"Are you alright, Neville," Hermione asked as she gently laid a hand on the obviously distraught boy's arm.
"F…fine," Neville stuttered as he flinched away from Hermione's touch and Harry frowned at the taller boy because he'd not heard him stutter since halfway through their first year.
"And the last one you mentioned," Harry asked of George in order to draw attention away from Neville.
"Mind control," Fred answered as he plucked the dinner roll off of Harry's plate. "When it's properly cast…"
"It can make you do whatever the caster wants you to do…" George added as he reached across Harry and snagged the roll from Fred's hands.
"Even if it is something you'd normally never do; like kill or torture your own family," Fred finished as he picked up another roll from the nearby platter and pegged his brother in the head with it.
"A lot of the people that were accused of being Death Eaters were set free because they used the excuse that they'd been Imperiused by You-Know-Who and forced to do the terrible things they did," George explained as he ignored the roll that bounced off of his head and picked up a serving spoon filled with mashed potatoes, smeared the potatoes on the roll, and lobbed it up into the air where it eventually landed on the head of Marcus Flint (the current captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team).
"Good shot, ole chap," Fred complimented as he dipped another roll into a boat of gravy before sending it flying across the room where it hit Draco Malfoy right between the eyes. "Malfoy's dad was one of those that were let go with a slap on the wrist by claiming the Imperius Defense."
"Thanks old bean, you didn't do too bad there yourself," George told Fred as he launched another potato smeared roll; this time hitting a seventh year Ravenclaw between the shoulder blades before adding, "Dad said Lucius Malfoy was rotten to the core and a Death Eater through and through but he never served even a day in Azkaban because he was one of those that had claimed to be Imperiused and he lined the Ministry's coffers and paid off a bunch of people in order to get his charges dropped."
"Gran said the Malfoys were the worst sort right after the Le…Lestranges and the Bl…Blacks," Neville added as he watched Fred throw another gravy soaked roll at some hapless Slytherin. "Lucius is a cold calculating op…opportunist and Draco is turning out to b…be the same way on t…top of being a sp…spoiled b…brat. Draco is half Bl…Black after all, on his mo…mother's side, and she's… she's related to… to her."
"To who?" Hermione asked as she furrowed her brow.
"B…Bella… Bellatrix Lestrange."
"My supposed godfather is a Black," Harry interjected pensively as he caught the chicken leg that had been about to hit him in the face and calmly offered the unharmed piece of meat to Hedwig who happily devoured it. "He'd been locked up in Azkaban until after the whole rat-man fiasco in our first year. Lucius Malfoy should have been rotting in Azkaban after he tried to kill me last year in front of a bunch of witnesses after the whole Chamber of Secrets thing at the end of the year. Slippery bastard somehow wriggled his way out of being charged."
"You're talking about Sirius Black," Fred exclaimed in some surprise as he turned away from the food fight he'd helped instigate to look at Harry. "I remember mum going on and on about how there had to be some kind of mistake after she learned he'd been framed by Pettigrew; said Black was always cold, reckless, and just as insane as the rest of his family."
"That's only because mum resents anyone associated with the Black family after the Lestranges and Dolohov killed Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian," George sadly reminded his brother.
"Well, there's no question that Sirius is more than a little crazy," Harry admitted with a shrug as he briefly recalled the time he'd spent with the NPC. "He's not a bad sort though; so long as you enjoy dodging twenty bludgers and annoying hexes being fired at you as you fly a broom and try to hit fifty practice snitches with paint spells all the while trying not to crash into the walls of a dimly lit room."
Both twins burst out laughing while Hermione and Neville had horrified looks on their faces; both younger NPCs were afraid of flying. The twins were just as crazy as his godfather though, so Harry wasn't surprised that they'd found the idea of dodging spells and bludgers while trying to tag snitches humorous. Meanwhile, all around them, the Prefects and the two Head Students (one of which was Percy Weasley) were trying to restore order out the chaos that the twins had started.
By the time the staff returned to the room, the Great Hall was a complete and utter mess; as were all of the students bar Harry, the four sitting with him, and a handful of older students that had wisely shielded themselves against the various edible missiles that were launched their way. It took the staff a good three hours to clean everything up and round up the handful of missing students that hadn't been inside of the Great Hall when the attack was first reported so that the students could sleep in the Great Hall that night while the staff continued to search the castle for any sign of Rookwood.
The next few days were stressful for the majority of the NPCs in MaM and Harry tried not to get angry at the way they seemed to jump at shadows every time he turned around. Worse, the staff had utterly contaminated the crime scene with their footprints and magical signatures; meaning that he couldn't even use his Tracking Ability to pick up the culprit's trail. If that wasn't enough of a problem, Harry also had a number of adults closely monitoring him. He wasn't certain if it was because they were trying to keep him from completing this year's quest (which he assumed was hunting down and stopping the attacker), suspected him to somehow be involved in the attack, or worried that he might be the next victim.
When two full weeks had gone by without another attack and with no further evidence that the escaped Death Eater was hanging around the castle, all of the students (bar Harry and by extension Hermione and Neville who took their cues from him) began relaxing once more. The staff, like Harry, were still on high alert as they kept a close watch on all of the students; not a single one of the adults in the castle forgetting the rather constant string of attacks that had plagued the school the previous year. Extracurricular activities were also being closely monitored by the staff in order to watch over the students while they were outside of classes.
On Friday, November seventeenth, Harry was confronted by Dumbledore as the trio of third years made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on their way down to the Chamber. Hermione and Neville hovered just behind the shorter teen during the entire confrontation and gaped at the accusations that were flying fast and thick between Headmaster and student.
"Mr. Potter, you are from this day forward forbidden from entering any of the girls' bathrooms within the castle. Your indecent behavior has gone on long enough," Dumbledore intoned as he all but scowled at the four foot wizard. "It is also past time that you stopped running off to hide during the weekends, you have a responsibility towards your studies and if you do not start taking your assignments seriously, then you will force me to hold you back in order to repeat the year. I am also most disappointed in your continued attempts at isolating yourself from your peers."
"I have not entered any of the girls' bathrooms in the castle; the bathroom behind you is an out-of-order bathroom that no one uses outside of romantic trysts. So therefore I have not been behaving in an indecent manner," Harry countered impassively. "As to your second complaint, I have maintained the highest grades out of my year group since I was forced into this stupid world and therefore you have no grounds whatsoever to hold me back a year. Furthermore, I have told you before that I have no interest in associating with anyone inside of this world because I do not intend to stay here one day longer than I have to."
"I grow weary of your insistence at treating life as some kind of game, Mr. Potter; it is high time that you grow up and face reality and if I have to hold you back to repeat a year in order to curb your childish fits, then I will do so until you accept your place. And it will not matter what grades you have achieved as I have the right as both your Headmaster and as your guardian to see that you are properly educated. On top of that I have an obligation to insure that you are capable of entering society and as it stands, you are a danger to both yourself and those around you because of your delusional beliefs."