He waited in the entrance hall so he could inform thefour boys in question of the roommate change. He spotted Mr. Nott and Dracofirst. He quickly told both boys of the change. Nott muttered something likegood riddance. Finally Severus spotted Blaise and the Boy-Who-Lived coming intogether. "Mr. Zabini," he paused and forced himself to think Lily'sson, "Mr. Potter, a word if you please."
"Yes, Professor?" came Zabini's smooth voice.
"I wanted to inform you both of a change Mr. Zabiniyou will be rooming with Mr. Nott, Mr. Malfoy will be switching with you."
"Yes, sir." Blaise Zabini gave his formerroommate a rueful glance then turned to go to the Great Hall.
Severus was surprised when Harry didn't leave but insteadleveled a gaze on him that reminded Severus of Lily. It was the look she hadworn in primary school when their biology class was dissecting a grasshopperand he had suggested she do it. It was disgust, mingled with outrage, tintedwith anger, and if Severus didn't know better he was certain the boy was tryingto figure out the reason why he would do this. It occurred to him that it wouldbehoove him to give Lily's son an explanation since he wanted the boy'scooperation.
"Mr. Potter, ordinarily I wouldn't dream ofexplaining myself to a student. However, since I wish for your cooperation anda lack of it may make the situation worse, I will make an exception." Hecast "M uffliato" beforecontinuing stiffly.
"Mr. Potter you are aware of the attack on Mr.Malfoy at the end of the autumn term. What you are not aware of is how such anattack is viewed by the magical world. Mr. Malfoy-
"I digress, I wish for you to swear a magical oathto not speak of the attack on Mr. Malfoy to your fellow students."
"I so swear, information like that is too personalto be spoken of lightly."
A faint glow surrounded Harry indicating to Snape thateven without using his wand or proper wording the boy in front of him had madea binding magical oath. Part of him was astonished by the implied power but ifhe didn't want this noticed he needed to move on. "Thank you, I have madethis change because Mr. Malfoy was more affected by the attack than wasindicated by Madame Pomfrey. You already know about the attack, therefore ifDraco has dreams about it it would be better for him to be near someone who knows.Someone, who because you played the role of rescuer, he has fewer fearsabout."
"What did his counselor say?" Harry wasastonished by Snape's blank look. "Draco did see a rape counselor,right?"
At Snape's continued uncomprehending look, Harry wastemped to swear. "What? Magicals can fix broken bones but they can'tcounsel someone who was almost raped?"
"Rape almost never happens to anyone in the magicalworld, our magic protects us. As such rape counselors don't exist. Rape is akinto an Unforgivable. Hence Lockhart's sentence. Sex linked magic is almostsacred and for it to work, rape cannot take place."
"I hate to be the one to break it to you, Professor.But rape isn't about sex, it's about power. Power over another person. Bloodyfan-fucking-tastic, so Draco has gotten no help in dealing with himselffollowing what happened. Peachy-keen, here's another mess dumped in my lap toclean up. I'm not in fucking Gryffindor, I have no desire to play hero foranyone. What is there in this for me?"
"I… I don't know." Severus was astonished, asthe boy in front of him drew himself up. His response was so very Slytherin.
Harry contemplated for a moment. "I do. You willarrange for a teacher's meeting this evening. A group of us second years havebeen working the monster of the Chamber mystery, and we wish to present ourfindings. If we're right, we each get three percent of the value of the slainmonster, fifty points for each of our houses and awards for special services tothe school. Oh, and Hagrid gets cleared, he can get a wand again and hisexpulsion reversed if he so chooses."
"That- You say you've figured it out?"
"At least part of it, we know what the creature is.At least we're ninety nine percent sure. We're not sure who is behind it. Weknow who was behind it fifty years ago. What we're still working on is how it'sbeing done now. Maybe after you adults have been spoon-fed some answers you canget your heads out of- You'll be able to figure out the rest instead of leavingit to a bunch of second years. We're the kids. It isn't our job to rescue thecollective asses of everyone in this school."
"Any more language like that, and you'll be servingdetention with me."
"Fine, I just find it a bit ridiculous that throughusing brainstorming, asking questions, and finding answers a group of secondyears is closer to figuring out what creature lies in Slytherin's chamber thana group of adults. Admittedly you all have a bit more on your minds, butstill."
"I'll arrange it. And Mr. Potter, thank you for notblabbering about what happened to Draco. The current views on rape in themagical world more closely resemble that of the sixteenth century than thetwentieth."
"Funny, I'd say that about a lot of things, not justthe views on rape. Don't worry professor, I'll do what I can to help Draco, gitthough he is. Who knows maybe I'll even manage to wake him up to the fact he isa git. What did they sentence Lockhart to anyway?"
"Because he pled guilty, it was only one year inAzkaban followed by the Kiss."
"Ah."
"Lucius, I mean, Mr. Malfoy was pushing for lifeimprisonment."
"So who will be teaching Defense, and are they anybetter?"
"An old friend of your father's, Remus Lupin, as tohis competence I couldn't say, but I would advise caution around him there aretimes he's exceedingly dangerous to be around."
"Warning noted." Harry's face clouded for amere moment of thought, before becoming inscrutable once more. "Anythingelse?"
Severus shook his head and Harry left.
Severus noted that the boy, well young man really, wasunlike most of his peers. Lily's son really did blend well in Slytherin nomatter how put out the Headmaster was about it. He was quietly canny, andplayed his cards close to his chest. After his initial qualms the Headmasterhad been accepting enough. The boy's choices of friends had seen to that.Severus supposed he almost ruined things when he tried to force the boy to makefriends in Slytherin, but even there the boy had chosen well. His friends forthe most part being of neutral families from the last war. He wasn't perfecthowever; there were those flashes where the lad seemed to be channeling hisdeceased father; last year's stone incident came immediately to mind as didanytime the boy was on his broom.
He shook himself. He had better things to do than standhere. He cast a quick patronus to have Albus call a teachers meeting for afterdinner. It wouldn't do to fail to follow through on his end of the bargain.
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