Hermione Granger and the Philosopher's Stone (Completed)

Chapter 14 - The Forbidden Forest

Dedicated to HamilCat

Hermione decided afterwards that they were very lucky to get out of Professor McGonagall's office alive. Filch had led them there after he had found them, and then stood in the corner, letting them contemplate their impending doom. To make matters worse, when Professor McGonagall finally arrived, she was being followed by a white and trembling Neville.
"Harry!" he blurted out "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 tried to shut him up, but it was too late. Hermione didn't realise that Professor McGonagall's lips could go that thin
"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"
Hermione didn't know what to say. She stared at the ground, wishing very much that it would swallow her up. She had never been more ashamed
"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 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 Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"
Hermione wanted to tell Neville that it wasn't true, but she was too terrified to speak
"I'm disgusted" Professor McGonagall confined "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, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor 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 fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor"
Harry finally spoke up
"Fifty?" he gasped
"Fifty points each" said Professor McGonagall
"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 Gryffindor students"

Some of the next few days were Hermione's worst at Hogwarts. The story seemed to have leaked, and Hermione couldn't raise her hand in class anymore without receiving glares, so she sat at the back and worked in silence, cringing whenever someone got an answer wrong.

A few months ago, treatment like this would've made Hermione burst into tears, or punch someone. However, now Hermione had Ron and Harry at her side, all the insults seemed to bounce off her, and slowly, her fellow students seemed to forget about the incident and her and Neville were welcomed back into Gryffindor house.

Harry was not faring as well. As he was famous, people seemed less likely to forgive and forget when it came to him. Fortunately, the three of them had a good reason to stay away from the common room, as the exams were fast approaching, and they were spending all their spare time in the library studying, which Hermione was all too happy to do.

Hermione was testing Ron on Jupiter's moons, when Harry came running into the library, completely ignoring Madam Pince's "Shhhh!" from the other end of the room
"Quirrell's given in" he panted "Snape was threatening him, and he agreed to do something"
"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell -"
There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione
"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid" said Ron "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?"
Excitement was sparkling in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered before Harry could say anything stupid
"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure"
"But we've got no proof!" said Harry "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining"
Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't.
"If we just do a bit of poking around -"
"No" said Harry flatly "we've done enough poking around"
He pulled the map of Jupiter towards him and stared at it with a grumpy expression on his face
"What's up with him?" Ron whispered
"Worried, I suppose" Hermione whispered back. She saw the look on Ron's face "and no we can't do anything ourselves! We'll be expelled!"
It was Ron's turn to look grumpy, and Hermione immediately felt bad. She lent in closer and lowered her voice even further
"At least not yet, anyway"
"We've had a bad influence on you, Hermione" Ron whispered grinning