Can A Phoenix Love A Lion? (Hermione Granger x Male Reader)

51. Detention in Pink Land

Dinner in the Great Hall that night was not a pleasant experience for Y/N. The news about his shouting in Umbridge's class had travelled exceptionally fast, even by Hogwarts standards. He heard whispers all around him as he sat eating next to Luna Lovegood. The funny thing was that nobody seemed to mind him overhearing what they were saying about him. On the contrary. It was as though they were hoping he would start talking again if they whispered enough.

"He says he saw Cedric Diggory murdered . . ."

"Come off it . . ."

"But he does have that scar . . ."

"Who does he think he's kidding?"

As many voices talked about Harry's outburst after Y/N had left the classroom.

"He reckons he duelled with You-Know-Who . . ."

"Pur-lease . . ."

"Why do they all find it so hard to believe your story?" Luna asked absent-mindedly. "It wasn't hard two months ago."

"They changed their mind," Y/N said distractedly, and he took a bite of his apple pie. "When someone believes something, most of the time, it's because it's reassuring. Which is a wrong reason to believe, but easy to understand. Who would want to believe something that scares them when they could believe a reassuring tale?"

Luna tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

It was strangely quiet now, around the both of them. Y/N leant toward Luna, and out of the corner of his eye he saw people leaning more closely to hear what he was saying. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Two months ago, when Harry and I came back in the middle of the lawn with Cedric's dead body . . . believing Dumbledore was reassuring. He's the most powerful wizard of all, after all. But now, it's more reassuring to believe the Ministry, so they changed their mind."

"But you're telling the truth whereas the Ministry is lying," Luna said, not lowering her voice at all, as if she did not see the others trying to hear what he was saying. He thought how easy it would be to do like her, not caring about what others thought. Yet, though the step he had to take to do so was small, it seemed it was one of the hardest to make.

Still keeping his voice low, he said, "Truth has nothing to do with what people believe. You don't believe something because it is true; it is true because you believe it."

Rain poured on the windowpanes. A dull pounding pain was developing over Y/N's right eye as he kept glancing at the others, who still pricked up their ears toward him. He felt as though this first day had lasted a week. He still had a pile of homework to do before bed.

He left his apple unfinished, stood up, and said, "Good night, Luna." Then he walked out of the Hall, with people staring at him all the while.

The common room was almost empty when he stepped in; nearly everyone was still down at dinner. He moved a table at the fireside, took a chair and got his books out of his bag. It seemed a long time before he heard footsteps coming up the tower toward the common room, and fortunately he had finished his work by then. Before anyone had come inside, he was already inside his dormitory, and soon in his bed.

The following day dawned as rainy as the previous one.

"On the plus side," Ron said, "no Snape today."

Hermione yawned widely and poured herself some coffee. "How can Dumbledore have let this happen?" she said, glancing at the staff table. "How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our O.W.L. year too!"

"Well, we've never had great Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers," Y/N said. "Nobody wants the job, they say it's jinxed."

"Yes, but to employ someone who's actually refusing to let us do magic! What's Dumbledore playing at?"