Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any shape or form.

Geth342: Short chapter. This chapter is dedicated to two people. the first is mon94key who has reviewed a lot, so thanks :)

The second person has never read this story. Edward Scott died on 5th February 2008, a victim of leukemia and heart failure. He was in my year at school for five and a half years. I did not know him very well but from what his friends have said, he was a lovely person, always ready to make you smile. He died before his time.

If you have time this week, donate to a cancer charity. If the cure was found, this young man would still be alive.

Thank you.

Chapter 10: Confrontation

I didn't speak to Tammy for a while after the dance. There was just nothing I could say. In the end it seemed easier to remain silent than to make a fool of myself. I didn't have anything to say which could be put into words anyway.

I did see her in Charms lessons and around Hogwarts of course but we both acted as though the other did not exist. The Hufflepuffs seemed a little colder to me than they usually did, but then again they had never liked me much to begin with so the change didn't really bother me much. I'm not sure that the others even noticed. All in all, life seemed to be getting back to normal.

Weeks passed and soon it was the beginning of December. People were walking around in warm scarves and gloves, hiding from the snow and talking about their plans for the holidays. We had already made ours. We would spend one week with our families and then spend the second week over Adam's. I couldn't help but notice that we seemed to be taking turns with staying over people's houses- only Seifer and I were left out of the boys. I dreaded the day when I would have to invite them over to my house.

In fact, the only thing that seemed at all irritating was Professor Quake. I didn't know what that man's problem was but the closer it got to Christmas, the more determined he was to take points off us. He took ten points off Tahir for laughing whilst we were performing some charm. That just seemed so pointless that Adam had told him so and lost twenty points from Slytherin. And that was only at the end of November.

Soon it was the last week before the Christmas holidays and despite ourselves, we were all excited. I missed my parents, even though I knew that the moment I got home I would be grounded for setting a snake on Zinnias. Adam scowled about having to return back to strict rules but I thought he probably appreciated the break. Jake was just happy because he was going to see his brother. Tahir was as impassive as ever and Seifer…I didn't know how Seifer felt. Happy, I supposed, like the rest of us.

But, of course, Professor Quake seemed determined to ruin it for us. On the one but last day of term, he turned up in a very bad mood. No sooner had he told us that we were practicing a colour changing charm then he had taken twenty points off Slytherin and bizarrely, five points off Hufflepuff. Asking for any help with the charm was clearly out of the question as the merest glance at him caused his face to turn an interesting shade of red.

In other words, it was a normal Christmas charms lesson.

About halfway into the lesson, both Travis and Angela had managed to make their mice change from white to red. Professor Quake gave Hufflepuff their five points back and grunted at Angela's attempts. He then told the rest of us to pick up the pace. Exactly how we were meant to cast charms quicker, I was not sure about but I really did not want another detention so I tried saying the charm quicker and quicker. Seifer noticed and joined in, and soon all the Slytherins were trying it. After a few minutes, I think I even spotted some frustrated Hufflepuffs trying it.

The problem was that the charm we were trying was very similarly worded to another spell which would cause a miniature explosion. Someone, and no one was quite sure who, said the charm in such a rush that they stumbled over some words. It was extraordinarily lucky that Quake heard the charm in time as he suddenly shouted for everyone to duck underneath tables. We ducked, surprised. We were even more surprised when a miniature explosion occurred and tables, chairs and many other items went flying. I don't think I had ever been as scared as I was then. That feeling of terror is so rare that I have felt it maybe three times in my life. That was the first time.

When it was over, almost as quickly as it had begun, no one moved for a few seconds. Then, slowly, Professor Quake stood up, his purple face accented with black dust. He trembled with rage and we could tell that he was using all of his self control to keep from shouting when he told everyone it was safe to stand up. We stood up.

I looked around. The room that had been a normal classroom just one minute ago was now unrecognizable. Tables had been blasted into walls and chairs and benches were now broken. The cupboard in the corner was a pile of wood and the door was hanging off one hinge. Every single person in the room was injured in some way. I was beginning to think that I had been lucky and escaped the blast when Seifer looked at me and pointed to my arm in shock. I followed his gaze. There was a piece of wood stuck there and now that I had noticed it, the adrenalin I had felt in the explosion disappeared. My arm began to throb painfully, making me regret ever standing up. Looking around, I could see at least three other people with the same thoughts as me. One of the Hufflepuff girls was unconscious. It was a miracle that no one had been killed.

"Everyone to the Hospital Wing." A voice hissed, breaking the enveloping silence. "Tomorrow, I want everyone and I mean everyone to be back in this room at lunch time. I want to know who is responsible for causing this destruction." Professor Quake looked just as dishevelled and frankly, I was surprised that he hadn't screamed at us. Why scream at us for small things like laughing and then only hiss when we destroy a classroom? It didn't make any sense to me.

Needless to say, Mrs. Fry was not impressed with our charms class' antics. She healed us all and let everyone except the unconscious girl go with dire warnings and orders as to how to keep our new found health. As we sat in the common room, later that evening, I could not stop staring at my arm and thinking about my lucky escape.

Little did I know that this escape would come with a price.

The next day was the last day of term and it should have been a glorious day. But, of course, we had to report to Quake at lunch. The morning passed uneventfully. I spotted the Hufflepuff girl walking around so I assumed that she had recovered. Finally, the bell rang. A lunch time lecture from our worst teacher was not exactly my idea of fun. Still, if we did not go, we would have been given more detentions than we wanted so grudgingly, we trudged off to the Charms classroom.

To my surprise, the classroom was in a much better condition than it had been the day before. If I had been thinking, I would have remembered that with magic, problems such as a destroyed classroom were easily remedied.

The Hufflepuff boys had already arrived and the girls arrived just after we did. We sat down on the new benches and looked around sheepishly, waiting for Quake. We did not have long to wait- the man walked in, glaring at all of us as we watched him in silence. After a minute of glaring at us, he began to speak.

"Well, you all know why I asked you to return here. Yesterday, some idiots messed around with the spell and destroyed the classroom. I want to know who is responsible. Now." No one said anything. Quake repeated his request. Eventually Travis stuck his hand up lazily.

"Professor, it was the Slytherins. They were the ones who were messing around." The teacher turned to glare at us. I looked at Travis who smirked. Growling, I stuck my hand up.

"Professor, we weren't messing around. And some Hufflepuffs did it too sir. If you're gonna punish us, you've gotta punish them too." I protested. Quake looked at me coldly.

"Mr. Carew," he said slowly, "you have a reputation as a liar and I know the sort of pranks you pull. I believe that Mr. Hart is correct in saying that you and your friends caused this." I stared at him, gobsmacked. He was willing to take that arrogant Hufflepuff cretin's word, over mine without so much as looking at evidence.

That was where I made my mistake.

I was so furious that instead of taking a calm view and plotting revenge for later I stood up and shouted at Quake.

I called him a biased old man who thought he had the right to bully us.

I told him that the reason people failed Charms was because of his poor teaching skills.

I told him that people always called us rude but if he was an example of someone who wasn't a Slytherin, I thought everyone would prefer us.

I probably would have said more if Seifer had not managed to pull me down and clamp a hand over my mouth. He was too late however. Although nothing I had said had been incredibly rude, it was enough. His face turned that interesting shade of purple.

"How-how dare you!" He spluttered. "Hufflepuffs, you may leave. Slytherins, stay behind to receive your punishment. Mr. Carew, I will speak to you after I have dealt with your classmates." The other Slytherins groaned as the Hufflepuffs looked triumphantly at each other and left.

"Now then, I hope after yes-"

"Excuse me Professor." A polite voice interrupted. We all turned to look at the brave speaker.

"What is it Miss Rowland?" Quake asked, barely containing his temper. Tammy ignored the nine stares of loathing and the one stare of curiosity (mine) as she answered.

"Um…well, Z- I mean Carew was right. Some of the Hufflepuffs were messing around. I was, so I deserve to be punished." There was a quiver in her voice but she bravely disguised it. Behind me, I could hear Angela ask Tanya why Tammy was willingly siding with us. Quake seemed to be thinking the same way- his mouth was wide open with shock. The red head looked around pleadingly and I decided that I really should save her. Especially as I had seen a way to turn the situation to my advantage.

"Rowland, shouldn't you be sitting down with us then?" I called out. Tammy looked at me nervously. Adam caught my drift.

"Yeah, sit down Hufflepuff girl. After all, the Professor said he was punishing all of us." He yelled out sneeringly. Tammy turned as red as her hair as the others caught on and told her to sit down. Trembling, she sat, as far away from us as possible. Quake had not said a word all this time.

We then proceeded to sit in polite silence for a few minutes until Quake finally got his voice back. He glared at Tammy.

"Well then Miss Rowland, if you feel you must be punished then by all means stay." He growled then looked at the rest of us. "I hope your little prank yesterday proved to you te-eleven- how dangerous magic is. You cannot use it to fool around. It can have disastrous consequences. No one escaped from that blast unscathed. And it could have been worse. Someone could have died. Did that occur to any of you?" He was shouting by the end of this. We looked down and mumbled apologies. This did not deter him. "I don't suppose I can press the seriousness of this upon any of you. Your heads of houses will be notified and the Headmaster has been notified. There will be letters home to your parents tonight. In addition, each and every one of you has detention with me for the first month after Christmas. I will tell each of you when your respective detentions are." We groaned. He sent everyone away except for me because, of course, I was the one who had yelled at him.

I shifted nervously as everyone else left. Tammy was the last to leave and I thought I could see a look of pity in her eyes, but when I checked her face again, it had gone. Suddenly, the Christmas holidays did not look like they would be too much fun. I was in trouble for the snake prank already and something told me that blowing up a classroom was not high on my parents list of good things to do.

Professor Quake would not speak or even look at me. Eventually I felt I had to start.

"I-I'm sorry for what I said to you Professor." I mumbled nervously. "It was completely out of order and I guess I was just annoyed and….Professor?" He still had not looked at me. This man, famous for his temper at Christmas was just remaining quiet. I began to feel even more nervous. Finally, he spoke, still looking at the wall.

"Did you mean what you said?" He asked quietly.

"O-of course not," I gabbled. Quake shook his head.

"Did you mean what you said Zac? I want the truth."

I felt I had to tell him the truth. I didn't know why. Perhaps it was something in his tone.

"I did partly. Except for failing Charms sir." I replied bravely. Still he would not look at me.

"You believe that I hate you and your house, am I correct?" He asked in the same quiet tone. I didn't say anything but he was perceptive. He knew what my silence meant. "You are incorrect. I do not like anyone who misuses Magic. That counts for most of the student population here at Hogwarts. It also goes for a large amount of adult Wizards." He broke off and looked at his desk. My question came out before I had the chance to stop myself.

"Why did you become a teacher then Professor? Surely you'd prefer to be somewhere where Magic can't be misused."

He became silent again. It was beginning to bug me. Shouting at me, screaming at me, hissing at me, all these I can put up with. But someone just being silent was new to me. I didn't know how to react.

I was just about to ask him if he had a punishment for me when he finally spoke.

"I became a teacher in order to help children grow into responsible Wizards. There will always be some that do not listen however." He looked at me for the first time. His face was strange. Like he was suffering some sort of pain. "You say I am biased towards your house and perhaps in some form you are correct. It is your house who is usually the least responsible with magic. And you, Mr. Carew, are definitely showing a tendency towards this." He looked away again.

"But that's not all of it, is it sir?" I pressed. He shook his head slowly.

"No Zac, it is not. I assume you have heard of the Death Eaters?" I nodded. "And you have heard of the Battle of Hogwarts, when He Who Must Not Be Named was finally destroyed." I nodded again. He noticed and, after opening a drawer in his desk and taking something out, handed the object to me.

It was a photo of a boy not much older than I was. He had spiky black hair and a cheeky face. I studied it for a few seconds. I think, in the back of my mind, I knew what he was going to tell me about this person. But I didn't want to know his fate. I think I thought it would have been too painful for me.

"This is your son, isn't it sir?" I asked to evade what had to come next. He nodded.

"Yes. His name was Edmund and he died fighting the Death Eaters in the war. Not a day goes by when I don't miss him, even though it has been thirty five years. He was only seventeen. He was too young to fight in that battle but he stayed behind anyway. I can only wish that he had listened to the teachers but then, I know that he would not have been the son I am proud of." He sounded oddly stiff and formal and I realised that he obviously didn't say it much. He didn't want people to know.

And there was nothing I could say.

I mean, what could I say? Sorry? Sorry that a group of people killed your son? I didn't know how to deal with it. Whatever I had thought he would say to me when the others left, it hadn't been that. And looking at him now, I knew that whatever he said, he blamed my house for the death of his son. After all, that was where the Death Eaters had spawned from.

After a minute or two, he had not said a word. He looked down at the table. Was he crying?

The silence became over bearing. I needed to say something, if only to break the silence.

"I-I'm sorry sir." I stuttered. I wasn't even sure what I was apologising for. He still said not a word so I continued. "He musta been a hero."

That got his attention. He looked up and although his cheek seemed shinier than before, he didn't appear to be crying.

"Yes, he was." He replied. "But note this. Edmund was as big a hero as anyone who fought in that battle. Yet he and many others who died on that day do not get songs sung about them, get lumped together in one day, and get ignored. That is the cost of war." He looked into my eyes, a deep brown colour meeting my blue ones. I wasn't sure why he was telling me that. He coughed and the spell was broken. "Now, as to your punishment…I think fifty points off Slytherin and a week of extra detentions with Mr. Rewn should do it. That and an essay on the misuse of magic and its effects."

I looked at him and quietly told him that I agreed. He told me that I could go and so I turned to leave. Before I left however, I felt that I should say something. He had told me something incredibly personal. Surely I should say something back. But what?

Nothing.

There was nothing I could entrust to this sad, broken man. I left without a word.