The one not yet speaking would look to the one next to speak when the one speaking would begin coughing as well, which only happens when a group is giving a prepared presentation. Each of them were anticipating who'd be next to speak every time the one speaking would begin coughing and choking. Performers learning their lines do it all the time. By opening night they have their roles down pat and know all the staging directions by heart so they can play their role as naturally as possible. Including using their bodies to reinforce their lines. Makes the show more believable for the audience. Body language doesn't lie but words do. They're lying."
"She's right. Those spasms weren't normal coughing spells for children coming down with a cold or any other kind of chest related problem," said Madam Pomfrey putting away her wand which made it clear she'd run a diagnostic on them as they were talking. "Nor are the marks in any manner affecting their overall health or well-being. I can find no medical reason for their faces to be swelling as they are. All they need to do is tell the truth and everything will be fine."
"And the marks reacted every time the next speaker would begin speaking, too," added Professor Flitwick. "Or I should say when the speaker began to lie, the marks would react until the speaker was stopped by a coughing fit. And this isn't dark magic, Minerva. It's behavior modification via Magic herself. Parents use behavior modifying magic on their children all the time."
Professor Babbling said, "And when they were no longer speaking, it would begin to slowly fade until said individual began to lie again. Which indicates Filius is correct. The mark is a monitor that will slowly, over time, act as a correctional tool to train them into better behavior. You might say Mr. Potter has taken responsibility for the trio in the wrong doing he perceives them to have committed against him."
"He has no right," groused Hermione at the same time as Professor McGonagal whined, "But to use dark magic against them. . .".
"It's not dark magic," snapped Poppy, irritated with the Scottish woman and tired of her insistence that anything involving Mr. Potter's magic had to be dark in nature. Unlike her colleague, Professor Sinistra, she knew there was no dark magic involved here. Her diagnostic would have told her if there had been. Not that Professor Sinistra actually believed there was any either.
"But what else could it be, Poppy. It has to be dark magic."
Poppy shook her head and sighed. "I was scanning for dark magic and I found not a single bit of it in them or in the marks they bear. Not only that, but the only magic anywhere near them right now is their own."
Minerva blinked and muttered, "But. . .that can't be right. Mr. Potter put that mark on them. I'm sure they aren't lying about that. Even Severus said he did it. And Severus saw him do it but did nothing because they are all Gryffindors." It was clear to everyone she was more than a little bit upset with the Potions Master for not stopping Harry before he could do this to her students.
"As for him having no right, I'd say he had every right. They gave him that right when they took his coin for their interactions with or on his behalf and then betrayed his trust. By taking his coin, they named him their patron. By betraying him, they reneged on their agreement and so it was his right to punish them. As it is with any patron and their vassals," said Sinistra.
Minerva opened her mouth to object but was cut off by a new voice interrupting the budding argument amongst the teachers. Irma Pince responded to Minerva's complaint and maligning of Severus.
"No Ma'am. Professor Snape did nothing because Mr. Potter was within his rights, as Professor Sinistra has just stated. Mr. Potter called upon the old laws and customs which are still on the books. Professor Snape did nothing because he had no authority to intervene. It was a matter of wrong doing between the four of them."
Madam Pince had come into the hall for breakfast so quietly no one had even noticed her arrival. It was unusual for her to come to the Hall for her meals but she had a feeling these three would somehow try and turn things against Mr. Potter when he had acted within the law according to his rights and his station in their world. And though he had told them they would no longer be allowed to lie or slander him in thought word or deed, that didn't mean they wouldn't find a way to do it anyhow.
The two Weaselys might be purebloods but Madam Pince knew their family history. Probably better than they did. She knew the family was poor for a reason that had nothing to do with the earning power of the family. After all, the Father worked at the Ministry. His oldest son was a Curse Breaker for Gringott's.
The second oldest worked on a Dragon Preserve. The third oldest was working in the Ministry as well. All good high paying jobs that should see the family financially secure if not wealthy. Yet they were poverty stricken. No, their poverty had nothing to do with their earning power. They were poor because they were disgraced and in their disgrace, the family line was cursed to never be prosperous so long as they were without the necessary honor to admit their wrongdoing.
It had been proven to be true yet again with these two Weasely children. The family had no honor. And now they had a second curse for their dishonorable nature. Luckily this curse was locked onto a specific person and wouldn't carry down to their offspring.
Unfortunately, the family was also cursed to procreate in abundance so chances were good they would remain around for a good long time to come. And thanks to people like Albus, chances were good they'd still be able to marry their offspring off into respectable families tarnishing them as well and dragging them down into poverty with them.
As for the Granger girl, she might be highly intelligent but she was a first generation witch who refuses to learn the rules of this society. In no way, was she Mr. Potter's equal any more than the other two were. He outclassed all three of them combined. If he had chosen to press charges against them, all three would have found themselves not only expelled from Hogwarts but likely as not in Azkaban.
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