Chapter 13. Betrayal

- May I have your attention," Professor McGonagall addressed the students at the end of lunch, while we were getting used to the idea that Ron would now be living with the left hand of a dead classmate. And with the fact that we could all end up going to spare parts for luckier students, or even somewhere else.

- After the fifth lesson, a general assembly is announced on the castle lawn. Everyone is kindly requested to attend, and please pass this on to the other students in your faculties. That's all," McGonagall finished, glanced sternly at the lunching children, and returned proudly to her own meal.

- Did they make us something again? - Lavender suggested quietly.

- I don't think so," Seamus replied, "it's just after Halloween.... Maybe an announcement?

- Or maybe they'll reward Kyle," Harry said, "I mean, he was able to stop the beasts, after all.

- I've already been rewarded, fifty points," I joined the discussion, "so it's something else. There's no point in guessing, we'll see for ourselves in the end. So," I turned to my friends, "shall we go to the double potions class?

- The lessons don't seem so cruel after this," Ron said, who was still in a state of shock, occasionally glancing at his new hand with panicked eyes, "I can't think of anything else.

- We need to get a grip on ourselves, Ron, especially you. There's no bringing Rion back, and the hand.... Would you rather be without it at all? Yes, it's awful, but we have to think about the rest of our lives, and if we're distracted by our worries at Snape's, it could be over pretty quickly. The ravens are gathering, and so are the Slytherins. Come on, let's go chat with the other faculties in the corridor and catch up on the news.

I seemed much more confident and calm than I really was. The ocean of negative emotions had been bubbling inside me all this time, and only my adult sanity prevented me from succumbing to such a pernicious mood and falling into despondency mixed with despair.

I got used to the cruelty of teachers, I accepted the stupid rules that everything in this castle must be reached independently, and even accepted the fact that the entire school staff here with their own cockroaches in their heads - mutated and carnivorous. But to have a dead girl's limb attached to another student.... Compared to that, even the symbiosis between Filch and Mrs. Norris smoked shyly away, awkwardly admitting defeat in a contest of its own disgustingness.

I was a little distracted from my unpleasant thoughts by the talks with the other freshmen, most of whom had already checked out of the hospital wing. The only ones left there were Roger Malone, who had been too badly hurt by a lion, and Milicenta Bulstrode from Slytherin. As the girl's faculty had said, those kangaroos in the Great Hall at the very beginning had knocked her into the thick of the growing chaos with a powerful kick, and no one had ever seen Milicenta again.

However, no one but Riona from the first year had died. At least, Madam Pomfrey hadn't said anything about it when discharging the other students. Even the clawed students who had gotten separated on the seventh floor, thanks to the efforts of their upperclassmen, had managed to either get away with treatable wounds or no injuries at all. In principle, based on statistics alone, the situation wasn't that bad. Personally, I assumed that more freshmen would have died. And it's a good thing I was wrong.

The stasis charms that were used to braid the wounded students who couldn't get to the hospital wing on their own also had a great effect on the situation. Well, the fact that the beasts didn't kill the injured, acting according to their mysterious code of honor, also contributed to the situation, so that the victims, in fact, were hardly more than five students from all the courses taken together.

The potions class that followed our interaction suddenly gave me a final peace of mind. Strangely enough, the familiar and understandable task, coupled with the assigned responsibility from Snape, had weathered the harmful pessimistic thoughts from my head.

The potions teacher kept his word, and seated us, mixing all the courses among themselves so that each foursome would have someone who could cooperate at least a little with their classmates in the workflow of potions brewing. My companions turned out to be Oliver Rivers and Susan Bones of the badgers, and... Daphne Greengrass.

The little bitch was a decent student, but she had no responsibility for the other students. All of her leadership skills ended in verbal teasing of weaker or insecure students, and ostentatious arrogance over them. In essence, Daphne was the canonical Malfoy in a skirt, while Draco himself was quieter than water and lower than grass.

That's why the girl found herself in the role of a subordinate performer at Snape's lessons, rather than a supervising leader of the group. And for some reason I was the one who got this miracle of girlish fiddling...

Okay, I was able to respond correctly to the provocations of this viper and not to give a reason to question my own competence. But sometimes her verbal constructions, designed to go through all the pain points of childish boyish self-esteem frankly pissed me off. To such an extent that I was ready to use almost physical force, in order to appease this person.

But the girl with the skill of a tightrope walker walked on a knife's edge, honing her own skills on me and at the same time not overstepping the boundary of my patience. I would even admire her abilities, if I didn't want to strangle Daphne every Wednesday and Friday.

But I had to admit, she played her part faithfully and efficiently. And when I couldn't help myself and, turning on my own pettiness, began to put the Slytherin on a regular basis to cut ingredients she hated, the status quo loomed on our horizon.

So whatever our relationship with Daphne Greengrass was, it didn't affect the brew itself. Oliver and Susan looked me in the mouth, obeying my every command to make potions. The boy still remembered my good-natured attitude at the distribution, and Susan was still burning with gratitude for saving her best friend.

And this time our potion was, if not the best, it was certainly in the top three. It was problematic to find out, but possible - the faint intonations in Snape's comments after checking the brew made it clear whether we remained the same crooked donkeys, or whether we had managed to jump to a new stage of evolution for a while, no longer being at least crooked.

- All right, everybody, put your gear away and let's go. Roxton, Golden, your groups, "Above expectations" for the potion. Spinks, Nott, Kornfoot, "Satisfactory." The rest of you are 'Weak'," Snape announced in his manner of grading at the end of the lesson, "For those of you who suffered an eye injury on Halloween and are unable to see the announcement - a reminder, you are here from first period on Friday, and Transfiguration and Muggle Studies will be moved to sixth and seventh period respectively. There will be a long brew of a special potion in which you can either show your worthiness as Hogwarts students or prove otherwise, further convincing me of your own mediocrity.

We scrambled to leave, and once we were in the corridor, our quiet indignation could be heard:

- Seven lessons in one day! What a day!

- How are we supposed to go to lunch? Snape won't let us leave our potions and go for a snack....

- Oh, I feel like we're going to suffer. Five hours in the company of a potions professor! I was never prepared for this!

- Don't forget, we're all going to the lakeside grounds now," I reminded the others, "Snape's already wasted a few minutes of the break, so we'd better not even go into the living rooms, but go straight to the common room. Otherwise we'll be late and, well, you know.

- "Wheeze, wheeze," Seamus mimicked McGonagall's whip strokes with his hands in response.

- Yeah, that's exactly it," I replied, chuckling at my friend's ministrations.

Here it is, the childish psyche - two hours in and Riona's demise no longer evokes the same sadness. It's scary to know what kind of wizards we might all end up growing up to be, sticking to such routines.

As a group of freshmen, we made our way to the Hogwarts lawn, the exit to which was located at the other end of the castle, relative to the main door through which we had entered the school when we arrived.

It was an overcast November day, but still warm enough that we could walk around in a shirt and standard robes instead of wearing the insulated set of school uniforms.

A crowd of students was already gathering on the green plain near one of the castle walls. Apparently, such gatherings were not unique, as each faculty occupied a certain place, forming a kind of box that brought back vague memories of the lineup at school.

I tried to get an idea from the faces of the upperclassmen what we should expect now. Sometimes only this possibility allowed me to set the parameter of what was happening from "bad, but not critical" to "we're all fucked, we need to write a will".

However, the emotions of the students this time were very different: some of them were sullen, others, on the contrary, were talking in a rather relaxed manner, and others kept a "poker face", so that no obvious conclusions could not be drawn, leaving only guesses.

- Maybe we should hold a funeral for the dead. - Harry whispered in my ear.

- In that case, I don't see any teachers, and there are no coffins or bonfires," I said, "There's something else going on here. It's probably some kind of ad.

- I'm saying that they'll call you up and give you some kind of medal, Kyle," Seamus said, "You saved a lot of students, if you think about it.

It made sense, but something told me it could have been done in the Great Hall.

- It's a strange place for an awards ceremony, don't you think? Why would we be gathered in this clearing?

- Who knows, maybe it's just another tradition.

- No, it's something else, I can feel it in my gut, - I answered, and we continued to wait for the beginning of the meeting.

When the whole school was assembled, not counting the teachers, Professor McGonagall came out of the castle. She strode confidently through the ranks of all the faculties, at the same time conjuring a small wooden platform out of thin air, on which she herself climbed.

- Once again the rules of Hogwarts have been broken," the professor began to say, putting her wand to her throat, thus increasing the volume of her own words, "and once again irreversible punishment will follow. Mr. Filch, lead the offender," McGonagall said, turning to transfiguration again, and two wooden poles rose from the ground and ropes appeared on them.

And my personal Hogwarts rule number nine was that if there were ropes and Professor McGonagall in the same visible space, there would be violence.

Old Filch came out of the door with Mrs. Norris, who was literally inseparable, and he was carrying some upperclasswoman in dirty canvas clothes and a sack on her head. There were no insignia, so it was impossible to tell who it was.

The caretaker led the girl to the center, after which McGonagall began to conjure once again. The ropes on the pillars came to life, and then entangled around the girl's wrists, lifting her into the air.

- Miss Riley," the professor pulled the bag off her head with a wave of her wand, "I'm giving you ten strokes of the birch for revealing forbidden information to first-year students.

Olivia? Oh, damn it, is this because of what she told me yesterday!?

McGonagall pulled out a long rod from under her cloak, the tips of which glowed with blue magical light. The professor handed them to Filch, who took her place on the platform with his crooked gait.

Olivia's eyes were wide with fear, her gaze darting between the Gryffindor students. When she looked up at me, the first whistle of impact sounded.

- Ahhhhhh," Olivia screamed and jumped up and down in a suspended state. I was looking at the senior from the front, so I couldn't see the impact. But the girl's emotions were enough for me to visualize the pain she was feeling right now.

Was it my fault? I talked to the Head Girl for information, and now she's going through a real whipping.... And that blue light. Those whippings aren't ordinary, they're enchanted. A real torture device - I wouldn't be surprised if they caused extra pain when struck, or left non-healing wounds on the body.

But how did McGonagall find out about our conversation? Did she guess? I haven't told anyone about the details of these conversations yet, or even hinted at them! Maybe it was because I mentioned Riley in the astronomy tower. I said something suspicious, and then Olivia told a persistent teacher?

Strike two. Repeated screams. Convulsions.

Third blow. Droplets of blood began to fall onto the withered grass, showering individual petals and blades of grass red.

The fourth. The ropes held the student tightly, steadying her every attempt to break free.

Fifth. Together with it, lightning flashed in the sky.

On the sixth stroke, thunder rumbled.

The seventh. Olivia could no longer scream, because her throat was torn - now only barely audible wheezes and whimpers came out of her mouth, which sounded much worse and more painful than the previous screams.

After the eighth blow, the girl lowered her head, exhausted. It began to drizzle.

The ninth blow. Filch stretched his stiff arm, a blissful smile on his face, as if a child had been given a favorite toy to play with.

The students stood and watched the flogging. Some looked away, but most looked straight at Olivia, some with interest, some with disgust, and some with an indifferent mask on their faces.

The tenth stroke marked the end of the punishment, and I was terrified to see what my guardian angel's back had become. The rain intensified with each passing minute, falling to the ground in ever more intense, ever larger drops.

Only towards the end did I discover that I had squeezed my hands too tightly - my childish fingers had left visible marks on my palms, the hollows of which were deeply reddened.

- You all know the rules. If you decide to break them, be prepared for the consequences," McGonagall glanced around at the students, looked at me for a second, then walked back into the castle, followed by Filch, who was humming a jaunty tune to himself.

The ropes loosened and lowered Olivia down, and some of the older Gryffindor students ran over to her. They gently lifted her off the ground and, holding her arms, began to help the Head Girl waddle to the castle.

- Olivia, I... - I tried to say something as their company passed very close to our course. But I couldn't find the right words.

The girl lifted her head and turned it painfully in my direction, and the headman's friends stopped at our row. At first I thought Olivia was looking at me, but that turned out not to be the case.

- Ugh! - Riley spat blood clots right in Hermione Granger's face, causing her to recoil and stare at the exhausted girl with an angry grimace on her face with big eyes.

Without a word, Olivia beckoned to her friends and they continued on to the castle. And on her back, her once plain gray robe had turned into dangling bloody shreds of fabric, with numerous gaping wounds showing from underneath.

- Hey Hermione, are you okay? - Harry pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket so the girl could wipe her face," What's gotten into her?

It was only me who realized why Olivia had done it.

- It was you, wasn't it? - I said quietly, "You told McGonagall about Riley. Back then, in the astronomy tower... You're her new informant, how did I not realize it right away? She offered me the same thing, it's only logical that with my refusal the professor would try her luck on another student...

- Я... Kyle, she broke the rules! - Hermione said back in a hysterical voice.

- And you helped us a lot. Saved our lives yesterday, in case you've forgotten.

- She only saved her own life! They're all like that, Kyle! You see how they treat us.

- What are you saying," Ron scratched the back of his head with an alien hand, frowning, "that you pawned off our Head Girl? For real?

- And not just her," I answered Weasley's question, "I bet Hermione tells McGonagall everything that goes on in our class. Remember when we left History of Magic class? And the professor immediately appeared beside us...

- A rat! - Lavender exclaimed, "How can you still have the nerve to make excuses for yourself! - The girl shoved Hermione angrily, and she fell to the ground, staring at us in anguish.

- Guys, I... I meant well.

- You betrayed us, Hermione," I voiced my verdict amidst the consonant sounds of my classmates, "our trust. If you want to be McGonagall's snitch, be my guest. But you have nothing more to do with us. Let's go, guys," I headed leisurely into the building, and the rest of the class followed me.

- Kyle, stop! Don't... don't leave me! - Hermione was crying, but we didn't think to look back at her cries.

I felt sick to my stomach. I berated myself for not paying attention, for not realizing the possibility of something like this right away. It was Hermione Granger... And she was a traitor.

***

December 23.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and got ready. Here we go.

Two steps forward. The first pendulum has made its swing, and I step over the first obstacle. The second is not much different from the first. But the last one moves too often, so I have to find the right moment when the blade is just passing in front of my face and then step over it immediately.

Slabs with stakes that shoot out of the ceiling, floor, and walls. Each slab always activates different stakes, so just running in a straight line is not an option. After each step, you have to react to the threat and dodge to the best of your ability.

- Golden, move your buns! Just 'cause it's not a timed run doesn't mean you have to run at turtle speed!

- Yes, Mr. Kingsley, go to hell, Kingsley. And don't distract me.

I can't hear my classmates on the other side of the barrier, but I can hear my teacher's voice clearly. Magic.

Step - dodge to the right, without leaving the slab. A new step - I had to fall sharply on my ass, because this time the spear shot from the ceiling. On the third slab I ducked in time, otherwise I would have repeated the fate of Harry in the first lesson, as the spear flew straight into my side. I'm through.

Spiral-shaped blades, preventing me from going further. You can jump over when they're too low, or quickly crawl across the bridge when the blade goes up. Jumping is unreliable, but it's faster. I don't care about time right now, so I quickly crawl over the next obstacle.

The obstacles came one after another, and so far I haven't encountered any random traps. That's not good.

Yeah. Toward the end, when I climbed the wall with the vanishing ledges and ran down the slide with my blades sticking out, I could see the exit. And a bloody ghostly battering ram that appeared out of the wall and was approaching my carcass with the speed of the Hogwarts Express.

I literally threw my body to the ground, knocking my head to the floor, and right above me flew this huge log that went through physical objects, hitting only students.

- Nice one, Golden. Like I said, you pass the streak, you can leave for Christmas.

- I'm a Muggleborn, sir.

- Oh, right," Kingsley shrugged, "Well, then, ha-ha, you won't be spending Christmas in a hospital bed. That's not bad, either. Bottom line: Longbottom isn't going anywhere. The rest of you, have a good vacation, and next year we'll be learning how to run a timed lane. Dismissed.

- I can't believe I'm finally going home," Ron said happily as we walked up from the dungeons, "Hogwarts has become so familiar over the months, but man, I miss my mother's cooking!

- Ron, don't rub it in, we're staying at the castle," I said to my emotional friend.

- Oh, shit, I'm sorry. Well, at least you didn't have to spend points on the trip.

- You're not the least bit comforting right now. We spent all the points on the bedroom.

- I'm not very good at this," he shrugged, "but at least you won't be sleeping on the floor, right?

- Ron, stop, please," I covered my face with my hand, and Harry and Seamus laughed, "let's go pack up and get you rascals out of the castle. Harry, Dean, Neville and I are going to have a good time ourselves, aren't we, boys?

- You bet!" said Dean.

- There won't be any lessons, so we'll find something to do," said Harry, happy, "and we can sleep as much as we want! - He stretched with anticipation.

- I wanted to see my grandmother," Harry said quietly. - Neville said quietly.

- You'll see her in the summer. Didn't I tell you about the lane tactics, that you couldn't do it?

- There's all that rumbling, clinking, whistling.... I got scared and forgot all the advice," complained the boy.

- Come on, Nev," Ron said, smiling, "don't go to the hospital wing without us for the fifth time, because I want to see what Madam Pomfrey will do to you.

- Ron, shut up, it's not funny," I tapped the red-haired boy on the shoulder.

- Ouch! I was just kidding," he rubbed his bruised arm.

- You were joking, but you've ruined Neville's mood even more. Watch your mouth.

- All right, all right, I'm sorry," he looked at Neville guiltily, "I said it without thinking.

- It's okay," Neville shrugged fatalistically, "I've gotten used to the idea that things are only going to get worse.

- Hey, don't get that attitude! What's the matter with you two? We've been studying here for almost four months now, and we've managed everything so far.

- You have, Kyle," the chubby boy said sadly, "and we've been getting hit all the time.

- Me too, actually," I reminded him of the Lupin situation, "Okay, don't ruin the holiday spirit. For once, we're going to have a normal existence without all these endless lessons.

- Kyle's right, cheer up, guys! - I'll try to get you some goodies from home.

- By the way, we'll get to the Christmas feast," I argued after a while in favor of those who stayed in the castle.

- Yeah," Ron said glumly, "as long as it doesn't end up like Halloween.

- Don't say that, Ron.

It was Christmas vacation. The castle looked festive: an equally large tree had been put up in the Great Hall, and the walls of Hogwarts were decorated with Christmas wreaths, as well as branches of mistletoe, holly, and poinsettia flowers.

As it turned out, wizards were quite tolerant of Muggle religious holidays. Quirrell at his last lesson even claimed that Jesus was a powerful wizard and tried to direct Muggles to the path of redemption for their sins, for which he paid in the end. And Christmas for wizards symbolizes the futility of such attempts, and the Christian belief itself was invented by wizards for the same purposes of influencing the simpletons in olden times.

And I didn't know whether to believe his stories or not, but I began to see many things differently, from the angle of the magical world.

Ron and Seamus left, and of the girls, Lavender, Parvati, and Faye went home. There were six of us left at the castle, but Hermione was still being avoided, so I was going to spend the whole vacation with Harry, Dean, Neville, and Sally-Anne, who preferred the company of boys instead of a traitor.

I'd cooled off to Granger fairly quickly after the events of Halloween, and even considered forgiving her ratting. However, both the other kids who continued to ignore Hermione and the girl herself, who still thought it was right to report all infractions to the dean, ruled out such a possibility.

Whatever positive feelings I'd had for her earlier in the year, her nature of being an overly correct girl had ruined the beginnings of our friendship. Whether it was for good or not, Hermione had become a faculty outcast, which brought her a lot of hardship and loneliness, which she had gotten used to at the beginning of the year. She spent a great deal of time in the library, hiding in countless books from reality, but every class, every meal with her, was accompanied with childish bullying that I didn't always stop.

It was important to me to show Olivia how much I condemned Hermione's betrayal. The Head Girl couldn't actively move for weeks after the punishment because of her mangled back, and the wounds left by the slings were still hurting her like hell for a long time.

Seeing her condition, I just could not take and forget the actions of the perpetrator of the incident. I was so fed up with the whole situation that I simply ignored any possible solutions to it, joining Hermione's ignore along with the others and trying not to think about the girl.

Christmas Eve brought us a festive mood, the few gifts we had received from the freshmen who had gone on vacation, and the cozy decorations in the Gryffindor common room.

There were only a handful of students left in the school. Even assuming that all of them were Muggleborns who were forbidden to return to the Muggle world, they were still too few.

The five of us wandered around the castle and went outside to play snowballs, which was allowed by the remaining teachers who kept the school in order. Sometimes, we would sit in the decorated living room, as it was free of the numerous upperclassmen who often occupied all the chairs and sofas.

On one of those mornings, Harry came up to me, his whole shocked look telling me that the boy had learned something frightening.

- What's wrong? - I jumped up from my chair, "You look like you've seen a ghost.

- Huh?" my words attracted Dean sitting next to me, "what do you have there?

- Not a ghost," Harry said slowly, "I got a letter.

- A letter? From who? - I was interested.

- From Dumbledore. Here, read it," he handed me a sheet of parchment with shaky hands.

I braced myself, and began to scrupulously read the text:

"Dear Harry Potter! I hasten to congratulate you on this wonderful and bright Christmas holiday.

I hope that the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry gives you exceptionally warm feelings and emotions these days. I wish you strength of spirit to cope with all the vicissitudes of life that will invariably appear on your way.

It saddens me to see that none of the first-years are interested in the mysteries of the third floor, so I have decided to put you, Harry Potter, in charge of the mysterious corridor, which contains in its depths an important reward for you.

Invite other freshmen to participate in this exciting adventure, for the more students there are, the greater the likelihood of success. And know that there are at least two ways out of every situation - you just need to see them.

Overcome all the difficulties of the third floor before the end of this school year, otherwise I will have to sadly admit that the first year of Hogwarts School did not live up to their expectations.

P.S. Did you remember everything at the beginning, Mr. Potter?