Jake opened up the wall too the Slytherin common room and gulped when he heard the sound of sniffles and straight up crying. He blushed at the sight that greeted him. Nearly all of the Slytherins in the room were rubbing their bottoms with tears leaking out of their eyes. Draco was leaning over a table with his robe neatly folded beside him and his pants around his ankles. His pale bare hide on full display with two twin deep red marks on it, undoubtedly from the cane Snape was wielding.

Snape was right behind Draco, tabbing his thin cane against the boy's hide before drowning it back and giving one last strike before letting Draco pull up his pants and stand up.

"Draco" Snape scolded "you know full well you are not to antagonize the Gryffindor's. A true Slytherin does not raise his wand against another unless absolutely necessary" he spot Jake and asked "Are the others returning?"

"Errr no sir the nurse wanted to keep them over night" Jake answered

Snape nodded "She's not a nurse, if you want to use the proper muggle term she's a doctor but it would be better if he called her 'Madam' as she worked hard to become a master at healing" after Jake nodded that he understood Snape said "Now Mister Long come here, Draco stand by the others"

"Yes sir" Draco sniffed rubbing his hide, he only got three strokes but he looked like he was in agony. Jake gulped hesitantly walking up to Snape. He wanted to beg Snape not to do it, tell him he'd never been caned before so he'll go easy on him, but he refused. Jake was determined to take this like a man with dignity and grace.

Snape looked sorrowfully at Jake "I assume you know what this is about"

Jake nodded trying not to shake "I caused world war three" he groaned

"Indeed... I am proud of you" Jake blinked at Snape's words but the man explained "Don't misunderstand, I'm also disappointed. That fight was completely avoidable and I DO understand how not all fights are. There will be many times you have to stand up for something or someone, particularly you given your title, but it is all the more important for you to learn not every situation is solved with a brawl. In many cases it will just make matters worse. I am not saying you should have walked away, that would not have solved anything either, but you could have been diplomatic about it. That is an extremely important skill for you and your housemates to learn. You could have used your words and your charm to dissolve the situation but instead you and your fellow Slytherins acted as a common gang. That is why I'm disappointed but I am proud that you also acted as a family, looking out for your housemates and protecting them. I'm told you yourself easily got into the rhythm, focusing more on strengthening the strategy of the house whether then acting like a Gryffindor and doing a free for all. Gryffindors are better at one on one duels or multiple people ganging up on one person but Slytherins are a unit. We act together for the good of the whole not personal glory. I am proud you behaved like a Slytherin where it matters. You might not understand the words yet but I think you understand the spirit of Rule One"

Jake blinked. That was... a long speak but... rule one suddenly made a lot more sense, probably why Snape took the time to say all that.

"However" Snape got his attention again after letting the boy think for a bit "It is extremely important that you know the difference between protecting your house and endangering it. It may seem oblivious now but Pride clouds judgment. You need to recognize a dangerous situation to avoid an outcome like this"

Jake bit his lip "I shouldn't have talked with Hermione when she was surrounded by half her Slytherin hating house"

"You could have signaled her. A wave or a shout to get her away from her housemates. You could have gotten her to come to you, instead you ran straight into a danger situation and made a joke about necromancy" Joke about... "It may have been your way of trying to dismiss the rumors but Gryffindors are very literal creatures. We'll practice better decorum later right now I need you to accept the consequences of your actions. Take off your robe and bare your bottom"

Jake's face exploded in crimson blush. Forgetting all about how his entire house misunderstood what he said, Jake obeyed the order in a numb ironically zombie like fashion. He removed his robe and tossed it on the table before pulling down his pants at an awkward angel. He pulled the back down just enough to reveal his rear but the front was still covering... well his front. Then he bent over and put his hands on the table.

He felt the cane touch his hide and tensed

"Ready Mister Long?" Snape asked

"Yes sir" Jake gulped feeling the cold air on his bare bottom.

The cane slowly left before slamming back down hard. Jake nearly toppled over from the pain but stayed where he was. He couldn't stop himself from letting out a scream though. The other Slytherins didn't seem to be judging him for it. The cane left again and come right back down but just a little lower this time. Finally the third stoke came and Jake felt hot teard escape his eyes but all the other Slytherins had cried to so he tried not to focus on that. Snape immediately let Jake fix his clothes and stand up before sending him and all the other Slytherins to sit at the tables as they were behind schedule. The study session really needed to begin.

Well they got their books Snape made one final announcement "All Slytherins involved with the fight will be surving a detention on Saturday at Eight O'Clock so you will still have the chance to go to Hogsmeade earlier in the day. Now everyone, hit the books"

"Yes sir"

###

Lucius groaned rubbing his head, Draco flooed again but this time after work. He'd usually be happy to hear his son's voice but the only time Draco flood him was to complain. At least it seemed the boy patched things up with the half breed but now. Draco was sitting in Severus' private quarters, not wanting the Draconic Sorcerer to hear what he had to say about their professor Lupin "I know"

"You know!?"

"Remus Lupin is registered with the ministry. His curse is the only legal reason child services has too keep him from taking the Potter whelp. Before he got a job at Hogwarts he was very nearly here every day fighting to take custody of Potter. He's been annoying us for 12 years to even get visiting privileges. The bastard was Harassing the entire ministry, not just child services, to find out where Potter was and he refused to believe we didn't know. Merlin forbid Dumbledore would keep the two apart. Honestly the man should have been a Hufflepuff with how blindly loyal he is" Lucius sighed. He also knew of Lupin because of Severus. The man once told him how Black tried to feed him to the werewolf and got off without so much as a detention "Werewolves are disgusting diseased things but the young dragon is right. They are only a danger around the full moon, as long as they don't surrender themselves to their curse and learn to transform at will but any werewolf that does is quickly put down by the ministry. Just stay in your dorm on nights of the full moon to be safe. You should be in your bed every night but Severus told me how you like to wander off"

"Dad! That was first year! First year and I got caught before I left the common room! Could you PLEASE stop bringing that up" It been so stupid to challenge Potter to a duel at night, they should have just gone into one of the empty classrooms. Not like first years know any spells that could have actually hurt, just tickle charms and splash charms like Draco used to do when he dueled his friends. Dueling was fun, harmless, and a good way to blow off steam as a kid. Draco was pretty much just asking Potter to do just that so that they could buried the hatchet and maybe even have been friends afterwards... but Snape caught him and Potter must have thought he chickened out and lost respect for him instead of gaining any. He didn't tell Snape that he was going to duel Potter and the boy was waiting for him. That should have earned him some brownie points with Potter as he didn't rat on him for being out after Curfew. Of course later that year he did because he was mad Potter was still refusing to be his friend and things escalated from their. Draco was a Slytherin, sure he used his friends and set up relationships just to have connections but that didn't mean they weren't actually his friends or that he didn't care about them. He used them and they used him. Weren't friends supposed to help each other when they needed it? Slytherins were just more practical about it and didn't suger coat anything but their friendship were just as strong as Gryffindors' with just as much heart put in, maybe more because they heavily relied on each other for business deals. They helped each other bring honor to their houses. It was a beautiful relationship is what it was. Draco didn't really think of Long as a friend yet, they were still testing the waters to see if they not only could help each other but if their personalities meshed. Still father would be very disappointed if it turned out they couldn't get along. So far Jake was fun and loyal and as Snape said he acted like a Slytherin thinking of the good of the whole but he was also crude like a Gryffindor and overly trusting and naive. That didn't really mean they couldn't be friends as the cousins were a lot like that to.

"Severus put up extra wards to rebel werewolves around the Slytherin common room" Lucius assured ignoring his son's comment and unware of the rant going on in the boy's head, although he always assumed their was one as the boy was a lot like his mother.

Draco sighed in relief hearing he'd be safe from werewolves. Werewolves were one of the few things Uncle Sev was openly scared of so naturally Draco was terrified of them.

"I wouldn't have let you return to school if I wasn't sure it was safe" Lucius insisted "Now, report, how are classes going? Are you working hard?" are you having fun?

"Yes father" Draco smiled "Just a little freaked that one of our teachers is a monster"

"Two actually, Draconic Sorcerers may be classified as 'Beings' but they are still dangerous and ill tempered"

"Tell me about it" Draco snorted "Ron Weasley fell asleep in class and Professor Shi throw a fit. I thought he was going to turn into a dragon and eat him! One less Weasley in the world"

"Shame no such thing happened" Lucius rolled his eyes and listened to his son snark for another ten minutes before the boy decided he wanted to go play with his friends.

"Saw hi to mom for me" Draco grinned before cutting off the floo

Lucius sighed "I could have sworn I taught the boy better manners then that" didn't even get a proper goodbye, Vince really was a horrible influence.

###

The next day it was more Potions, Followed by Charm which was thankfully far less draining, another pointless sit through in Runes where they just continued to read over the book learning the laws and theories and wondering when they got to actually handle runes, then summoning which was just more work on opening and closing portals but this time they were working on their own well the teacher and his apprentice supervised the class. Friday was at last a completely ordinary day... for the most part.

A girl walked over to him in the courtyard, a girl with white hair and fair skin with a wand behind her ear and turnips as earings. She spotted Jake and got a look in her eyes. It was as if she wasn't really seeing him but seeing who he really was, eyes looking into his soul. It sent shivers down his spin. The Dragon in him found the look comforting but the human part was completely creeped out. It was an odd sensation.

She slowly walked over to Jake and lightly bowed in front of everyone before speaking in a language hidden in the trees "Greetings son of dragon blood"

Jake blushed recognizing the language but having no clue what it meant. Still he knew how he was expected to respond. He bowed back trying to remember the exact phrase Gramps taught him so not to offend "Greetings to you Daughter of Gaia" now the Slytherins were looking at him strangely, as usual the hurd of third years were together.

"Now that we have the formalities out of the way" She smiled serenely "I'm Luna"

"Jake" Jake answered blushing nervously, he never meet one before. He was still worried he might offend her.

"What the hell do you want Loony" Greg glared

Jake's brain exploded in shock "Don't fucking speak to her like that!"

All the Slytherins stared at Jake in shock, expect strangely Blaise who was starting at Luna in... fear?

"Don't worry about it" Luna smiled unaffected "Lots of people call me that"

"Well they shouldn't!" Jake insisted, rule one be damned.

"Daughter of Gaia?" Blaise stared "As in... you're a druid"

Teddy blinked "No bloody way" his expression changed to awe

"What's a druid?" Vince asked looking at Greg who shrugged. If anyone should have known it was them but they had very little knowledge of anything your average giant was taught. This was done intentionally as their family didn't like their giant heritage.

Blaise explained "They're wizards and witches chosen at birth by the spirit of the Earth. Their supposed to protect nature and the flow of magic. It's said they perceive the world differently then we do, seeing the spiritual shade of our world and not the physical plan"

"It's more like half and half" Luna smiled

Blaise still look scared senseless, making the other Slytherins nervous "W-why didn't you tell your housemates your a druid?"

"They never asked" She smiled

Teddy snorted "Not the type of thing that comes up in causal conversion"

"Still" Blaise tried "I'm sure they wouldn't pick on you if they knew"

"People pick on you!?" Jake exclaimed in outrage

"I don't mind" Luna shrugged really not caring.

"We have to stop this" Jake looked determined at the other Slytherins

"It would be best" Blaise agreed "If we didn't deliberately do something to piss off a creature as powerful as an elder god. Gaia can be..." well he tried to think of a word Luna informed

"Mother is love" she explained "But nothing is more terrifying then a mother bear protecting her cubs. Don't worry I asked her not to interfere, as I'm about to ask you"

"But-" Jake tried but she didn't let him say more then that.

"I'm strange" She admitted well keeping that serene smile "strange things scare people. They'll get over it as they get used to me"

Jake nodded reluctantly. After a moment of silence he asked "Want to play a game?"

"As long as it isn't 'Dead Rising'," She agreed and the Slytherins chuckled at that as Jake lead the way too the Slytherin Common room.

Once in the common room all the third year Slytherins gathered around Jake's laptop and took turns shooting aliens with the controllers.

Luna stood back waiting for it to be her turn again with an uneasy Blaise next to her.

"Don't worry" Luna smiled speaking in a language now Jake would understand but thankfully he was too far away and engrossed in his game. He was the only one who hadn't died yet so he didn't have to hand over the control to someone else. Blaise however did recognize it. His mother taught it to him. It was Sylvan, the language of woodland creatures "I'm not about to 'out' you. I don't care much for gossip"

Blaise looked around making sure no one was paying attention to them before muttering "Thank you" in the same language.

The wall to the common room opened and absent mindedly a few of the Slytherin looked towards it, then immediately froze with fear. Draco nudged Jake who looked over and groaned. Gramps had just walked in.

"Hello professor" Luna smiled

Gramps stared at her companion a moment before answering "Miss. Lovegood... Mr. Zabini" he already greeted Luna formally at the beginning of her first history class. It puzzled the hell out of all his other students to have them both randomly spout what must have seemed like gibberish. He didn't know Drudic beyond that phrase, as it was a sacred language known only to druids, but he answered her back in Sylvan to show her greater respect, hopefully Jake remembered to do the same when he met her. It was mostly a test to see how he'd do not telling Jake there was a druid at the school. The same reason he didn't say what Zabini or Lupin was, it was better for Jake to figure these things out on his own. Zabini would probably be the hardest which made it all the more important.

"Hi Gramps" Jake eyed hoping the man hadn't come here for Dragon Training. There was suddenly an explosion on screen and Jake's head snapped back worrying it was he who died but he sighed with relief well Greg moaned in despair.

"My turn" Vince grinned

"No way!" Greg glared "I was distracted"

"Perhaps" Gramps got the boys attention and Jake made sure to pause the game this time so nobody else died "you would be so kind as to let me take a turn"

Jake smiled, it been a while since Gramps played with him. That stopped right after his Dragon Powers kicked in. Jake looked at the Cousins hopefully and both sighed before handing the controller over to Gramps.

"You sure" Jake teased "You really suck at this game"

"It's just eye-hand coordination, we both know I'm an expert at that"

"Yeah that's ALL it is" Jake smirked unpausing the game.

Gramps got eaten by an alien within thirty seconds of respawning.

Jake laughed well the old man grumbled and refused to give up the controller "Gramps you're supposed to let someone else have a turn when you die"

"How about I hand it over when you die" Gramps eyed not really giving an option.

Jake looked at his housemates and shrugged helplessly. They understood, Snape would occasionally do things like this too when he wanted to spend time with Draco. Besides there were still too other controllers for the Slytherins, plus Luna, to take turns. They all died pretty quickly anyway so they all got turns even with the history professor and Jake hogging two of the controllers. When Snape walked in he pretended he didn't see Gramps or Luna and conveniently forgot about study time until after lunch, the kids did deserve a bit of a rest after this week.

The Slytherins decided not to tell on Jake for breaking rule one. Only Luna heard Jake yell at them after all and she didn't seem to care. They just enjoyed their day well looking forward to their Hogsmeade trip tomorrow.

###

A/N:

The idea with Blaise was planned from the start although I know it looks just thrown in. The reason he acts like such a bigot is he doesn't want people to catch on that he may not be an ordinary wizard. The question is "What is he?"

I know a lot of partial humans are in Slytherin house and they're the most racist house but no one has truly "pure" blood. Wizards are descended from muggles but in truth some got their powers not from natural evolution, although most did, but a magical creature mating with a human. There was a time before Merlin and wizarding law when humans commonly slept with sentient magical creatures but after thousands of years of breeding only with humans the blood is so diluted it might as well not be there. Only some genes are strong enough to survive like magic powers, a few traits like a giant's size (although that still degrades over time), and occasionally special abilities like with Dragons and Fairies. Sometimes special abilities from an ancient magical heritage can be unlocked thanks to rituals, a wizards natural power level, or a particular event happening at a certain moment.

Thanks for reading be sure to review as I require comments to live. I'll be sure to answer back