Scabior took a deep breath and released the caged air, looking around for his group of minions; they were also Lucius' minions but he, Scabior, had the credit for the majority. He really was not bragging that time because Lucius had always taken his time to inflict the others with fear and also decided using a bit of respect would be alright too; really though, half the Slytherins needed not respect whom they followed.
Now there were first years being sorted into the 'hex' group and the 'minions' group. There was the 'others' category but very few belonged there in his eyes. Adarte belonged to that category and sometimes Lucius did too because those were the only two people he ever really cared about passed the "normal". It was not blood with him like it was with the Slytherins; it was whom he personally had some respect for.
There was a special person who belonged n both the hex and minion group and her name was Johanna Wilson who was a Slytherin for her third year running and she drove Scabior mad. She did have hold and had authority over most the Slytherins but Scabior was never one of those pathetic puppets. He did not like her methods either, neither like Lucius nor himself and he did not like the idea that she was obsessed with him and attempting to manipulate him at the same time although he did the same to others.
"Scabior!" she squealed, squeezing between a tall boy and Scabior, both who wanted so bad to hex Johanna. "Did you have a good summer? How are you? Did you hear about the new broom? Like oh my god I am so excited! I bet nobody has it and I just ordered one the other day! Guess what? Over the summer, the Hollyhead Harpies asked me to show them my skills and they like, loved me. I had dinner with them and my family so maybe I have something better to do when I leave..." and her rambling kept going on and on until Scabior got sick and left. Or not.
"Are you ok?" she asked in absolute distress, running after the subject of her obsession.
"I need some air," Scabior growled.
"I will come with you and make sure you are ok. Oh my god, I will so take care of you!" This seemed more like excitement than concern to him but he wanted nothing more than to leave her in a pit of snakes. Not that killing was in his forte or interest; people really were not very interesting dead but just the idea made him smile. Unfortunately, Johanna took this as approval.
"Stop bugging the poor bloke Wilson," a friendly, familiar voice said which infuriated Scabior. He needed no one to stand up for him especially with the wide range of curses he knew. He most definitely did not need a mudblood who wasn't even in Slytherin doing it. He wanted to thank her and take her throat out at the same time.
"Serpentsortia!" he said angrily and a black cobra bung across to Johanna but it seemed to like Adarte more, more like it was willing to attack her as it was hissing and slithering towards her.
"Ha! He doesn't need your help," Johanna sneered, "Go back to the Great Hall where you belong mudblood before you get yourself killed or something."
"You don't get to call me mudblood, Wilson. You're blood is worth as much as mine...maybe less," Adarte retorted.
Scabior's eyes went wide but only because the snake was not intended for Adarte but she was backing off calmly, watching the snake closely but not staring either. How could such a short-tempered girl be so calm? It may not be seen often but Adarte was very fiery and he was surprised she was not in Gryffindor. Really, everyone was so surprised she wasn't, as much as she stood up for Snape and others.
"Calm down. I do not want to hurt you," Adarte said softly to the snake as she was backed into the wall. She slowly, watching the snake, crouched down to its level then slowly sat, crossing her legs in a passive state.
The snake advanced but then slithered away fast. Adarte sighed in relief, a breath Scabior did not know she had been holding. She stood again, a hand over her heart as if it had been racing. He knew she had always been good with animals, deer, unicorns, dragons, you name it and they either loved her or would leave her alone if she did the same to them; she had that sort of heart.
'Wow,' Scabior thought, 'Starr's not fearless, she is good at acting.'
"Seriously? Serpentsortia? I was getting this slapper off your back! What the bloody hell was that for?" now was apparently her time to get angry. He tried telling her the snake was intended for Johanna but she would not have it, the fire coming from her numbing his words in his throat and he felt bad. Since when did he, Scabior, feel bad? This girl was revolting what with her knack for inspiring emotion, especially the way her eyes changed with every emotion she felt and all the passion she had about everything.
Johanna saved him from further looking like a fool by hissing, "Sentrevokaout!" An invisible force hit Adarte in the diaphragm and knocked the air out of her so she fell onto her hands and knees, forcing herself to breath. Scabior felt like he would rather have been made a fool than to have Johanna Wilson protect him and he was infuriated. Adarte's wand was soon in hand and without words, she waved her wand and all of Johanna's limbs snapped together, paralyzed. Adarte stood up, still taking ragged breaths but breathing all the same.
Adarte glared at Scabior before walking away. Yes, like he said, a fire. Before she could fully leave, professor Merrythought came around the corner and crossed her arms.
"What happened miss Starr?" She did not favor Adarte at all but she always trusted her to be honest which, Scabior thought, is the most despicable, admirable thing Adarte is: honest.
"I saw Wilson bugging Scabior so I left to casually help him out so they wouldn't curse one another but then he threw a snake at me. I got rid of it but then Wilson used a spell to knock the breath out of me. I do not know a lot of self-defense spells I know how to use nonverbally so I paralyzed her," Adarte explained, calming herself down, still breathing somewhat oddly.
"Very well," said professor Merrythought. "Ten points from Ravenclaw. You are supposed to be working on your temper miss Starr, I am so disappointed in you. As for you two, you should not have been attacking miss Starr at all. Twenty points from Slytherin...each. I would agree that this fight will not continue, correct?" She gave them an uncharacteristically strict look and walked away, unparalyzing Johanna so casually Scabior thought she deserved it.
Adarte was far better than she had once been though so he thought the muggle studies professor had no right to take points from her for self-defense. Scabior remembered the days where she would cast a spell right off the bat whether it worked or not, and if it didn't, she did not mind showing everyone that she knew how to fight like a muggle; she may possibly had just as many detentions as Potter and Black together in those first two years.
"Come on Scabior, before she starts anything," Johanna said, coldly looking back at Adarte.
Adarte never started anything though, no matter how many times she ended it and when she did start something, it was never something they could get in trouble for. He also wanted nothing to do with Johanna so he said, "I'll see you in the commons later."
This lit Johanna's face up and she happily skipped away, thinking of how best to make him want to kiss her, plannng the night before she even knew what he wanted.
"Ciao," Adarte said, nodding slightly and she left too.
"I'm sorry ye know!" he called after her and he was never sorry but this is not the way he planned it, playing with that mudblood; Johanna was going to pay dearly.
Adarte slightly smiled but he did not see and she continued on her way to the Ravenclaw dormitories.
Scabior also went to his house dungeons and he stayed there, waiting for Johanna who came down in a tank top and silk pajama pants, her mousy but pretty brown hair in a braid.
"Ye know, I was gonna play with tha' mudblood on my own, without ye. I had a plan," Scabior said icily as she sat next to him. "I got nothin' from th' stunt ye pulled."
"Scabior, I-I thought y-you'd be happy. I put the mudblood i-in her place, on the f-i floor at your f-feet," Johanna said, so terrified and upset that she had not pleased the subject of her obsessions, tears rolling from her brown eyes.
"Ye think ye can make me 'appy? Scabior, an independent bloke 'oo wants te make 'is own enemies suffer, 'appy?" Are ye mad girl? I want no one doin' nothin' for me, got it?" Scabior said furiously.
"I understand, your reputation and everything. I am so sorry. Can I do anything for you to make it up?" she tried so hard not to cry as she said it, swearing in her mind to do anything that would please him, anything that would make him want her.
"Not righ' now. I need te sleep," he said coldly but pleased with himself for making the infamous Johanna Wilson cringe and beg for something.
He did go to bed happy and he slept well so he also woke up happy. Damn it was good to be back in Hogwarts where he had more freedom but not as much as he would have when he left. He could not wait to leave. Freedom. That was all he ever needed and all he ever wanted, not love or glory, not a friend from an unlikely source, not the dislike for many people he knew, just simple freedom. Leading a pack of Snatchers or mercenaries to have wizards and witches sent to Azkaban without being bound by rule.