Chapter 25 — Consequences
"Mr Black, please, come in, do not be shy..."
I entered the Headmaster's office, which was crowded with all manner of whirring instruments, and Flitwick followed behind me.
"Professor Flitwick has informed me of the situation, and I wished to speak with you about your excessive use of force..."
"Headmaster -- could you tell me where my mothers are? Or at the very least, where Andromeda and Ted Tonks are? They ought to be present, given that their daughter was nearly assaulted at Hogwarts -- the safest place in Britain."
"Draco, for now--"
"My apologies for the delay..."
The door to Dumbledore's office opened, and I turned to see Andromeda, Ted, Narcissa, and Bellatrix enter.
"Mothers."
"Dumbledore -- what has happened, and why have we been summoned?"
Andromeda glanced at her sisters, and in her expression I saw an old, deep pain alongside something fragile and hopeful. Ted, for his part, looked at my mothers with undisguised irritation and contempt.
"I can explain..."
I shrugged.
"Please do, young man..."
Andromeda gave me a nod that made clear she wanted to hear everything.
"I beg your pardon, but we are not quite here for that. My concern is Mr Black's excessive use of force, and the other matters--"
"Excessive force?"
Ted looked at me with sudden suspicion.
"Did you attack my daughter?!"
Despite his obvious fury, he had not let any uglier words escape him.
"I am afraid you have somewhat misread the situation..."
I shook my head.
"It would be best to begin about a week ago. Nymphadora approached me and suggested we spend some time together. As I understood it, she had wanted to do so earlier, but family influence had made her cautious, and she preferred to watch and gather her own impressions first. A week ago she came to me, and I was glad to agree. She is my sister, after all -- though I will freely admit I have very little time to spare for anyone."
I gave a small shake of my head.
"Well, naturally -- a first-year has so much time on his hands..."
Ted could not keep the sharpness out of his voice.
"For your information, Mr Tonks, Mr Black has already sat and passed his first-year examinations in all subjects -- and by my reckoning, his third-year ones as well. He currently assists me in running Charms and Spellwork lessons for the first years -- or rather, conducts those lessons brilliantly in his own right. He follows a curriculum designed by Misses Black..."
Flitwick nodded towards my mothers.
"...and is my personal apprentice. So his time is genuinely extremely limited."
"Ahem..."
Ted gave a flustered cough, while in Andromeda's expression I saw surprise and something that looked like respect.
"Now -- this afternoon, after lunch, I was attacked by three students from my own House. A former Ravenclaw prefect and I had a minor altercation in the first week of term, and he has now decided to act on it. Since Daphne and my other housemates tend to move in groups, he chose Nymphadora as the way to hurt me most. His plan was to beat me, then Obliviate me so I would not know who had done it -- but he also informed me that he had paid several boys to attack Nymphadora."
"They WHAT?!"
A wave of raw magic rolled off Andromeda and blew every window in the Headmaster's office clean out of its frame.
"I managed to reach her in time -- fortunately I had given her a notebook that allowed her location to be traced, though that was not actually its primary enchantment, so one might say we were simply lucky. In any case -- I prevented it, and your daughter is entirely unharmed, aside from her robes being torn."
I gave a small shrug.
"Yes -- and the students involved were seriously injured. Was such force truly necessary?"
Dumbledore shook his head with a look of reproach.
"Yes..."
I shrugged again.
"...and as I already told the professors, those boys were fortunate that they had not yet begun -- because if that had been different, I would not have restrained myself. The use of Unforgivables on animals is not prohibited, after all."
"My boy, they are children -- not animals..."
Dumbledore shook his head in gentle reproach.
"...yes, they made a terrible mistake, but one cannot simply--"
"One can. One must."
I cut the Headmaster off before he could finish his no doubt important thought.
"People like that should be removed from the gene pool. And if you feel so much sympathy for them, perhaps you would like to step into the Great Hall tomorrow morning and, as Headmaster, instruct some girl to submit to them on the spot?"
"Do not push this too far, Mr Black..."
In an instant Dumbledore had shed the warm grandfather entirely. The man now sitting across from me was one of the most powerful wizards in Britain, and the most formidable of those who played the political game.
"I am not pushing anything..."
The force radiating from Dumbledore made every instinct in me want to step back. I did not. Most likely because my mothers had never held back in training, and I was accustomed to pressure. Though I will admit Dumbledore's pressure was in a different category altogether.
"...I am pointing out that you are, in effect, proposing exactly the same thing. Showing mercy to someone who was seconds away from committing a serious crime -- so that he concludes there are no real consequences, that second and third and fourth chances will always follow. After that he simply stops fearing punishment because he knows it will not come. At which point, as I said, it would be simpler to let them do it in the Great Hall -- at least everyone would know what to expect from these people."
Dumbledore composed himself fairly quickly and was now shaking his head with renewed disapproval.
"Mother..."
I looked at Narcissa.
"...if Headmaster Dumbledore does not expel these boys from Hogwarts, I would ask you to raise the matter before the Board of Governors. And naturally I will provide you with my memories -- I would like them passed to Miss Bones so that she may conduct a proper investigation and see that the law is applied."
"Draco, they made a mistake and they will be punished, but reporting all of this to the D.M.L.E... do you not think that is rather extreme--"
"And how will you punish them? Robert was already stripped of his prefect badge, which should have hit him hard enough -- and yet it did not stop him. He kept scheming."
I shook my head.
"So what are you proposing? Point deductions? Detentions?"
I tilted my head.
"Go ahead, Headmaster -- I am genuinely eager to hear what you consider an appropriate punishment for organising an attack, and for the attempted assault itself."
"But to ruin these boys' lives--"
"You know what, Headmaster -- that is your prerogative. You may even lean on the Ministry and ensure they face no legal consequences at all. However, I have just as much right to pursue this through proper channels."
"Very well -- but that is not why we are gathered here. The matter is your conduct and your use of dangerous spells within school grounds. You destroyed a great many bones in those students, and they will be spending no less than a month in the hospital wing while Poppy heals them. And as for that other boy..."
Dumbledore shook his head without finishing the sentence. I simply shrugged.
"I am afraid I must impose detention on you -- with Professor Snape--"
"I must interject here, Albus. Draco is my personal apprentice, and under the Hogwarts charter, all detentions for an apprentice must be served with their master."
"Very well -- detention with Professor Flitwick then. It will run until Christmas. And I will also deduct one hundred points from Ravenclaw."
"Understood, Headmaster Dumbledore."
My expression made clear, I suspect, that I felt nothing in particular about this punishment. I considered my actions correct -- if anything, perhaps insufficiently decisive. I would simply know what to do differently in future.
"You may go..."
I could see that my response had not satisfied Dumbledore, but he had no grounds to detain me further. My mothers were in the room. The Tonkses were in the room. The Heads of House were in the room. And none of them, any more than I, could quite understand why he was conducting himself the way he was.
"Thank you, Headmaster."
We left the office and descended the spiral staircase.
"So because of you my daughter was nearly-- Kff!"
"Ted, don't. Or have you forgotten that our daughter already had a somewhat -- complicated -- reputation on her floor, and in the school generally? Do you remember what she used to tell us about boys who wanted to ask her out? Something like this was always going to happen sooner or later..."
"You're defending him?!"
"No, Ted, I am not defending anyone. I simply think that this outcome is preferable -- because now everyone at Hogwarts knows that if anyone tries anything, the culprit will end up... actually, what did happen to them?"
"Well -- one is more or less intact. But the one who--"
I made a small gesture with my hand to indicate which one I meant.
"...I hit him with a defocused Bombarda. So whatever skin he had on the front of his body -- he no longer has."
"Good."
Andromeda held my gaze for a steady moment.
"You know -- you are certainly a handful, but I have no objection to Nymphadora spending time with you."
"Andromeda!"
"Ted! I have had quite enough of your prejudice against my sisters. And after their son just saved our daughter... that is final. If you do not wish to have anything to do with them, that is your choice -- but you no longer have any say over what I do."
"Son, we are proud of you..."
Bellatrix gave me a firm thumbs-up, clearly in excellent spirits -- first from hearing what I had done to the boys in the corridor, and then from learning what I had done to the last one. But what pleased her most was seeing Andromeda step away from Ted and walk over to stand with my mothers.
"Sweetheart -- just try to stay away from the Killing Curse..."
Narcissa offered her own advice, then took Andromeda by the arm -- Bellatrix already had the other one -- and the three of them walked off together.
"Mr Black, I do hope you will take Miss Narcissa's advice to heart..."
"Not to worry, Professor -- a quick end teaches no one anything. Honestly, I slightly regret using the Bombarda at all. There were spells that would have made a more lasting impression."
"Hmm... as a rational person, I can only agree with you. As a Head of House, however... I disapprove."
The expression on Flitwick's face made quite clear which of the two he was being at that particular moment.
"Right..."
Ted, whom I had rather forgotten about, reminded us of his presence.
"...I won't stand in the way of my daughter spending time with you. But if you think I'm going to let you seduce her--"
"Professor -- can I hex him? Just a small one, to speed up his thinking?"
"What?!"
Ted looked at me with indignation.
"Mr Tonks, I am speaking calmly only because I understand you are in shock. So let me be plain: I am pure-blood, but I am not an idiot. Your daughter is my sister -- not by blood, but the word fits. A match between us would only weaken my House. There can be nothing between Nymphadora and me except what exists between a brother and a sister."
"You think--"
"Mr Tonks..."
Sprout cut him off, drawing his attention towards her.
"Come along to my office. We can have a quiet word there, and tomorrow I will arrange for you and your wife to visit your daughter."
I said nothing to that -- simply smiled to myself. As though I would allow Nymphadora to sit and brood. Tomorrow she would begin her sessions with the tutors, and they would knock the nonsense out of her quickly enough, show her just how much ground she needed to cover, and point her in the direction she needed to go.
I kept all of that to myself, smiled at Flitwick, and looked at him enquiringly.
"Professor -- what about lessons?"
"They have been cancelled... the incident led to all lessons being suspended for the day. I imagine during supper Dumbledore will make an announcement about what happened and what the consequences will be for those responsible. You will be mentioned as well..."
I gave a careless shrug.
"Let them. It should discourage anyone else from trying to harm the people I care about."
"On that point, Mr Black, you are absolutely right. Now -- since you have detention with me, let us go... we can count this as the first session."
"Very well..."
And Flitwick and I set off, leaving Ted to the company of Professor Sprout, while my mothers and Andromeda disappeared somewhere together -- most likely to make up for all the years they had been kept apart. One must find the good in everything, yes?
"What are you thinking about?"
"Me? I am thinking about how I need to stop being a piece on the board and start being a player. Only I will not be able to sit at the table the world calls life for at least another couple of years."
"Well -- we shall do everything in our power to ensure you are able to sit your Guild qualification in two years or so. And after that, if not a player exactly, then at the very least a significant piece."
"Yes... I must work... work even harder..."
-------------------------------------------
"Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 193
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 128
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 188
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 55
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 80+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic"