THE FORBIDDEN FOREST
“Harry!” Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. “I
was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was
going to catch you, he said you had a drag —”
Harry shook his head violently to shut Neville up, but Professor
McGonagall had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than
Norbert as she towered over the three of them.
“I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you
were up in the Astronomy Tower. It’s one o’clock in the morning.
Explain yourselves.”
It was the first time Hermione had ever failed to answer a
teacher’s question. She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue.
“I think I’ve got a good idea of what’s been going on,” said Pro-
fessor McGonagall. “It doesn’t take a genius to work it out. You fed
Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to
get him out of bed and into trouble. I’ve already caught him. I sup-
pose you think it’s funny that Longbottom here heard the story and
believed it, too?”
Harry caught Neville’s eye and tried to tell him without words
that this wasn’t true, because Neville was looking stunned and hurt.
Poor, blundering Neville — Harry knew what it must have cost
him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.
“I’m disgusted,” said Professor McGonagall. “Four students out
of bed in one night! I’ve never heard of such a thing before! You,
Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Pot-
ter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of
you will receive detentions — yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom,
nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, espe-
cially these days, it’s very dangerous — and fifty points will be
taken from Gryffindor.”
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