Beth Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝓇𝒷𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓃 𝐹𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉

Things couldn't have been worse.

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. They were both trembling. Excuses, alibis, and wild cover-up stories chased each other around Beth's brain, each more feeble than the last. She 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? Why didn't Beth put the invisibility charm back on? There was no reason on earth that Professor McGonagall 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 Beth thought that things couldn't have been worse? She was wrong. When Professor McGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville Longbottom.

"Beatrice! Hermione!" Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. "I was trying to find you and warn you that I heard Malfoy and Riddle saying they were going to catch you, they said you had a drag -"

Beth shook her head violently to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall 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. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o' clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."

It was the first time Hermione 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 McGonagall. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy and Mattheo Riddle some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get them out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"

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

"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Ms. Potter, I thought Slytherin meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions – yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous – and 150 points will be taken from Gryffindor. 150 from Slytherin."

"One hundred fifty?" Beth gasped – they would lose the lead, the lead she'd won in the last Quidditch match.

"One hundred fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.

"Professor – please –"

"You can't –"

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

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

Beth didn't sleep all night. She knew Neville and Hermione, like herself, was dreading the dawn. What would happen when the rest of Slytherin woke and found out what she'd done?

At first, Slytherins 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: Beatrice Potter, the famous Beth Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points.

From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school (aside for Slytherins), Beth was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on her, because everyone had been longing to see Gryffindor lose the house cup, Everywhere Beth went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted her. 

Only one person stood by her. Hermione was avoiding Beth ever since she had lost so many Gryffindor points, and Harry and Ron followed her lead. It broke Beth's heart to have both her brother and her best friend ignore her in the halls. Surprisingly, Theodore and stayed by her side. Blaise had taken to hanging out with Malfoy and Mattheo, who still teased Beth mercilessly, though Blaise didn't participate.

"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Loads of people have lost Slytherin points and they're still well liked." Theodore tried reassuring her.

"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" said Beth miserably.

"Well – no," Theodore admitted..

It was a bit late to repair the damage, but Beth swore to herself not to meddle in things that weren't her business from now on. She'd had it with sneaking around and spying. She felt so ashamed of herself that she went to Flint and offered to resign from the Quidditch team.

"Resign?" Flint had thundered. "What good will that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?"

But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to Beth during practice, and if they had to speak about her, they called her "the Seeker." Even Mattheo would ignore her during practice.  It made Beth wish he would make fun of her again. At least it meant he was talking to her.

Beth's suffering didn't go unnoticed. She never participated during class anymore, always sitting in the back with Theodore, absently doodling in her notebook. She had also begun to skip meals, her appetite gone. Even though none of them voiced it, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and even Draco and Mattheo were worried for the girl. She was becoming a shell of her former self, always locking herself in her dorm as soon as classes were over, only leaving for quidditch practice.

Beth was glad that the exams weren't far away. All the studying she had to do kept her mind off of her misery.

A week before exams were due to start, Beth was strolling down the hall on her own during break when her path was suddenly blocked by two people. They were burly and tall, sixth years. Judging by their green ties, they were in Slytherin.