Expelled?!
Harry was shocked beyond any comprehension of belief.
Now, he wasn't the only one in the room that was shocked. No, almost everyone in the room had no idea how to respond.
Before anyone else could say anything though, one person in the room quickly threw in their two cents.
"What do you mean we're expelled?!" Hermione practically screamed. She honestly didn't know why she was being expelled either.
"Y-yeah, it makes no sense!" Ginny said next.
Harry looked around the room. It wasn't just him, Ginny and Hermione though. Harry also saw Ron, sitting there almost smugly.
In front of Ron though, were Dumbledore and Minister Fudge.
Already, Harry was on guard. He didn't exactly trust the Minister after everything, after all.
"If you must know the reason, it's because all of you did something that needs punishment," Dumbledore said in an almost believable disappointed tone. His eyes gave him away though. He saw this as an opportunity. Harry had seen the look on the face of his uncle one too many times to not notice it.
Harry spoke up though. "And what did we do that warrants this, sir?"
Fudge actually took over the speech before Dumbledore could continue, wanting to feel like he was actually important here. Dumbledore managed to hide his irritation pretty well.
"Well, Ms. Granger here has been using a time turner illegally. After all, we only told her to use it for classes, but she seemed to be using it more than she needed in the second half of the year. Mr. Weasley told us, after all, and gave us more than enough evidence to take it from her and expel her from this fine institution. We even had the information checked by the honorable Lucius Malfoy!" He was clearly proud of being able to throw out a big name like Lucius.
Before Harry could make an argument against this, Fudge continued.
"Ms. Weasley here is clearly still being affected by whatever dark artifact she held last year, and we should've made sure she wasn't last year. How else could Black have escaped as easily as he did?"
Harry was actually starting to get irritated as Fudge moved on to why he himself was being expelled.
"And as for you, you damaged and even destroyed Ministry property in the form of the Dementors. We were told by Mr. Weasley, and had it confirmed by Albus here that your use of the Patronus charm, which is what caused such damages that we can't even trust the ones that survived your Patronus to be guarding Azkaban for another week as they recover, was done with malicious intent, and discontent with the Ministry. We didn't even know it was possible to destroy a Dementor!"
Harry's mouth was now wide open, but only for a moment before it snapped shut in anger. Even then though, Fudge continued on, oblivious to the anger in Harry, Ginny and Hermione's eyes.
"The only reason we're letting you three keep your wands is because Albus was kind enough to convince me not to have your wands snapped. It's also why you three aren't going to Azkaban."
Harry didn't respond for a moment before actually chuckling as he remembered a pamphlet he saw while exploring Diagon Alley. "Alright. If that's how this is gonna go, then good bye."
The girls turned to Harry in shock. When Harry gave them a reassuring smile back though, they hardened their expressions. Harry dropped his Hogwarts robes on the ground before walking out, the girls following behind him.
The three left in the room were shocked. Dumbledore wasn't too worried. They were children, but for them to react like this instead of having a different, more explosive, reaction is what shocked the aging wizard.
Ron was more surprised that they hadn't attacked him. Ron knew those three well enough to know that none of them took anything lying down. He also wasn't worried though. After all, he was finally alone to be considered the best in his year. No Brightest Witch or Boy-Who-Lived to get in the way of that. He was also a bit surprised that Ginny had been expelled, but he wasn't too angry about that. After all, she had been so easily influenced by a simple Dark artifact, so he couldn't say she deserved anything less than this.
Fudge was much more worried though. What if he had made a mistake? What if this made the public loathe him? Should he apologize? Take it back? Put them back in the school? No! He had to show that he could stand strong against the power others hold!
Meanwhile, the three were currently walking back to get their things. On the way though, they ran into a few people.
"Oh, what's wrong, Potter? Did they finally wise up and get rid of you, that Mudblood and the Blood Traitor?"
Well, Draco clearly already knew. Harry also noticed a few other Slytherins around. One of them seemed a little more shocked though. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the shocked looking one was Nott. Through their years there, while Hermione was the only one consistently by his side(Ron having abandoned him quickly during the whole Heir of Slytherin thing, and clearly having thrown them to the wolves at this point) he and Hermione had begun keeping track of those that would turn on them throughout the school. Nott had been on that list, alongside many other Slytherins.
Harry was also more observant than people gave him credit for, meaning he noticed the boy watching his lessons with Remus, and could guess that Remus also heard him. Harry noticed one other thing too. One time, he had bumped into Nott, and both had fallen over, dropping what was in their arms. He saw notes on the Patronus Charm as they were gathering their things.
Harry grinned though, casting the thoughts from his head for that moment. "Well, yes, they did. But, this isn't really a setback for us. There are other schools, after all."
Draco sneered. "None as good as Hogwarts though."
"Maybe not by your standards, but it'll be almost infinitely better for us, seeing as you aren't there. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get our things and find a place to stay for a bit. Maybe the Leaky Cauldron?"
The other two nodded when Harry turned to look back at them. Harry then made sure to look Nott in the eyes as he turned back to Draco. By this point though, it wasn't just the Slytherins here. There were plenty of other members of the other three houses listening in on their conversation, and for once, Harry was thankful for his infamy around the school. After all, what could possibly spread faster through the gossip mill than the "Boy-Who-Lived" and the "Brightest Witch of her Age"?
As he walks past, Harry begins to look at everybody who had gathered. There were a few people, including all the different quidditch players, that Harry actually knew personally to some degree. Oliver was the first to walk up to him though. "Leaving already? C'mon, we gotta make sure our star Seeker gets a proper send off!"
The other Gryffindor team members cheered as Fred and George picked him up, speaking in their usual manner.
"Besides, Harrikins…" Fred started with a grin.
George picked up the line with an equally massive grin. "The rules say you can stay until Sunrise tomorrow."
They both speak in tandem for the next part. "Which is why we'll have to party till the sun comes up!"
This elicits another cheer from his teammates. In spite of everything, they had been by his side through all of this. Not as much as Hermione, but they were great friends.
Before they left though, the Hufflepuff Seeker, Cedric, Harry thought absently, walked over. "Before that, I have one thing to ask Harry."
Harry tilted his head to the side. "Okay. Ask away, I guess."
Cedric held out his hand. "How about a game of Quidditch just for fun? No real positions, just messing around."
Harry and the other players on the various teams grinned in turn. "I'm always up for a game like that. So, how about we start the festivities with that game?!"
All the Quidditch players(bar the Slytherins team) cheered and began rushing out to the field.
Hermione shook her head. "I swear, none of them are sane."
She turned, expecting to see Ginny nodding along next to her. She wasn't there though. Nope. She was currently running after the other players with a wide grin that could match either of the twins' when they're playing and a competitive glint in her eyes.
"Damn it! Why did I have to get stuck with the insane people?" Hermione lamented.
Neville walked over and patted her on the back, making the brunette jump in surprise.
Neville chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that. Don't worry. I'm not too big a fan of being in the air like them either."
Hermione smiled back at Neville. "Don't worry about that. At least there's one person here with any form of self-preservation instincts."
Then, she started walking forward a bit. She then stopped and turned back to Neville. "C'mon. Someone needs to watch those idiots, and I'm not doing it by myself. After all, who else will help me get them to the hospital wing when they inevitably hurt themselves?"
Neville smiled back shakily before suring himself up and jogging up to her, slowing down so they could just walk together. "Alright. You don't have to ask me twice."
Besides Hermione, a blonde girl in baggy, almost oversized robes then popped up, skipping alongside her, her size and robes indicating she was likely just a year younger than Hermione herself and was in Ravenclaw. She also noticed how she wasn't wearing any shoes. "I can also help. The Nargles will tell me if they're going to fall so we can cushion their falls."
As the blonde spoke, she had on an airy smile, skipping along happily.
Hermione didn't really know what the blonde was talking about, but decided to worry about it later. At the moment, she was more worried about making sure nobody was too hurt. "Well, as long as they help, I hope they enjoy the show those idiots will be putting on. What's your name though?"
Luna seemed to brighten up even more at that. "I'm Luna Lovegood. A pleasure to meet you, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom."
Luna then started skipping in front of them, turning to face them as she stuck out her hand to shake.
They both shook her hand. Suddenly, Hermione noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. Before she could see what it was, a weird looking spell flew out, about to hit Luna as she was skipping, facing away from the one launching the spell.
Then, before Hermione, or Neville, who had noticed it a second after Hermione, could warn Luna, the perky blonde dodged the attack on her person, not even breaking her stride. "That wasn't very fair of you."
When Luna said that, there was a muttered "fuck" from a more feminine voice before a larger set of blue robes, likely from an older Ravenclaw, moved past them all, as if to get away from them before they could potentially be caught.
Luna seemed completely unphased at first, but Hermione noticed a hint of fear behind the blonde girl's eyes. Before Hermione could comment on it though, Luna turned back around. "Let's go before anyone gets hurt out there."
Now Hermione was a bit worried, but figured she may be able to worry about this particular issue later. "Alright. Let's go."
Neville looked at Hermione in confusion before she mouthed "just wait" to the clearly nervous boy. He decided to trust her for now.
Luna then spoke up. "I agree with Hermione. Whatever it is you're curious about can wait until some other time. After all, the others have already gotten to the broom closet and are getting ready to play right now."
Both third years looked at the younger girl in shock. "H-how…?"
"The Nargles told me."
When she said this, she turned her head back to them. She had a smile on her face, but both could see a combination of worry, fear and a good bit of fatigue.
So, they decided not to push it and just walked forward some more to match her pace, and go at the same speed as her. After all, they had to make sure nobody would get hurt.
Gods only know that Madam Hooch won't do so.