The Trio's Failed Strategies

She tried turning their arrogance against them. She'd pointed out over and over again how Ms. Granger at least should have realized they were being skillfully led into a trap since it seemed she had led Mr. Potter into more than one trap herself. Which was as close as Minerva was willing to come right now to admitting she now knew the children were guilty of trying to destroy their classmate.

Not only should she have seen the trap and taken a step back herself but she should have taken the other two back with her. Or at least warned them to get away. Something, she reminded them all, Hermione had complained about Harry not doing each and every year when asked why she was part of the end-of-the-year fiascos.

But all three were too immersed in feeling sorry for themselves to hear her or realize the end of their torment was in their own hands. It had been three weeks since their branding and none of them had yet reached the point of being willing to admit they needed to take responsibility for themselves. No matter who told them their release was in those very same hands.

Of course, she did her best to keep both Albus and Molly Weasely from hearing of the Library Incident while she waited for the children to emerge from their self-pity.

Because the last thing she wanted was Howler Molly ranting again in the Great Hall or Albus trying to lay a guilt trip on Harry for his actions against the trio. She most definitely didn't want to try and explain to Albus the spell used hadn't been dark magic. That was a nightmare conversation she preferred to delay for as long as possible.

Forever if she could. Because she did know Albus well enough to know he'd label it a dark magic spell and try to make everyone believe it had been even if the booklet made it clear it wasn't. And he'd definitely try to punish Mr. Potter for using it against the Triad. Simply because he too favored them.

...

But the Trio were enjoying their pity party. The Headmaster had left the Castle again on the first of October before the Triad had gotten to see him about the evil Harry had done to them but they were still hopeful he'd handle the situation for them when he returned this time.

They were still of the opinion that Harry had done them a grievous wrong and was being allowed to get away with it. Simply because of who he was. But they'd finally come to realize the only person who would make Harry remove his mark was the Headmaster.

They knew there was a good chance he wouldn't actually punish the brat for it but he would make him remove it and apologize to them for even thinking he had the right to do it in the first place.

Naturally Hermione had suggested they keep a running tally of all the wrongs Harry did to them until they got to see the Headmaster.

That way he'd be more likely to understand why they wanted him punished for what they were being forced to deal with right now. Ron and Ginny agreed and so Hermione had dedicated an entire roll of parchment to keeping a list for them. Because naturally she was better at it than either Ron or Ginny would be.

Hermione really wanted to think of a way to make Harry remove it before they had to explain the marks to the Headmaster. She knew he wouldn't be happy about them or what they'd been doing when Harry had marked them.

For the life of her though, Hermione couldn't figure out a method to make him remove it or get anyone to punish him for his transgression.

Nor could she harangue on him over it until he got tired of listening to her like she usually did. He no longer sat near her in classes and wasn't housed in the tower with them. And though they knew where his room was, they couldn't get near the place.

It went without saying she never saw him outside of classes since all three of the Triad were forbidden from going anywhere near his rooms. They'd been told that by Professor McGonagal after she'd discovered they'd lied to her the morning after their marking. So they couldn't even sneak off to go bug him in his cell. Oh she knew exactly where it was.

They all did. Albus had told Ron and her back in their second year when he wanted to see if Harry was ready to follow orders yet. And they'd told Ginny the following year. Harry was a creature of habit. It'd never occur to him to change his room. Heck, he never even tried to change the password so why would he change his cell for a real room? She had no idea the Castle had done that for him.

But try as they might, they couldn't get close to Harry's room. Stepping a foot into the hallway his room was in, seemed to set off a trigger that would bring a member of the staff down on them. Which usually led to another detention. Just for being in the hall. Or talking to someone. Or not talking to someone. Anything they could think of. Hermione was getting really tired of being in detention. Never in her life had she ever gotten into so much trouble at a school.

None of the teachers would let her or Ron sit next to Harry in classes either if they actually managed to come late enough to a class where he had arrived ahead of them. It was usually Ron who tried that since Hermione had an aversion to sitting in the back of her classes and that was where Harry always sat now.

That was where the goof-offs sat. The only serious students who sat in the back of the room were the late arrivals and to Hermione, they weren't really serious students since if they were, they wouldn't have been late.

...

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