HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

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On the following morning, Astria and Draco received notes at the breakfast table. These highly instructive pieces of paper contained a wonderfully repetitive message:

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

Your detention will begin at twenty-three o'clock. Await Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

𝒫𝓇𝑜𝒻𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑜𝓇 𝑀𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓇𝓋𝒶 𝑀𝒸𝒢𝑜𝓃𝒶𝑔𝒶𝓁𝓁

In the flurry caused by earning back the points, Astria had even forgotten they still had detentions to serve. How exciting life can be at Hogwarts.

Astria waited for Draco to voice his thoughts about the disadvantage of having a mother as a teacher at Hogwarts, being punished like everyone else, but he didn't say a word out loud.

Lady Malfoy, however, heard the thoughts - the mischievous smile on her face might have been a clue, but all she did was give Draco a disapproving expressive look, as if to say: 'Don't give me that, young man.'

And so, at eleven o'clock in the evening, there they were, leaving Blaze in the common room and heading for the anticipated meeting with the illustrious detention crew. They went up to the entrance hall, and Filch was already there, holding a lantern, giving them a look that seemed more divided between amusement and exasperation than anything else.

When they were just a few meters away from the caretaker Lago, jumped from who knows where towards Astria. Mrs. Norris purred with enthusiasm, probably envying the attention Astria was giving Lago as she scratched behind his ears and brushed against her legs, asking for some affection too.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron appeared descending the stairs.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lantern and leading them outside. "I bet you'll think twice before disobeying the school rules again, won't you?" he teased.

"Oh yes, hard work and pain are the best teachers, if you want to know... It's a shame they've suspended the old punishments... hanging a student by their wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I still have the chains in my office, kept them oiled just in case they're needed... Very well, here we go, and don't even think about escaping now, it'll be worse for you if you do."

Astria was scandalized when she understood from the caretaker's thoughts that their punishment would be the Forbidden Forest. But at least they would be with Hagrid.

They walked through the dark grounds. Neville couldn't stop sniffing. The moon was shining, but the passing clouds cast them into darkness. Ahead, they saw the lit windows of Hagrid's cabin. Then, they heard a loud, slightly choked voice echoing.

"About time," Hagrid said to Filch, "I've been waiting for over half an hour. All right there, kids?"

"We're as fine as we can be, considering we're about to enter the Forbidden Forest." Despite the sarcastic tone, Astria seemed more amused by the prospect than anything else, but her remark dampened the spirits of all of them who were relieved to work with Hagrid.

Neville let out a groan, and Draco froze. "The forest?" he repeated, losing all his composure. "We can't go in there at night... all sorts of things in there... werewolves, I've heard."

"It's not a full moon, you twit," Astria rolled her eyes in frustration. But she agreed with Draco's thoughts.

Lady Malfoy knew this would be the punishment?