Filch took Argus and Harry to the first floor to Professor McGonagall's study room.

Harry and Argus waited until Professor McGonagall showed up. Unlike in the book, Neville didn't show up.

"I guess Hermione stopped him from going," Argus thought as he was glad that at the very least, Neville didn't get caught up for no reason.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Nidma, why are the two of you out at the astronomy tower at 1 A.M.? Please answer me," Professor McGonagall asked with an extremely angry tone.

Argus both stayed silent as there honestly was no need for an excuse.

"I think I have a pretty good idea why. You told Mr. Malfoy a cock-and-bull story about some dragon. Well if that was your plan then I applaud you, you have successfully made me punish Mr. Malfoy with detention and 50 points from Slytherins. However, you two will also be punished with detention and 50 points each from Gryffindor,"

"Professor please you can't do this,"Harry said pleadingly, but Professor McGonagall would not hear it.

"Do not ever tell me what I can and cannot do, Mr. Potter. How much do you think it hurts me to put Gryffindor who was in first place to now in second place in the House Cup. I have never been more ashamed of my students my entire life! And more than Mr. Potter, Mr. Nidma, I have always thought of you as my most talented student. You were always able to answer every question, always being first in transfiguring the objects, and always behaving, but this time, you have severely disappointed me,"

Argus saw that Professor McGonagall was genuinely hurt by his actions. He felt guilty for betraying her trust, but he'd rather her be temporarily hurt rather than Hagrid be permanently fired. Besides, there was still Hermione to be the best student.

"I'm sorry Professor McGonagall," In the end, Argus could not say anything more than an apology.

"Get back to bed," Professor McGonagall said and Harry and Argus quickly left.

Argus noticed that Harry could not stop moving around. He knew that comforting Harry would not work as 100 points were taken. However, Harry started talking instead.

"Argus, will the rest of the Gryffindors hate us forever after this?" Harry asked.

"Probably not. You can't hate someone forever for a single House Cup. I mean as long as we somehow gain it back, we should be fine," Argus said.

However, the situation was much more serious than Argus thought it would be. While he knew that Harry and his popularity would die, he thought that since he scored at least 150 points, there wouldn't be much hate, but since they were now in second place, everyone in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw all started to point fingers and insult them. While he wasn't really offended, Argus was extremely annoyed by both the insulting and the fact that Slytherin would come up to them and say "Thanks guys, we owe you two big time!"

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Argus would usually glare at them which quieted the Slytherins, but he didn't know how long it would last.

Luckily since Hermione was not in trouble, she gladly started answering all the questions in class and earn points for Gryffindor which did mitigate the damage dealt from the 100 point loss. The problem was that Slytherin students weren't letting up and each time Gryffindor would almost catch up, they would increase the distance making it extremely difficult for Gryffindor to take back first place.

Harry was devastated by the mocking. While Hermione, Ron, and Argus all tried to cheer him up, he would barely smile. He even came back saying that he proposed to quit Quidditch which Ron reprimanded him for.

In the end, Harry was only able to not look so gloomy when he was studying. Then a week before exams were starting, Harry left the library early due to being quite exhausted from the massive amount of studying. Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy while Argus was reading The Standard Books of Spells Grade 2 that he found in the library. Most of the spells such as Knockback Jinx and Severing Charm, he knew how to do, but some like the Disarming Curse and the Freezing Charm had to be studied a little more.

Soon Harry came back to tell them the news that "Quirrel gave up to Snape".

"Snape succeeded!" Ron said. "If Quirrell told him how to get past the Anti-Dark Force spell-"

"There's still Fluffy," Hermione quickly added.

"Snape's probably found a way to get past it. I'm sure there's a book somewhere about how to defeat a 3 headed dog," Ron said. "What do we do Harry?"

Hermione quickly answered.

"Go to Dumbledore. That should've been done from the beginning,"

"With no proof? Impossible. Furthermore, we're technically not supposed to know about anything at all. There's literally no one to back us up," Argus said.

"Yeah let's not snoop around anymore. I'm done. I'm already hated by everyone in the school. I don't want the hate to become even stronger," Harry said. He went back to studying which made Ron a bit perplexed, but in the end the four went back to studying.

The next morning, Harry and Argus got a note each.

Your detention will be at 11 o' clock tonight.