Chapter 15: Squib (1/2)
”But how, I cannot say .....” Dumbledore said.
”Ask him!” shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Harry.
”No second year could have done this,” said Dumbledore firmly. ”It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced ...”
”He did it, he did it!” Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. ”You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found — in my office he knows I'm a... I'm a ...” Filch's face worked horribly. ”He knows I'm a Squib!” he finished.
”I never touched Mrs Norris!” Harry said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at him, including all the Lockharts on the walls. ”And I don't even know what a Squib is.”
”Rubbish!” snarled Filch. ”He saw my Kwikspell letter!”
”If I might speak, Headmaster,” said Snape from the shadows, ”Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. ”But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?”
”Umm... Professor, actually Nick, the Gryffindor tower ghost, invited us to his deathday party. We were there.” Chris said answered quickly.
”But why not join the feast afterwards?” said Snape looking at Chris, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight.
”Because..... Because..” Harry stammered.
”Because the feast ended Professor. We wanted to visit the Great Hall but before we could, we realized the feast ended.” Chris said confidently looking at Snape.
But Snape's nasty smile widened as he noticed Harry's nervous face.
”I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter and his friends are not being entirely truthful,” he said. ”It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready, to be honest.”
”Really, Severus,” said Professor McGonagall sharply, ”I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong.”
Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry and Chris for a few seconds. Chris didn't change her confident and calm expression. Dumbledore nodded.
”Innocent until proven guilty, Severus,” he said firmly.
Snape looked furious. So did Filch.
”My cat has been Petrified!” Filch shrieked, his eyes popping. ”I want to see some punishment!”
”We will be able to cure her, Argus,” said Dumbledore patiently. ”Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs Norris.”
”I'll make it,” Lockhart butted in. ”I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep... ”
”Excuse me,” said Snape icily. ”But I believe I am the Potions master at this school.”
There was a very awkward pause.
”You may go,” Dumbledore said to Chris, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They went, as quickly as they could.