That particular day, when Ronan was having breakfast, an owl came to him bearing his post. He recognized the old thing as it was one of the oldest owls in Owlery. He took the letter from his leg. It was a message from Hermione. It was addressed to him with a proper name and everything, he figured that it must be an important message because she sent a letter, rather than a piece of parchment.

So he took the letter and stuffed it in his pockets, which Pancy took notice of, “What do you got there Ronan? Got a love letter?”

He smiled at her, “Might be..” The fight between him and the girls did put a strain on their group a little bit. And Blaise was not happy with it, so he insisted or one could even say begged him to go apologise to the girls. So in the end he folded, part of the reason for folding was because he didnt know for how long could he handle Blaise's stupidness alone.

Daphne then added, “He is teasing you Pancy, that was not a lover letter. It was a letter from his matron of the orphanage. I saw her name on the letter” He turned towards her, “You read that? Well well… It seems, being Pansy’s acquaintance is changing the inner turbulent and cold nature of yours and channeling it to increase the size of your nose to considerable lengths.”

“Eh?” Pancy exclaimed, she didnt fully grasp what he meant. Daphne then turned towards her friend, “Well he said that me being in your company is making me very nosy in other affairs.”

“Oh,” Pancy said, “But could you blame her? You are the most secretive boy in our whole year. Not only you are smart, but you wander off from time to time, only Merlin knows where. We dont know anything about you.. You are very secretive,”

Blaise who had been eating cereal quietly, nodded his head as well, “Well that is true mate. It is like everything about you is shrouded in a mystery,”

Ronan smiled, “Well I will take that as a compliment,” with that he got up, “Now if you would excuse me.. I need to go and handle some affairs.”

He then went and opened the letter in seclusion, it was basically a message saying that Hermione wanted to meet him. She wanted to meet him in a place where no one would disturb him and the could talk freely. So she had decided that they would meet at Astronomy Tower during today’s lunch break…

“I didnt know that my house was so hated throughout the school,” Ronan spoke. He was currently sitting with Hermione in the Astronomy Tower, she had been telling about the incident where she, Harry, and Neville managed to lose 150 points for Gryffindor. And she couldnt forgive herself for the mistake.

“You have no idea. Neville is having the worst of it. Hufflepuff was really looking forward to seeing the defeat of Slytherins this year. But since the incident, Neville had been bad-mouthed by almost everyone. Even Harry is not forgiven, he is also being bashed by everyone.”

“Well, you guys did the stupidest thing you could have. If you three went up the tower under the indivisibility cloak, it made sense to return the same as well” He remarked, to him this was the most logical thing to do.

“Well none of us thought about it,” She said in a guilty tone. “You dont have to punish yourself about it. It was a mistake. Anyone could have made it,”

“I bet if you were with us, we wouldn't have...”

“That's true,” He sounded narcissistic at that moment, and the thing was, he deliberately was being one. Their plan was simply too absurd to begin with. It would have made more sense if Charlie’s friend had flown to Hagrid’s hut and taken the crate from there. If anyone had seen it, Hagrid could have just lied that it was a package to a friend of theirs.

This plan would have worked for sure because no one knew exactly what was in that crate to begin with. Malfoy could have spouted the truth with a megaphone in his hands, but who would have believed the small boy? Hell, unless someone would have provided concrete evidence against Hagrid, that big oaf would have been out of the loop. It was a very reckless move to hand deliver the crate of dragon like this, in the middle of the night.

“You are full of yourself aren't you?” Hermione asked, from her face it seemed that she didnt like his tone just now.

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“Well that I am. Now, could you please move on to why we are here?”

“Harry heard a conversation between Quirell and Snape. Apparently, this had led the boys to believe that maybe Snape now knows the way to get past Quirell’s magic.”

He looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“Oh right,” she said forgetfully, “Hagrid told us that the teachers of Hogwarts had also pitched in some magic to protect the stone”

“And now Snape knows how to get past Quirell’s enchantment,” She nodded.

“Now, we dont know what should we do now?” He raised his eyebrow at her remark.

“What do you mean by we…” He then gasped, “Are you saying that you are acting as a representative of your other friends in meeting me? They couldnt come themselves?”

Her ears became red, “Well…” she avoided his eye contact, “It is Ron. He doesn't trust you. But as we are in such a dire situation right now that Harry, Neville, and me decided that it would be appropriate to ask for your opinion. You seem to have quite an edge in thinking and planning the stuff ahead.”

He smiled. “That I have a knack of…” Hermione didnt care for her narcissistic remarks, so he went to his point at instant, “Well… If you ask me. I think that you should let the man steal the stone.”

She looked surprised, “Why?”

“Think about it Hermione,” he implored, “What could you guys even do? You guys cannot just march into the trap door and take the stone, and chuck it under your pillow for safekeeping. If you go to any Professor, they might hold you in contempt, saying, Professor Snape is a good man. And he would never do such a thing. Secondly, you guys have information that is to be hidden from the students. So in the end, there is not much that you could do.”

“But that doesn't mean that we could just let it go now, would it?”

“I am telling you to let the thing go because you dont have to do anything. If Snape manages to steal the stone, then Professor Dumbledore will move himself to capture him and bring back the stone. That basically means that Snape is sure to be convicted in the end. So you can just let this matter go, at least what I would do.”

Hermione looked abashed, “How can you say that? Not doing anything, acting as a coward is not how I imagine this conversation to be going.”

Ronan then asked her the question, “It is up to you guys, if you guys want to act like a hero, then do so. But Heros have a tendency to get killed, remember that.”

“Thanks for nothing,” Hermione snapped and then went away, leaving him behind.

***

Draco liked the cheers that he was getting from his house since he had managed to alter the whole dynamics of the House Cup race. But when a Hufflepuff gave him a piece of parchment, his mood came down crashing on the floor.

___________________________

Your detention will take place at eleven o’clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Prof. M. McGonagall

_____________________________

He would not deny it, he had forgotten everything about detention. Begrundingly when he told Crabbe and Goyle about his predicament, they were not happy as well. Exams were just a few days away, they needed to study. Tonight Ronan and promise everyone to teach them the basics of Transfiguration again, as for his revision. And he was gonna miss it.

Still, as the man of his word, he could to the main entrance 5 minutes before the clock struck eleven. Filtch came a few seconds later, mumbling Merlin knows what. As usual, the Gryffindors came 5 minutes late, which he did not appreciate, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew when to set his mouth loose, and it was not when he was grossly outnumbered.

Filch then ordered, “Follow me,” Then he lit a lamp and led them outside. “I bet you will think twice about breaking a school rule again, won’t you?”

That old fool then continued, leering at them. “Oh yes ... hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me ... It’s just a pity they let the old punishments die out ... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I have got the chains still in my office, I keep them well oiled in case they are ever needed ... Right, off we go, and don’t think of running off, now, it’ll be worse for you if you do.”

“Is that you, Filch?” Hagrid’s voice came booming, “Hurry up, I want to get started.”

A sense of releif washed over all the Gryffindors, he saw it. And so did Flich, “I suppose you think you will be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again… it’s into the Forest you’re going and I’m much mistaken if you’ll all come out in one piece”

Wait, what? Malfoy stopped in his tracks. “The Forest?” he asked again for reaffirmation. “We can’t go in there at night… there are all sorts of things in there… werewolves, Ronan told me so,”

“That’s your lookout, isn’t it?” said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. “Should’ve thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn’t you?”

Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, a very big blackhound accompanying him. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder. “About time,” he said. “I have been waiting for half an hour already. All right there Harry, Hermione, Neville?”

Of course, Oaf is friends with all three, Mudbloods tend to walk in packs, Malfoy sneered. This was just a jab to ease his nervousness, but didnt work.

“You shouldn’t be too friendly to them, Hagrid,” said Filch coldly, “They’re here to be punished, after all.”

“Is that why you are late?” said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. “Been lecturing them, are we… Well, guess what, it is not your place to do that. You have done your bit, I will take over from here”

“I’ll be back at dawn,” said Filch, “for what’s left of them,” he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness