Minerva's Black Moments

Chapter 3 – Disrupted Lesson Plans

It was rare for one of the students to manage to get a detention in the first week of term. The Prewett twins had done it a couple of years ago but it was still a rare occasion.

Hence, Minerva was not expecting a rather harried head boy knocking on her office door on only the second day of term.

'Robards, what in the name of Merlin is going on?' Minerva said, carefully laying aside her quill so that no ink dripped onto her lesson plan.

'Professor!' He puffed. 'I did everything I could but they're tearing each other apart.'

Robards was a highly capable head boy and it took a lot to even ruffle him, to fluster him this much suggested something more than the usual misdemeanours the school was accustomed to.'

'Who is tearing each other apart?' Minerva replied, pushing aside her lesson plan with no hint of dismay.

'Potter and Black, Professor. Allen Finlay and I tried to separate them but something forced us back, the only thing I could think to do was fetch you.'

'You did right Mr Robards.' Minerva pushed back her chair and swept around her desk and was hard pushed to hide the spring in her step at the thought of getting out of organising her lessons for next week.

She also tried to quash her feelings of excitement at getting involved in the Potter-Black feud. It was ridiculous to have such emotions because of a bone-deep rivalry, Minerva tried to convince herself.

McGonagall and Robards soon reached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower and even from here the Transfiguration professor could tell that something was amiss. The tower seemed to thrum with unease which was only amplified by the startled expressions of those in the common room. From here the voices above could be heard quite clearly.

'Where are they?' Minerva asked the room at large.

Finlay, a burly fifth year prefect, nodded pointedly in the direction of the boys' dormitories, 'in their dormitory Professor. I left when things started getting broken.'

Minerva nodded tensely and swept off in the direction of the first year boys' dormitory.

The further up the stairs she climbed, the more her excitement was replaced with apprehension. It really would have been a better idea to split the boys into two dormitories rather than keep them together, she thought. But hindsight was a benefit only afforded to the future.

She pushed open the door carefully with her left hand as her right clutched her wand just in case.

Despite everything the two prefects had told her and the noise coming from above, Minerva was not prepared for the carnage in the dormitory. Bed sheets were thrown from their rightful places, the beds themselves looking a little worse for wear. Three of the eight boys who were to call this dormitory home were crouched in a corner, clearly trying to stay clear of the argument happening across the room.

'-they're evil, the whole lot of them.' Potter yelled from the far end of the room sporting a bust lip and what was soon to be a black-eye. He too, she noticed, was clutching his wand defensively. Though by the way he was holding it, she would bet that his magical knowledge was limited to what he had learnt in the last two days.

Scanning the room for the boy's adversary, Minerva's eyes landed on Black, hair ruffled and also looking a little bruised, had his wand held aloft as though he'd actually had duelling practice. He had a face like thunder and eyes like lightening as he twitched his wand and shouted: 'aculeus!' Neither boy seemed to have noticed her entrance.

Potter gasped loudly as the stinging jinx hit him in the chest.

Acting quickly, Minerva silently cast expelliarmus at both boys and caught their wands so that no more damage could be done. Just as she went to open her mouth sternly to reprimand Black for harming another student, Potter threw his own words at the taller boy.

'See, there's my point. You already know how to hurt people. You're just as dark as the rest of them!'

Devoid of his wand, the enraged boy launched across the room and managed to get in three strong punches as he wrestled the smaller boy to the floor.

'ENOUGH!' Minerva bellowed. She was livid. Never had she seen a student so determined to cause another harm. She threw out a standard knock-back jinx to get the two students apart before speaking again.

'What on earth is going on here? There is no reason for such violence in this school. You will both follow me to my office and we will get this dispute settle once and for all.' Her tone left no room for argument which, she was pleased to note, neither boy attempted as they followed her from the room.

~#~

Not a word was spoken as the trio made their way to the first floor. This said, Minerva was all too aware of the remaining tension between the two boys following in her wake.

Once inside her office, Minerva shut her door with a sharp click before seating herself behind her desk. She looked longingly at the lesson plan still drying on her desk before turning her stern gaze upon the boys in front of her. Now that she was facing it, the Potter-Black feud was far less interesting to get in the middle of.

'Explain.' She almost snarled.

Neither boy was particularly forthcoming with an explanation or an excuse. Potter was clearly still fuming but was looking stubbornly ahead with his bust lip and bruising eye. Black on the other hand, had his hands clenched by his sides and his entire body seemed to be oozing rage.

'I do not believe this is a moment for either of you to remain silent. When you are asked to speak you will do so. Now which of you started the events of tonight?' A slight guilty tinge took residence in James Potter's cheeks. 'Mr Potter?'

'I only told him what everyone was thinking Professor.' The shorter boy blurted out.

Minerva raised her eyebrows, her scowl deepening. 'And what would that be?'

'That he's an evil git from an evil family. You saw how he cursed me, what kind of parents teach that to an eleven year old!' If possible, Black appeared to get angrier, his right arm twitched against his side as though longing to be thrown against the smaller boy again.

'I understand that your education here has not been particularly lengthy Mr Potter, but you should be aware that you only experienced a stinging jinx this evening, which is a long way from dark magic.'

Potter's cheeks flushed as he quailed under her stare. Turning now to the other boy in her presence, Minerva was perturbed by the fact that he seemed unaffected by the angrily disapproving look sent his way. It was unnerving, she had mastered that stare by the age of fifteen and had been using it to great success since.

'And what,' her voice was sharp as she addressed him, finally causing him to flinch slightly as Black's eyes focused on her instead of the stonework behind. 'Makes you think that students are permitted to use both magical and physical violence in this school?'

He shrugged. Minerva's eyes inadvertently narrowed with frustration at the gesture. She knew how the Blacks operated, she had gone to school with them after all, but she had hoped that this one would be different. She sighed not wanting to know how wrong her assumption might be.

'You will each receive detention-'

The shorter boy's head snapped up at her unfinished sentence. 'But I didn't do anything!'

'Mr Potter, I believe you were the one that started the entire incident. Inciting violence is almost as bad as using it.'

'But they were just words Professor!' It was at this point that Minerva realised that the boy expected to get away with a slight reprimand. Perhaps he had never been properly disciplined before now and that arrogance had permeated into the rest of his behaviour. She decided there and then that that behaviour would be rectified.

'One day Mr Potter, you will realised that words can be just as powerful as wands. After all, it is words that often control the wand.' She had outdone herself there, Minerva thought. Even Albus would be proud of that reasoning and she was more than impressed with herself. The Transfiguration professor was hard pushed to suppress these emotions before they showed on her face and ruined her stern façade.

'As I was saying, you will each receive detention tomorrow night. That includes you Mr Potter, because you need to learn to control your tongue and not pass on family judgements in an offensive manner.' Minerva could not believe she was saying those words to someone of the Potter lineage and not to the Black heir in front of her. 'Mr Black, you need to understand that violence will not be tolerated in this school and there is never a reason for you to lose your temper with a colleague. Now, I hope there will be no further incidents of this manner again?' She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

'No Professor.' Potter said, though quietly as though he did not believe he would follow his own words.

'Not if he leaves me alone.' Black spat causing Minerva to sigh minutely again.

'Mr Potter if you would return to your common room. I will have house elves sent up to repair the damage and you will join me for detention tomorrow evening at six o'clock.'

As the door clicked behind her student, Minerva turned to the remaining boy still stood in front of her, not looking at all repentant. She knew she had to give the boys some time apart to allow their tempers to cool and the rest of the house to forget what had happened. How long she would need, she did not know.

Without a doubt, she thought, this boy was cut from the same cloth as the rest of his relatives. He would be just as willing to break the rules and probably even harm his fellow students. Not for the first time, Minerva wished that Sirius Black had been sorted into any house other than her own.

But if she could make Bellatrix Black shiver then she could crack the newest of the line. The question was, where to start?

'Do you have anything you wish to say regarding your behaviour?'

'No.' As grey eyes met her green she noticed he didn't even flinch at the eye contact.

'Every time you address me or another teacher you will refer to them as Professor. Do you understand?' Minerva could feel her patience wearing thin. No doubt this boy was unused to showing respect to others, undoubtedly raised to believe he was some kind of royalty.

Her frustration only built when the boy merely nodded his understanding.

'Then I am giving you an extra detention due to your abject lack of remorse and to remind you that despite my words to Mr Potter, words are always preferable to violence. Take a seat at this desk and I want you to write 'Magic is for use only inside classrooms under the supervision of a professor' for three feet. If you use large handwriting I will make you stay longer.'

Black merely turned his back and sat neatly at the desk in front of her own, not saying a word. She passed him a quill and some ink before turning back to her lesson plan.

For however much she had begun to long for it during the previous discussion, now Minerva could not muster even an ounce of concentration for her lesson plans. Instead her mind wandered to the boy sat in front of her and how on Earth she was going to handle him for the next seven years.

She was sure the Sorting Hat had made a mistake. From what she had seen so far, he was just like his father, though from what she knew of Walburga, he seemed to have inherited her temper. From what she had witnessed, Bellatrix Black was going to be a walk in the park in comparison.

One question burned in her mind however, she knew that the Blacks were a very traditional family and treated their first-born son like royalty. And yet, just two days ago the boy had received a howler; the height of humiliation for any student. Try as she might, Minerva could not work out how something as simple as a sorting could cause so much rage.

Unable to focus with her current stream of thoughts, the professor looked up to watch the boy. He had managed less than six inches so far and the reason for this became apparent as the scratching stopped as his head turned to stare, almost unconsciously, out the window for a good few minutes.

She knew her detention was designed to be uninteresting but Minerva was astounded the boy had the audacity to care so little for her punishment.

Clearing her throat, the boy looked round. The sudden embarrassed pink tinge to his cheeks surprised her, as if he knew he had been caught out. From Black's previous reactions Minerva didn't think the boy even knew such an emotion existed.

Looking into those stormy grey eyes, Minerva felt her burning question bubble up her throat. Black clearly seemed to be waiting for a reprimand for his distracted behaviour and instead seemed a little taken aback at the words she uttered.

'I have never seen a student receive a howler over something as simple as a Sorting.' While it was not really a question the inflection she placed on it made her meaning unmistakeable.

Black shifted in his seat. Minerva could tell he was uncomfortable discussing family issues. It was at that point she realised just how personal her question was.

'I understand if you do not want to answer, it was rather remiss of me to ask.'

He looked at her curiously as if weighing her up. Minerva fought the urge to shuffle under the scrutiny, it would not do to show weakness.

'It's- it's less the sorting than it is me.' He answered quietly, his shoulders gently loosening from the stiff posture as his façade seemed to falter a little. Minerva got the impression that the boy was desperate to tell somebody at least a part of what was going through his mind. Unfortunately this didn't help Minerva understand what he was trying to tell her.

Apparently her face gave away her confusion when Black continued.

'Well, every direct member of the House of Black has been in Slytherin since the school opened.'

'I thought you said the howler was not over your house?' Minerva asked, just as confused as she was before.

'It just means that I'm different. As different as it gets really. Every Black since Merlin has been cunning and ambitious, shrewd and resourceful. But Gryffindor is well, the exact opposite really. At least the other two houses share some qualities. I don't think they'd have been as angry if I was in Ravenclaw, at least then they could just claim my intelligence outweighed ambition. They just don't like that I'm a direct descendent and the heir and so I'm different to the rest of the family.'

She was stunned. Minerva had known the Blacks from school and she thought she knew how they thought, but to be furious enough to send a howler over personality differences was astounding.

As Black shifted in his seat in front of her before turning back to his lines, the professor began to think, lesson plan entirely forgotten once more.

She knew the sorting wasn't random. She'd seen it before where certain students would surprise her after a few years as their personality developed. Some students didn't appear to fit their house values at the start of their school years but many grew into them. Minerva still didn't know if it was the peer pressure of friends and housemates that caused the change or personality but if past history was anything to go by, Black would probably conform sometime in the next few years. Even if it was simply to not be alienated from the people he has to spend the next few years living with.

Now that she thought about it, Sirius Black did not necessarily react the way she was accustomed to from that family. Certainly he had the temper and appeared prone to lash out, but Minerva also got the impression that he was desperate for someone to understand him; Blacks never voluntarily shared information or even display an ounce of human emotion and yet, this one had told her a little of his thoughts – albeit only a little.

And his sorting was quick. Quicker than even for the students who were almost guaranteed a place in a certain house. If he had been sorted into Slytherin then it would have been far easier to comprehend. Slytherin had been expected by everyone in the hall as soon as his name had been called. And yet, Gryffindor…

Minerva thought her mind was made up as far as the newest Black was concerned, but now she realised she would have to watch him a little closer.

~#~

I know I promised one reviewer that this chapter would be a little quicker, but I had to add another chapter between the last one and the one I was going to upload (the next one). That and this was difficult to write.

I'm not going to promise quick updates anymore, mostly because I've got important exams coming up and it'd just disappoint.

Anyway, let me know if it was worth the wait (or if it wasn't).