Harry potter and the art of deception

PART 8

When Harry got back to the Common Room it was late. He had assumed that most people would be in bed as it was way past curfew. He should have known however that someone would be up, he just expected it to be his best friends. Not Neville and Ginny. He looked around the room nonchalant as Ginny accosted him.
"What they hell Harry, what the hell?" Ginny asked. Harry shrugged meekly but before Ginny could berate him for getting in trouble Neville spoke.
"How did you know?" he asked. Harry looked to him, confused at first until realisation dawned on him. He placed a hand on Neville's shoulder
"Someone told me."
"They had no right to tell you that!" Neville seethed. He wrenched his shoulder away from Harry and began to fume.
"Nobody has the right to tell people other than me!" he yelled. Ginny stared at Neville like he had grown a third head. She had never seen Neville angry before. Harry merely smiled sadly
"You're right, they didn't, and I understand why you're mad. What happened is a family affair, the world doesn't need to know. If it helps I'm the only one that does..." Neville stared at Harry as if trying to assess what to do next before he dropped his shoulders and sighed.
"I'm not happy about it but... thank you for taking the attention off me. I hope you didn't get into too much trouble." Harry chortled silently and threw an arm around Neville's shoulders.
"Neville, when am I ever not in trouble?" he asked. Neville rolled his eyes and shook his head residing.
"You know Harry I do wonder that myself sometimes," Neville admitted. He then detached himself from Harry's arm
"Look... I appreciate what you did but you didn't need to. I'm not as weak as people think" Ginny stared at Neville with newfound appreciation whilst Harry frowned.
"Nev... I didn't do it because I thought you were weak. I did it because I know what it's like to be unfairly prosecuted, I figured I could save you from it." His words hung in the air and Neville seemed to realise he was being genuine.
"You know Harry... you're right. I don't know if my support means anything but for what it's worth I believe you about you-know-who"
"Call him Voldemort, it pisses him off. Sure, be scared of him but not the name, that's what gives him power" Harry explained. Neville rolled his eyes
"I'll work on it but for now I'm going to bed. You two should too, Ron will blow his lid if you two are caught alone" and then the boy turned up the stairs into the dormitories.

Harry turned to Ginny and before she had the chance to ask he explained everything to her, the more he talked the angrier she got. When he finished she was seething
"What a bitch! No wonder Neville is so upset!" she yelped. Harry merely shrugged
"Neville will be fine Gin... trust me the boys got thick skin" whilst Harry may not necessarily believe that he also didn't want Ginny to mollycoddle Neville. The boy's pride was already damaged enough. Ginny ran a hand through her hair
"So the plan to stay away from drama isn't working?" she asked. Harry snorted
"Ginny if we do what Sirius wants I was never staying away from the drama was I?" Harry asked. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"You never told him if you were going to follow his plan" Ginny reminded him
"It's a good plan... I just don't know if I'm the right person to carry it out. The other houses might be receptive but... I don't know how the Slytherins will react." Although it pained Harry to admit it he really didn't think Slytherins were all that bad. Sure, they could seem arrogant but after talking to Sirius Harry realised that the house never stood a chance. Nobody saw the good in Slytherins and because of that, they weren't going to be good. Ginny took his lack of silence for defiance
"Look... next week we're going to Gringotts to get the results. If they're as bad as we think it can't hurt to have the Slytherins on our side can it?" Harry sighed.
"We'll see, for now, I have to get through detention!"
"You love in detention, how bad can it possibly be?."

As it turned out very, very bad. Once Harry entered the office he knew something bad was going to happen as she smiled at him. Not in the month, she had worked there had the toad smiled. Harry nodded at her and smiled, he wouldn't give her any kind of satisfaction. As he sat down he glanced at the quill she had given me.
"Excuse me, professor... there is no ink?" he said. The toad merely grinned at him
"Oh do not worry Mr Potter. This quill does not need ink." She sweetly explained, Harry should have known then that something was amiss, wizards were practically in the dark ages. There was no way that they knew how to write without a quill and ink.
"Well in that case what would you like me to write?" he asked. Umbridge contemplated his question for a moment before breaking out into a grin.
"I must not tell lies should suffice I think" Harry ground his teeth. He knew telling people Voldemort was alive would come back to bite him. Still, the boy did as he was asked, not a moment later he could feel a searing hot pain in his hand. He clenched it to try and stop the pain, but it did no good, the more he wrote the worse the pain got. It took him a good few minutes to figure out he was writing in his own blood and when he did he looked up to see Umbridge's smug face.
"Problem Mr Potter?" she asked. Harry bared his teeth, oh yes there was a problem, a big one. Once again his defence against the dark arts teacher was insane. Instead of saying that however, Harry bit hit tongue.
"Not at all professor, just wondering how many lines you required" he nearly laughed at her shocked face. She certainly wasn't expecting that, still, she quickly regained her composure
"Let's just say however long it takes for the message to... sink in"
"If you insist" and then Harry carried on writing feeling slightly victorious. He would not give the witch any kind of satisfaction, besides, it would not be the first time an adult had purposely hurt him.