What Authority Figures are Good For

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Hagrid tapped Shirou on the back, nearly throwing him into the Headmaster's desk with the force of his "tap."

Shirou dragged his attention away from the magical embodiment of eternal flame that was preening itself on a nearby perch to look up at the Headmaster, whose office they were presently in.

"While I'm sure Fawkes appreciates the attention, Mister Emiya," Dumbledore said kindly. "I'm afraid I'm a bit busy today.

"You see, in addition to looking into the issue with Miss Potter's broom," he nodded at Iris, "two of our teachers have been attacked."

Hagrid shifted uneasily behind the assembled children, causing quite a lot of noise as his many layers of clothing rubbed against each other.

"That last part was me, Headmaster." Shirou spoke up, causing Rin next to him to moan. "I shot Professors Snape and Quirrell."

"Hold on!" Rin shouted, slapping a hand onto Shirou's mouth. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Before we get expelled."

Beside her, Hermione shuddered at the sudden escalation of consequences.

"Yes, Miss Tohsaka." Dumbledore said from behind his now steepled fingers. "I would very much like to hear what led up to Mister Emiya here attacking two of our instructors."

Rin glared at Shirou in an all too familiar way. It was a look that implied great violence upon his person if he opened his mouth again without her permission.

He nodded into her hand, and she stepped back, glaring at him for a full second before turning to address the Headmaster.

Watching her face as she turned away was an experience in itself. As she looked away from him, a beatific smile made its way across her lips, and her eyes shone with honesty and integrity. It was a far cry from the murderous look she had just been giving him.

She quickly summarized the events of the Quidditch game, the suspected hexing of Iris's broom, the eventual... "solution" that Shirou had used, the trip to Hagrid's hut to discuss what they now were certain was an attempt on Iris's life, and their eventual trip to the Headmaster's office to report their findings.

"I see..." Dumbledore drew the words out as Rin finished her explanation. "More of your Conjuring abilities, Mister Emiya?" He looked over to Shirou. "Unless of course you keep a bow and padded arrows on your person."

"Conjuration." Shirou replied.

"Hmmm..." Dumbledore tapped his fingers on his desk. "And you have had practice with a bow before?"

Shirou glanced over at Rin, to see if she would object to him speaking and received a shrug in response.

"Yes." He replied.

There was a loud slapping noise in the room as Rin's palm collided with her forehead.

"I see..." Dumbledore continued to tap his desk as he looked at Shirou. "I cannot fault you for your actions, since they were taken in the interest of saving your friend's life. Therefore, there will be no punishment for damaging the stands, or for harming the professors, since neither of them were hurt very badly."

Hermione let out a long, heavy breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"However," Dumbledore continued, causing Hermione to suck in another lungful of air. "I have known Professors Snape and Quirrell for a number of years now, and I cannot fathom them attacking Miss Potter."

"Tha's jus' wha' I told 'em, Professor." Hagrid added.

"But Iris's broom stopped acting up once Shirou... stopped them." Hermione argued.

"Indeed." The Headmaster agreed. "But it could be that another was hexing her broom, and stopped when they saw that others had been attacked. Hoping to pin the blame onto one of the teachers..."

Dumbledore glanced down at his desk, then up to the door behind them. He sighed minutely.

"Enter." He called out, before there was any sign of someone on the other side of the door.

The door opened quietly, and Professor Snape took a step into the room.

Shirou immediately stepped forward to place himself between Iris and the Potions Professor, Projecting the Married Swords as he moved and putting himself into an aggressive stance.

"Fifteen points from Hufflepuff," Snape sneered down at Shirou, "for pointing a sword at a Professor."

Shirou didn't respond to the punishment. He kept Bakuya pointed at Snape's throat, and Kanshou pointed at the Professor's wand hand.

When he heard Hermione choking a bit after Snape's proclamation, he tried to glance behind himself and found that he couldn't move.

"Now, now, Mister Emiya." Dumbledore chided from behind him. "I'm sure we can get this all cleared up without resorting to violence. If you will dismiss your conjurations, I will release you from the binding I've put you under."

Shirou quickly Analyzed his body and found the incredibly subtle binding that the Headmaster had placed on him.

He began to cycle Prana through his Circuits, and felt the foreign spell more strongly against his own energies, but it did nothing to remove the spell that was already in place around him.

He prepared several normal swords to be Projected and launched at a moment's notice and then dismissed Kanshou and Bakuya.

A moment later, the binding on him disappeared and he took a careful step away from the Potions Professor.

Snape scowled down at Shirou before he brushed past him, dismissed everyone else in the room with a baleful glance, and addressed Dumbledore.

"You wished to see me, Headmaster." He scowled at the assembled students behind him. "If you wish to coddle Miss Potter some more, perhaps I can come back another time. I do have pressing matters to attend to."

"Ah, Severus." The Headmaster replied fondly, apparently ignoring the man's caustic remarks. "I had called for you to see if you had any insight into your attacker, but that situation seems to have been resolved."

"Oh?" Snape raised a single eyebrow and his gaze swept over the assembled students. "I would love to hear how that 'situation' was resolved."

"Well," Dumbledore recounted, "it seems that some students saw you standing stock still, staring at Miss Potter, and mumbling something, and came to the conclusion that you were hexing her. So they did what they could to disrupt you."

Snape snorted.

"Every person in the stadium must have been staring at the girl. Why attack-... I see. That's what the attack on the stands was for. I had assumed that the attacker had simply missed, but it was a distraction to see who would look away.

"That was almost clever in approach." He smirked. "If you must know, I recognized the hex that was being used, and was actually chanting the counter-hex. Had the one hexing her not stopped when you attacked me, you very well could have been responsible for whatever harm Miss Potter sustained."

His eyes roved over the students again before they settled on Shirou and his smile became predatory. "Emiya, five points to Hufflepuff for a well thought out plan, even if it succeeded on luck alone." He paused a moment. "And minus twenty points for attacking a teacher."

"Ah, Severus..." Dumbledore coughed slightly behind the teacher. "I've already told them that they won't be punished for their actions, since they were acting to save one of their friends."

Snape's face fell.

"Potter!" He snapped.

"Yes!" The girl yelped out.

"'Yes, Professor Snape.'" The Professor corrected. "Minus five points for not correctly addressing a teacher."

Iris glared at him, and Hermione opened her mouth to argue.

"Did you want to say something, Miss Granger?" Snape asked.

Hermione stood stock still, with her mouth open, as her eyes darted around the room.

Finally she closed her mouth and shook her head.

"No, Professor Snape."

"Very well." With a satisfied smirk, Snape turned back to the Headmaster. "Was there anything else?"

Dumbledore was frowning at the Professor, but raised no argument at his previous actions.

"No, but if you see Quirinus, could you send him up here? I sent for him some time ago, and he hasn't shown up."

The smirk fell from Snape's face.

"We received your summons at the same time." Snape said in a flat tone. "Quirrell said that he would come see you first, then he sicced Pomena onto me.

"She wouldn't let me go once she noticed my... leg, so I was held up. But Quirrel should have been here 30 minutes ago."

Dumbledore stared at Snape in confusion for a moment before he slammed his hands down onto his desk and pushed himself to his feet.

"Fawkes!" He shouted as he thrust his arm towards the phoenix near his desk.

The majestic bird launched itself from its perch and grabbed the outstretched arm before both Headmaster and bird vanished in a plume of fire.

Snape turned on his heel and ran from the room, black robes billowing behind him.

Shirou, Iris, Hermione, Rin, and Hagrid all stood about in confusion for a moment.

"Fluffy!" Hagrid shouted before he too ran from the room.

The students all looked at each other for a moment before Iris took off after Hagrid and her friends all followed her, shouting her name.