Chapter - 52 : The Devil Among Us part - 2

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She wasn't strictly speaking involved in this discussion but Amelia offered her opinion. "There were nine older girls here, all with the intention of doing Miss Granger harm. I would say Mr Crow's response was a measured one. None of these girls will require to spend the night in the infirmary, Miss Granger certainly would have needed to if Mr Crow hadn't acted so quickly."

"Amelia and I were less than a minute behind the lad but he'd already dealt with the situation by the time we got here. He did promise not to be so lenient if there was ever a repeat of this incident."

"But he sliced right through my wand, what am I going to tell my parents?"

"Don't worry about that Miss Chambers. You can be assured I'll be informing your parents of exactly what happened here today. For a Ravenclaw to be involved in bullying a younger member of our house is something I will never stand for, this incident will be used to remind all of Ravenclaw of that fact."

"Headmaster, surely you can see this boy needs to be reigned in before the next thing he kills isn't a troll - but another student."

Albus was well aware his tenure as headmaster was hanging by a thread. He had no intention of going against Hogwarts to soothe his potion master's sense of injustice. "I'm inclined to agree that Mr Crow's response was measured and appropriate. A wizard would have been casting stunners or body-binds. Mr Crow's methods may be different but certainly no less effective. I watched him use that blade on Lucius Malfoy, his speed and control is astonishing. He's attending Hogwarts as a goblin, I assume this is a goblin response to what was undeniably an attack on his friends?"

His question was aimed at Filius and the charms master didn't disappoint. "Actually headmaster, his reaction was a lot more measured than I feared. The goblin response would have been to ensure this could never happen again, I expected to see limbs on the floor."

The girls had been quietly crying but this comment introduced an element of wailing to their accumulated outpouring of self pity, none of the adults present thought this group would ever be going near Miss Granger again. They also thought that was Mr Crow's intention, word of this would spread throughout the castle before curfew. Who would dare attack Miss Granger when her protector had taken down nine older enemies to keep the young witch safe. When you factored in his killing of that troll to achieve the same result, and that the castle had not only warned but aided him today, Miss Granger should be one of the safest witches in the castle.

Minerva though was determined to have her way on this matter. That there were no Gryffindors amongst the attackers pleased her more than she could say but the deputy was determined to enforce discipline here. Severus was more inclined to punish Slytherin students for getting caught, that wouldn't be happening this time.

"Hogwarts already has a student under a week's suspension, and placed on probation for the rest of the school year. If I discover this attack was because of Miss Granger's blood status - and I'm almost sure that was the case - all of these girls will be receiving the same punishment. Albus, could you cover my classes for the rest of today? I will probably need to arrange nine home visits."

Severus appeared ready to have a fit but Pomona cut him off. "That seems fair..."

Filius had more to add though. "Miss Chambers will also see her Hogsmead privileges revoked and she can forget about trying out for the quidditch team this year. I find her bullying of two Ravenclaw first years despicable, I hope you will convey that to her parents Professor McGonagall?"

The girls were now sobbing inconsolably as they were herded up and shepherded toward the infirmary so Poppy could check the nine of them. Minerva wanted a word with the other three involved in this debacle so she headed there too. Albus tagged along, content he now had a genuine excuse to put his meeting with Amelia off again. The headmaster intended to avoid said meeting for as long as possible.

Severus didn't think he would be able to attend the infirmary without getting into an argument with Crow. Having heard what he did to Lucius, the potions professor rather wisely decided to head back down to his dungeon.

-oOoOo-

The only thing that travels faster than news inside the castle is speculation. Speculation was currently rife amongst the students, especially after seeing the senior staff rush from the great hall. So it was hardly surprising that Neville and Parvati arrived at the infirmary only moments after the Ravenclaw trio got there. Both Gryffindors had quickly noticed who was missing, and thought this was the best location to discover if anything had happened to their friends/family. Parvati was in tears seeing her twin's beautiful face in that condition. "I warned you they were after Hermione - how did this happen?"

This instantly got Harry's attention, Hermione was currently behind a privacy screen receiving treatment. Padma had her head down as she answered her twin. "We didn't know who, where or when so I decided not to worry Hermione, just stick close to her."

Harry reached for his friend's hand in an effort to get Padma to look at him. "That is the second time you've taken a curse meant for Hermione, though with this one you deliberately protected her. She can't say thank you at the moment so I'll say it for both of us."

"Am I going to have to get used to visiting my sister here if she hangs about with you Harry?"

Hearing the anger in her sister's voice, Padma cut in before Harry could answer. "That's why I'm getting extra lessons in defence from Professor Weasley - and you should see what Harry did to the girls who attacked us."

Parvati's eyes nearly bulged out at this - her sister was spending her time with the two hottest wizards in Hogwarts. She didn't get a chance to comment further on this though as both Parvati and Neville got an opportunity to see first hand what Harry had done to the attacking girls. The senior staff were leading the girls into the infirmary, it was hard to miss that every single one of them shied away from Harry.

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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