Capítulo 13: Growing Up Is A Process
DADA Classroom, Hogwarts
October 28th, 1972
He stared down at four very naughty boys. Two of which were looking guilty, while the other two looked as innocent as a murderer with the murder weapon in hand and the victim two feet away.
"And what possessed you four to go through with this…plan." He spoke with disdain. He glanced over towards the fifth individual within his room, one Severus Snape. The young teen of sixteen years, a third year, stared up at him with wide eyes.
"Snivellus was going to put a potion in our food! We just got at him first!" The brash James Potter proclaimed, making the professor raise an eyebrow.
"Were you going to put a potion in their food? And be honest." He directed his question towards Severus, although his gaze never left James.
"Erm…I wanted to give Lily the Wart-Removal Potion that I brewed last potion's class. Slughorn said it was of superb quality, and I wanted to show off I guess."
"A love spat, mien gott." Ebon whispered under his breath, ignoring the rejections of that truth and statements of character assassination spewing from the other four boys. "Sirius, do I need to call one of your sisters here to discipline you, or will you keep the profanity to an absolute minimum from now on?"
The boy's trap snapped shut.
"James." He uttered, drawing the boy's attention, "It is obvious you are the one with the grudge to bear towards Severus. Would you like to enlighten the class, or will I be forced to assume you are romantically interested in his person?"
The boy's face heated up like a stove, while Ebon kept his face utterly stone cold to not give away his personal enjoyment of the teen's embarrassment. "Now. You five are all acting like schoolboys, which normally would be all fine, but as third years, you are now technically adults within the backwards laws of Magical Britian. James, you sent the diarrhea jinx towards Snape. Did you know that spell has killed tens of thousands of muggles due to a minor quirk of virality, capable of spreading to hundreds of victims from its carrier? Which often includes the caster, if they don't know the countercharm."
James' face paled rapidly, "Erm, uh."
"You do know the countercharm, correct?"
"No." He whispered.
"What a predicament." He mused. "Due to your actions right now, I'm afraid I'm forced to punish you four. So, we'll make that a combined detention to be served for two-hours for one week."
"What! An entire week!" James exclaimed.
"Hmm. Make that two weeks for calling your victim a derogatory name straight to my face, and the blatant character assassination you dared spew at me unprompted."
The four gapped. "Now. Severus, if you are being bullied by these four anymore, I want you to come directly to me. I will know if you lie to me, and I will believe you if you are telling the truth. You do not want to lie to me and waste my time, am I understood?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"I said. Am. I. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good. You can wait outside, I have a few words I want to say to these fine gentlemen, and then I want to have a private talk with you Severus."
The teen scampered out.
"James Potter, hmm? Sweet on a girl that Severus knows personally, holds true to the Gryfindor-Slytherin rivalry to an unhealthy degree, above average within Transfiguration, about average in DADA, and above-average in charms. You and your four friends are likely having a wonderful time at Hogwarts, hmm? Are you having fun?"
There was silence.
"Speak when spoken to!" He thundered.
"Y-yes sir!"
"Now, normally I'm all for pranks. With magic you can get away with a lot, but there are limits to my patience and tolerance. If you want to hit Severus with a pie and laugh about it, be my guest; it'll annoy the boy, but it builds character." He leaned forward and stared the teen in the eyes, "What I don't like are when things get a bit too serious. I don't want my classroom to smell like shit, and Severus is a troubled, but decent sort who doesn't deserve attacks on his character. While I assume you four aren't of the purposely malicious sort, perhaps a bit of mutual understanding could go a long way. So, let's hypothetically say you achieved your chosen and desired result; Severus Snape has diarrhea and releases a crap in the middle of DADA class. What do you think happens then?"
"I, well, it'd be funny?" James tried.
"No. It'd be fucking annoying you dull brained brat." Ebon growled. "First, would be the fact that Severus is a Slytherin. You four might not give a shit about that, but within the house of the snake, your social status is king. Severus is already a half-blood, and thus he's given a lot of crap from his classmates. He's on a low peg within the social order, he's open to being bullied, he has no alliances or friends. By that house's nature, it teaches an ambitious young man how to survive on his own and crawl out of the snake-pit to chase their ambitions. Living in Slytherin as a known half-blood with ambitions for potions mastery does not an easy life to make, and your constant attempts at assassinating his character will make him an easier target from the bullies that make you Gryffindor hate the house in the first place."
Sirius looked down at his feet at that, gritting his teeth, not in anger, but in shame. James had a bit of guilt in his eyes, but he still looked a bit defiant; righteous in his belief that was a good thing.
"Second," Ebon's chest rumbled as he bared his teeth, "Who the fuck do you think has to take a humiliated Snape to the infirmary, get him a new pair of clothes, and then has to teach a class with an utterly dejected and humiliated student who won't be absorbing my lesson?" James didn't meet his eyes, and Ebon grabbed the boy's chin and forced him to, tears started to be shed, but Ebon ignored that, "When you attack my students, Mr. Potter, you stop being my student, and start becoming a problem." The boy squeaked as he noticed a wand at his throat, "Will you continue to be a problem?"
"N-no s-sir." He stuttered.
Ebon released the boy.
Ebon then glanced at Sirius, who seemed to be expecting to be torn into. "Sirius, you're a disappointment." Those words hit the boy like an anvil, "Be better." He then ignored the reeling boy and turned to Peter Pettigrew.
'A coward.' He noted as the boy quailed under his gaze. "Grow a spine." His eyes snapped to the quiet one, "That goes for you two. If either of you were real friends, you'd have the wherewithal and wisdom to get your friends out of trouble." He glared back over to where James was trying to stop crying and Sirius was glaring down at the floor with furrowed brows.
He snapped his fingers and drew both of their attention, "Draco Dormiens Nuquam Titillandus." He stated.
The four stared at him uncomprehendingly. He grabbed James by the collar and spun him around, arresting his uniform and ripping the seal of Hogwarts off the breast of the uniform. The boy floundered as the patch was thrown into his face. "Pick it up." Ebon growled.
James quickly fell to his knees and grabbed the patch, "Now read." He ordered.
The boy through teary eyes mumbled out, "D-draco Dor-Dormiens Nu-quam Titilland-us." He stuttered out.
"I said. Read It. Did I say to fucking stutter?"
"N-no." James cleared his throat, "No sir."
There was silence, and Ebon just stared at James, until he realized what he was doing and quickly spoke. "Draco Dormiens Nuquam Titillandus!" He said quickly.
"Get out of my sight." He ordered.
The four scampered off. He watched and listened for them to say a word to the waiting Severus, but nothing happened. Then the dower teen hesitantly walked into his classroom. Checking the time with a quick cast of Tempus, he waved Severus over. "You need to learn how to grow a skin, boy." Ebon uttered as he stalked over to his desk and drew out a bottle of Fire Whiskey.
"W-what?"
"You're a Half-Blood within the Slytherin House. I'm a Master of Divination, you think I don't know what happens in that house? I don't give a shit about this entire blood-purity bullshit this country has going on, or at least I won't until they harm one of my students. By then I'm going to rip them apart." He poured a glass and moved it towards Severus, the boy's eyes widening and he glared at it with disdain.
Ebon snorted, and vanished the glass and its contents, "Drunk of a father or mother, how close?"
Severus' eyes widened. "Uh."
"Yeah, 'uh'. I'm not going to pry into your personal business, but I can see where this shit is going a mile away; and let me spoil the ending, its one spectacular trainwreck; with you coming out as the wreck. You have no friends in Slytherin, you're sweet on that Lily girl, but so is Potter; you two naturally clash, big whoop. I won't tolerate any actual violence or actions with real consequences, and this petty shit you five are doing isn't really my problem. So, I'm just going to say this; fix it yourself."
The boy floundered, "How?" He eventually asked.
"In my experience? Kill the boy, kill the feelings, swallow the loss, drown your sorrows in creative pursuits and waste your life away doing jackity shit. Put simply, let go and indulge in semi-destructive habits until you decide its time to crawl out of your pity party." Ebon sat in his chair and shrugged, "Life isn't fair, kid. You don't always get the girl, and you miss all the shots you don't take. Ask her out, get rejected, skulk back to the potions lab and get lost in the fumes. Potter's a fucking prat, but he's everything a suburban girl likes. Rich, athletic, handsome, big dick energy; you get the idea. Lily, for whatever idealized vision you have of the girl, is just that, a teenage girl. Just as confused about love and liking boys or girls as you are. Take a hard look at yourself and ask if you're That Guy, come to the obvious conclusion you're not That Guy, and either try to Become that guy, which works out in one of two ways."
Severus was staring at him with wide eyes, jaw slowly lowering at the masterful Guru knowledge Ebon was laying on the boy.
"One, you become a Short King. Little Men who think they're big and need to tell everyone that they are. Nice clothing, nice hair, nice skin, nice watch, nice car; they're show men that are trying to compensate for something. The other way is to take a hard look at yourself and wonder how you can make it better." He waved his hand at Snape, "Look, kid, I'll be blunt. You're not a looker. You've got an unfriendly face, you're an average height, and you really need to do something about that hair. You have some strengths though; you have some amount of drive and passion considering you're in Slytherin, and you obviously have a passion for Potions, so throw yourself into them; get good at something. Chicks dig guys with passions and hobbies, and Lily strikes me as an intellectual, so excelling at something like Potions becomes a bonding opportunity. Athletics is always an option too; girls like big guys who can lift heavy objects, even witch who can do the same with a flick of the wand; the show and presentation is what counts in life."
"And what about Potter?" Severus asked.
"What about him? Kids got issues, and if he keeps pushing the boundaries, I'll start upping the punishments. Kid was shivering in his timbers as he walked out of here, so either play it defensively, or work to your strengths to go for the subtle 'childhood friend' strategy and play up having a personality." Ebon snorted, "I've heard that mature women absolutely love that shit, so if you ever want a pass to have a stride around London, hit bars with an Aging Potion; well, you didn't hear the idea from me. Just say you're a Chemistry Major and study some actual Chemistry to make small talk about; complain about office politics, and the cougars will be eating you up in no time flat."
A still silence passed, "Now, if you're done listening to bad life advice from a washed-up young adult." He pointed to the door, "Get."
Severus walked out slowly.
And thoughtfully.
"Shit I don't get paid enough for this…" Ebon whined, turning back to grading papers.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder