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Filch dragged the group toward Professor McGonagall's lounge on the 1st floor, only to unexpectedly run into Sagres, who had just left the Hogwarts Library, on the way.
"Professor!" Filch was startled. He bowed and respectfully called out.
"Good evening, Filch." Sagres glanced around and quickly understood what had happened.
"Good evening, Professor. I caught a few young wizards out after hours and was about to take them to Professor McGonagall…"
Sagres nodded without speaking, and also did not move out of the way. Filch's expression slowly became a bit awkward.
"Professor… you can deal with these young wizards. I'll pretend I never caught them..." Filch said with difficulty, believing that this professor—who had often been out after hours during his student days—wanted to give Harry and the others special treatment.
"You've misunderstood, Filch." Sagres stopped the other party from continuing, simultaneously extinguishing the glimmer of hope that had just ignited in the three young wizards.
"This is what you should do. Taking them to Professor McGonagall is the correct decision."
After speaking, he ignored Filch's surprised expression, walked in front of the trio, and after a moment of silence, spoke again: "Harry, it seems you haven't taken my words to heart."
He was referring to the reminder he had given Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised, and the other party clearly understood his meaning, lowering his head in disappointment and embarrassment.
"..I'm sorry, Professor."
"You don't need to apologize to me." Sagres shook his head, interrupting. He looked at the trio's pitiful appearance, his tone devoid of any pity.
"I only hope you have sufficient reasons for violating school rules, rather than merely for some boring pranks..." He pointedly looked at their slightly brightened eyes, then added, "And I also hope that you were forced into your current predicament because there was truly no other way, and not because of your own foolishness, arrogance, and complacency..."
The trio became even more ashamed.
After Sagres finished speaking, he moved aside, turned, and nodded to Filch. The latter, flattered, bowed in acknowledgement, then led the trio to continue on to Professor McGonagall's lounge.
They reached Professor McGonagall's study on the 1st floor. The few of them stood there, not saying a word.
Excuses, pretexts, and pretty little lies swirled in their minds, but none were useful. This time, they truly didn't know how to get out of their predicament.
Their hearts were filled with regret, and they also felt that what Professor Greengrass had just said was absolutely right—they had been too complacent. How could they be so muddled as to forget the Invisibility Cloak on the roof!
Most importantly, Professor McGonagall had even reprimanded Malfoy for them, which was tantamount to implicitly vouching for them. She must be extremely angry now.
They even wanted to tell her about Norbert, but on second thought, they dismissed the idea.
"Mr. Filch says you climbed to the top of the Astronomy Tower in the early hours. Honestly, I'm very reluctant to believe this fact, so can anyone step forward and explain?" Professor McGonagall asked them coldly.
This was probably the first time Hermione couldn't answer a Professor's question.
The trio hung their heads, staring at Professor McGonagall's slippers, their mouths opening and closing, but in the end, they said nothing.
"No one's speaking? Then I will…"
Professor McGonagall's expression was stern and angry. "It doesn't take profound wisdom to figure out the truth. You fabricated a story about a dragon out of thin air, intending only to trick Draco Malfoy out of bed and seize the opportunity to play a prank on him and make him look foolish—and you actually succeeded. Do you find this very amusing?"
The trio still said nothing.
"I simply can't believe it…" Professor McGonagall said gravely. "Playing pranks on classmates, violating school rules, and wandering around the castle in the middle of the night! I've absolutely never heard of such things before!"
She had definitely heard of things like this, but she needed to discourage the first-years from this kind of behavior as their teacher.
"You, Miss Granger, I thought you were very sensible. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought you understood how to consider the House. And you, Mr. Weasley, your brothers have never done such things; they have always prided themselves on following the rules."
Ron couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly upon hearing this: That's only because you haven't caught George and Fred!
"All three of you will be given detention, and Gryffindor will lose fifty points because of this!"
"Fifty?" Harry gasped—would they not lose their first-place position? These points were hard-won by him in Quidditch matches.
Hermione's eyes widened too. Fifty points—how many questions would she have to answer in class to earn that back?
Ron found it even more unbelievable—after all, Malfoy had only lost twenty points, hadn't he!
"Fifty each," Professor McGonagall added angrily, her long, pointed nose snorting, looking more like a dragon than Norbert.
Hermione pleaded imploringly, "Professor McGonagall, please…"
Harry also urgently called out, "Professor, you can't—"
Ron was also about to speak, but Professor McGonagall roughly interrupted them, roaring unequivocally, "Don't tell me what is to be done and what is not!"
The three young wizards immediately fell silent.
"Now, all of you go back to bed—immediately!"
The trio returned to their dormitory like zombies, utterly dejected and not saying a word.
Losing 150 points at once, the trio were practically sleepless all night. They lay in their respective beds, never having dreaded the arrival of dawn so much.
Sure enough, when the Gryffindor students heard the news, they found it incredibly unbelievable.
Potter became even more famous, but this time he became the target of everyone's criticism. No matter where he went, he could hear others' mockery.
Hermione and Ron were in a slightly better situation, because people would always say "Harry and his two sidekicks." Harry clearly drew a lot of fire for them, but it wasn't really much better for them either.
George: "Hey, ickle Ronny-kins—"
Fred: "—Heard you guys lost 150 points for Gryffindor?"
The twins approached with smiles on their faces. Since last night, they were the only two who had actively spoken to the trio.
"Haven't you two been losing points ever since you started school?" Ron retorted angrily.
"That's right—"
"—But we've never lost 150 points—"
"—at once!"
"Not even half."
"Maybe combined?"
"Not even combined!"
"—Not in a single month is what he means!"
"Right, he is!"
The twins exchanged words, then walked away with their arms around each other's shoulders.
"They're right, we were so stupid to make such a mistake…" Hermione said sadly.
"Professor Greengrass could have let us off the hook, but he didn't, right?"
"Ron, you can't expect a Professor to cover for you…"
"Of course, I was just saying." Ron also understood that this matter had nothing to do with Sagres.
"Actually, Professor Greengrass is already very different from other Professors…" Harry whispered.
"By the way, Harry, what did he mean by what he said to you last night?" Ron recalled the first thing Sagres had said to Harry. "That you didn't take his words to heart—did he say anything to you?"
"Before, when we stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas..." Harry said, "He knew every time we were out after hours—and that mirror."
"Was that when you lost forty points?" Ron asked in surprise.
"That's right. Professor Greengrass said he actually doesn't like Hogwarts's school rules either. He only deducted points to tell me we were being too careless," Harry said dejectedly. "He warned me then—he said there's only one real rule at Hogwarts, and that's never to be caught red-handed when breaking the rules, but..."
"But we were caught red-handed last night..." Hermione couldn't help but interject, "But Professor Greengrass is indeed very different. He..."
The little witch couldn't find the words to describe it for a moment and finally gave up.
"Do you think he knew everything we did last night from beginning to end?" Ron suddenly asked in horror.
"I think so—" Hermione nodded firmly. "Don't forget what he said—we were caught precisely because of our own foolishness, arrogance, and complacency..."
"So we can't blame anyone!" Harry also nodded.