The Boy Who Couldn't See: Year 1

The Forbidden Forest

Harry wisely keeps his mouth shut as Filch leads them to Professor McGonagall's office, though he really wants to ask Hermione how she could've been so stupid as to set the cloak out of her own line of sight. It's partially his fault for not remembering but it was her who had set the cloak off to the side.

Hermione lets out a miserable whimper when footsteps enter the office and mutters something about Neville into Harry's ear, though Harry barely hears it over the excuses flying around wildly in his head.

"Harry!" Harry jumps and swings his head in the direction of the voice. "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 violently to shut Neville up but it doesn't matter, Professor McGonagall is still fuming.

"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."

Neither of them manage to get their mouths to work before she starts talking again.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on. 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?"

Harry desperately wishes he could tell Neville the truth because even though he can't see the boy, he can feel the hurt wafting off of him. He hadn't even wanted Malfoy to get caught, let alone Neville.

"I'm disgusted," Professor McGonagall continues. "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 you would've learned your lesson after Halloween. 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 blanches. Fifty? That's a hundred and three points in total Harry has lost for Gryffindor since the beginning of the year but he's never lost fifty all at once.

"Fifty?" he repeats.

"Fifty points each."

A hundred and fifty points all in one night! That puts Gryffindor in last place in the House Championship. Their housemates are going to kill them.

"Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

Neville spends the night sobbing into his pillow and Harry spends the night plotting Hermione's death. He likes Hermione, he really does, but it was her that set the cloak aside and forgot to tell Harry or even just pick it up again. And now, Gryffindor is in last place and Harry doesn't know where the cloak even is! Dumbledore probably has it at this point but the fact that it's not folded neatly in Harry's trunk makes his blood boil.

The news spreads like wildfire the next day. Harry Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, the reason they would win the House Cup this year, had lost them all the points. Him and two other idiots.

Harry goes from being the most popular and admired student in school to being the most hated in a matter of one hour. Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors have started throwing insults and jeers at him everywhere he goes and have started messing with him in a similar way to Peeves and Malfoy while the Slytherins have started praising him. It's horrible.

Only Ron stands by him.

Angelina Johnson and the twins have stopped referring to him by name during Quidditch practices, have stopped interacting with him at all, and that really hurts, more than Harry would like to admit. Wood begrudgingly speaks to him, only because he has to in order to make sure practice is running smoothly.