HP: The Dangerous Azkaban Professor

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Filch dragged the group along the corridor toward Professor McGonagall's lounge on the second floor. But before they could get very far, they unexpectedly ran right into Sargeras, who had just stepped out of the Hogwarts library on his way somewhere.

"Professor!" Filch jumped in surprise. He hunched his shoulders and called out with exaggerated respect.

"Good evening, Filch," Sargeras gave them all a quick glance, and it didn't take much for him to piece together what had happened.

"Good evening, Professor. I caught a few little rule-breaking night wanderers and was just about to deliver them to Professor McGonagall…"

Sargeras nodded slightly but said nothing. He also didn't make way for them, leaving Filch's face slowly twisting into an awkward expression.

"Professor… why don't I leave these little troublemakers to you? I'll just pretend I never caught them…" Filch forced the words out with some difficulty. He figured this professor, who had been quite the night prowler himself back in his student days, was probably planning to help Harry and the others sneak out of this mess.

"You've misunderstood, Filch," Sargeras cut him off before he could ramble on any further, and along the way, neatly snuffed out the tiny flicker of hope that had just lit up in the three young wizards' hearts.

"This is your job. Handing them over to Professor McGonagall is exactly the right thing to do."

After saying that, he didn't spare so much as a glance at Filch's stunned expression. Instead, he stepped toward the trio, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "Harry… it seems you didn't take my words to heart."

He was, of course, referring to the warning he had given Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised. And judging by the way Harry's face fell, the boy clearly understood what he meant. His head dropped in guilt and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Professor…"

"There's no need to apologize to me," Sargeras interrupted, shaking his head. His eyes swept over the three of them, their pitiful appearance failing to stir even a trace of sympathy in his voice.

"I only hope you have a good enough reason for breaking the school rules… and that it wasn't just for some boring prank…" His eyes glinted faintly as he looked at them, the words carrying an unspoken meaning. And then he added quietly, "And I also hope you ended up in this situation because you genuinely had no choice… and not simply because of your own stupidity, arrogance, or inflated sense of self-importance…"

The trio's shame only deepened at that.

Once he'd finished, Sargeras finally stepped aside, giving Filch a slight nod. Filch, caught off guard by the gesture, hurriedly bowed in return, practically glowing with pride as he led the three students onward toward Professor McGonagall's lounge.

Filch brought them to McGonagall's study on the second floor. They stood there in silence, not uttering a single word.

Excuses, clever lies, and well-polished stories swirled around in their minds, but not a single one seemed useful this time. This time… they genuinely had no idea how to get themselves out of this mess.

Regret filled all their hearts. And thinking back to what Professor Greengrass had just said, they couldn't deny that he had been absolutely right — they had gotten way too full of themselves. How could they have been so careless? They had actually forgotten the Invisibility Cloak up on the rooftop.

And worst of all, Professor McGonagall had even stood up for them earlier, scolding Malfoy on their behalf. In a way, that was as good as personally vouching for them. Now… she was probably absolutely furious.

For a brief moment, they even considered coming clean about Norbert — but the thought barely had time to settle before they tossed it aside again.

"Mr. Filch tells me you three were caught climbing to the top of the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night," Professor McGonagall said coolly, her sharp eyes fixed on them. "To be perfectly honest, I find that very hard to believe. So… would any of you care to step forward and explain?"

It was probably the first time Hermione had ever found herself completely unable to answer a teacher's question. The trio hung their heads, staring down at McGonagall's tartan slippers, their mouths opening and closing… but in the end, not a single word came out.

"No one? Then allow me to explain…" Professor McGonagall's expression grew even more severe, her voice cold with anger. "It doesn't take a brilliant mind to figure out what happened. You three fabricated some ridiculous story about a dragon… all with the sole purpose of luring Draco Malfoy out of bed so you could prank him and make him look foolish. And And the worst part is… it actually worked. I suppose you thought that was all terribly funny, didn't you?"

Still, the trio remained silent.

"I can hardly believe it…" Professor McGonagall continued, her voice taut with restrained fury. "Playing pranks on classmates, breaking school rules, sneaking about the castle in the dead of night… I have never heard of anything so outrageous in all my years here!"

Her sharp gaze swept over each of them in turn.

"You, Miss Granger… I expected far better from you. And you, Mr. Potter… I thought you understood the meaning of house loyalty. And you, Mr. Weasley… your brothers have never stooped to this kind of behavior. They have always taken pride in following the rules."

Ron almost rolled his eyes right then and there upon hearing this. That's only because you've never managed to catch George and Fred in the act…

"All three of you will serve detention," McGonagall declared sternly. "And Gryffindor will lose fifty points."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped, his stomach sinking like a stone. Would that not knock them straight out of first place… and those points had been so hard-earned from the Quidditch match.

Hermione's eyes widened too. Fifty points… how many questions would she have to answer in class to earn back that fifty points?

Ron looked the most incredulous of all. After all, Malfoy had only lost twenty points… hadn't he?

"Fifty points each," Professor McGonagall added furiously, her long, flaring with each heavy breath, making her look, in that moment, even more like a dragon than Norbert ever had.

Hermione pleaded desperately, her voice trembling with hope, "Professor McGonagall… please…"

Harry spoke up too, his tone equally anxious, "Professor, you can't…"

Ron was just about to open his mouth when McGonagall abruptly cut them off, roaring with unmistakable finality, "Do not tell me what is to be done and what is not!"

The three young students fell silent at once.

"Now, all of you… back to bed. Immediately!"

Like a trio of walking corpses, they trudged back to the dormitory, utterly defeated, not uttering a single word along the way.

Losing one hundred and fifty points in one night… none of them slept a wink all night. They lay on their beds, staring at the dark ceiling, filled with a fear of morning unlike anything they'd ever felt before.

And sure enough, when the news spread the next day, the Gryffindor students were completely stunned. Harry's fame reached new heights — but this time, it wasn't the kind of fame anyone wanted. He became the target of constant mockery. No matter where he went, whispers and snide remarks followed.

Things were only slightly better for Hermione and Ron, mostly because whenever people brought it up, it was always, "Potter… and those two tagalongs of his." Harry, clearly, had drawn most of the fire for them. But honestly… it wasn't that much better for them either.

"Hey there, little Ronnie…"

"Word is, you guys cost Gryffindor a hundred and fifty points?"

George and Fred appeared beside them, grinning from ear to ear. Ever since the disaster of the night before, they were practically the only people still willing to speak to the trio.

"Haven't you two been losing points since the day you started school?" Ron shot back, his voice bristling with frustration.

"True enough…"

"But we've never lost a hundred and fifty in one go!"

"Not even half that."

"Maybe if you add it all up?"

"Even added up, it's not that much!"

The twins joked back and forth, arms slung casually over each other's shoulders as they strolled off, laughing.

"They're right, though… we really were unbelievably stupid to mess up like that…" Hermione said miserably.

"Professor Greengrass could have let us off the hook… but he didn't, did he?"

"Ron, you can't seriously expect a professor to cover for you…" Hermione sighed.

"Of course not, I was just saying." Ron shrugged, though he understood perfectly well that this whole mess had nothing to do with Sargeras.

"Actually… Professor Sargeras really isn't like the other professors…" Harry spoke softly.

"Oh right… Harry, what did he mean by what he said to you last night?" Ron suddenly remembered Sargeras' words to Harry—the first thing he had said when they were caught. "You know, the bit about how you didn't take his words to heart. What was that all about?"

"It was back at Christmas… when we stayed at school," Harry explained quietly. "Every time we snuck out at night, he always knew. And then there was the mirror."

"You mean that time you lost forty points?" Ron asked in surprise.

"That's righ… Professor Sagrathis told me… honestly, he doesn't even like Hogwarts' rules all that much. He only took points off because he wanted to warn me… to tell me we were being too reckless," Harry said gloomily. "He warned me back then… he said Hogwarts only has one real rule. If you break the rules… never get caught in the act. But…"

"But last night, we got caught red-handed…" Hermione couldn't help chiming in, her voice heavy with frustration. "Still… Professor Sargeras is indeed very different, he…"

The young witch trailed off, struggling to find the right words, and in the end, simply gave up.

"Do you think… last night… he knew exactly what we were up to the whole time?" Ron asked suddenly, looking a little horrified at the thought.

"I'd say he did," Hermione nodded firmly. "Don't forget what he said… that it was our own stupidity, arrogance, and getting carried away that landed us in this mess…"

"So we've got no one to blame but ourselves," Harry agreed with a sigh, nodding as well.

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