Gryffindor. Each. That meant we were in last place for the House Cup. 

In one fell swoop. We had lost 150 points in a single night. And by dawn. Harry, Neville, and Hermione had become public enemies #1, #2, and #3 respectively, once the story had spread that Harry Potter and two stupid first years broke school rules and lost the points. I'm not calling them stupid. Far from it. But everyone else is.

But what was the worst was that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were mad at Harry for losing all the points. They didn't want to see Slytherin get the House Cup either. Everywhere Harry went, he was hated. And I felt so bad for him. He looked so ashamed. I didn't know what to do to help him. But Slytherins were applauding him. "Thanks for the points, Potter, couldn't have done it without you." They were all saying throughout the halls. Ron and I were the only ones who stood by him. 

Even Quidditch had lost its fun for Harry. He tried to resign out of shame, but Wood would have none of it. Now the Quidditch players were all calling him The Seeker. But I still called him Harry.

And Neville and Hermione weren't doing so well either. Despite not being as known as Harry, people still wouldn't talk to them. Hermione stopped drawing attention to herself in class. She lost all of her confidence.

I was slumping at Breakfast. I had a hand in this as well. So even though I wasn't punished, I probably should've been. I was saying stuff like this to Beatrice one day. "I'm sorry, Bea. I let everyone down when we broke the rules." I said. 

But Beatrice just put a reassuring hand around my shoulder. "Knock it off, Kassie. It's not your fault. It's not anybody's fault." She told me.

"Well. Actually..." Cedric who was sitting next to us started to say. 

"It's not anybody's fault, Cedric." Beatrice cut him off giving him an eye. 

"Right." Cedric decided to stop talking. 

"They should hate me just as much. I was breaking rules too." I told them.

"Except you didn't get caught." Beatrice pointed out. "And if you did, then it would've been 200 points lost. Not 150." 

"I should've just taken that instead of nearly falling to my death." I told Beatrice about how I had to escape from Filch. 

"It's okay, Kassie. You're safe now and that's what matters." Beatrice hugged me.

"Hey, Haywood!" A voice called from one of the Hufflepuffs. "Why are you hugging that Gryffindor?! She's a-" 

"BUGGER OFF!" Beatrice yelled at that person. She then went back to hugging me. "And don't worry about the House Cup. We'll get it next year. It's just a School Award anyway."

"Yeah. But Malfoy doesn't deserve it." Cedric grunted. "Not after what he's done to Kassie." 

"Forget the bloody House points, Cedric. We've got bigger problems." Beatrice told Cedric. 

"What kind of problems?" I asked. 

Beatrice pulled out a vial of some silver liquid. "You know what this is, Kassie?" She asked.