Chapter 23: Accusations, Defenses and Sentence

During the last two days since the figures of the teachers appeared in my 'night service' I could already see how the faces of the teachers got very bad when they saw me, especially the women, but they didn't say anything to me, although they clearly had something stuck in their throats.

I no longer ate lunch at the dining room tables. In Slytherin, they wanted to kill me for tarnishing the house name. If I went to Gryffindor, then Hermione would walk away and leave her meal half-finished, so I didn't go to not cause her more trouble. And in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, I just didn't go to keep up our ruse.

Since we actively started our plan, it only lasted four days until we were called to the Headmaster's office. It was during the morning of the fifth day that Snape appeared in front of me during breakfast. I used to go through the great hall to see how things were going and to see how was Hermione. I did not eat there, but in that short period of time around the time to I appeared, Snape found me.

"Very good, Mr. Weasley, you've done great things" He said nice words, but in the least appreciative tone imaginable "You'll have to follow me to the headmaster's office for your funeral," Said before waving his robes and heading off.

I followed him without a problem, I was interested in the fact that he called us so quickly to the headmaster's office, I thought that I would be called by Snape first and he would make things difficult for me before reaching this point, but I'm not complaining.

What did surprise me is that while I followed Snape I saw how Pomona Sprout also took the same path as we, followed by Tonks, it seems that she has also been called. When we saw each other, she could only shrug her shoulders as if to say 'Too bad', I know I told her she wouldn't be too involved, but I really wasn't sure, although I'm pretty sure I'd let her go with the minimum of punishment at least.

We made it to the third floor, without Tonks and I saying any word, also neither did Snape or Sprout, although the herbology teacher gave me a few complicated looks from time to time, I don't know if they were disgust or pity. We stopped in front of a rather large stone gargoyle, to which Snape said "Jumping marshmallows."

When the gargoyle heard that, it seemed to come to life and moved to the side, revealing a circular staircase that went up the tower toward the Headmaster's office.

When we went up the stairs and entered the office we could see that it was a very high room, full of windows and pictures that moved and that at this moment we were looking at both of us, it had many libraries and there is also Fawkes in his hostel looking at us. The most remarkable thing was the large number of people who were waiting for us there.

Not only was Headmaster Dumbledore sitting at his desk, but there were also the deans of the other two houses, as well as several professors who coincidentally are the ones Tonks took similar aspects of during the night 'what a coincidence'.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Tonks, please sit down," the headmaster told us, pointing us to two chairs in front of his desk.

When we sat down, all the teachers behind us looked at us, I could see how some of them, like Flitwick and McGonagall, had the same conflicting look as Sprout. On the other hand, the director continues to have his usual majesty and smile of an old wizard.

"I suppose you know why you're here?" Dumbledore asked us.

"No, what happened?" I answered before Tonks had a chance to speak.

"Humm" Snape snorted "You can't avoid your guilt anymore, this is what we're talking about" he said throwing a newspaper on the desk, it was 'the prophet' that on its cover had an article with the headline "Hogwarts: From a millennial school to a brothel for minors"

I was a bit surprised, I didn't expect it to reach 'the prophet' news, at least not so fast, I know that there are several students who are children of important people in the ministry who could tell their parents, but even so, I am a bit surprised. Tonks next to me was pale, she didn't expect our game to go beyond Hogwarts, she knew that this involved more than she thought at first, so now she was really worried.

"The Prophet, Hogwarts is now on everyone's lips as a nest of corrupt teachers who take advantage of their students, the reputation of the school is completely tarnished. we had to put the reporters away and answer to the ministry of magic because of you two" Snape continues to yell.

"I can't believe this about you two, especially you Mr. Weasley, I can't accept that such a good student has caused so much damage to the school" said Professor McGonagall in a disapproving tone.

"So…" I said casually.

"Then you are here to receive your sentence" Snape said annoyed, but somewhat pleased "Expulsion should be at the very least"

When Tonks heard that she trembled and almost started to cry, she knew that if she was expelled her chance to become an Auror would disappear and that could destroy her. When I saw that my friend's tears were about to come out, I placed my hand on her leg, using my calming ability to comfort her. This did not go unnoticed, and Snape continued.

"And apparently the rumors may not be entirely false, we also should have already called the Weasley and Tonks families to answer to their children, especially when we call the Aurors, I don't know why we have to have this talk before that, almost everything is already said" He said very contemptuously "With the fornication of minors they should have at least a few months in Azkaban" It seemed that he was taking it out on us saying those words, both Tonks and I at some point we caused trouble so it was his time for revenge.

"Severus!" Professor McGonagall shut him up, believing that what she said was too much.

"Yes Severus, calm down it's just a couple of kids" Professor Flitwick said.

"A couple of children who tarnished the reputation of the school and of all the teachers present here" He said, arousing a little disgust on the part of the women in the room who suffered for our action.

"We wait a bit before jumping to conclusions Severus, let's give them a chance to explain themselves" Professor Dumbledore stopped Snape, "Do you want to say something?" He asked us.

Tonks seemed to want to explain that it was all fake, she was desperate, but I motioned to Tonks to let me speak as we agreed. She almost couldn't contain herself, but she agreed with me. Even though I knew that if things didn't go well, she would tell all about it, I didn't plan on stopping her or blaming her if she did. I was ready to speak before us being called, I had already prepared my speech since I started this plan.

"We are innocent" I said and then all was silent.

"Hahaha, as if that could be true" Snape laughed horribly "I would think it's more possible that you two are brothers than that you have nothing to do with all this" as he said that, all the other people in the room looked me strangely for my statement, except the director.

"I can assure you, if you ask any student from any house, they will tell you that they only heard about me, but nothing ever happened, I've never done anything indecent, not even with Tonks here, we're just kind of close, good friends. If you want you can use veritaserum on me to see that I am telling the truth" I said without any fear

"I don't plan on spending my precious veritaserum on you just to check the games of two children," Snape complained.

"Well, then you can ask the students, although I don't think they will answer them, even if it were true. In the end, we are innocent" I reaffirmed.

"Even if the rumors are not true, they have caused a lot of problems for the school" said one of the teachers who looked particularly offended "You have managed to discredit many of us, it will be very difficult to get a job after leaving Hogwarts due to your stupid performance" almost spat at us while speaking

"That's right, or they're going to say that Miss Tonks here hasn't intentionally taken the form of our teachers" Snape put his face very close to Tonks's, making her uncomfortable and exerting some pressure on her "It wouldn't be the first time she's changed into one from our teachers to cause trouble, but this time was particularly bad, I don't think there's anything more to say."

"Well yes, there is" I stopped Snape who turned to look at me, but I didn't feel pressure with his gaze, maybe a little disgust at having his face so close, but nothing more "Tonks has never used her ability to take the form of any of those here, at least not during this school year" Snape tried to say something to refute me, but I continued "The only proof they have is the word of some students who said 'see her', if by any chance Tonks will take a slightly similar form and the colors of the clothes she was wearing were similar at that moment, it's purely coincidental. If you know about statistics and probability you'll know that although the possibility is minimal, it can still happen" I took a breath before continuing "Maybe she just was testing her skill and there was that sad coincidence that brought us so much trouble now, but it's a 'coincidence', not our fault. You could ask the headmaster, I guess the paintings or ghosts in the castle could have seen us and they would be able to tell you that although similar were not the same, it is very easy to verify it" I said, causing everyone to look at Dumbledore who until now had not said anything and had his hands clasped in front of him from the beginning. He nodded, causing a bit of confusion among those present.

"So what? Now you're going to say that this is all a tragic story where you are the victims," ​​Snape sneered sarcastically.

"I couldn't have said it better"

"Mr. Weasley, I stopped playing," said Professor McGonagall. "We know that you have the responsibility in this, we know that you haven't been in your dormitory at night, neither your classmates nor your prefects have seen you inside Slytherin in two days. You're going to tell me that it is not to make all this end up happening"

"That doesn't seem like too much of a coincidence to you," said Sinistra, the astronomy professor.

"My roommates?" I asked, smiling to myself that this topic would come up.

"That's right, Zabini and Nott have told us that you haven't gone to sleep in the dormitory" Professor Flitwick said.

"Even if I did they wouldn't know" I said causing Snape to frown sensing that something bad was coming, while all the other people looked on in confusion "I'm not in the same bedroom as them"

"What are you trying to say, Mr. Weasley? You've been assigned to your bedroom along with your two companions ever since I arrived. How can you deny that it's your bedroom? Don't expect to get out of this just diverting the subject" McGonagall said, somewhat irritated by my answer, but also intrigued.

"I was never assigned a dormitory with them, when I arrived told me that they miscalculated the number of students and gave me another room where I am alone." I laughed to myself while making an innocent face "it's next to the broom's wardrobe, past the boys' bedroom and bathroom, a small door at the end of the hall, it's a small room that had the word 'MudBlood' written in big with magic, but now it says 'Blood Traitor', you can send someone to check if want" I said, causing everyone to look at me in disbelief, including Tonks who didn't know about it.

When I finished pronouncing those words, almost everyone in the room jumped in surprise, they couldn't believe it. From the form in which my room was described, several people could discern that it would not be a place that would normally be used as a bedroom. In addition, the words engraved on the wall were very offensive, according to everyone present, that was a room like this existed in Hogwarts something they assumed was impossible, the most affected was Snape who realized what I was saying implied.

"Severus! Is what he said true?" Professor McGonagall nearly roared, completely forgetting why we were here. She, to whom the safety of the students was the most important thing, found herself particularly angry, putting aside the problem of rumors.

"Severus?" Dumbledore also asked, somewhat surprised.

"It's possible that this room exists... I think it was created when Phineas was headmaster, but it hasn't been used since then, so it has been forgotten over time and no one uses it" He said gritting his teeth hard, realizing that maybe he should have paid more attention to the students inside Slytherin "but if that's the case, why didn't Weasley say anything to any teacher?" He countered by bringing everyone's gaze in the room back to me.

"Because I prefer the knife that I can see to the poison that I can't. If I tried to do something to change it then the others could try to try other things, if they thought I was suffering in that room then they wouldn't put any more effort into me. I'd rather hold on than let they will look for other ways to annoy me" I explained to them "For the same reason they didn't see me inside Slytherin for the last two days. Two days ago, they surrounded me in the common room. Consider how proud they are of Slytherin, you should imagine what they would do to me for tarnishing the name of our house. If just for being a Weasley they put me in that room, then for selling my body I should expect to wake up with a dagger in my chest. If you want proof you can ask any Slytherin who was there at the time, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode were there, but they were on my side defending me, if you want someone else neutral can look for Daphne Greengrass too"

There was a moment of silence without anyone speaking, this was a fairly large case of discrimination and the situation in question, which had affected the entire school, was changing.

"Severus, I think after this, you should give your students a talk about doing something about this situation" Dumbledore said to Snape, while the McGonagall gave him sharp looks, as did the others here, as this was clearly his neglect" We should also arrange for Mr. Weasley to return to his assigned bedroom."

"If it's possible, I'd like to stay where I am" I said, drawing everyone's gaze, including Tonks "I've already grown fond of that place, and appearing and settling in other people's bedrooms out of the blue can cause me problems, I don't mind where I am that much. I only use it to sleep in, although I wouldn't mind if they took 'Blood traitor' off the wall and added some furniture"

"Well, that will be seen later, we still have a problem on our hands," said Dumbledore.

"That's right, we still have to talk about your nights out," Snape said, trying to return to the previous topic.

"Okay, that's we plead guilty to, yes we've gone out after the allotted time"

"Aha..." Snape jumped as if he achieved his objective, but I cut him off.

"But... So what? I'm not the first person to do it, and possibly not the last, everyone here must know my brothers, nights out are practically in my blood. They accuse me of prostitution without any proof of it, maybe I could be selling drugs like Amortentia or dragon claw powder, I wasn't necessarily a slut. It's all other people's rumors about me, it's not something I can control, I was very affected by it too"

"And if that was the case, why don't you ask for help with the rumours, Mr. Weasley?" Professor Sprout asked gently "you could have lost help to some teacher"

"But I was already receiving help, I thought that as teachers and with how significant those rumors were you would have already done something, several of you tried to help me if you remember correctly, but it didn't work. How you didn't do anything else, I thought it was all they could do for me, if it wasn't like that and you could have done more to help me and they didn't, then I'm a little disappointed" I said bringing various expressions of embarrassment from some people who didn't take helping me seriously at first with these rumors, they knew that if they attacked the root problem, perhaps this situation would not go as far. Some like Flitwick and Mcgonagall were particularly regretful that they didn't notice that he was possibly right that it would be normal for them to do something with it without me having to ask, and only paying attention in these last few days when the teachers were affected.

"But that doesn't explain you going out with Miss Tonks at night taking the forms of different students or teachers, if you tell me it's conscience, then I will be forced to look for the Veritaserum in my office and use with you, especially Miss Tonks here who seems that the cat ate her tongue since she hasn't said anything so far, it's not like she's keeping something she doesn't want to say... there's no way these actions started appearing after the rumors started" Snape noted that only I was the one who was speaking and offered to take Veritaserum to verify the veracity of my words, so he turned his attention to Tonks, eliminating his previous proclamation of not wasting Veritaserum. At this point, seeing that things were changing so much, he was somewhat impatient and did not care that mattered a lot.

"Nobody will use Veritaserum on any of my students" Professor Spruot said to Snape defending Tonks, she wasn't mad at us anymore, she wasn't mad at us from the beginning, and after listening to us, she didn't want to be treated this way either, she was someone gentle and protective by nature.

"Yes Severus, they are not criminals" Professor McGonagall pointed out that she believed that what Snape said was going too far and that seeing that not only we were to blame she was not as inclined to punish us as at first.

"It wasn't a coincidence, but it wasn't intentional in a certain sense either" I said making everyone confused for a second by not denying it like before "When I started being treated like this several people stopped talking to me, like my friend Hermione Granger who after knowing about the rumors she stopped hanging out with me to avoid being implicated" I said drawing Tonks and Dumbledore's gaze "I stopped having many friends and I couldn't even have lunch at the tables in the great dining room without being judged" I put more force into the pity trick "But there were also people who supported me like my brothers, Davis and Bulstrode, Clearwater and here Nymphadora Tonks. The reason she was with me on my nights out was to keep me company and let me have someone to talk to, she was the only person who will keep me company, risking getting caught. If you check, she would only stay with me until a certain hour and then go to sleep in her bedroom. The reason why she changed into different aspects of students is that I asked her to avoid being recognized and punished for trying to help me, also keep in mind that she never took the appearance of any student in particular, they were all aspects neutral so they would not bring problems to anyone. And the reason why he started to look like professors in the last two days is also my fault, since I left Slytherin house to avoid being eaten by snakes, I had no place to sleep and I had to find one inside Hogwarts at night. She started to change the teachers because we thought that if it was like this it would be easier to avoid Filch... if he saw that I was going with a teacher he would avoid me and that way it would be easier to find a place to spend the night" When I said that Tonks she was looking at me with an astonished face that she could say all that with such seriousness, it seemed as if she could believe it too with a face that said 'Ahh so we were doing it for that' "We didn't expect that it would bring so much inconvenience to the school, I can only say I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, I didn't realize my idea turned out to be so stupid"

There was silence in the room, the initial hatred gone, except for Snape. Nobody knew what to say, if the situation was as I described it, then nobody can be blamed, only the negligence of the teachers and the naivety and bad decisions of a child. The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment, Snape couldn't think of anything without getting further into the pot, since much of the blame for what I said fell on him. It was Dumbledore's cough that got us out of this awkward situation.

"Well, looking at the facts in this way, I think we have to reconsider some things. I hope that there is no resentment towards these two students on the part of the teachers who were affected, since it seems that despite having some fault, it was not intentional and it was just a big misunderstanding that got out of hand. As Headmaster, I will answer for all of you before the media and the Ministry of Magic, since it can also be considered that I had some responsibility in this" He said receiving the assent of all the women in the room, surely there will be those who have some grudge, but it will be minor and will dissipate with time, they do not want to blame a couple of children who were affected by something stronger than themselves" I also hope that after in the lunch clarify the rumors, the deans of their different houses support me instructing the students again in the future so that something like this does not happen again" Received affirmative responses from Sprout, McGonagall, Flitwick and Snape "I would also like Miss Tonks to relax a bit, I don't plan on ruining the future of two bright young wizards by expelling them" he said causing the pink haired girl next to me to stop pinching the edges of the chair as she has been doing so far" Everyone was affected by the situation so calm down, it's not that bad"

"They didn't look at you like a whore or treat you like dirt," I said sarcastically, interrupting his consolatory prayer and receiving pitying looks from some of the teachers.

"*Cough*... *cough*... well, some could have been more affected than others" he corrected "I think this would end our meeting today, I don't want to delay the work of each of those present any longer, I'll contact you again for any details"

"In fact, Professor Dumbledore, I would like to stay with you so that you can decide my punishment. Despite not doing what the rumors said, I was still outside the established schedule and broke the rules, I would also like to receive the punishment from Tonks, because if it weren't for me, she wouldn't have so many problems"

"I think you're right Headmaster, he broke the rules despite everything and he should receive his punishment, I should take care of that" Snape said, listening to me, somewhat happy to be able to retaliate with me, because as the dean of my house he would have priority over decide my punishment.

I also received a look of approval from some people like Professor McGonagall, because I recognized my mistakes and was willing to receive my punishment, this made me recover my image a bit before them, showing that despite everyone I'm still a good responsible student.

"Very mature of you, Mr. Weasley, I think Severus can handle that..." He was saying until saw how I covertly tapped my index finger twice on my chest and then pointed twice at the ground "But I think I can also do it personally, also taking the opportunity to discuss the way in which we will clarify everything before the other students during lunch" He changed his speech "Everyone can leave except Mr. Weasley"

Snape felt bad about it, but he didn't disown the headmaster. Everyone started to leave the principal's office, but Tonks gave me a worried look. She was completely relieved by how this ended, she didn't expect what we did to reach this point and that we could get out almost unscathed. She questioned herself why she had trusted my plan so much, but now it didn't matter anymore because everything went well. But now that I would be left alone with the headmaster, she got a little nervous, since the tension of the previous thing, although it had reduced, there was still something that made her insecure. I just gave her a thumbs up and a wink, with which she nodded and left, accompanied by Professor Sprout.

Now with everyone out of the office, only Dumbledore, Fawkes, me, and the paintings of the other previous directors remain.