Chapter Text
The crowds around the boys cheered, and the fight stalled as the six boys attempted to figure out what happened. Ron saw Harry standing on the ground of the Quidditch pitch, snitch in hand. Ron let go of Draco to begin cheering. Draco, Vince, and Greg took the distraction to dip away before a second attack was taken on them. Neville stood wobbly on his feet. Blaise suffered a few bruises himself; Ron wiped some blood off his lip but otherwise remained unscathed. If he gained something from growing up as the youngest of five brothers, it was his ability to fight.
Hermione came running up to them and skidded to a stop at the sight of them.
“What happened to you three?” She asked with a mix of concern and disapproval.
“We beat up Draco, Vince, and Greg!” Neville proudly exclaimed, even as he stumbled because of his injuries.
“You look horrible, Neville. You should really go to the Hospital Wing to get looked at,” Hermione determined. She then turned to Ron and Blaise. Ron stared blankly, not knowing what she wanted.
“I’ll take him there,” Blaise finally said after a moment’s silence. Hermione grinned.
“Good,” then she turned to Neville, “Neville, we’ll come visit after we find Harry.” Blaise put one arm around Neville to aid him in the walk back to the Hospital Wing. The two boys nodded and began their walk back. Hermione studied Ron. “Are you okay? Do you need to go too?” Ron swiftly shook his head.
“No, I’m fine. I gave Draco a whipping,” Ron bragged. Hermione scoffed and turned back towards the pitch. She began making her way down without another word.
“How did the fight even start?” Hermione asked, squinting out to find Harry’s shape.
“He was just being a git. Neville beat me to the first punch. He probably wouldn’t look so bad, but both Vince and Greg went for him at once. Neville got in some good hits though. All three of them went running off the second Harry caught the snitch.” Ron rambled, prideful of his win for his friends. He only briefly glanced around for his friend.
“Did you see Harry’s catch? It was amazing?” Ron blushed at the question. “You didn’t see?”
“Harry will understand!” Ron defended himself. He didn’t get a chance to see if Harry cared, because when they finally found Harry on their walk back to the castle, Harry had his own information to provide. He insisted on meeting with the other two boys first.
“Where are they anyways?” Harry asked, looking around the school grounds as though they must be near.
“They had to go to the Hospital Wing, because Neville got hurt from fighting Crabbe and Goyle,” Hermione said before Ron could bring his own skew on the story. He gave her a disapproving look, to which she replied in kind. Harry’s eyes, meanwhile, went wide.
“What? Neville fought those big goons?” Harry asked, as Hermione was already starting to walk back towards the castle.
“Yes. He also apparently punched Malfoy,” Hermione jumped in again, as the two boys began following her.
“Draco was saying some stupid stuff, so Neville hit him. Vince and Crabbe then jumped him, and I jumped Draco. Blaise then ran into help Neville. It was brilliant, Harry.” Ron finally butted in before Hermione could tell the tale with her spin on it. Harry demanded all the details, so Ron gave them to him, with a flourish of his own part in it. By the time the three friends made it to the Hospital Wing, Neville and Blaise were just exiting. Harry clapped his friends on the shoulders upon the sight of them.
“Great job beating up those idiots!” Harry said excitedly. Blaise shushed him.
“Quiet down. We told Madam Pomfrey that Neville got fell down the moving staircase and took a bad tumble. I don’t think she believed us in the first place, but she at least gave him the benefit of the doubt.” Blaise ushered them all away from the door and glanced back to assure the healing witch did not appear behind them.
“I do hurt myself a lot. Madam Pomfrey is used to seeing me for silly reasons,” Neville said quietly.
“Well, it is lucky you do, because we would’ve both lost points otherwise,” Blaise assured him. Neville smiled at that, happy to be of use.
“Harry, you had something you were going to tell us,” Hermione encouraged their friend, changing the subject. Harry took the opportunity as they all slowly walked towards the Great Hall for lunch to quietly inform them of the sight he saw with Snape and Quirrell. His four friends gasped and barely held back a million questions as Harry retold what he saw in the Forbidden Forest after the game. Everyone began talking over once another as soon as Harry quieted.
“I knew it! I knew Snape was bad-“ Ron immediately started. The group neared the Great Hall.
“Are you sure he wasn’t just trying to-“ Blaise started, still skeptical of any bad information about his Head of House.
“What are we going to do-“ Neville asked, utterly panicked at this new information.
“We need to talk to Hagrid.” Hermione announced even as the boys attempted to say more over one another. They all looked to her.
“Hermione’s right. Hagrid can help.” Harry seconded, and no one dared refute either one of them. So they entered the Great Hall, looking to the head table for Hagrid. A large empty spot sat where the half-giant normally filled in space.
“Where is he?” Neville squeaked.
“He must be skipping lunch. Everyone who works at Hogwarts sometimes eat in their own rooms. Hagrid’s probably eating lunch in his hut.” Hermione stated, clearly abhorred at having to state the obvious to Neville. Neville blushed, and Hermione immediately gave him an apologetic look.
“Well, let’s go!” Ron turned to go back out.
“Now that we are here, we might as well eat. It will look strange if we all come storming in, only to rush immediately out. We don’t want anyone suspicious of us,” Blaise stopped his friend. Partially to try to have time to make his own argument up about why the man who was always so kind to his house wasn’t guilty of the alleged crimes. The other part of it, Blaise’s stomach lacked the nutrients it needed. Ron glanced at the food on the tables and quickly changed his course.
“We will meet right after lunch,” Ron said, leaving without another word. Hermione assented with Blaise’s decision leaving Harry and Neville with no other option but to agree. For all Blaise’s warning not to cause suspicious, when Ron inhaled his food and Blaise followed in a very un-Blaise-like means, the group arose more suspicious by not leaving right away. The time they spent eating also gave one angry boy time to come up with a plan to repay the group for the bruise now blackening his eye.
Ron and Blaise hurried over to the Gryffindor table, where they impatiently stood waiting for Hermione to eat with some civility. Finally, they all rushed out of the Great Hall, ran across the lawn, and Harry stood knocking on Hagrid’s door before any of them knew it.
Hagrid opened up to stare wide-eyed at the group. He welcomed them in, and as soon as they entered, they nearly started talking at once. As Hagrid tried to assure them Snape was not a bad guy, Blaise quickly agreed with everything Hagrid said.
“Why would he try to get ahold of something he helped protect?” Blaise repeated after Hagrid. Hagrid looked upon the Slytherin with fondness. When they discovered the dragon’s egg, Neville looked ready to sprint as far away from the hut as possible.
Then, it started hatching. What occurred after that seemed to go too fast for any of them to clearly recollect the order later. Neville caught sight of the face outside the window first. The blonde hair disappeared before they could figure it out. Plans were quickly laid for saving Norbert.
On the walk back, the question arose whether Draco might tell anyone of Hagrid.
“It’ll hurt Slytherin house as much as it will hurt Gryffindors; I can’t imagine he’d risk Slytherin losing points,” Blaise tried to reason.
“He’d bloody well not tell. Me and Neville will take care of him, won’t we,” Ron wrapped his arm around Neville, who simply muttered assent.
“This is no laughing matter. You need to send your brother an owl now.” Hermione nagged, and she continued to nag until she watched as the owl fly off with letter in hand. Ron scowled the whole time, but both returned for dinner. Draco, Greg, and Vince sat muttering together.
It felt as though barely any time passed before Ron received a letter back. His brother confirmed the astronomy tower and midnight in the letter. That morning, Ron and Blaise whispered to their friends before setting off on their own to Hagrid’s hut. They failed to notice Draco following them once again. Their Gryffindor friends noticed, however, and tracked after the unwelcome Slytherin. Meanwhile, the two Slytherin boys knocked on Hagrid’s hut and was quickly let in to the sound of breaking furniture. Norbert already grew a sizable amount in just a little bit of time. Ron quickly launched into the plan. Ron used his hands to talk. The dragon eyed the hand and reached out to take a bite. Just then a broomstick smacked his nose. Ron and Hagrid stopped to look at Blaise.
“He was about to bite Ron,” Blaise explained, setting the broom back in its place.
“Oh, bad Norbert!,” Hagrid pulled Norbert back; Norbert attempted to bite Hagrid in the meantime. Ron was about to make a snarky remark back, but then they heard a disruption outside. Ron and Blaise stuck their head out the front door to see Neville and Harry each holding one of Draco’s arms while Hermione poked her wand towards him. Ron stormed out.
“What is going on?” Ron demanded, his own wand out, despite his lack of any spells to really cause any harm.
“Malfoy thought he’d follow you out here,” Harry shouted to him. Ron’s eyes sparked with anger. Draco squirmed almost imperceptibly.
“It’s not against the rules to go out on the Hogwarts lawn. It’s a free world,” Draco snipped back nervously. Nearby, Hagrid’s hut made sounds of crashing. If the group saw inside, they’d see a baby dragon wreaking havoc. Which left the group without supervision, meaning Ron’s latest idea might be played out.
“Hermione, what spells do you know that could teach Draco a lesson,” Ron asked her, still staring down Draco. Hermione’s expression quickly shifted to panic as she quickly looked back and forth the two boys.
“We can’t, Ron! It’s against the rules!” Ron jerked his head to her.
“Do you want him to keep following us around all the time?” He warned her.
“Hermione is right, Ron! Draco’ll tell who did it,” Neville said.
“Blaise,” Ron turned to his friend standing behind him. Blaise wore his usual stoic expression. He slowly looked from Ron to Draco. His hand rose without a word.
“Plumis capitis,” A yellow light flew from his wand to Draco’s hair, where suddenly burst a bunch of color feathers. Neville and Harry let the boy go as he grasped at his head, where feathers shed even as more burst out. Draco scrambled up to the front steps, holding his hair in his hands, cursing them as he tripped up the last step.
“Where did you learn that?” Hermione asked, the only one not laughing. Still, the girl cracked a half smile even as she tried to frown.
“I saw one of my uncles do it to the other one at Christmas after they had a few drinks,” Blaise said through the laughter. “I’m honestly surprised it worked.”
As the group calmed down, they went back to confirm the plans with Hagrid. That night, Harry and Hermione readied to leave. Neville, it was unanimously decided, was to stay behind since they were already skeptical about whether Nobert plus Harry and Hermione would fit beneath the cloak. Blaise and Ron, meanwhile, decided to stay behind to assure Draco didn’t try anything. They hadn’t seen him the rest of the day, but none of them could assure he hadn’t heard their plans.
So when Ron and Blaise arrived in their dormitory and saw Draco’s blonde hair back to normal and in bed already, they felt reassured. However, they chose to stay awake just in case anyways. Their suspicions came to fruition when a little before midnight, a small shape came creeping from the dormitory towards the outer door of the common room. Ron and Blaise both peaked over the backs of the couches they lay on at the sound of footsteps. As Draco made to step out of the doorway, both boys grabbed a hold of him. Draco found himself on his backside, staring up at his two assailants. The next few minutes were a blur as Draco found himself disrobed and left in just his pants tied to one of the columns standing in the common room. His hair once again found itself shedding feathers.
Blaise and Ron slept peacefully that night until loud noises coming from the common room the next morning. They ran out to a group of eyes turning towards them. The common room floated with colorful feathers.
“What is this about?” Gemma yelled from the center of the group. People spread so she stared through an aisle at the two boys. Ron’s eyes and mouth widened. He thought the Slytherin house would find the scene humorous. Blaise knew better; he prepared for this response.
“He tried to get us and our friends into trouble. We could hardly let him get away with it,” Blaise replied nonchalantly.
“This little rivalry has gone on too long,” Gemma growled. She gripped the clothed and newly restored Draco, who stared ruefully at his two enemies. Apparently, someone new the counter spell to Blaise’s spell. “Both of you, with me.” She headed for the hallway, dragging Draco with her. When neither of them moved, she turned back towards them. “Now or it will be a lot worse.” Even Ron could tell she meant it. So, still in their pajamas, the two Slytherin first-years maneuvered the dungeons until they stood in front of Snape’s office. Still holding onto Draco’s arm, who was beginning to look incredibly more nervous every second, she used her free hand to knock on the door. A disgruntled looking Slytherin Head of House answered the door. Professor Snape, as Gemma knew, hated mornings, so this likely meant pain for all three boys.
“Professor Snape, I found Draco here tied up with a headful of feathers this morning. He informed me as I helped put him back to normal that Ron and Blaise left him that way. Ron and Blaise lead me to believe Draco antagonized them first. Whatever the story, this is not the first time they have received warnings about getting along.” Gemma reported dutifully. Professor Snape widened his doorway and regretfully ordered the three boys. He thanked the Prefect and turned to the boys.
“Professor-“ Draco began. Snape quickly put his hand out.
“I do not care what you have to say. I would expect more from you, Mr. Malfoy, seeing your family’s history with the Slytherin house.” Professor Snape started. “But apparently all of you need to have the obvious stated: Slytherin house unity is important.” He paused for emphasis. Ron used the chance to speak up.
“Professor, we didn’t do anything to start this. Draco was the one who kept being a prat.” He said before Snape could stop him.
“Silence.” The professor sternly ordered. The tone left no place for argument. “First off, you should not harm the people who can help you in the future. If you all truly belong in Slytherin as the Sorting Hat believed, and he is never wrong, then you should be very concerned with who can get you further in life. There is no reason to make unnecessary enemies, especially with people who can understand your ambition best. I do not care who started this animosity, but I will be the one to end it. I do not care if you hate each other one the inside; you will respect each other. I do not take fighting within my house. Have I made myself clear?” All three boys nodded. “Use your words.”
“Yes, Sir,” they all chirped, silently expressing thanks that nothing worse than a lecture occurred. These thanks were premature.
“Good. Now, 25 points from each of you.”
“No!”
“Professor!”
“You can’t!”
“I certainly can and will. Let this serve as a reminder of how very serious I am.” Professor Snape opened the door. Ron opened his mouth to protest more, but Blaise hit him. Draco led the way out the door. When Snape closed his door behind them, Draco finally let his feelings be known.
“I hope Hagrid and that bloody dragon were worth 75 points,” Draco turned to look at them, “I will make sure everyone within the Slytherin house knows that you are the reason for this.” Then he stormed off. He wasn’t joking either. By the end of the day, everyone within the house glared at Ron and Blaise. This hardly led to any real action, as the Slytherins followed their Head of House’s words and believed in house unity. House unity hardly meant they had to like their house members; it only meant they had to back them in the end.
When Blaise and Ron met with their Gryffindor friends, they found an even more depressing sight.
***
The previous night, Harry and Hermione’s plans went perfectly until they ascended the steps of the Astronomy tower without the cloak in hand. There they stared straight into the face of Filch. They were immediately marched to their Head of House’s office where they found Neville sitting with his head hung in shame. Professor McGonagall moments before listened somewhat sympathetically to Neville’s story of how he accidentally got locked out of the dormitory.
Which was exactly what happened. Neville stayed up late waiting for his friends to return triumphantly when he thought he heard something outside the Portrait hole. In reality, he fell asleep temporarily and the beginnings of a dream mingled with his half-asleep state. He opened the porthole to assure no one was out there. He couldn’t properly see though, so he stepped outside, glancing down both sides of the hall. As he stared in the dark nervously, the portrait swung closed. When he turned back, he found the Fat Lady missing from her picture. The poor boy panicked, but he eventually calmed himself by reassuring that Harry and Hermione would know what to do when they returned. So he settled down outside the portrait to wait. However, as soon as he sat down, Mrs. Norris appeared, followed soon by Filch. Filch escorted the now crying first-year to Professor McGonagall’s office. Filch didn’t believe the first-years’ predicament. However, his head of house knew his tendency for disaster, so she was prone to believe him. Until, she saw the two other students.
“Three students out of bed?” McGonagall yelled, before any of them could get a word in edgewise. “You can leave now, Mr. Filch, thank you.” She paced before them.
“Professor, we can explain,” Hermione tried to say, but she had no idea what Neville told her already. His face puffed with old tears.
“Miss Granger, I don’t care for any excuses. You all know the rules. Mr. Longbottom, that includes you.” Professor McGonagall snapped.
“But-“ Neville started.
“You’ve said enough. I might have believed you had your friends not appeared on the other side of the castle. I find it very hard to believe considering how close you three are that it is simply a consequence you are out as well. Unacceptable.” Professor McGonagall repositioned her glasses which went askew in her furious gesturing. “I hope this has nothing to do with the report I received that you were spreading rumors that you had a dragon to certain students. Students that also blamed you for jinxes put on them, mind you.”
“Malfoy is a liar!” Harry protested, realizing his slip up as soon as it happened.
“Well, I can hardly accept this type of behavior from my students. I’m disappointed in all of you. Fifty points from each of you.” The three student’s mouths made dark Os.
“Professor, no! That gets rid of all of the points I won at the Quidditch match!” Harry protested.
“You should have thought about that before.”
“Professor, please, this is-“
“That’s enough, Miss Granger. You all will also serve a detention. I hope you think about this next time you think to spread absurd rumors, jinx your fellow students, and go around after hours.” With that she dismissed them. 150 points from Gryffindor.
***
As the word crawled around about who caused the loss of points, the three Gryffindors found themselves shunned by their peers. Exams neared for all the houses, and the three troublemaking Gryffindors received their detention slips. Ron lamented that he too didn’t get to join them in the Forbidden Forest.
“It’s detention, Ron, why would you want a detention?” Hermione asked dubiously. He scoffed.
“We are never allowed to go into the Forbidden Forest. This may be my only chance!” Ron insisted. He considered just going with them anyways, but at the last minute, the words of his four friends stopped him. They were all angry that he wanted this as though it was a treat. So the three trekked down on their own. Harry and Hermione split to one direction with Fang, and Neville went with Hagrid in the other. What they saw and what Harry learned, lead to what was to come. Soon, Harry would overhear Quirrell, and it would nearly lead to his death.