Eternal Despair (Harry Potter/OC)

𝟡: Detention

Filch escorted them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor. The silence was thick as they waited, each lost in their thoughts. Hermione trembled beside Harry, her mind whirling with desperate, implausible excuses. Enzo's brain raced, conjuring up wild cover-up stories, each one more inadequate than the last. Harry's heart sank further with each passing second, convinced there was no escape from the trouble they were in this time.

How could they have been so careless as to forget the cloak? There was no plausible reason Professor McGonagall would accept for them being out of bed, roaming the school in the dead of night, especially in the forbidden astronomy tower.

When Professor McGonagall finally arrived, she wasn't alone. She led Neville into the room, his face pale with worry.

"Harry! Enzo!" Neville exclaimed, as soon as he saw them. "I was trying to find you to warn you. I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you. He said you had a drag—"

Harry shook his head vigorously to silence Neville, but Professor McGonagall had already noticed. Her expression turned even graver as she looked down at the four students.

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

For the first time, Hermione couldn't muster a response to a teacher. She stared at her slippers, motionless and silent.

"I think I have a good idea of what's been going on," Professor McGonagall said. "You fed Draco Malfoy some nonsense about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I caught him myself. You must think it's amusing that Mr. Longbottom here believed your story and tried to warn you?"

"Malfoy made it all up himself. We just let him fool himself," Enzo retorted, though he knew it was futile.

Harry glanced at Neville, who looked heartbroken. Harry knew how much courage it must have taken Neville to venture out alone to warn them.

"I'm disgusted," Professor McGonagall continued. "Five students out of bed in one night! Unheard of! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. And you, Mr. Black, I thought you valued Gryffindor more than this. All four of you will receive detentions. Yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom. Nothing gives you the right to roam the school at night, especially now when it's so dangerous. And fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped. Losing fifty points would cost them the lead they had won in the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points each," Professor McGonagall stated, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose.

"That's not fair!" Enzo protested.

"Professor, please!"

"You can't!"

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

Two hundred points. They had just demolished Gryffindor's chances for the House Cup in one night.

"This is awful," Enzo muttered, staring up at the ceiling from his bed.

"All because of Malfoy," Harry fumed.

"Two hundred points gone in one minute. That must be a record," Enzo huffed.

Neither Harry nor Enzo could sleep. They could hear Neville sobbing into his pillow. Harry felt helpless, unable to find words to comfort him. They all dreaded the morning.

The next day, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the house points couldn't believe their eyes. Two hundred points vanished overnight? The rumor spread quickly: Harry Potter and Lorenzo Black had lost them all those points. From being celebrated, Harry was now despised. Enzo faced even harsher treatment. The rumors about his father had already isolated him, but now, it was unbearable. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned against them. Only Ron stood by their side.