Harry Potter gets smart and takes control - The Goblet

Chapter 55 Life Goes On...

NOTES:

In my pagan community, a crone is a elder, older, wiser more knowledgable. A crone is considered to be at the hight of their power, though images can be deceiving (think triple goddess, maiden mother crone). In todays society we often forget about the power and the value of our crones, our elders. Far too often we dismiss them, thinking them frail and weak in their old age. They're not. Their body's may be, but their minds often hold years of life, wisdom and knowledge. Crones are a highly respected and is a valuable achievement.

Harry and Hermione ate lunch silently and Harry set about reading the Hogwarts Charter. He felt numb after reading his mother's diary. He wanted to curl up and sleep forever. But he knew he needed to find out why his mother had been so worried at the idea of Sev being un-housed. Surely it couldn't be that bad? Surely it was just being outside the house system.

Reading the Charter wouldn't give him all answers he wanted, but it was something he could do. Something productive that he could find an answer for.

Unfortunately, it could be that bad.

As it turned out, it was not just being houseless and on your own out side of the house system. It was the ultimate punishment and black mark against your name given only to those who had utterly betrayed and dishonoured their houses.

It was not necessarily an expulsion worthy offence or for those who had broke the school rules. It was for those who had gone against or betrayed everything their house stood for.

It was from an older time when honour kills, and family assassination was more common. When honour was a different game from what it was today.

It had fallen out of use but had never been abolished. It was for the worst of the worst. It was for when a person had broken the ideals of their house and had dishonoured it.

Un-housing was a process. It did not need staff input. But it did need majority support within the house. The person then had precisely 21 days to fix their behaviour, prove themselves sorry and that they were worthy of being reinstated into their place in the house.

If at the end of the 21 days the person had not been taken back into the house, then the un-housing it was almost impossible to reverse.

The magic within the school would pick up on the house's decision. It would automatically be reflected in the robes of the person, removing all house colours from the student's robe belt, and changing the house crest's back to that of the school.

Harry's heart sank. That must have been what Professors Flitwick and Snape had been staring at before he had left school.

He kept reading. Un-housing meant no privileges; no quidditch, no clubs, no time outside, no Hogsmeade or anything else. The student would be assigned quarters with house-elf supervision at all times. They were to eat only in the kitchen, and they were to stay in their room at all times when not in class or in the library. Instead of points (as they no longer had a house) the student earns detentions for each set of points lost.

Harry looked up in horror. He had no idea it was that bad, he thought it just meant you were alone. He didn't realise about all the detentions too. His heart sank at the idea of all the points he'd lose for escaping over break. He'll be in detention for months! Even if he hadn't broken any rules, he knew they would try and punish him for not being the good little pawn.

But it wasn't just that, it had a social stigma too. No master would take on an apprentice who had been found that dishonourable, and nor would employers.