A few days ago-
Dumbledore idly twirled the wand in his hand for a moment, before calmly placing it beside the other two on his desk, his gaze turning between the three students.
The three currently trying to avoid looking him in the eye, as their gazes scoured the rest of his office, warily.
"Are we getting expelled?" The middle one, one Thomas Mulciber, questioned. The choice of name, by the boy's father, not at all lost to him.
Dumbledore waited a moment before answering, his gaze turning towards the other two for a brief moment. "What you three did, is ground for more than that." He remarked calmly, watching as the tenseness in the three before him rose. "There are people suggesting you get your wand's snapped." No reaction. "And some even suggesting you end up directly in Azkaban. For what you tried."
The third, unsurprisingly, got a reaction out of the three.
"Is there any reason none of the above should be done?"
"...You can snap our wands..." Noah Johnson stated carefully, his lip trembling the slightest. "That's-"
"I find wands are rather easy to procure," Dumbledore remarked evenly, not that he had any intention of returning theirs to them any time soon. The three before him had for lack of a better been blacklisted in regards to carrying wands during the rest of their schooling- Snapping their wands in front of them would only convince them to try and get another as soon as they could. Whether he'd return their wands following their graduation, remains to be seen. His professors had been warned to confiscate any wands seen and/or reported to be in their hands "And judging by your reactions, even an expulsion is unlikely to make you see what you did was wrong, the killing-"
"It was never meant to kill anyone!" Mulciber immediately called out, panicked, the boy immediately shaking his head repeatedly as his face briefly lost color.; "You- you can't send us to Azkaban! It was only meant to-" He promptly bit his lip, turning his gaze to the side. "Scare that little shit."
Dumbledore blinked passively, about to open his mouth to retort-
"Yeah... We tested it beforehand... To make sure.." The third voice pointed out. "Couldn't even kill a spider with it- It definitely wasn't going to kill any of them..."
Mulciber nodded rapidly following his partner's words. "We knew it wasn't going to do any-"
"That doesn't excuse it!" Dumbledore spoke over them, sharply as his eyes narrowed. "The Killing curse isn't something that can be predicted- The dark arts may tell you it requires more than just uttering an incantation- But you do not and cannot rely on that!" He thundered, watching as the three wilted back into their seats. "Had anythinghappened differently, there would be a funeral marked against you."
"It's Black's fault... If he hadn't pissed off-" Whatever Oliver, Harold Minchum's son, had been about to say, stopped short as Mulciber promptly elbowed him.
Dumbledore let out another sigh. "Whose idea was it?" He questioned calmly. "Who thought it prudent to justify the use of a Killing-curse for a scare tactic?"
Mulciber immediately started shaking his head. "...If we tell you that, we really will end up in Azkaban..."
"Then I am afraid, all that's left is for me to snap your wands and see you out the castle." Once again no reaction. "Your trials will-"
And Minchum immediately rose up, even more panicked. "No, no, no, you can't make the cause public, please! My father will actually kill me!"
Dumbledore's gaze zeroed in on the boy's face, watching as the momentary panic left him as quickly as it had come, the boy falling back onto his seat, his hands opening and closing rapidly. "Merlin! we weren't even meant to use the stupid curse! It was just meant to be a green light show! That asshole was the one that cast it first! Then these idiots copied-"
"Oi!" Mulciber remarked, panicked as he put a hand on Minchem's shoulder. His own panic clear in his eyes. "Shut it." He whispered in vain.
Minchum however, turned a look towards him in response. "I don't know whatyou're so calm about! You're in as much crap as I am if the ministry finds out- Unspeakables aren't meant to have Killing curse throwing children!"
Mulciber hissed at the words, as he grabbed the other by the cruff of his robes, his darting between the boy his own eyes. "You can't just say that!" He whispered vehemently.
Dumbledore let out another sigh-
"It was Malfoy." Johnson promptly remarked, freezing the other two. "Everything, down to the last fuckin' T, was his idea, and he'll deny it all to save his own ass." Before the other two could say anything, said student let out an unamused snort as he shook his own head. "Don't look at me like that! If we're going down, we're taking that fucker too! Minchum's dad's campaign's funded by Black's dad, the Unspeakables are run by his family and Malfoy's betrothed to his cousin. And he's seen all our faces." The boy took a pause, breathing in and out before continuing. "It's only a matter of time before that freak of nature figures out Malfoy was involved too." The boy let out a long sigh, his gaze momentarily looking up towards the ceiling. "I said it before, and I'll say it again. Threatening him, was a stupid ass idea."
And, just like that, all the wind in their sails died as each of them firmly took on the situation at hand- horror and defeat rolling out of them in waves.
"We're fucked." Minchum remarked, his gaze staring into nothingness. "Holy shit, we're fucked. Black's going to get us killed by our bloody parents!"
In all of his capacity as a headmaster, he realized there was nothing he could do to straighten the students out before him, as anything he tried likely wouldn't compare to what their families would, barring advocating for sending them directly to Azkaban- Which considering Voldemort'sintent to recruit from there, if his source is to be believed, was a fate worse than death. And expelling them? Well, he might as well just hand them to him on a silver platter.
Expelled students, generally didn't have many tracks to choose from- And the three before him definitely weren't on track, yet, to join up with Tom. As it were in truth, It wouldn't take much to push them onto either side.
"Headmaster..." Mulciber suddenly questioned, a lost look in his eyes. "...you think you can talk Black out of-" whatever he'd been about to say died on his lips as the boy's gaze dropped to the floor. "Shit." Mulciber covered his eyes with his hands, repeating the word.
Mercy... At the best of times could and usually would turn one's life into the best it could be- Unfortunately, for once, said mercy, wasn't something he could offer them. For the cards weren't in his hands.
For the first time ever, in his capacity as a headmaster, the fate of negligent children was in the hands of another student.
All it would take would be to convince one eleven-year-old to give his father some advice... For he knew Orion black would listen to Sirius's side first, before anyone else. Particularly because it was his sonthey'd targeted.
...How hard could it be to convince a child to see the best in people?
...
I've seen a lot of posts regarding What Dumbledore should do- here and in Ffn- But I feel like if he was willing to ignore Sirius trying to offer up Snape to a werewolf in canon, then he'd be willing to overlook just about anything as long as no one actually died. Only during the cusp of the first wizarding war though, as any students expelled, or otherwise, almost immediately fell into Voldemort's army.
If Voldemort wasn't running around, then yes, Dumbledore wouldn't hesitate, but when the options were A: Throw em into Azkaban and eventually have them join the Death Eaters, B: Expel and immediately have them join the Death Eaters or C, try and change them for the better whilst keeping them under lock and key? I feel like C is always the answer.