Chapter 86 - Suspicion

His gaze was cold. Colder than anything Flitwick had ever seen before and that was the first indication that something was wrong here.

The boy stood there, all alone and glanced at everyone and everything as if he was looking at something that was beneath his notice.

The headmaster sat on his desk and gave his grandfatherly smile but for once, that smile was not enough to remove the oppressive feeling from the room.

All the other staff members were present as well. For what, he didn't know.

He just knew that Hagrid hut's had burned down for some reason and Harry, along with the two girls who were now wearing incredibly downcast expression were found in that place.

He had heard some of the students say that it was Harry himself who had burned down Hagrid's hut he didn't believe those rumors for one second.

Harry would never do such a thing.

But because Harry would consider it beneath himself to burn down Hagrid's hut.

The boy was a proud person and would never do something that would require him to stoop so low.

No. The boy had not burned Hagrid's hut and he was sure of it.

Now if only everyone else would have the same amount of trust in the boy as he did. But alas, such was not the case.

Minerva and Severus were looking at the boy suspiciously. And so were most of the other staff members.

Dear Pomona simply looked confused and out of place in this gathering. She had probably came to the Headmaster's office because every other staff member had come here as well. But unlike him, she didn't even knew what was going on.

Ah… the kind and gentle woman shouldn't have come here.

His instincts as a International Duelist were telling him that something was about to go horribly wrong and he'd rather keep the kind woman away in case something did go wrong.

With those thought, he slowly started moving toward the plump woman and because of his small height, no one really noticed his movement.

And that when it all started. As the boy he had taught for the last few months opened his mouth to speak.

"You're wary of me." Harry said, his cold dead voice reverberating in the office and Flitwick wondered if the temperature in the room just dropped of if he was just his imagination.

"You think I burned down his hut." The boy said with disgust and Flitwick jumped inwardly in his mind for the confirmation that Harry had not burned down Hagrid's hut. Because his student's words was all he needed.

He believed in him.

Sadly, the rest of the staff members didn't share his trust in his student.

"Then pray tell Mr Potter. How did Hagrid's hut burned down. And why were you three there in the scene when that happened?" Snape asked.

Hagrid, who had been coddling his dog till this point stood up, trying to say something but a look from Minerva and Snape made it clear that it was not his place to talk right now.

Flitwick wondered what it was that Hagrid wanted to tell them.

Then he gazed back at Harry whose cold eyes roamed over Snape for a moment before he turned to look at the two girls standing a few steps behind him with their head hung low and a multitude of emotions passed through his face for a fraction of a moment before he reined in his expression and donned on his cold facade once again.

The boy was in pain. A lot of it. And the pain made him angry.

Why was that? What had cause the boy so much pain?

Flitwick gazed at the two girls, the little one specifically who was looking so ashamed that she couldn't even raise her head to meet the boy's eyes. And he wondered what had the girl done to cause so much pain to the boy.

Wasn't she supposed to be one of his best friends.

Then the boy turned to face Snape once again and after a long silence, he said "That's none of your business Mr Snape."

"But it is our business Mr Potter." Minerva said in a firm manner "A staff member living inside Hogwarts had his house burned down. You can't expect us to not do anything about it. So please tell us what happened."

The boy looked at her coldly for a moment before he gave a shrug and didn't say anymore.

Flitwick wondered if he should interject. The way these people were questioning him seemed like they were trying to accuse him of something and he didn't that. He didn't like that at all.

But before he could say something, the headmaster stood up from his seat and gave a benevolent smile to the boy "Harry. If you have something to tell us, then please feel free to do so."

A cold laughter that sent chills down his spine.

"Ohhhh you're good. You're so good at acting. So good at maintaining your grandfatherly facade that never let it show how much you actually fear me."

What?

What was Harry talking about?

Why would Dumbledore fear him? Sure he was a prodigy but surely Dumbledore wouldn't fear him simply because of that.

But the slight fall in Dumbledore's expression said otherwise.

There was story here that Flitwick didn't know. What didn't he know.

"I know you're afraid of me Dumbledore." He boy said with a chuckle.

"You've always been afraid of me."

"Afraid that I'll become the next Voldemort."

Flitwick felt his blood freezing at the name of the terrible man whose actions still brought him nightmares to this very day.

"After all, we both shared a very similar history." The boy said.

"He was brought up in a muggle orphanage. Bullied and abused by his fellow peers."

"And I was brought up in an abusive home. Abused and beaten by my own relatives."

The staff members suċkėd in a breath at that bit of information.

Both the fact that Voldemort was once a child. A child who was bullied and abused by other muggles. And the fact that Harry lived in an abusive home.

Flitwick knew a little bit about Harry's living problems thanks to Minerva who had let slip a few things in her drunken state. But that didn't stop him from glaring at the headmaster who suddenly looked far older than he did a few moments ago.

"A home" Harry continued "Where my uncle beat me with a belt and my aunt hit me with a frying pan just because the food I cooked for them wasn't good enough."

Flitwick heard a sobbing sound and saw that Hermione had openly started to cry at this point. The poor girl. Did she knew about this?

"But you should know Dumbledore. That you are not wrong."

"I'm indeed a lot like Voldemort."

That sentence brought in a lot of sharp intakes from the staff members and Flitwick noticed how Dumbledore's eyes changed from tired to sharp in an instant.

Had the old man been faking his tiredness.

Flitwick was in too much shock himself to think about others at this moment but he saved that memory to be reviewed in the future.

For now, he wanted to listen to what his pupil had to say.

"I do not like this magical world Dumbledore." Harry said coldly but Flitwick could see that the boy was feeling a bit tired at this point.

This whole confession and being stared at by everyone was taking a toll on him.

"It is too stagnant. Has too much corruption in it. To much discrimination. Too much prejudice. Too much stupidity."

"Did you know that I thought make name was 'freak' because that's what relatives called until I became 5 years old and started attending school along with Dudley."

"When I first entered the magical world, I thought that things will finally be different. That I will finally be treated just like everyone else and guess what happens."

"Everyone gathers around me and tries to shake my hand. Staring at my scar like it was the 8th wonder of the world. Asking me if I remember the night Voldemort killed my parents and what not?"

"Do you know that I felt more like a freak put up for a show in a freakhouse during my stay in Hogwarts than I ever did in my school back in the muggle world."

"I do not like this world Dumbledore. And I don't like the people in this world either." The boy gave a short glance at Flitwick and added "Most People."

And Flitwick had to stop the sudden urge to cry.

Why had he never asked about his childhood when they were dueling. Why had be never tried to understand him more. Why had Minerva never told him? Why had he never asked her or the Headmaster about his home life in more detail?

"I tried to ask you to leave the magical world Dumbledore. I gave you my resignation letter. So that I could leave this school and join some other school, away from this place where other students would at least treat me like a human. But you rejected it."

"You rejected it because you, Dumbledore, wanted to keep me under your thumb in order to make sure that I won't turn into an evil dark lord."

"Wonder what parents would have said to that if they were alive."

Flitwick felt his eyes become wet at his words and he took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears.

At the same time, he tried to think of a way to help Harry from now on. The boy may have been a genius but he was also an abused child. A child who needed all the help he could get. Especially when people like Dumbledore and Snape would rather throw him inside a prison cell in order to make sure that he won't turn into a dark lord.

"I know I'm not a good person." The boy admitted.

"I know that. In fact, I consider myself a rather bad person because not doing so would make me a hypocrite."

"But I'm not the evil monster that you think I am either."

"Why would I burn Hagrid's hut? What do I have to gain by doing such a thing?" the boy asked and went silent.

And for a long moment, no one in the room said anything.

Until one of them did.

"Then why do you not tell everyone what happened?" Madam Pince asked "Why would you hide that bit of knowledge if you have not done something wrong."

And just like that, the tiredness and sadness along with any other emotion that might have been prevalent on his face vanished. Replaced by the hard cold expression he had donned when he first entered the office.

"You want to know why I didn't tell you how Hagrid's hut caught fire?" he asked coldly and Madam Pince cautiously took a step back, only now realizing that she should perhaps not opened her mouth in the first place.

The boy took a step toward her and asked "You want to know? Do you?"

"Harry." Penelope's pleading voice rang in the silent room but Harry paid no attention to it as he turned around to face the staff members.

"You all want to know. Don't you? Why I'm hiding the answer to how Hagrid's hut burned down? Don't you?"

"Then I'll tell you."

And with the wave of a wand, the sound of something falling to the ground reached their ears and Flitwick realized that there was now something invisible lying in front of them.

And what that 'something' was, was made abundantly clear as with another wave of his wand, Harry removed an invisibility cloak and everyone in the room gasped at the sight in front of them.

A dragon.

A young dragon.

What was it even doing here?

"You wanted to know what caused the fire Dumbledore. Here's your reason." The boy said as he pointed his wand at the young dragon that currently tied with Acromentula silk.

"It seems like Hagrid here had planned on raising a dragon by himself." The boy said as his gaze shifted to Snape "I did not wanted to tell you people because if the news about this got out then Hagrid would have earned a one way ticket to Azkaban."

The whole room was silent as a grave at the revelation as the boy continued.

"I went Hagrid's hut because I saw the smoke rising to the sky from a distance. I went there and doused the flames. I saved the dragon. I saved and then healed his dog. I protected his secret so that he won't have to go to Azkaban. And you people stand there and accuse me of torching his hut."

"This is reward I get for all the good that I've done?" the boy whispered but everyone clearly heard him and a long silence once again ensued in the room.

"Harry my…" Dumbledore started but was interrupted as Harry raised his hand.

"Enough." He said "Enough Dumbledore. I'm not in the mood to hear any more of your lies and deceits today. I'm done here."

Then the boy turned around and gave a painful glance to the Ravenclaw Prefect who gave him a nod in return and left the room.

And the rest of them were left standing in silence, still reeling from the scolding they just received from the boy and wondering what they should do next.