A Changed Lestrange (1-2) (under editing)

13: One Good Reason

Things could not have been worse at the moment.

Ashton, Harry and Hermione were taken by Filch down to McGonagall's study on the first floor and they waited without a word being uttered. Hermione was trembling wildly, Ashton was waiting for an opportunity to beat Filch up, and Harry was thinking of excuses, alibis and feeble cover-up stories.

How could Harry have been so stupid as to forget the cloak? What was wrong with him?

McGonagall definitely wasn't going to excuse being out of bed at night. Thinking things couldn't get worse, McGonagall appeared.

"I would never have believe it of you, Potter, Miss Granger. As for you, Lestrange, given your past, it's not very surprising Mr Filch has caught you. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves." Ashton had gotten mad by this point. It was one thing to mention his past - but to prejudicially use it as a reason to be punished was too much. Ashton clenched his teeth and said loudly,

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"Excuse me?" spluttered Professor McGonagall, livid.

"I said - give me one good reason why I should. 'Given my past'? Who on earth do you think you are to judge me based on my heritage? And I thought the Ministry of Magic was bad! I thought Dumbledore was someone you admired! And yet you have the nerve to say it's not surprising I've broken a school rule because I'm the son of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange!"

"How dare you, Lest--"

"No, how dare you, Professor. I never thought of you as prejudicial and unfair. But you've just proven me wrong. I admit I made my fair share of mistakes, but that is a wholly disgusting thing to say." McGonagall pursed her lips for a second, looking a mixture of sad and guilty.

"I apologise, Mr Lestrange. I am truly sorry for my remarks. I did not intend prejudice against you. And you are correct, you have made your fair share of mistakes. I am afraid I will have to remove 50 points from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?!" Harry gaped, mouth wide.

"Each." said McGonagall sadly. "Mr Lestrange, I am sincerely sorry for my disrespectful remarks against your heritage. I solemnly swear I will do nothing of the sort again. You shall also have to serve a detention with Mr Filch and Hagrid." Ashton nodded gratefully, but his stomach began swirling in anxiousness. They'd just lost one hundred and fifty points for Gryffindor because of Harry's forgetfulness to get the cloak. That meant they'd lose the lead Ashton had got them in the last Quidditch match.

"Um, Professor?" asked Ashton, trying to wipe the smirk of his stupid cousin's face. "What about Malfoy? He was technically out of bed as well. Worse, he left the castle to go to Hagrid's hut just to get us in trouble. Surely he deserves a punishment as well?" Malfoy glared daggers in Ashton's direction, as their expressions had been reversed.

"Very well." said McGonagall. "Detention, Mr Malfoy." Malfoy grunted angrily at the three Gryffindors as Harry felt like high-fiving Ashton while Hermione still was trembling.

Originally the rest of the Gryffindors had believed there was some kind of mistake - how had one hundred and fifty points been removed from their hourglass? And... then the news started to spread. The two magical legends for very different reasons - the two Gryffindor Quidditch heroes - Ashton Lestrange and Harry Potter, plus another stupid first-year, had lost them one hundred and fifty points. The news spread quicker than a fire. 

Ashton was never really liked at school. Gryffindors only truly admired him when they won him the Quidditch matches or something like that - and that was mainly because all of his heritage was Slytherin. But Harry was a completely different story. He was popular and admired. But the two of them had lost anything they had socially and were now the most hated.

Not only had Gryffindor turned on the two boys, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had as well. Gryffindor were in the lead before they'd made the mistake - and none of the three houses wanted Slytherin to lift the House Cup again. 

Anywhere Ashton or Harry would go, people would point and insult them. Ashton usually made a snide remark back or hexed them, but Harry didn't even bother to do anything. What was the point anymore?

One Ravenclaw fourth-year tried to trip Ashton up and give him a broken nose once, but instead all that happened was the Ravenclaw probably wouldn't be able to father any children until he's forty years old. Ashton wouldn't stand for the crap anyone was giving him. Maybe they should listen to the full story before they do the dumb, stupid things they've done. Ashton had gotten so mad once he had used Harry's invisibility cloak and shoved anyone who had mentioned the incident and talked crap about him.

Hermione wasn't exactly getting the easiest time either - no-one really paid much attention to her - but somehow she'd got even less noticeability than usual. People would called her the 'bushy-haired nerd' and for some reason that infuriated Ashton more than it did when people did something to him. A lot worse than shoving happened when someone said that.

Only Ron and Hermione stood by the two boys.

"People'll forget about this," said Ron. "Fred and George have lost Gryffindor tons of points before."

"Have they lost one hundred and fifty due to pure stupidity?" Ashton looked over at Harry when finishing his sentence.

"Well... no." Harry had given up on meddling and spying. He'd even gone to resign to Wood, feeling so ashamed.

"Resign?" thundered Wood. "What bloody good is that going to do? If we can't win Quidditch matches, how are we supposed to earn the house points back?" Even the Quidditch team rarely spoke to the two boys, and if they did, they'd refer to them as 'the Seekers'.

This was torture. And Ashton wasn't going to stand for it.