A/N: Parts of this chapter may not be for the weak of heart (or stomach). Enjoy

Y/N woke up early Thursday morning, smiling as he felt a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and looked down, smiling even more as he saw a bushy mop of brown hair blocking his vision.

His arms were wrapped round her and as he squeezed he was immediately aware of a severe pain in his right shoulder. He looked down and noticed from his shoulder down to his chest and bicep there was a deep black/purple bruise.

He lifted his right arm from around Hermione, who was fortunately on his left side, and tried to lift it over his head but wasn't able to, he groaned at the exertion causing Hermione to stir. She smiled as she woke, lifting her head and saying sweetly:

"Good morning Y-"

She stopped mid-sentence, a look of horror on her face.

Y/N smiled and braced for impact.

-~-

Hermione was gripping Y/N's hand tightly, trying to guide him down to the hospital wing. He was topless, in only trousers and shoes that Hermione had helped him to put on.

The couple had had a brief argument. Y/N wanted to do his workout as normal. Hermione threatened to ask the Room of Requirement for a shovel to smack him across the head.

Hermione had won as she gently pulled him towards the hospital wing to be checked over by Madam Pomfrey.

-~-

Poppy was still in her dressing gown, it had just ticked over 6:00am and she had not yet had her morning coffee. This all resulted in her bedside manner being less than ideal.

"The first week and you're already in here Y/N. I had hoped this year would be a bit quieter than last year, but I should have known that was impossible given how much like Thomas you are!"

Y/N chuckled before grimacing as Poppy rotated his shoulder.

"Molly and Arthur did say you were close to them and my Dad" Y/N smiled through the pain of his examination.

"Yes I am with your godparents, and I was with your dear father, which means I have it on solid authority to say you are as tunnel visioned and pigheaded as your bloody father ever was, may he Rest In Peace. You've got a lot of bruising and swelling but no breaks which is miraculous considering the size of the solid oak door you barrelled through!"

Hermione was relieved to hear the damage wasn't too serious. Y/N looked at the stern witch in front of him with his customary cocky smirk before asking with a wry chuckle:

"You heard about that then?"

Poppy narrowed her eyes:

"I did. Minerva needed a large sherry after fixing the damage you did around the castle, and I needed one after fixing the people you damaged around the castle. I am relieved you are ok though Ms Granger."

Poppy chuckled before looking at Y/N sadly as he looked down, remembering the cause of his concern the previous evening.

-~-

Y/N had been required to stay in the hospital wing all day, being iced down for his swelling. Hermione stayed with him the entire time, reading and doing assignments at his bedside.

Late that night the pair were heading back to the common room after Y/N had been dismissed from the hospital. It was past curfew and as the pair walked through the deserted and darkened halls they were guided only by the light emitted from Hermione's lumos-induced wand.

Y/N was walking next to her, his eyes darting from one darkened corner to another- each one seemed to hold a threat he was determined to strike down.

Hermione knew Y/N was in fight mode again- not only by the look in his eyes, but by the fact he had both of his wands out.

He never had his secret wand out, at least not that Hermione had seen, unless it was an urgent situation.

She was about to reassure him that everything was ok when Y/N stopped and pointed his primary wand forward, stepping quickly forward and guiding Hermione behind him. He growled menacingly:

"You had best be prepared to die!"

Hermione saw a green glow momentarily permeate from the tip of Y/N's wand before they heard a familiar chuckle and the glow dissipated.

"I did try it once but I didn't take kindly to it."

Two familiar friendly faces floated around the corner as Y/N stood to the side, allowing Hermione to step forward.

"Sir Nicholas, Lady Fraser, how lovely to see you both" Hermione smiled widely and bowed at the two ghosts, the spectral pair returning the gesture.

"How are you settling in Lady Fraser?" Y/N asked, his eyes still darting around the corridor.

"Very well thank you my dear. It's quite an adjustment, all these students, but it's lovely, everyone has been so welcoming. I can never thank you enough Y/N" the happy ghost smiled as she got choked up with emotion.

Y/N stopped scanning the hall momentarily to look at the deceased lady. He smiled and nodded, happy to see her so happy. She smiled and continued:

"Sir Nicholas was good enough to accompany me on a midnight stroll. Shouldn't you two be in bed? Or the hospital wing at least?"

"You heard about yesterday?" Y/N asked with a sigh. The ghosts nodded.

"It was the talk of the whole castle today, Y/N" Nick replied.

-~-

Y/N and Hermione had finally gotten back to the Gryffindor common room and it was close to 1:00am. After a prolonged apology to the Fat Lady she finally forgave Y/N and the two entered and plopped down onto their couch.

Y/N had been going back and forth in his head about something all day. This was the reason he went to the steps he did. He needed to deploy the Potion, but it meant explaining who he was. What he was.

Well he would rather she hate him and be alive then like him and...

"'Mione. We need to talk about something and you're not going to like it" Y/N said abruptly.

Hermione had been tiredly rubbing her eyes from her position leaning into Y/N, but stopped as she sat up and looked into his eyes, greatly concerned.

"Wh-What?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Just one second" Y/N said, unsheathing his wand again-

Hominum Revelio

Silencio

Cave Inimicum

He sheathed his wand and offered Hermione a worried smile.

"What do you need to tell me Y/N?" Hermione asked concerned, not just by his vague and ominous words, but that he was paranoid they were being spied on and felt the need to silence and hide their presence. He seemed to be getting more paranoid by the day.

She watched as Y/N pulled a large and peculiar shaped vial out of his pouch. It resembled the muggle test tubes she had used in her old science classes, but it was wider and larger. It had a cork at the end. She looked at the almost black-reddish thick sludgy liquid inside before gasping.

Two eyeballs were floating in the liquid.

"Y/N is that? Are those?" Hermione asked in horror.

"They are human eyeballs Hermione. This Potion is called the Potion to Create Extra Eyes. It is extremely dark and deeply occultic magic. I brewed it myself, over the summer, after I got the book you and Penny picked up from Villanelle."

Hermione could only stare at the flask and nod as Y/N continued:

"These eyeballs were taken from a maggot piece of shit named Clinton Shyverwretch. The thing about this Potion is that the eyeballs had to come from a willing victim. Clinton was most willing for me to take his eyes. Or at least he was after a couple of hours, when I was done with him anyway."

Hermione sat ingesting Y/N's words, trying to understand them. She was struck by the name. Why was it familiar? What had Y/N done to him?

Y/N looked her straight in the eye.

"He owned a potions store in Knockturn Alley. He tried to sell me Adrenochrome. Do you know what that is?"

Hermione shook her head.

"It's a secretion from a person's pineal gland, closely resembling adrenaline, but much more charged in magical potency. It's excreted most heavily when you are scared. I will not share the memories with you, but he kidnapped a muggle girl. She was barely ten. What he did to her to extract the compound..."

Y/N trailed off, closing his eyes and turning his head, sickened by the memories he had extracted from Shyverwretch's mind. Hermione gasped and covered her mouth, realising what Y/N meant.

"I made him suffer. I made him hurt. I made him bleed, Hermione. When I was done with him he was only too happy to give up his eyes to stop my torments."

Hermione sat and listened, just digesting Y/N's words before her mouth dropped.

"I punished him, Hermione."

It clicked in Hermione's mind as a look of realisation grew on her face. There had been an article every other day during the summer. The Daily Prophet was running a campaign of fear against this vigilante. Hermione looked at Y/N shocked as his next words echoed her own realisation:

"Yes, Hermione. I am The Punisher."

They sat in an awkward silence before Y/N continued quietly:

"I understand if you no longer wish to be close to me. If you despise me. But I will continue to keep you safe. All I care about is your safety."

Y/N was expecting Hermione to look at him in horror, like a monster, like a-

His internal monologue was cut off as Hermione barrelled into Y/N's chest, wrapping her arms around his midsection. She squeezed him tightly as she whispered:

"I don't despise you Y/N. I could never despise you. But those men... the ones you killed..."

"They were evil men 'Mione. Shyverwretch had that girl for days. The things he did to her. Burke, if he came across you alone there's a chance he would kidnap, torture and murder you, just for being Muggleborn. He'd done it before. I made sure they couldn't hurt anyone again."

Hermione's eyes watered, she felt so overwhelmed. She had grown up with a morally black and white viewpoint of the world.

Stealing, hurting others, killing was wrong. But she loved Y/N, and he made a valid point. They had hurt innocent people. They were evil. Pure evil. Because of, or rather thanks to Y/N, they couldn't ever hurt anyone again.

Hermione felt so conflicted and confused that she wasn't sure what to think. Instead she turned to practicality, what she knew. She looked at the vial in Y/N's hand.

"So what's in there Y/N? How does it work?"

"There's the eyeballs obviously, a raven's feather, foggy tea, lacewing flies, darkest darkness powder annnnd-"

Y/N looked up towards the ceiling as he tried to recall:

"... about a pint of my blood, stewed down"

Hermione's eyes opened wide.

"Your... your blood?" she gasped in horror. Y/N nodded and replied:

"With dark magic there always has to be a sacrifice made 'Mione."

Hermione nodded and Y/N continued:

"To answer your second question, I basically place these eyes somewhere and then, after drinking the potion, I can see through them, in my mind. I'll be able to protect you even if we're separated."

Hermione looked at Y/N horrified:

"Drink.. drink it? But it's got your blood and-"

Y/N squeezed Hermione's hand and offered a reassuring smile:

"There's always a price to be paid to achieve anything of significance 'Mione. Just so you know, no price is too high to keep you safe. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you. Can you hold this please?"

Y/N finished by holding out the vial which he uncorked. Hermione took it with a short nod, fully aware of the heavy blush that had quickly grown on her cheeks.

Of course Y/N noticed, but he didn't playful tease her, instead he unsheathed both of his wands. One of the eyeballs slowly levitated out of the vial, the iris and pupil darting around the sclera of the squishy orb.

Hermione tried her best not to gag, but she couldn't help but to shiver in repulsion.

Y/N levitated the eyeball with his secondary wand up the flight of stairs towards the girls dormitory hallway. As it reached the top corner- looking down the hall towards the bathrooms at the end- Y/N carefully guided the orb to its desired location. He pointed his primary wand and muttered:

Epoximise

The eyeball stuck perfectly to the wall, Y/N sheathing his secret wand before casting:

Evanesco

Hermione raised an eyebrow as the eyeball vanished.

"What were those spells Y/N?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Sticking charm and vanishing spell, both in fifth year Transfiguration. Now I've got eyes on your dorm door, no one can get in without me knowing. Now for the next one... you're not going to like it."

"Oh no? Where's it going to go?" Hermione asked with a sense of dread.

"You wear your necklace everyday right 'Mione? The one I bought you last year".

Hermione smiled and nodded, reaching under her collar and pulling out the pendant before a look of horror crossed her face. She looked at Y/N and stuttered:

"You don't mean...?"

Y/N offered another sad smile and nodded.

"It's going to be invisible and I'm going to shrink it down. You won't even know it's there. Just make sure when you go to change or shower you take off the necklace first if you're looking into a mirror"

Y/N said it so matter of factly as he was focusing on levitating and shrinking the eyeball he didn't realise what he had said, or the unintended implications of his words. Hermione did though. She blushed even harder. She desperately racked her brain to think of a question, eventually settling on:

"How long will these last Y/N? I mean are they preserved or...?"

Y/N was still focusing on her sapphire pendant, the eyeball had been shrunk to fingernail size and was just being attached to the necklace and turned invisible so he again answered without looking up:

"They won't last forever. I've placed a slowed decomposition curse on them, the same one that's used to ensure inferi or zombies don't decompose. Given how small an eye is and it's relatively large surface area to volume ratio we won't starve off decomposition forever, but we should see out the year which is all we need andddd.... done"

Y/N smiled as he released Hermione's pendant. He looked up into her eyes and noticed her blush for the first time.

"You ok?" Y/N asked, suddenly concerned, before he was reassured by a sweet smile.

"I am. Thank you Y/N, for everything."

Y/N returned Hermione's smile but added a wry chuckle.

"This is really going to suck"

He took the vial from Hermione, sighed and threw his head back, downing the thick, noxious, almost black liquid down.

Hermione squeezed his spare hand as she could see him gagging and he tried with all his might to keep the abhorrent liquor down. The smell was repellent. She couldn't bare to imagine what it must taste like.

He finally finished, dropping the vial that smashed on the floor as he grabbed his stomach and was almost instantly doubled over in pain.

"Y/N!... Y/N!!!" Hermione screamed in panic. Y/N looked up as profuse sweating had broken out across his brow:

"It's ok 'Mione. It's just passing through my body. Just give me a moment."

Y/N sat hunched for a few minutes,
Hermione worriedly rubbing his back before he finally sat upright.

"I'm ok 'Mione. I'm ok. Just part of the process but..."

Y/N trailed off as he closed his eyes:

"It's working. It's working"

Hermione could hear the relief in Y/N's voice before she giggled when he added:

"It's really weird looking at yourself like this."

-~-

It was Saturday morning and time for the first Gryffindor Quidditch practice of the year. Y/N and Hermione hadn't separated since the incident at the library, other than for bed. Apart from the one day when he was in hospital, Y/N had resumed his usual newly intense workout each morning, pushing through the pain from his injuries.

The whole castle was whispering behind Y/N's back about what was wrong with him, questioning if he was losing his mind, but of course none would say anything to his face.

Oliver had originally scheduled the training session for 6:00am, but changed it to 9:00am when Y/N had flat out told him he would not be attending at that time. Hermione would either be left alone in the stands as none of the others would be up yet, or worse would have to walk to breakfast without Y/N. Oliver was frustrated but knew his Seeker would walk with the slightest provocation.

Quidditch was Oliver's number one priority in life. Nothing else mattered to him, other then recapturing that House Cup. He only had two more seasons before he graduated and had to impress enough to get picked up by a pro side on graduation. He needed Y/N on his team but knew that as much as Quidditch meant to him, Hermione meant even more to Y/N. He therefore had to acquiesce to his Seeker's demands.

The team was walking down to the pitch along with Ron, Lavender and of course, Hermione.

Hermione was next to Y/N on one side of the group, Katie was right on the other side, hiding behind Angelina.

Wood was giving his team a talk as they were leaving the courtyard to head towards the pitch:

"I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program. We're going to train earlier, harder and longer."

"You might Wood, but you don't need me for that. I turn up on game day and catch the Snitch, sorted."

Wood opened his mouth to reply to Y/N before a group of green robes walking towards the Gryffindors caught his eye. The captain muttered to himself: "I don't believe this."

The Slytherin team stopped dead in front of the Gryffindors. Y/N chuckled- Crabb, Goyle and Malfoy were all wearing Slytherin Quidditch robes.

Y/N and Marcus Flint- the crooked toothed, troll wannabe Slytherin Quidditch Captain- glared at each other, an arrogant smirk crossing Y/N's lips as Flint gasped.

The event from the previous year flashed into his mind, he gripped his arm as he relived the intense pain of its bad break. Y/N chuckled as Flint heard in his head, clear as day:

Yeah, don't forget you're my bitch Flinty!

As Flint stared at Y/N in fear Oliver snapped loudly:

"I don't believe it. I booked the pitch. I booked it!"

"I- I've got a note" Flint stammered, still in shock at reliving his trauma from the previous year. Oliver snatched it out of his hand and read it aloud, extremely aggravated:

"I Severus Snape do give Slytherin permission to train owing to the last minute addition of a new seeker and new beaters. Any inconvenience to Lion Cubs is deeply regrettable."

The Gryffindors exploded in anger at the mocking tone of the note, except for two. Y/N's face remained neutral, his best espionage work so far in his life, as every fibre of his being wanted to jump for joy.

This was a coded message to him, one of sincerity. Severus had told him how his father and he had code names for each other when they were working together undercover for the Order. Snape's nickname was Snake. Thomas's nickname was Lion.

Snape had 'jokingly' nicknamed Y/N "Lion Cub", a term of genuine endearment. The Potions Master though had laughed off his own suggestion, in case Y/N rejected the notion. The Professor was secretly overjoyed when Y/N had jumped at the idea.

Y/N knew this was a coded sincere apology to him. Hermione looked down and smiled, understanding its meaning as she squeezed his hand. She knew how much Y/N cared for Severus. She could see when she had joined him for his 'detentions' every Saturday in first year how much he hung off Severus's words and attention. How desperate Y/N was for a patriarchal father figure. She saw in Severus's eyes how he reciprocated the feeling, desperately wanted a child-like figure of his own as well. It melted her heart.

Both were pulled from their thoughts as Oliver snapped:

"So you have a new seeker and two new beaters huh? Who?"

The Slytherin team turned to look at Malfoy and his two idiots who sauntered forward and looked even more arrogant then normal.

"You?" Ron asked shocked. Draco smirked at the redhead:

"That's right and that's not all that's new this year"

He motioned to his broom, as he and the other Slytherins held their brooms out.

"Are those Nimbus 2001s?" Ron asked in stunned disbelief and admiration.

"That's right" Draco sneered: "Unlike some people my father can afford the best."

Usually he would have been careful speaking around Y/N, but Y/N had been exceptionally quiet, thinking about his paternal bond with Snape. He was quickly pulled from his thoughts.

"At least no one in the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent"

Hermione spoke with defiance and distain against the disgusting Slytherins and their imagined superiority. Y/N smiled at her words and her delivery. Merlin he loved her sass.

Draco slunk backwards, knowing not to poke that bear. He had seen first hand what had happened to his father. He did not wish for a repeat. His idiot friend though wasn't as wise. Goyle glared at Hermione like she was rubbish and almost spat at her:

"No one asked your opinion. You filthy little Mudblood!"

-~-

For the two Quidditch teams and their hanger-on's the world seemed to slow. Both teams were in shocked disbelief. Two people reacted.

Ron had his wand, broken from the incident with the Whomping Willow and held together with spell-o-tape, in his hands in a moment. He yelled "Eat slugs!" pointing his wand at Goyle before the spell blasted Ron backwards instead. It hadn't even left his wand. No one reacted though as he was flung, they were all two busy watching Y/N, horrified.

-~-

"...You filthy little Mudblood!"

Hermione gasped, heartbroken at the horrific racial slur thrown against her. Almost everyone else from the two teams were just as shocked, if for no other reason then for who it was said to.

All Y/N saw was fire. His vision faded, he heard that voice in his head. The inner monologue. It roared in fury:

Fucking incinerate him!

Y/N was over to Goyle in less than a second. He threw one punch against the Slytherin. Just one. Everyone around jumped in horror at the sickening cracking sound it made when the hit connected.

Goyle's head snapped around 90 degrees. His jaw appeared to have become detached from his face, only seemingly held on by flesh as his lower face was contorted unnaturally. He was unconscious well before his body slumped to the floor.

Y/N was punched almost immediately in the face. Victor Crabb had punched his distant cousin as hard as he could. Y/N barely registered the contact before quickly grabbing the obese Slytherin by his collar and smashing his head into the boy's face.

Crabb's squealed loudly as his nose was shattered, before his head was shoved downwards with tremendous force, it was met with a knee raising at a similar velocity. The knee connected with Crabb's temple. He dropped to the floor and almost immediately began to seize.

Y/N felt a punch to the side of his head. It had come from behind. He quickly grabbed the arm that had struck him, and seeing it had a green robe, he turned the arm to face upwards and quickly smashed it down with tremendous force against his shoulder. He felt the moron's arm shatter before he released him.

Y/N turned to see Marcus Flint on the ground holding his arm, screaming and snotting and crying in pain. It had been broken, by Y/N, again.

Y/N looked at the Slytherins who remained on their feet. They stared at him with abject terror in their eyes, thinking for sure they were next.

Y/N had destroyed the three biggest members of the Slytherin team in a matter of only moments. He stalked forward, ready to continue his onslaught before a dainty hand was placed on his chest, holding him back.

-~-

Y/N felt Hermione gently restrain him. He didn't push back against her but neither did he break eye contact with his remaining enemies as he roared:

"Is there no one else? IS THERE NO ONE ELSE?!?"

Y/N emerged from his growing bloodlust feeling a hand on his cheek. He looked down to see Hermione looking into his eyes, smiling sweetly.

-~-

Once again, seeing Y/N become unhinged, mad with bloodlust, Hermione felt no fear, no apprehension. Her only desire was to calm the raging beast within Y/N. She stroked his cheek and looked lovingly into his ever-calming eyes:

"I need you to calm down. We need to help Ron, ok?"

Y/N looked over to his godbrother, who was on the ground, on all fours, periodically vomiting large thick green slugs.

Y/N nodded, picked Ron up and threw him over his shoulder.

"We'll go to Hagrid's" Harry said concerned as he looked at the three boys on the floor, still fearful after what had just happened. Y/N walked off with Hermione holding his hand tightly and Ron over his shoulder. Lavender turned to a shocked and shaken Oliver Wood and pointed at the three Slytherins on the floor:

"Get them to Madam Pomfrey, quickly"

-~-

The five arrived at Hagrid's Hut just to see the door open, Professor Lockhart exiting the Hut.

"Hide" Harry squealed, trying to pull Y/N behind a bush. Y/N stood firm, instead yelling out to the Professor:

"Oi Lockfart. Piss off! Now!"

Y/N took on an extremely menacing tone as he growled at the fraudulent wizard. Lockhart shrieked before leaving passed the five Gryffindors.

Harry sighed in relief, looking down as Lockhart walked passed him, not wanting to make eye contact. He noticed lines faintly across the Professor's hand. Ones that looked remarkably like scars that Y/N had recently 'acquired'. He would ask about that at a later point.

Y/N knocked loudly on Hagrid's door, and the five heard a loud bellowing from inside:

"Wha' does tha' bleedin' goose-saddlin' coxcomb want now?"

The door was opened with force and an angry Hagrid was replaced with a happy then confused one in quick succession.

"A bleeding what?" Harry asked in shock.

"Nothing, 'Arry. Just need ta get a Kelpie out of a well in Hogsmeade over the next few days. Idiot was tryin' ta give me advice. You'll be comin' with me ta help Y/N. Dumbledore's orders."

Hermione's eyes lit up in excitement, knowing how much Y/N loved Kelpies, remembering their holiday at Loch Ness. Hagrid expected a joyful reaction. They were both shocked when Y/N simply nodded and said quietly:

"Hermione will need to come" before he tossed Ron harshly onto a chair.

"Wha' happened to 'im?" Hagrid asked, still puzzled by Y/N's demeanour as he sat in the large chair he and Hermione always shared. As Y/N had grown considerably since first year Hermione nervously sat on his lap, muttering shyly that she "needed to check him over."

"Slugulus Eructo" Y/N replied to Hagrid coldly: "Self inflicted."

Hagrid chuckled, looking at the broken wand that had fallen from Ron's pocket.

"Need ta replace tha' wand Ronald. Hang on, this calls for specialist equipment."

He disappeared to another room. Hermione held a handkerchief to Y/N's forehead, wiping away some blood that had trickled down his face, before casting:

Episkey

and healing a small cut that had came as a result of his headbutt on Crabb. Hagrid reappeared with a bucket in his hand that he placed in front of Ron.

"Nothin' to do but wait it out. Who was he trying to hex anyway?"

Lavender answered answered the groundskeeper's question with a scowl:

"Gregory Goyle. He called Hermione a horrible word. That horrible word, Hagrid."

Hagrid gasped loudly:

"'E didn't?"

Hermione nodded, wiping some tears from her eyes as she was squeezed and kissed on the head by Y/N. Lavender continued:

"It was disgusting and there's no place for it, but what you did.. what the hell is wrong with you Y/N? You could've killed them!"

Harry and Ron stared at Y/N, fear on their faces. Hermione leant into Y/N more, cuddling him, trying to restrain him as he snarled back:

"They crossed the line Lav. They deserved to die. They're lucky I didn't end them."

"One of them said a word. One word. You nearly killed three of them for it. I know it's horrible but..."

"You don't know shit, so shut your fucking ignorant mouth!" Y/N roared back, cutting Lavender off. She looked at him shocked- he never spoke to his friends like that. Her mouth dropped wide open as Hagrid growled at Y/N:

"That's enough, Y/N!"

Y/N's lip curled, Hermione's weight on his lap was the only reason he wasn't on his feet. He growled in a low menacing tone:

"Really Hagrid? You're gonna take her side. Really?"

The room was quiet momentarily as Y/N and Hagrid death glared each other. Hagrid finally spoke in a threatening tone:

"Something you wanna say boy? Then say it!"

Y/N stared at the man in the eyes, refusing to be intimidated by anyone as he spoke coldly:

"Fine. You're half giant..."

The other students stared in shock. They had suspected but didn't want to ask. Y/N continued:

"... Hermione is a Muggle born. Lavender and Harry are filthy half bloods to them, Ron and I are blood traitors..."

Even Lavender was looking downwards at this point:

"... people... scum like that murdered Harry's parents, murdered my father. I was tortured... fucking tortured when I was only a fucking baby because he fought against scum like that. Those scumbags..."

Y/N raise a pointed finger directly towards the Quidditch Pitch:

"...Those maggot pieces of shit, they fucking start at words like Mudblood. They get away with words and they turn to actions. They get away with actions it turns to crimes... they get away with crimes it turns to atrocities.... you don't just let them get away with it. You rip it out at the roots!"

Y/N was tremoring with rage as he finished. The room had grown darker and colder the more he spoke, a frightening atmosphere seeming to envelop the hut and all within it. Hermione leant in tight to Y/N, squeezing him.

Goyle's words had hurt her terribly, but it hurt her more to hear Y/N discuss his pain. She was so proud of him to be such an amazing person, to have such an incredible sense of morality and righteousness, given all he had suffered. As she squeezed Y/N felt himself calming slightly, as he inhaled deeply and slowly. Lavender mumbled:

"I didn't know Y/N. I didn't realise..."

Y/N inhaled deeply and slowly, calming himself as the tension in the atmosphere dissipated. He spoke as calmly as he could:

"No Lav, you didn't. You and Ron have had nice, sheltered, loving and comfy lives. You don't know pain. You don't know hardship and you have no right to judge those who do. And you Harry..."

Y/N looked at Harry. It was different to any other glare he had given in the last half an hour. It was a deeply pained expression:

"And you Harry. Don't you dare be afraid of me. Don't you dare. I've walked through hell to keep you safe. I've killed to protect you. Tortured and been tortured to protect you. Risked a lifetime sentence in fucking Azkaban to protect you. So don't you dare fear me. You and 'Mione are the only people in this school who can say they don't have to!"

Harry gave a small smile, looking down feeling extremely guilty. Hagrid had gone quiet. Ron and Lavender were staring at their feet. Hermione was cuddling Y/N tightly.

It was silent in the hut for a few minutes until there was a quiet knock at the door. Hagrid answered and it was Percy.

"Y/N, I'm here to take you to the Headmaster. You've really done it this time!"

Hermione looked up at Y/N from where she sat on his lap with a look of severe concern. He looked down with his cocky smirk before kissing her on the temple:

"C'mon 'Mione, lets go face the music"

"I was told to bring you and you alone Y/N. She can't come"

Percy spoke firmly, his natural arrogance quickly emerging. Y/N smirked aggressively, chuckling as he answered:

"Who the fuck is going to stop her? You? Get the fuck out of my way!"

Y/N stepped forward, pushing Percy fiercely out of his path. Percy would have hit the ground were it not for Hagrid's long reach. As Y/N walked out of Hagrid's hut, hand in hand with Hermione, he felt a sharp prod in the middle of his back:

"Percy. Remove that wand out of my back before I shove it up your arse!"

He chuckled as it was quickly removed.

The three walked through the school, every group of students they passed were staring and whispering.

"This place would have been really boring if I wasn't here" Y/N chuckled to Hermione. She squeezed his hand tightly and then wrapped her arms around his arm, whispering:

"That's not something I ever want to imagine."

The three finally reached the Headmaster's office and ascended the waiting staircase, as the office doors opened Y/N chuckled, whispering to Hermione:

"Here we go!"

Hermione looked at the people waiting in the Headmaster's office and immediately broke into an anxiety attack. All she could whisper was "Oh no!"