Chapter 14: House Relations

Horatio appeared in the Slytherin first year boy's dormitory, and his watch ticked backwards to the appropriate time. It was two in the morning, and after going through Harry's Saturday he was tired but overall pleased about how the day had gone. He opened the green velvet hangings to find two flasks and a sheet of parchment on his bed. The note was written in Uncle Sev's handwriting and gave him instructions on the use of the headache cure. He would need to put the potion with Harry's things for Monday's DADA lesson, but for now he put it away in his bedside cabinet before climbing into bed. The absence of Goyle's snores reminded him that this was the night the unfortunate boy was spending in the Hospital Wing after the potion's accident.

He awoke a few hours later to his watch warming against his skin. The water beyond the circular windows lent a greenish cast in the room, only a slight lightening of the hue told him it was daytime. A few of his dormmates were still in their beds including both Draco and Ron, so Horatio decided he would take the time to write his letter to Aunt Cissy and send it off with Pollux. He was overdue a visit to the owlery as Horatio anyway, after all he wouldn't want his eagle owl to get jealous of Hedwig.

Horatio decided to write in his bed since he didn't want to face any drama in the common room just yet. He gathered his writing materials, including A History of Magic to use as a makeshift writing table. Then he closed the hangings and lifted the hawthorn wand into the air muttering, "Volans Stellula", which was the spell Professor Sinistra used to make her floating silver lights. The little silver sphere hung in the center of the space, giving Horatio enough light to see and write. He pondered for a while what he could tell her about his week that would not reveal too much if the letter were to fall into someone else's hands, and then finally set quill to parchment.

Dear Aunt Cissy,

Sorry I have not written to you until now, but this first week has been rather eventful. I want to thank you so much for your gifts, for the sweets that you gave Draco and I, but especially for the watch you sent me. It has made my life at school so much easier, and it even caught the eye of one of my professors. I have not been late to breakfast or anything really because of the watch. Draco also invited me to visit with your family over the summer holiday, and he mentioned that you are planning to go to France. If I do come, I will be able to use the special time feature of the watch when we travel. Who knows all the ways that could be useful?

Hogwarts is a massive place and learning my way around the castle would have been difficult, if not for the upper forms helping the first years find our way. I do not know if they did this when you were a student, but an older housemate would meet us first years and guide us to the next place we needed to be. The scheme was so successful that the other three houses tried to adopt it too, with varying degrees of success. I think the Hufflepuffs did the best job and will be doing the same next year. The heads of house even arranged a tour to all the important places for us, so I know where the library, the owlery, and the hospital wing are located, though hopefully I will not need the latter. Even with all that Draco, our friend Ron Weasley, and I got lost one day and managed to run afoul of the caretaker. It was all a misunderstanding and we got off with a stern warning. Though if Mr. Filtch had his way, we probably would have been punished.

The lessons themselves are fascinating, and harder than I expected them to be. Charms and Transfiguration are quite useful, though some of the transformations seem a bit silly. I mean, when would you be so desperate for a snuff box that you would catch a mouse and turn it into one? Please do not tell Professor McGonagall I wrote that last bit, she would not find the humor in it. Caring for all the magical plants is nice too and will probably be more important as we learn more complex potions. Speaking of which, I wish we had potions class more than once a week.

There are some classes I wish we did not have as often though, or at least that they could be taught by someone else. To say that History of Magic is boring is an understatement. Honestly, the most exciting thing in that class is when Professor Bins enters the classroom through the chalkboard, but once he starts talking over half the class is asleep in five minutes. Draco and I even heard some Ravenclaws complaining about it too, he thinks they keep Bins around because it saves the school gold, but is that really helping anybody?

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher seems a bit dotty to me. He is afraid of his own shadow, and stammers so much that you can hardly understand him. His classroom smells strongly of something, garlic maybe. The older students say he used to teach one of the elective courses and took a year off to get practical experience, but something he ran across on his travels left him like this. You know, as I write this, I almost feel sorry for him…

The night of the sorting, there were a couple of students who were not sorted where they were expected to go, and a lot of the school is still reeling from it. I mentioned earlier about my friend Ron, he is in Slytherin with us, but was expected to be in Gryffindor like most of his family have been. The other one that concerns Draco and me is poor Theo, him being in Gryffindor was a real shock for him at first, but he is coping better now. He has a circle of friends he hangs out with, including Harry Potter, and they have even invited Ron to hang out with them outside of lessons. I think Draco is a bit jealous about that since he would like to see more of Theo himself. The trouble is that being included in the group of Gryffindor friends has raised some eyebrows here in Slytherin and made things difficult for Ron. Uncle Sev is going to be speaking to the whole house this afternoon about it. I hope that the talk goes well, and that Ron will be accepted by the rest of the house.

I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings about the first week. Say hello to Uncle Lucius and the girls for me, oh Buckbeak and the other hippogriffs too. Also tell Uncle Lucius that I miss our wizard chess matches. I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Horatio

After rereading his finished letter, Horatio rolled it up carefully before extinguishing the light. He climbed out of bed and scribbled a quick note to Draco letting him know where he'd gone before putting away his supplies, and donning a dark blue robe patterned with silver stars. The common room was occupied with a few students enjoying some leisure time, or else catching up on homework. Marcus Flint was sitting in a corner with six other boys including fourth year Terrance Higgs. They were examining a board with little figures on it, and three hoops standing at either end, which reminded Horatio of the little sticks muggle children used to blow bubbles with. He drifted over to see what they were up to.

"What's up, Prince?" Higgs asked when he noticed him watching.

"Just looking," Horatio shrugged.

"Ever seen a Quidditch game before?" Flint asked, and when Horatio shook his head, the captain grinned. "First game of the season is always us vs Gryffindor, it should be good."

One of the other boys huffed, "Long as they get a half decent seeker this year it will be."

Flint shook his head, "Don't underestimate the rest of the lions' team. Those Weasley's are like a pair of human bludgers themselves, Wood's goal save average is pretty good, and those chasers will be even better this year."

Higgs pointed to himself before gesturing around at the other boys, "So what are we, chopped dragon liver?"

"Oh, you're good," Flint nodded to the rest of his team. "You all are, just don't take anything for granted if their seeker isn't anything to owl home about." His teammates nodded their agreement. "Prince, if you want to learn more about the game one of us can explain it later. Right now, we're caught up in a strategy meeting."

Horatio nodded, tapping the scroll of parchment in his hand, "I need to send this letter off anyway."

As he turned to leave, one of the other boys asked Flint, "So what were you saying earlier, about that flying formation?"

"Ah yes, hawk's head," The captain turned his attention back to his team.

Horatio's trip to the owlery was uneventful, except for Peeves trying to drop a statue on his head. He arrived in the drafty tower, sliding a little on the dropping strewn floor as he searched for Pollux. He noticed Hedwig first because her snowy feathers stood out among the many grays and browns, but they didn't acknowledge one another. In fact, he noticed she shuffled around on her perch so her back was to him. Pollux landed on Horatio's shoulder and nibbled his ear affectionately.

"Hey buddy," he greeted the eagle owl, and stroked his brown feathers. As they passed under Hedwig's perch he whispered, "See you later, sweet girl." She blinked her amber eyes at him before putting her head under her wing. He hoped she understood and wouldn't be too upset with him.

Horatio stood in the window, watching smoke curling up from Hagrid's chimney for a while, as he stroked Pollux feathers. Finally, he held up the scroll and said, "This is going to Aunt Cissy at Malfoy Manor." Pollux hooted and held out his leg, letting Horatio tie the scroll to it before he flew out the window. The boy watched him go before leaving the tower to head to breakfast.

When Horatio arrived in the Great Hall, he was surprised to see Theo sitting with Draco and Ron at the Slytherin table. Some of the other students appeared to be casting the Gryffindor suspicious glances, but the boys were doing their best to ignore it. Horatio sat down beside Ron and greeted his friends, "So you two finally dragged yourselves out of bed? And morning Theo, I'm a little surprised but glad to see you here."

Theo shrugged one shoulder, "I figured it's the weekend, and most of the housemates I socialize with are off doing their own thing."

"And you missed me." Draco proclaimed with a smirk, making Ron snort into his porridge.

Theo raised his eyebrows, "And who are you again?" Ron started to splutter, making Horatio pat his back vigorously until he could breathe normally again.

Horatio shook his head, "You two are in fine form this morning, but you might want to cut back on the humor a bit, if not we might have to send Ron to the hospital wing." He started assembling a breakfast plate for himself, "So what do we have planned today?"

"Well, there is the house meeting in a couple hours." Draco shrugged, "before that I'm open to suggestions."

Theo opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask a question but thought better of it. Changing tac he said, "There is something I want to show you both, Ron already knows about it from tea yesterday."

Ron furrowed his brow as if trying to remember, "Oh yeah, the Prophet article."

Draco feigned nonchalance, "It's not about a dragon being sighted by some muggles, is it?" but the three friends could tell his interest was piqued.

"No, it's not," Theo lowered his voice. "It's about something that happened over the summer."

Horatio arched a quizzical eyebrow, "You're being rather cryptic."

Theo smirked, "Well it's not often that I hear about something before Draco, so I'm enjoying it."

"Rubbing it in more like," Draco muttered, though his tone was amused. "So where shall we have our little meeting?"

Ron glanced up at the enchanted ceiling, "Looks like a fine day, might be one of the last ones we get before the cold sets in, so why not go out to the grounds?"

"Good idea," Theo nodded, "it will be harder for people to overhear us too."

After breakfast, the four boys headed out into the grounds and settled under a large beach tree near the lake. Horatio rested his head back against the trunk, enjoying the dappled sunlight which filtered through the leaves. Beside him Draco sighed wistfully, and Horatio gave him a quizzical glance. The blond gestured at their surroundings, "It's fine flying weather."

"Yeah, it is," Ron stretched out on the grass. "Pity we can't bring our own broomsticks…" He frowned before adding, "Not that mine is very good." Theo and Horatio exchanged an amused glance and chuckled. The redhead sat up on an elbow with a scowl, "Not all the old families are rolling in gold—"

"No, it's not that," Theo held up a placating hand. "It's just that flying on a broomstick isn't what Draco was talking about." Ron squinted at the other two boys, not entirely convinced.

Horatio nudged Draco who explained, "I meant flying on my hippogriff Buckbeak."

Ron's eyes widened, "You have a pet hippogriff?" He shook his head, scooping his own pet rat out of his pocket, and resting the fat gray creature onto the grass. "All I have is Scabbers, and he's pretty useless." The rat promptly walked around in a couple circles before settling into the now flattened grass. He yawned, closing his beady eyes, before tucking his bald tail around his body. Ron gazed down at his sleeping pet, "Honestly, all he does is eat and sleep, and chew on things."

"I'm not an expert on rodent behavior, but isn't that what rats do?" Horatio asked.

"Maybe you should ask the gamekeeper about it," Theo suggested. "He had some care tips for Longbottom about his toad."

"Longbottom brought a toad to school?" Draco snickered, "Toads were fashionable in about 1890."

"It was a gift from one of his relatives." Theo explained, "So, not bringing it would be rather rude on his part."

"Still though…" Draco shook his head.

"Now tell Ron about hippogriffs," Horatio smirked, "You know you want to."

Draco turned to Ron, and said with pride in his voice, "My family has a whole herd of hippogriffs, Beaky is the one that I raised from when he was a foal."

"So, what are hippogriffs used for?" Ron asked as he flopped back onto the grass beside Scabbers. "Do your parents sell them?"

"Sometimes, but you can't just give them to anyone. They must have enough land to keep them out of sight from muggles and understand how to care for them properly. Other times people will come to the Manor to see them and ride them, to paint or photograph them. They can be trained to carry things and people over long distances, for personal and property protection, or even to hunt creatures that are overpopulating an area. Their feathers and talons can be used in some potions in place of griffon feathers and claws, and griffins are even more rare and dangerous, so they're easier for the apothecaries to keep in stock and more affordable. Their dung makes for good fertilizer, and again is easier to gather, and more affordable than say dragon dung." Draco frowned as he concluded, "I think some of the other wand makers—not Olivander of course—use their feathers for wand cores."

"I wonder why Olivander doesn't use them…" Horatio mused.

"He says they make for temperamental wands." Draco huffed, "and everyone says he's the best wand maker in Britain."

Horatio raised his eyebrows, "Then why did you get an Olivander wand if you're so offended that he doesn't use hippogriff feathers?"

Draco's cheeks tinged pink as he admitted, "Mother says he's the best, and her wand is one of his."

Theo coughed something that sounded like, "Mummy's boy." As Draco started to protest, he changed the subject, "So do you two want to know what this article was about or not?" He pulled the news clipping from his pocket as he spoke.

Horatio agreed quickly, "Well I want to know." In truth he wanted to break up the argument, and to know Draco's thoughts on the mystery.

Draco's eyes narrowed as he stared at the scrap of newsprint in Theo's hand before holding out his hand for it. "Fine, let's have a look." Theo passed it over and Draco read the short article. "Well, naturally everyone panicked because they thought the Dark Lord was behind it, and we like to think the goblins defenses are full proof…"

"Very true," Horatio agreed, pretending to mull over the article as it was passed to him. "Whatever was in there has to be valuable or dangerous, or both."

"And there's what Hagrid said yesterday." Theo sat forward as he explained, "Hagrid said that Gringotts is the safest place to keep something of value, except perhaps for Hogwarts." Even though they appeared to be alone, Theo lowered his voice conspiratorially, "I think whatever was in that vault is here at Hogwarts."

"That's a bit of a leap…" Draco trailed off skeptically.

"No think about it," Ron sat up to join the conversation. "Dumbledore mentioned in his announcements that there was this place on the third floor where students shouldn't go, unless they wanted to die a very painful death." He gestured between Draco, Horatio, and himself as he added, "and there was our little run in with Filch, he was talking about expelling me because we were standing by that door." He grabbed Scabbers' tail to keep the rat from wandering off.

"That was an overreaction," Draco tapped his fingers on his knee, "but it is Filch we're talking about… He's not the most stable person, and he seems to have it out for your family."

Ron snorted, "That's because Fred and George go out of their way to make his life hell."

Horatio dithered for a moment, should he tell them about the package? His own natural curiosity was at war with his since of loyalty to his godfather. The banter of his three friends, showed him that they were clearly enjoying the opportunity to bounce ideas off one another. Ultimately, he reasoned that knowing there was a package wouldn't harm anyone, so he spoke up, "I think Theo is right, Uncle Sev had business at the bank the day of the break in, it was the same day he took me to get my supplies."

"You didn't mention this before," Draco said, "we were getting my supplies that day too."

"It didn't seem important until now." Horatio said, gesturing to the article which he passed back to Theo. "The thing is Uncle Sev handed a letter to the goblin who was helping us, and they brought him a little grubby package." He held out his hands to demonstrate the size, "It was about this big, and Uncle Sev just tucked it into his robes without another word."

"Couldn't that have just been some rare or less than legal potion ingredient?" Draco asked.

Horatio shook his head, "I don't think so, because he said it was Hogwarts business, and I think he mentioned that it was for the headmaster."

"That's some pretty strong proof to me." Theo ticked off the evidence on his fingers, "Mysterious announcement from the headmaster, cryptic statement from a member of Hogwarts staff, the article here, and the dodgy little package Master Snape took from the bank, the same day as the robbery that failed."

"But what's the point of all this, Theo?" Draco gestured vaguely, "I mean, I'm glad you've found a puzzle to solve, but are we thinking of risking a very painful death just to find out what's being guarded?"

Theo blanched, "Look, I might be in Gryffindor, but even I'm not that reckless." He put away the clipping, "I just wondered why it was here of all places? I mean, I get that there are a load of magical protections surrounding the school, but why invite whoever tried to break into Gringotts to come here to try and steal it? What's worth the risk of bringing a morally ambiguous person to a school full of kids?"

Ron gnawed on his lip as he thought, "Well we can't know that without knowing what's in the package, and we need more clues to figure that out."

"You two could always use your teatime as an excuse to pick Hagrid's brain about it." Draco suggested, "You never know, he might let something slip."

"You are such a Slytherin," Theo tutted at Draco before admitting, "but it's not a bad idea."

"That's not the only reason we'd be going." Ron defended, "Harry and the others are cool, and Hagrid's alright too."

Theo tried teasing Ron, "Yeah, and you won't turn down free food."

Ron quipped back, "And you won't say no to another cuddle with Fang."

"Who's Fang?" Draco arched a pale eyebrow.

"Hagrid's dog," Theo and Ron answered together. The four boys laughed as the two who had spoken shared a glance.

"Oy, Malfoy, Prince, Weasley!" A figure waved to them from the path back to the castle. It was Marcus Flint, and he was carrying a broomstick over his shoulder. "Don't forget about the house meeting at two."

"We already heard about it," Draco called back.

"Alright, don't be late." Flint headed off toward a large structure in the distance.

"I guess he's going to practice with the Quidditch team." Ron looked longingly at the broom over Flint's shoulder.

"He was talking with his team earlier." Horatio supplied. "I've never seen a Quidditch match before, but Draco has told me some about it."

"Never?" Ron asked in surprise. "I know you said you knew about muggle stuff, but wow…"

"I was raised by my grandfather, until he died, and he was a squib."

Ron looked apologetic, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." Though Horatio wasn't sure if it was because his supposed grandfather was dead, or because he was a squib.

Theo had heard this story before, the first day they'd met. He exchanged a glance with Draco and changed the subject, "So what is this big house meeting, we've never had any in Gryffindor."

Draco explained, "Basically, the whole house gets together to talk through a problem or share information about something." He smirked as he continued, "but I'm looking forward to this one, because I think Selwyn is going to get put in his place."

Theo asked Ron, "Is it true that Selwyn said you should ask to be resorted?"

Ron raised his eyebrows, "How did you know about that?"

"I was in the library when another Slytherin told Greengrass and her cousin about it." Theo stared toward the castle. "You know, you don't see the Gryffindors complaining that I'm sitting with three Slytherins."

Horatio furrowed his brow, "But you haven't had a chance to be back with them since you sat at our table for breakfast."

"No…" Theo drew out the word as he thought it over. "I haven't, so I guess we'll have to see if they have a problem with it."

"Does that mean you won't be sitting with us at lunch?" Draco asked a bit petulantly.

"Not necessarily, but I did agree to have lunch with my housemates." Theo stood up, brushing himself off. "You lot could always join the Gryffindor table for lunch." He set off toward the castle, looking back at his three friends as he explained, "I want to test the house theory, to see if my fellow lions take issue with me spending time with snakes."

"Looks like we're heading inside." Ron scooped up Scabbers and deposited the rat in his pocket.

"Yep, the Gryffindor recklessness is rubbing off on him." Draco said as he too got to his feet.

Horatio shook his head, "No I think he's just starting to feel like he belongs, and that's a good thing."

"If you say so..." Draco said with a shrug as he pulled Horatio to his feet.

The four boys entered the Great Hall for lunch with Theo still leading the way. Horatio glanced over and noted that the Gryffindor first years hadn't arrived yet, though he knew they were still up in the tower. As Theo headed toward the Gryffindor table, he paused to look back at his three friends, all of whom were still standing near the entrance to the hall. "Aren't you all coming?"

The three boys exchanged glances, and Ron said, "Maybe we should sit at Slytherin again, since everyone thinks I want to be a Gryffindor, it might send the wrong message…"

Theo frowned as he looked toward the Gryffindor table before turning back to his friends, "This whole thing is stupid. We know what house we belong to, but we should be able to sit where we want, especially on the weekends."

"I agree with you Theo," Draco concurred at once, "but sometimes things have to be handled carefully."

"Why don't you have lunch with your housemates," Horatio offered, "and tomorrow we'll join your table for at least a meal." He glanced between the other boys for their reaction.

Ron made a face, "At least we're not sitting at the Ravenclaw table, I'll take Fred and George over Percy any day."

"Sounds like a good compromise to me." Draco said, slinging an arm around Theo's shoulders, "We'll see you later Theo." As the boy in question pulled away and started to walk off, Draco said to his two remaining friends, "Now let's go sit down, people are staring."

As the three Slytherin boys took their seats, Horatio noticed a few of their classmates giving them sidelong looks. He couldn't tell whether they were hostile or just assessing. They had hardly sat down when Daphne lent forward to speak, "Hey Weasley, in case you didn't hear from Nott, Potter is running this study club in the library. The next meeting is after dinner on Monday." She sipped a goblet of gilly water, "He made a point that all four houses were invited, and I bet he'd want you there."

"Oh thanks," Ron looked surprised, "I hadn't heard about it, but I'll check it out."

"I thought it would solve your image issue." She glanced at Draco and Horatio. "You two could come as well, since you seem to be three peas in a pod, and your best mate Nott will be there."

"You know," Draco mused, "That's not a bad idea." He nudged Horatio, "What do you say?"

Horatio considered for a moment, on the one hand it would make his life more complicated, since both his personas would be socializing together, but on the other it would make Draco happy being able to spend time with Theo. He also knew his absence from such a group wouldn't go unnoticed if Draco did attend, so he decided to not fight the inevitable, and nodded. Draco flashed him a pleased smile, and Horatio smiled back, glad to have made his best friend happy.

Halfway through lunch another figure entered the Great Hall. It was Goyle, who appeared completely healed from his injuries the day before. As he approached the Slytherin table Crabbe stood up, and in a rare display of affection, gave him a brotherly hug. The two boys sat down, and Selwyn reached across the table to give Goyle a fist bump in greeting. A few of the other Slytherins welcomed him back as well, including Gemma Farley who rubbed his short wiry hair as she walked by. Selwyn and Crabbe promptly put their heads together, no doubt informing Goyle of what had happened in the common room while he was in the hospital wing.

"That could be trouble," Draco nodded in their direction.

Ron put down his knife and fork, swallowing the bite of steak he'd been chewing. "I'm going to go say I'm glad he's out of the hospital wing. After all I was his partner in class." They watched as he walked down the gap between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables and tapped Goyle on the shoulder before exchanging a few words with him.

Horatio turned back to Draco and asked, "Should we go do the same?"

Draco tapped his fingers on the table and shook his head, "I wouldn't want the rest of the house to think we're currying favor with him or something."

"We could all go over as a group to show support." Daphne said from across the table, indicating herself and her cousin Tracy.

Tracy peered down the table at the boy in question. Ron was returning now, but other people were still standing around talking to Goyle. She shook her head, "Maybe we should wait until we're all back in the common room. Goyle seems a bit uncomfortable with all the attention."

"Fair point," Horatio agreed. As he ate, he thought more about the study club, it had been a spur of the moment decision, but was already having an impact on the relations between the houses, even if it was a small one. Though he might want to see about getting the name changed, maybe he could ask the group for ideas, and they could vote on it.

There wasn't a seat to be found in the Slytherin common room as time approached a quarter until two in the afternoon. The Quidditch team sat together with Flint near the front of their group. The prefects were clustered in the best armchairs near the fire. Other groups were ranged around the room, some friends or couples whispering amongst themselves. The first years sat at two tables near the stone wall that acted as doorway to the dungeons, Harrie and Maris sat across from Daphne and Tracy, with Pansy and Millicent at either end of their table. At the second table, Selwyn sat between Crabbe and Goyle as usual, though the two taller boys kept shooting worried glances back and forth over his head, in contrast Ron sat with Draco and Theo on either side of him like bookends of solidarity.

There head of house swept into the room and a hush fell over the students. "Good afternoon Slytherins," he paused in front of the boys' table, "it is good to see you return to us whole and sound Mr. Goyle." The large boy stared down at his hands which were resting on the table as he muttered a reply. Snape's dark eyes lifted to sweep the room as he addressed the gathering, "This is the first house meeting of the year, and for some of you it is the first you have attended. I regret that it will not begin with the usual start of term welcome, and opportunity for each of you to address concerns and make inquires of me." He paced away from the first years as he spoke, addressing the entire gathering. "I am going to make one thing abundantly clear to all of you. Each witch or wizard who is sorted into this house is to be welcome and accepted regardless of their background. There is to be no talk of resorting or shunning a member of the house because they are from a family that is traditionally sorted elsewhere." His voice was the only sound in the room, apart from the crackling fire. "The sorting hat places each new student according to qualities he or she displays at the moment the hat touches their head. These criteria were put into the hat by Salazar Slytherin himself, to question the hat is to question centuries of Hogwarts tradition, and to question the judgment of our house's founder." He paused to let the weight of that statement sink in before continuing, "That is not to say that a witch or wizard's actions during their time here, should not merit repercussions, if any student does something to harm the house's reputation or put another student in danger, that person will face the consequences for their actions, but not because of circumstances beyond their control, before they have had a chance to prove themselves."

He turned back to the tables where the first years were seated, "Mr. Selwyn, I speak directly to you, in front of your peers and the upper forms, to say that further antagonism of Mr. Weasley will not be tolerated. Furthermore, I am deducting ten points from Slytherin for your conduct yesterday. You were disruptive of the peace in the common room, and your statement was intended to make Mr. Weasley feel unwelcome here."

"But sir!" Selwyn protested, on either side of him, his two friends looked anywhere but at the approaching potions master.

Snape loomed over the table, his eyes bored into Selwyn's, "Silence, and be grateful it isn't more." He turned away to address another student, "Ms. Wilks you do not speak for the entire house, so do not presume to do so again. For your conduct yesterday, I take ten points from Slytherin for disrespecting a school prefect and contributing to the harassment of your housemate. If this behavior continues, I will impose further punishments." Charlotte Wilks' mouth opened as if she wanted to speak, but one of her friends grabbed her arm and hissed something in her ear. The blonde fell silent at her friend's urging but flashed a haughty scowl at Snape's back as he turned away.

"Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way," Snape continued in a more neutral tone, "Does anyone have questions or requests they wish to bring to my attention?" He turned to the Quidditch Captain, "Mr. Flint before you ask, I did not have the opportunity to speak with the other heads of house about your request." Flint nodded his acceptance, as if he had not expected anything else.

Agnes Rockwood raised her hand, and Snape acknowledged her with a nod. "Master Snape, might I suggest the house dueling chamber be employed to resolve disputes between Slytherins?"

"Perhaps, but I do not wish for you all to draw your wands at the slightest provocation." Snape considered for a moment, "However, we may restart the house dueling competition to sharpen your skills." An older student raised his hand, "Yes Mr. McKinniss?"

"Why not form a council of sorts, with each year group having one or two representatives, maybe one male and female like the prefects, and students can bring their problems to the council to mediate for them." This spawned an outbreak of questions from the other students.

"Wouldn't that undermine the prefect system?" asked a girl sitting with Wilks.

The boy called Murphy folded his arms, "How would these representatives be chosen?"

"How long would a person serve on the council?" asked a boy sitting with the Quidditch team.

Gemma pursed her lips, "They would have to have power to punish but also limits on what they could do."

"Settle down, settle down," Snape said. "Before we are inundated with questions about the particulars, we will vote on the idea of a council to arbitrate in house disputes. A show of hands who agrees to the formation of this council?" He counted as hands raised, "And those against the idea." A few hands raised, but those for the idea had a clear majority. "Those in favor have won the vote, and I am inclined to permit the group to be formed, but we must now decide the composition and other conditions." He glanced to the prefects, "Ms. Farley, take notes on what is discussed here about the group, and I will draft a list of rules and responsibilities from what is discussed here."

For the next half hour, the students posed questions and ideas about the proposed group. It was decided that one student from each year group would serve on the council for one school year. A student would have to be nominated by one of their peers and elections would normally be held after the first week of term. This year each form would hold an election next Saturday. Prefects were not excluded from participation on the council, but if chosen their opinion would not hold more weight than any other member. There would also be provisions for removing a member from the council if the need ever arose. Snape stressed that the council had no power to address matters that involved students from the other three houses, and that the council did not have the authority to take points directly, though they could recommend the removal or awarding of house points, but he would have the final say.

The meeting finished after another fifteen minutes of discussing other matters, including the formation of a dueling team to represent Slytherin in an interhouse dueling competition, which Professor Flitwick had suggested at the first staff meeting of the year. He also thanked this year's guides for their service to the first years and awarded each with five points. The total of these more than offset the earlier deductions, but everyone knew the house was still out twenty points. He bid them all good day and informed them that the next house meeting would be in October unless events necessitated another one. He also reminded them to put forth a list of council nominations before curfew on Friday.

As the stone wall closed behind the Potions Master the students began talking. The prefect, Sterling called across the common room, "I can't remember the last time Snape took points from us. Nice work Selwyn, Wilks."

Charlotte scowled, "Who asked your two knuts, Mulciber?"

"Can we please not start this again?" McKinniss asked with a frustrated sigh. "Just take the loss and learn from it." Several people nodded their agreement with that sentiment.

Draco smirked as he looked across the table, "I'm surprised you didn't land yourself in detention, Selwyn."

Selwyn glared back, "Do I look stupid? He said to be silent, so I shut my mouth." He stood and stalked away from the table, looking back when he noticed that Crabbe and Goyle hadn't joined him. "Are you two coming?"

"I thought we could play a few games of exploding snap together?" Crabb asked hopefully, "To sort of celebrate Greg being back from the hospital wing?"

"Sounds like fun," Goyle muttered. "Are you lot game?" he glanced questioningly at the three boys across the table.

"Sure," Ron said, "Though maybe not a card castle just yet…" Horatio and Draco also nodded indicating they would join the game.

Crabbe chuckled, "Looks like your eyebrows are growing back alright from last time." This made all five boys sitting at the table laugh.

Selwyn frowned and deliberated a moment before heading back to their table, "Three on three then," He grimaced before reluctantly suggesting, "we can even play gobstones if you want Goyle."

It seemed that for the moment a truce had been called, though Selwyn did laugh unpleasantly when Ron, Draco, or Horatio were squirted in the face during gobstones, but he had the good sense to not be openly hostile to them. Horatio didn't blame Selwyn for backing down during the meeting, if his Uncle Sev had been looking at him like that, well he would be going as quick as he could in the opposite direction. Was it his imagination, or were Selwyn's eyes going to the three of them more often than was necessary? He had a gut feeling that things between them were far from over, but only time would tell.

A/N: I hope this chapter did not disappoint, but it's not the main event of this conflict, I have much more to come with Selwyn. This is just going to change the direction of his animosity, but I won't say more on that just now. There will be more summery in the next chapter so we can move the plot along to the next main event, but by request I will include more of Potter's Study Club. Are there any nominees for the first-year council position? I'm curious to see what you readers think.

Oh, and the spell Volans Stellula is one of my own creations. It means "floating stars" in Latin, and the idea is that the lights are dim so that the students can see what they are doing, but not have the light interfere with their studies in Astronomy.

Disclaimer: Any of the recognizable characters, settings, plots, etc. are not mine. I just borrow the world of J.K. Rowling to play with a what if that I've had buzzing around my head for a long time.