8 Ch 8 - Timeskip.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," said Professor McGonagall. "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?" McGonagall was literally screaming and I was getting irritated, this was a necessary plot point, I did not want to be here caught but they almost begged for me to come with them, and I agreed. Neville was looking betrayed, Harry's eyeing him didn't improve the situation.

"And I am also very disappointed in you Chris, you have always been a mature and intelligent student, I would have never thought you would be in on this as well" now I was seeing red, I hated screaming professors but most importantly I hated people falsely accusing others of things they never did.

"Isn't that a bit of a leap in logic professor?" I started immediately getting her attention and by proxy everyone else's. "You seem to be awfully convinced it was all a prank and constructed this whole bedtime tale based on that assumption. Instead of trying to give your students the benefit of the doubt, you assume they are wrong. That is why you keep losing the student's respect, and that is why when some kid turns up bruised and battered they never tell you what happened because they know that you either won't do anything about the Slytherin bullying him or you are going to just worsen the situation." for the first time in her life she couldn't answer, she didn't expect this from me a student who showed her nothing but respect up until now, and a first year to boot, Hermione kept hitting my arm trying to make me stop, but I wasn't going to.

"It could be very easy for you to check with Hagrid if there was a Dragon we just shipped to Ron's brother who, as you know, works with dragons daily. But isn't it easier for you to just tell us we are wrong and that's it?"

"Fifty points from Gryffindor Mr. Wielding for your lack of respect." I immediately jumped the bus "That is what I was just talking abo-"

"BUT" I was shut down "We are going to check your version with Hagrid, you still get detention for being up late but I won't take more points from you if you were telling the truth"

Hagrid seeing we got in trouble for his sake relented and told her the full story. McGonagall reassured us she wouldn't rat him out as Harry feared and even off-handedly praised us for our quick thinking with the Malfoy situation. After all, she knew that if it was found out Hagrid could lose his place here.

Everyone sighed with relief at the news as we were told we would only have detention tomorrow.

"Now, you all go to sleep. Except you mister Wielding, I expect you to follow me into my office for a brief talk"

"Yes professor, go without me guys, and please, tell Neville everything, he is a friend after all," I told them ignoring his surprised look.

They nodded as Hermione looked worried.

"See you later," said Harry as they all left.

...

I sat down opposite from McGonagall she eyed me and started

"That was a bit excessive wasn't it Mr. Wielding?"

I shook my head "I am not going to apologize for what I have said professor, and even if I apologize for the way I said it, I am not going to take back any of the words I said since I meant every single one"

"That is indeed a shame," she said a bit taken aback by my genuine expression "If you wholeheartedly apologized I would have overturned my decision regarding the house points"

"I do not really care about house points professor, if professor Snape asked me if I would renounce thirty house points for extra private lessons I would immediately agree" she looked surprised but then nodded,

"I understand. I didn't call you here only for this however..."

...

-McGonagall's PoV-

After Wielding left my offices I sighed hard, the situation he explained wasn't as bad as I initially feared, but still pretty bad.

Snape's biased attitude, albeit now accepted, was still part of the problem. Students were getting bullied and he seemed to only fan the flame.

The Headmaster asked me to keep him informed on Wielding's behavior, he was an Orphan and very bright, no wonder he was afraid of what could happen. However, after learning about the Halloween situation with Granger thanks to the portraits and seeing how he acted with his group of friends Potter included he immediately asked me to stop.

He has always been a calm, collected, bright, and sunny student, today he has shown me four more things: he is ready to protect his friends, he hates injustice with a passion, he doesn't back down from his choices, and judges people by their actions alone, not prejudice"

I couldn't help but feel proud of my student, even after all of this debacle.

I had to talk with Severus about what he told me, however.

...

As soon as I entered the common room Hermione tackled me with a quick hug, a bit too much don't you think?

"Yo" I just said

"Yo! YO!" whispered screamed Hermione "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you would have been suspended by how you talked to her"

"Oh come on, you are exaggerating, we just talked a bit" at that she sighed and looked at me as if I was a lost cause making me chuckle, I hugged her briefly and said "Thank you for worrying about me"

"I just can't believe you" she offered to try to not show her smile

"Ron, Harry, and Neville?"

"They went to sleep, they were too tired"

"Let's go as well, tomorrow will be a long day, and she agreed"

It was nice of her to wait for me.

...

-Timeskip-

My time in the RoR was turning ultra useful, I was practicing the fire resistance potions needed for the end of the year, and I will help Harry in case Quirrel decided to attack him with a wand instead of hands. I couldn't solve this for him, Harry needed this experience for a lot of reasons. But I would be there to help him when I could, I decided as such.

I wanted to live a good life here, to experience this world I did not need to be the hero of the world, to solve everything on his own, and to turn heads every time people looked at me. I wanted to live a fulfilling adventure, filled with dangers sure, but an adventure with these kids that slowly became very important friends. I also realized the importance of Harry's experiences and I knew that, in the end, only he could kill Voldemort. And if he was the one he needed to be ready. I knew I was sounding very manipulative, but I would be with him, every step of the way, ready to bear the responsibility for my action.

My charms of this school year were almost mastered, for most of them, I did not need an incantation.

The same goes for Expelliarmus, while Protego still needed it.

Hermione kept studying with me, and I also met Susan Bones during Astronomy, she is very shy but very friendly and bright.

After the exams, which I aced, I knew the time to fight Voldy was coming, but I was relatively ready for it.

...