Lucius had just gotten home when Dobby popped in front of him.
"Mistress is at Hogwarts with little master Harry and he's hurt!" He ran to the floo and yelled "Severus Snape's office." He moved quickly and before he knew it, he was already on the top floor. He turned the corner and something ran into him. He automatically caught whoever it was and was surprised to see a Weasley. The boy was a mess.
"Mr. Malfoy! I've been trying to get into the Headmaster's office but I don't know the password! Harry is innocent!" The boy rambled.
"Calm down child. You should go to the hospital wing." Lucius wasn't a healer or else he would've already helped him.
"No! Harry's going to get in trouble but it wasn't his fault!" Weasley said.
"Alright. Let's go." He said the password and helped the boy up the stairs. Every member of the school board was given the password to Dumbledore's office. It was something he had helped pass just to annoy the old man. As he threw the door open, he saw that Minerva and Severus were inches from each other. Cissy was kneeling next to Harry and rubbing his back.
"Harry is innocent!"
"Ron, what are you doing here? I thought you went to the hospital wing!" His sweet second son said. He got out of his chair and guided Weasley into it. The other boy dropped into it with a grunt.
"Well I figured they wouldn't listen to you so I decided to be a witness! Thankfully Mr. Malfoy came by or else I wouldn't have been able to get in" he finished sheepishly.
"Mr. Weasley, what happened to you?" Minerva cried out. She gave it a swish and flick and his eye lightened until it was a yellow color and his leg seemed to relax.
"I helped Harry fight McLaggen and Carmichael! They're a bunch of bullies and Mum said I should always stand up to bullies!"
"Oh so you fought as well Mr. Weasley? I suppose you want him to be suspended too, Minerva?" Severus had a mocking edge in his voice. She looked like she sucked on a lemon as she said "I suppose we should hear the whole story." He gave a snort. What a Gryffindor. Guilty until proven innocent applied to everyone but their own.
"It's okay, Ron! I shouldn't have fought but I couldn't stand them insulting Draco!" Harry was saying, his hands curling into fists.
"Mr. Potter, why did you use physical violence?" Dumbledore asked.
"I was so upset I couldn't remember any spells." Harry answered.
"They pushed Harry first!" Ron jumped in. "We both warned them to leave him alone but they wouldn't listen!" Lucius looked closer at Harry's hands and noticed they were scratched. Probably from trying to catch himself on the unforgiving stone floor. He tried to keep a level head but Harry had gotten hurt!
"And what happened next?"
"They were insulting my parents and then they insulted Draco." Harry had a scowl on his face. Dumbledore leaned forward and said "so you were defending your parents?" Harry stared at him before saying "Sir, I never knew my parents. Why would I defend complete strangers? I was defending my fiancé! They were calling him a Death Eater and threatened him!" Ron was nodding along, agreeing to everything Harry said.
"I see. And you felt the need to hurt those boys? I suppose it being the day before your parents' passing didn't help matters." Harry and Ron looked at each other before looking back at the Headmaster. Harry looked confused. He repeated what he said but spoke louder, his voice echoing through the room. As if the Headmaster hadn't heard him. Severus let out a laugh that he tried to disguise as a cough.
"Since this is your first offense, I will assign 2 weeks of detention and 30 points will be taken from Hufflepuff." The other Professors were nodding but then Ron spoke up.
"What are me, Sir? I should get the same punishment since I fought as well." Minerva cleared her throat and said "well you were just defending a friend, Mr. Weasley. I think 10 points from Gryffindor should suffice." The Headmaster agreed but the first year Gryffindor still didn't look happy.
"What about the other boys? Shouldn't they be reprimanded as well?" Harry questioned. The room went silent.
"My dear boy, I think the punishment you doled out was enough, yes?" Lucius watched Harry scowl at Dumbledore before saying "so you're not going to do anything?" For the third time that night the door swung open. His son and Lupin barged in.
"Harry! What's going on?" Lucius felt a headache coming on as his son began to fret over Harry.
~~~~~~
Draco had been looking for Harry when he ran into Professor Lupin. He actually liked the scruffy looking Professor. Perhaps for Yule, he would buy him a new cloak. Draco considered the state of his clothes and thought maybe a new wardrobe sounded better.
"Mr. Malfoy! Where's your better half?" He joked.
"That's what I'm trying to find out. I also have my Vice-President looking as well." Hermione had gladly accepted her new position.
"I see." The Professor didn't look like he understood at all. His loss.
"I've been worried because tomorrow is the anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Potter's death but Harry doesn't seem too upset." Draco mused out loud. He watched Professor Lupin flinch at his words. Interesting. His Father said that Uncle and Lupin had gone to school together.
"Did you know Harry's parents, Sir?" He watched Professor Lupin stutter over his answer.
"I see. Why haven't you talked to Harry about his parents? Did you know that Harry didn't even know what they looked like until Longbottom showed him pictures of them?" Draco said, his eyes narrowed into slits. He knew Harry wouldn't be bothered about this but Draco was determined to hold everyone who wronged Harry accountable for their actions. Before Lupin could formulate a response, two ginger twins interrupted them.
"Oi Malfoy! What are you doing here?" One said.
"Yeah, isn't your wife in the Headmaster's office?"
"He's what?"
"Yeah, it seems Harry and Ron got in a fight with some older boys." The twins spoke just like Greg and Vince so Draco easily followed along.
"Harry got in a fight?" Before they could answer, he was sprinting down the corridor. His betrothed was in the Headmaster's office and no one had contacted him right away? He had a right to represent Harry as his bonded! As he launched the door open, he realized Lupin had been following behind him. His parents and all of the Head's were spread out around the Headmaster's office. He went straight to Harry and hugged him.
"Harry, what happened?" Draco said.
"Ron and I got into a fight with some older students and the Headmaster won't punish them." Draco had never seen Harry so angry before. He actually had never seen Harry angry, period.
"As I told you before Mr. Potter, even though you were defending Mr. Malfoy, you still put two boys in the hospital wing." Harry stared at Dumbledore before saying "fine." Harry was defending him? Like a knight in shining armor!
"You were defending me?" Draco repeated out loud.
"Course I was. I would never let anyone insult you." Harry said. "Ron helped too!"
"Well I couldn't let Harry take a beating." The Weasley boy said as he kicked his sneaker against the chair.
"They were saying you were the next Dark Lord!" Harry seemed very offended on his behalf. How sweet! Harry took his face between his hands and said very earnestly "even if you were a Dark Lord, it wouldn't bother me one bit!" So cute!
Draco replied with "how could I be Dark when you shine so brightly?" They were rudely interrupted again. Could they never have a moment to themselves?
"Severus! What in Merlin's pants are you doing?" His Father yelled out.
"Hearing that disgusting speech, I felt it was better to throw myself out a window than have to listen to any more of it," his Uncle said with one foot dangling freely in the air.
"You're just jealous of us!" Draco shot back. His Uncle put both feet on the ground and said "Jealous? Of what? You two holding hands?"
"At least I have someone to hold hands with!"
"Oh yeah? Well-"
"Mr. Malfoy," Harry whispered. "They're doing it again."
~~~~~~
By the next morning, the whole school had heard about the Incident. The Hufflepuff House had rallied around him and kept the more curious students at bay. Hermione thought it was ridiculous. Harry had stood up to those bullies and he got punished? She had always had the utmost faith in authority and this had shaken the very grounds of her belief. Ronald Weasley had admitted in front of the Headmaster that he had done the same thing Harry had but all he got was points taken away. How could she look up to these Professors when they had given different punishments for the same crime? Well she would not ignore it. She had started writing an essay about blatant favoritism and how it negatively affected students. She was going to get her fellow students to sign it and submit it to the school board.
"Er Hermione? You've been stabbing that sausage for five minutes now." Neville said. She looked up and saw that she had managed to mangle her breakfast. Pushing it away, she looked at Ron and Neville before saying "do you think Harry's going to be okay? It's the anniversary of you know what."
"To be honest Herm, I'm not sure Harry's even noticed." Ron had gotten into the awful habit of shorting her name to Herm. It made her sound like an old man! She tried to hold back her irritation or else her hair would start frizzing up.
"Don't call me that!" She said, "and what do you mean?"
"Well I kind of get the impression that Harry doesn't really think about his parents too much." Ron answered, his voice hushed.
"Oh." She had never thought that Harry wouldn't be upset about his parents death anniversary.
"Well I guess he didn't really know them?" She questioned. Both boys shrugged before going back to their breakfast.
"Hiya Herm, whatcha writing?" The Twins plopped down on either side of her. They had picked up that awful nickname from Ron. Twin One grabbed her sausage off her plate and started eating it while Twin Two stole her parchment and started reading her essay.
"Give both of those back!" She snapped.
"This is pretty good, Herm!" Twin Two said.
"You're gonna have people sign it?" Twin One continued.
"Yes, I think it will help support my paper if my fellow peers agree with me," she replied.
"Smart. But you're the smartest gal in Gryffindor!" Twin One said while Twin Two patted her head like a dog. She swatted them both away and stood up.
"I'm going to the library!"