102 Chapter 102: Golden Trouble
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3 December 1992, Hogwarts
Neville still didn't know how things could get so wrong. As he looked at the snarling face of Snape, he knew that he was screwed. Snape has always been spiteful when it came to him, but this was different, this was more. It was like the boy who lived had crossed a line of sorts, and now he was out for blood.
What happened?
The potion should have lasted at least an hour, and Neville had timed it. They were inside the Slytherin common room for less than thirty minutes, and it took them ten minutes to sneak it in the first place. So, did Hermione somehow screw with the potion? It was a NEWT level potion after all, and the muggleborn was a second year, all things considered.
No, according to Hermione, it was exactly like it was supposed to be, and they had transformed perfectly into their targets. So, why did it stop working all of a sudden?
They had already gotten valuable information by tricking Potter. Hermione was right, that guy was a chump whenever it came to explaining things. It was a wonder how the guy ended up in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw. That guy must have read more books than Hermione, especially considering how he kept showing her up whenever it came to knowledge.
Neville already knew that the muggleborn was going to run to the library next to confirm what he had said about the founders, as well as trying to overcome the unspoken challenge of finding what the monster of Slytherin was.
What really interested Neville was the fact that he somehow already figured out that he was a Parselmouth before he himself knew. It was obvious, now that he thought about it, but it did confirm that Hermione wasn't exaggerating when it came to Potter's intelligence.
To be completely honest, Neville didn't know how to feel about his godbrother. He just seemed so beyond him, so far away from him in terms of both personality and magic. It irritated him at first, but now, it was just intimidating to just speak with him. It felt less like asking Hermione for some help, and more like asking Dumbledore of all people. The Longbottom scion really wanted to connect with him, but he was so out of reach, that Neville was scared to make the first move.
Of course, Ron just hated the guy on principle. He was a Slytherin, thus he was a slimy snake that couldn't be trusted. That guy really had his priorities backwards, if he had any priorities other than Quidditch, chess, and fighting Malfoy. But Malfoy didn't count; he was a prick, and it was surprising how little he was regarded in his own house.
Neville's grandmother had drilled him countless times about being observant in political situations, and well, the Slytherin common room reminded him a lot about these lessons. What was interesting was the fact that Malfoy was shunned in Slytherin. It wasn't something he expected at all. The Malfoys always looked untouchable from the outside, but it seemed like the house was as annoyed as the rest of the school was when it came to the blonde ponce. You could see it in the way they all huddled away from him whenever he sat down. Malfoy probably thought it was some kind of sign of respect, but Neville knew. His housemates did the same to him, ever since he was revealed to be a Parselmouth.
Also, the fact that Malfoy was reprimanded for saying the word Mudblood and supporting the heir of Slytherin, and they had even contacted his mother. Now, that was worth the trip on its own. And the information they had gotten was practically a gold mine. They now knew that the chamber of secrets was opened before, around fifty years back to be more specific and that the petrifications happened as well, but it ended when a student died, and, according to Potter, someone was framed for it.
The real heir must be the descendant of whoever had opened the chamber fifty years ago. If they knew who was responsible in the past, they could track down their descendants and figure out who had done it as well. The conversation with Malfoy, on the other hand, was pretty lacklustre. All they had learned was that Lucius Malfoy had told him to let the heir be and that the Malfoy hid most of their dark artefacts in a secret room under the drawing room floor, which was why the Auror raids never found anything. Ron looked excited to owl that little fact to his father.
Unfortunately, they were all preoccupied with the whole disguise falling apart and them being attacked thing. Yeah, that wasn't fun.
In mere minutes, Snape was called into the room, with his billowing cloak behind him, and Neville found himself in the potion master's office with his best friends. Ron looked as pale as a ghost, and Hermione looked like she was having a nervous breakdown.
"Professor," Neville started.
He was immediately interrupted by the Slytherin Head of House, "Mr Longbottom, I have literally found you trespassing into a common room that isn't your own, in stolen Slytherin robes, having drunk an illegal potion, that could have easily poisoned you with the slightest mistake, a potion that you brewed with ingredients that I recognize to be missing from my stores. There is nothing that you could say would not make it worse. So, as your professor, I am advising you to stay quiet and not say anything that will probably end up hurting you in the long run. Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here. I do not want to hear your voice at any moment before my return."
Normally, Snape would be smiling at getting them in trouble, but he just looked angry. Seeing how the professor was behaving, Neville decided to do the smart thing and just shut up. The man left, and the boy who lived just felt sick. If Snape had gone to fetch Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House, they were hardly any better off. She might be fairer than Snape, but she was still extremely strict. She was going to kill them, he knew it.
Ten minutes later, Snape returned, and sure enough, it was Professor McGonagall who accompanied him. Neville had seen Professor McGonagall angry on several occasions, but either he had forgotten just how thin her mouth could go, or he had never seen her this angry before. She raised her wand the moment she entered; Neville, Ron, and Hermione all flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted. Neville hadn't realized how cold he was until the warmth of the fire started to spread.
"Sit," she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire.
"Explain," she said, her glasses glinting ominously.
Ron started to speak but Neville immediately stopped him. Ron's mouth was probably going to get them further in trouble, "Well, professor, it's a bit of a long story. You know how I'm a Parselmouth?"
The woman nodded and he continued, "Well, people haven't really been nice to me ever since that happened."
"What they stopped worshipping you like some sort of messiah," Snape answered with a sneer.
"No," Neville denied, "they just look at me like I'm the one who petrified my own roommate. So, I decided that finding out who the heir of Slytherin really was would clear my name. And where better to look first than the Slytherin common room? We used Polyjuice to sneak inside while Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent were in detention, and we started interrogating people sneakily."
"You thought that whoever was responsible would just confess in the middle of the common room?" McGonagall asked with an incredulous tone.
"Well, maybe. We thought that they, at least, might know a little more about it. So, what would be the harm?"
"You're asking what would be the harm in impersonating your year mates, and breaking into a place they're supposed to feel safe in?" Snape asked.
"Well, we thought that no one would really be affected. It was only supposed to last for one hour, but for some reason, it stopped working at least twenty minutes early."
Snape looked startled for a second, "You brewed the potion?"
"Yes. Well, Hermione did…" Neville looked at his friend who was practically trembling.
"So, let me get this straight. You stole ingredients from my personal stores, used them to brew a potion that was above your capability, incorrectly from the sound of it, and snuck into the Slytherin common room because you hoped that the heir of Slytherin who has been attacking muggleborns would confess their crimes to you because you asked for it. And the potion ended up malfunctioning, causing everyone to panic and attack you at once."
Hermione interjected, "Hey, I didn't incorrectly brew the potion!"
The glare McGonagall sent her made her defiant look wither in a fraction of a second, "I'm telling you this for your best interest. Don't confess to brewing an illegal potion to your professors, one that could cause you a fine of a few hundred Galleons at least, and maybe even a short stay in Azkaban. If you weren't a minor and if you didn't brew the potion in Hogwarts, you would have been in a lot more trouble. So, please, shut up, Ms Granger."
The deputy headmistress took a deep breath and continued, "Since this is your first offence this year, you will be in detention for the rest of the semester, and this incident will be in your permanent school record. I will send a letter to your parents informing them about what happened. I am disappointed in you, Ms Granger. Now, get back to your common room, I will contact you about the details of your detentions later."
Hermione looked in tears as she left the room. The transfiguration mistress looked at the last two students in the room, "As for the two of you, after the mess you made with the flying car a few months ago, we told you that if you did something like this again, then you were going to be expelled. The truth is that you committed a crime, and now it's out of my hand. We'll have to go to the headmaster for this. Please follow me."
They marched in silence around a corner and the deputy headmistress stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.
"Lemon drop!" she said. This was evidently a password because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two.
Normally, Neville would have been excited about the prospect of seeing the headmaster's office for the first time, but all he could feel was dread.
He was going to be expelled. He knew that in his bones. His grandmother was going to kill him. He was letting everyone down, even his parents. He had even dragged Ron into this scheme to clear his name, just because he couldn't handle the fact that people didn't like him anymore.
The Weasleys were going to be heartbroken, and it was all his fault. Maybe the information they had gotten from Potter could help them. Dumbledore wouldn't punish them for helping him stop the heir of Slytherin, would he?
Potter was already resentful of Dumbledore for some reason, even if he had somewhat of a point, and Neville did start having questions of his own for the headmaster. If Potter was right that the Chamber was opened during when he was in the castle, why didn't Dumbledore stop him the first time? If the culprit was obviously framed, then how did Dumbledore let that happen and why did he stop looking for the chamber altogether? And why didn't he reveal the nature of the beast? Potter had figured it out, after all, and he's a student.
Did Dumbledore just hope that the problem would just go away on its own?
Neville had many questions and even if he was going to be expelled, he wasn't leaving without answers.
Having been distracted by his thoughts, the boy who lived didn't notice the spiral staircase that appeared in front of him. As they all stood on it, it started to rise in circles, until at last, slightly dizzy, Neville saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a gryphon.
They had arrived at Dumbledore's office.
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