Chapter 6
Lee didn't bother hurrying to the next class and when he opened the door to the classroom a half hour after class started, he just walked in and sat down without a word.
"Mr. Anderson," the short professor Flitwick asked, "may I ask why you are late?"
"Yes, sir. Professor Potter was explaining to me why I had received 3 months' worth of detention." Lee simply responded while grabbing his textbook and notebook from his bag and throwing them on his desk.
"Thank you for the honesty. Mr. Clearwater, would you please explain to Mr. Anderson what we have done so far."
Matt agreed and Flitwick continued his lecture. Matt asked him, "What the hell happened?"
"Gryffindors showing their true colors." Lee simply responded, before copying what Matt had written down so far.
Later that day, all the students where in the Great Hall for dinner. Lee was hearing all about the crazy stories his friends have gone through over the years while the professors at the front table were talking about him.
McGonagall asked Lily while Professors Flitwick (Charms), Sinatra (Astronomy), Vector (Arithmancy), Snape (Defense against the Dark Arts), and the Headmaster listened, "Lily, why did you give Lee 3 months' worth of detention?"
"He stood up in class and explained how hot Hermione Granger was, so I gave him a week's worth of detention. I was just going to let it go after talking to him after class, but he keep talking back so I gave him a month. Then after everyone was leaving, Ginny came up to him and started talking to him. He must have said something back to her because she slapped him once, he said something, and then slapped him again.
"Then she walked out of the room and Lee asked me why she didn't get any detention. I was about to tell him that she was going to get detention, but he just continued talking and said that she's off the hook because she is Harry's…plow-pillow. So, I gave him 3 months' worth of detention.
"The weirdest part was that after that he just looked at me and said that he deserves it. I asked him why he said that then and he told me it was because he hated Gryffindors. I asked why and he just asked me instead why I hated Slytherins. I told him I didn't but then he just pointed out how he thinks Gryffindor professors treat Slytherins worse than any other houses. I tried to tell him that we don't, but he just called me a very inappropriate word under his breath that I heard and walked right out of the room."
"The boy is right." Snape remarked.
"No," Lily stated. "The boy is not right. I treat all of my students the same."
"Have you given Ginny detention yet?"
"No but -"
"There is no but, Lily." Snape pointed out. "You gave the boy detention immediately, but now it's been three hours since the incident where she obviously slapped the boy and the boy did nothing physical to earn it and she's still off the hook."
"That's because I want to make sure I know what happened first." Lily replied.
"But you gave the boy detention immediately, knowing that you'd take it away. So why wouldn't you give the girl detention immediately also?" Snape asked.
"I guess I do cut some slack for my Gryffindors." Lily said aloud.
"I wonder what made him do that though." Sinatra asked.
"I think he may have a problem with female teachers." Lily responded.
"No," McGonagall injected, "I had the boy this morning. He did show up late a half hour late to class but that was because his friends forgot to set an alarm. I asked him to stay after and he was complete polite to me. He called me ma'am and definitely didn't cuss. I did notice his breath had a hint of Firewhisky to it, but not enough to be hungover."
"What did you talk about?" Lily asked.
"I asked him what he learned when he was homeschooled and he answered every question I asked." McGonagall replied.
"What did he say?" Sinatra asked.
"He told me he was taught mostly Potions and Transfiguration. He apparently enjoys reading and was excited about Arithmancy because he read about it. He told me he didn't learn any history, Herbology, or astrology and I asked him if there were any other subjects he learned. He told me that he learned a lot about Alchemy."
"Alchemy? Really?" Lily said.
"Yes, I even told him that Albus was thinking about having an Alchemy class this year and he was really excited about. You should have seen the smile on his face."
"Is that so?" Dumbledore said, very drawn to McGonagall's last remark. "Then I believe I have enough interest in the class."
"Will anybody be allowed in?" Flitwick asked.
"Yes and no." Dumbledore responded after a few seconds of thought. "I believe I will be having two separate classes. One will be for anybody and will introduce the basic concepts of Alchemy. The other will require the students to take a small test I've made. Those who have attempted to learn about Alchemy before will be able to pass the test and be in the advanced class."
"When will you have the classes?" Lily asked.
"I believe I'll have the beginner classes on Monday and Wednesday after dinner. Advanced classes will be on Tuesday and Thursday night after dinner." Dumbledore responded. "Flitwick?"
"Yes, Albus?" Flitwick responded.
"I believe you had Mr. Anderson after Lily."
"Yes sir."
"How did he act?" Dumbledore asked.
"He was very respectful and explained that he was late because Lily was talking to him and tried his hardest the whole class to try and learn the charms he should have learned before." Flitwick replied.
"How was Ginny around him?"
"She didn't act in any way for me to think that something just happened." Flitwick responded.
"Oh," Lily injected, "I had the students make the Dragon Tonic potion. Only two students made it correctly in the class. One of them was just okay, but would have worked, and the other one was absolutely perfect."
"Who's was it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Lee. Yeah, I was going to talk to him about it because he made the potion without even looking at the board once."
"That's very interesting. Perhaps he has a relative who works with dragons."
"I was going to ask him tonight." Lily replied.
"Tonight?" Snape asked.
"Yes, I'm having him start his detention tonight."
"Lily." Snape replied, shaking his head. "Think of what you just said."
"What are talking about, Severus."
"You're going to have the boy serve his detention immediately and you're letting the Weasley girl walk away without any repercussions?"
"You know I'm going to give her detention. We already talked about that."
"But the boy doesn't know that." Snape pointed out. "Neither does the other students. Most likely the words that were said in your classroom have already been spread through the school. Which means that many of the students in this room are hearing and seeing a Gryffindor professor do exactly what Lee said they do."
