Chapter 85 - Harry my boy

He removed the dome surrounding them and made to stand up, and almost lost his footing in the process because of the sudden feeling of lightheadedness. Signs of magical exhaustion, he realized with some anger toward himself.

It was a disgrace for him to use up all of his magic for something as trivial as thing.

Apparently the girls didn't think so as two missiles suddenly raced toward him and enveloped him in a tight hug.

He stood still for a moment at the sudden onslaught before he eased into the hug and hugged them back as well.

Hugs were warm.

Hugs were good.

He liked hugs.

But before he could enjoy the moment any longer, Selena slithered out from under his sleeves and hissed "Harry. People are coming."

Harry frowned at that bit of information and turned his head toward the castle and indeed, a bunch of students and staff members could be seen descending the stairs and coming toward the hut.

He let out a sigh and broke the hug.

Hermione looked at him questioningly and he pointed her in that direction and she gave an understanding nod.

"Penelope." He said, brining the older girl's attention back to himself. "Use the invisibility cloak and hide the dragon."

"Why?" Penelope asked in confusion and he gave her a deadpanned stare in return.

"Because dragons are XXXXX level creatures. Said to be one of the most dangerous creatures on earth." Hermione explained in his stead "And because it's highly illegal to keep a dragon in… your house and the offense is punishable by a long stay in Azkaban."

"Oh no." Penelope said fearfully and ran with the Invisibility cloak in order to hide the dragon.

Thankfully, she was able to able to hide the dragon before the worried teachers and the curious students arrived.

"Keep it with behind you at all times." He whispered to the older girl who gave a nod and followed his orders quietly as the mob descended upon them.

—————

"Hagrid, my word. What happened here?" the old woman asked as she led the staff members and the curious students into the clearing in front of the hut which had turned white because of the ash that came out of the burned hut.

Hagrid, who was now holding tightly onto his dog sobbed a bit and wiped his tears before he opened his mouth to say something. Only to be cut off by Hermione who thought that the gentle half giant would definitely blurt out the truth in his emotional state. Something that would earn him a one way trip to Azkaban.

"It was an accident Professor. Hagrid here baking some of his rock cakes and had gone outside for a while in order to feed some of the creatures when the fire went a little out of hand and… burned his hut." She said and then gave the half giant a pleading look to make sure that he wouldn't dig up his own grave after she went out of her way in trying to save his hide.

"And what manner of creature did he went to feed?" the silky voice came from behind the other staff members as Snape made his presence known to all present in the scene, trying to poke holes in Hermione's lies.

Hermione looked like a kid caught with her hands inside a cookie jar and looked around frantically, trying to come up with an answer.

He sighed in his mind. This girl really had no cunning bones in her body.

"Thestrals." He answered in a disinterested tone "He went to feed the thestral herd down by the forbidden forest." He said before he turned and gave a glare to the half giant which clearly said that 'I'm helping you now as well you miserable shit. So if you fuċk this up then I'll eat your dog.'

The half giant seemed to have caught his meaning cause he frantically nodded his head in return.

"And how… do you know about Thestrals Mr Potter." Snape asked in his silky smooth voice that almost made him roll his eyes. Couldn't the man simply talk like a normal person for once or did he always had to sound so dramatic.

"Frankly that none of your business… Mr Snape." He drawled "But since you've asked. I've seen my mother being murdered in front of my eyes as a young boy. Or perhaps you hated my mother so much that you didn't even counted her as a person."

He knew that this was a low blow but it did had the intended effect of shutting him up at once.

"Enough." Minerva said firmly. "We're not here to interrogate these children Severus. Now. If you all follow me to the Headmaster's office. I believe you all have a few questions to answer." She said and turned to leave and he wondered if she really said what he just thought she said.

Did she really ordered him to do something.

Did she thought that she could tell him to do something, tell him to go wherever she wanted him to go and he would obey like a good little dog.

Ohh… she was a delusional woman if she thought that he would follow her anywhere. And he must remove such delusions from her mind at once because if he didn't then who knows, tomorrow some other professor would come along and ask him to do their bidding as well.

Well, maybe not. And maybe he was just being overly dramatic with all of his bu the didn't do well with orders and he sure wasn't going to follow the order of a woman he didn't respect.

So…

"I don't think I will Mrs Mcgonagall." He said, deliberately leaving out the Professor from her name to indicate that the Headmaster might have kept him in the school, but he never considered himself a part of this institution.

Everyone froze at his words and turned around to face him.

"I don't think that was a request Mr Potter." Minerva said and gave him her best stern glare. As if something like that would work on him.

"Oh but it is. You're kindly requesting me to come to the headmaster's office and I'm declining. In fact, I don't think Hermione and Penelope would be going along with you either. We've better things to do than to waste our time talking with the old coot."

And that was when things went to shit.

As Hermione hit him in the head and chastised him for talking bad about the headmaster.

And the students standing behind the staff members chuckled at the sight of his getting humiliated.

Any other time… any other time, Hermione could have hit him in the head and chastised him for his language and he would have ignored it or laughed along with her.

Any other time.

But doing so now.

It felt like a betrayal.

He was trying to take a stance in front of these people. Telling them clearly that Hermione and Penelope would follow him in whatever he did.

And then Hermione had hit him and told chastised him in front of them.

Humiliated him in front of them.

Made him a laughing stock in their eyes.

And he could not forgive such a thing.

The air blowing around them stilled at once and the leaves flowing down in the wind simply stopped and fell down on the ground. Lifeless. As everything around them suddenly went cold. Very cold.

The students who had not realized that gravity of the situation stopped laughing as their breath suddenly became visible to them and they clutched their arms instinctly in order to keeping themselves warm in the freezing temperature.

And as they stopped laughing, everything went absolute silent and he stood still for a while, gazing at the people who had just laughed at him before he slowly turned to face the girl had just humiliated him in front of these people.

"Harry." Penelope said cautious from the side but a cold look from him shut her up at once.

"Harry." Hermione said as she looked at him pleadingly.

She had betrayed him before. On two different occasions. And he had forgiven her on both different occasions.

But he had not forgotten.

Was there a reason to keep a person beside you if that same person would betray you in your most important moment.

Was there?

He didn't think there was.

It seemed like he was never going to have a good and meaningful relationship with anyone in the first place.

He had been stupid to think that there was a chance that such a thing would happen.

To be stabbed in the back like this was.

Painful.

And it made him angry. So angry.

He took a step toward the girl whom he should have never ȧssociated with.

The girl who he had so desperately wanted as a friend. The girl who had betrayed and humiliated him when he needed her the most.

The girl whom he thought he could build something with in the future.

He had been naive. So very naive and at that moment, he wondered if Voldemort's mantra of never making friends, of never feel affection for someone else was the right thing to do after all.

Because this pain he was feeling in his ċhėst. This rage that was burning in his mind surely indicated that he was doing something wrong.

Right?

He raised his hand to grab her throat.

To punish her for her betrayal.

For his humiliation.

For this pain.

But the hand never reached her as another fell upon his shoulder, freezing him in his place and the the cold temperature was gone. Just like that. As if it was never there in the first place. And as he frowned at the sudden change in temperature, he heard a gentle voice coming from behind him.

"Harry, my boy…"