Farmer Refuted

January 8, First Year

"Hogwarts seems boring without all the Christmas decorations," Hercules commented one evening during a dinner in the Great Hall. It was a Friday after their first Christmas season at Hogwarts, and they had only just seemed to realize how different Hogwarts was during the different seasons of the year.

Alex, of course, had stayed at Hogwarts, along with John (whose parents were older and busier), while Lafayette and Hercules had gone home. Now that the holidays were over, the boys were excited to be back together at Hogwarts again... but also feeling the drag of the after-Christmas-season. With holidays over and a new term just beginning, it felt like there was nothing to look forward to.

Besides summer, that is, but Alex still had no idea where he would stay when Hogwarts closed for the summer. He still hadn't gotten the courage to tell his friends that he was orphaned; whenever they talked about their families and backgrounds, he was vague. He was afraid that his friends wouldn't understand his situation and the fact that he didn't really want help. He most definitely hadn't mentioned his predicament to any of his Slytherin housemates, either. They were welcoming, but intimidating, and Alex knew their opinions on Muggles and Muggle-borns. And since Alex wasn't really sure who or what his father was, he stayed quiet about it.

"I can't believe our first term is over," John said absentmindedly, interrupting Alex's thoughts.

"At least ze exams are done," Lafayette said with a grin, to which everyone agreed.

Alex stared at the less decorated, but still beautiful Great Hall. It still left him awed whenever he looked at the beautiful walls and floating candles.

Impatiently, Alex tapped his fingers on the table. He had finished his meal, and so had Hercules, but the other two were almost done.

Despite being a Slytherin, almost all his meals were spent at the Gryffindor table, and he was often partnered with John during classes. A couple nights he had even gone missing from Slytherin, just to be found the next morning in Gryffindor.

The four had planned to try and get some homework over with before the weekend (although, with what happened most Fridays, any work was unlikely to happen until late on Sunday night). However, Alex was hoping they might have time to take out the Hogwarts brooms onto the pitch before dark.

Finally, the other boys were done, and as their plates cleared, they headed towards the Gryffindor Common Room (where Alex spent a significant more time than his actual room, much to some older Gryffindors' exasperation).

The corridor outside was full of students leaving and entering the Great Hall, some stopping to talk and some rushing into the giant hall of food. Alex's brow furrowed. At the end of the hall, a small crowd of people - mostly first to third years, by the looks of them, were tucked out of the way but seemingly very involved in what was happening.

"What's going on over zere?" Lafayette voiced Alex's thoughts as he clutched John's frog in his hand.

The four boys slowed to watch the crowd. No professors or older students were around to see anything, so the group was mostly out of the way. The boys watched for a moment, and then both John and Alex started heading in the group's direction.

As they pushed to the front of the small huddle, the boys were confused by what they saw. A Hufflepuff boy - probably fourth or fifth year, was sitting on a stool, smirking and talking to the younger students, who, now, actually included some fourth and fifth years listening in rapt attention. In itself, the sight was odd, but when Alex heard what was the boy was saying, it became plain odd.

"You heard it here first, kiddies. I'm Samuel Seabury, you'll remember that, right?" A few of the first years nodded in agreement, and John rolled his eyes as Samuel kept talking. "The Head Boy told me this himself, y'know, George from Ravenclaw? I'm a prefect, too," he boasted, and Alex scowled when he saw that the braggart had actually impressed some of the younger kids.

"Alex?"

"Burr?" Alex found himself next to Aaron, who was talking low. "What are you doing here?" He asked the fellow Slytherin, who despite being in the same house as him, rarely seemed to run into Alex.

"Just watching…" Aaron shrugged, then narrowed his eyes. "You aren't going to make a scene, are you?"

Alex turned away, ignoring his question, to listen to what other stuff Samuel was saying.

"Anyway, George wanted me to let you guys know that you shouldn't be sitting at other house's tables, alright? Houses are there for a reasons," he instructed, nodding along.

"Oh Merlin," Hercules sighed, but Samuel either didn't notice or didn't care.

"It just makes it more confusing," he continued. "Why sit with people who are nothing like you? Who knows, you might even find yourself sitting next to a Mudblood!" He made a face, and a couple students tittered.

"Why he-" Alex felt his temper flare as he lurched forward, wanting to contradict the older boy. Lafayette and Hercules held him back, while John was too busy glaring to notice.

"Let it go, Al," Hercules said under his breath. "Don't cause a scene." But Alex could see the fire in his friend's eyes.

"This guy's crazy," John commented quietly, and explained, "I've heard some of our prefects complain about him!"

Meanwhile, a young second year was voicing the confusion of much of the crowd. "But my prefects told me I could go to other tables," a Ravenclaw girl piped up, her eyes wide. "My brother's in Slytherin so sometimes I visit-"

"You shouldn't," Samuel interrupted with a frown, and the girl looked crestfallen. Alex scowled at the Ravenclaw prefect, who didn't seem at all moved. John muttered an obscenity under his breath as other people started to mutter too.

Samuel pouted and said fake-comfortingly, "It's the rules, dear. If Head Boy George says so, it is so. Don't listen to those silly prefects. They answer to the Head Boy too. He's in charge of everyone and everything."

"That's not true!" Alex finally said loudly, and the low muttering of the group fell silent. Everyone stared at him, and Samuel narrowed his eyes.

"Head Boy - and Head Girl - are only in charge of prefects." Alex disputed. "They don't have the responsibility to tell us how to eat, much less where to eat. The Hogwarts rules already state that seating is optional." This was a soft spot for Alex; the fact that he spent so much time with the three Gryffindors caused some tension for both Slytherin and Gryffindor students who paid attention to the first years. A couple prefects had asked about it, but no one could really say Alex couldn't do all that…

Until Samuel Seabury did.

Samuel was scowling. "The rules are wrong, First Year." He spat out, but then cleared his voice and leveled it again. "Head Boy George is trying to correct what is wrong by making new rules and informing the public."

"Why do you always call him Head Boy George?" Alex wondered out loud, knowing fully well it would annoy him and also knowing fully well that he wanted nothing more in the world right then but to do just very that. "You act like he's your king or something." He mocked.

Samuel bristled. "Show respect! He's your Head Boy-"

"Also," Alex cut him off. "This is such an underhanded way to get people to do what you want, you realize that?" People frowned at Samuel, who just sputtered. "If you really wanted to make new rules and inform the public, you'd talk to the headmaster and the various prefects instead of telling us younger students in a corner of the corridor. Don't try and control us!" Alex said hotly. Other people too were now looking angry or annoyed, and the crowd was slowly dispersing.

Samuel was red from his neck up. "You puny little First Year," he scowled. "You don't know anything! I could give you detention for this!"

Lafayette tugged on Alex's arm. "Mate, maybe we should go…" Hercules said under his breath, and though John looked pretty annoyed at Samuel, he didn't say anything.

Alex cocked an eyebrow and jerked his arm away, still looking at the fifth Year Hufflepuff. "A detention for what? Outing you while you were trying to brainwash younger students? I bet that's what Headmaster wants to hear his prefects are doing."

Smoke was almost coming out of his ears, and Alex grinned with exhilaration. This seemed to make Samuel even more mad. He cried, "Why you little-"

"Samuel!" An angry voice called out. All five boys turned to see a Gryffindor girl coming towards them, her face annoyed. The last of the crowd scattered at the sight, but the boys knew they couldn't run.

"What are you doing?" The prefect said with a scowl, but luckily, it was directed at Samuel and not the boys.

"Veronica, these kids-" Samuel was too angry to form complete sentences, which made the four boys give each other matching smirks. "Detention, the lot of em'! Interrupted me, disrespect… Head Boy George! I-"

"Seabury," Veronica rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Get in the Great Hall, you know you were supposed to talk to Professor Heathers tonight!"

Samuel, for the first time, looked noticeably scared. "God, I-"

"Forgot? I figured," Veronica's tone was flat as she pointed. "Go! And don't be late to evening shift tonight!"

Samuel shook his head. "Uh, right. I mean," he looked over at the four boys and his face hardened. "You better give them detention-"

"I'll deal with them!" Veronica cried, still pointing to the Great Hall. Waiting for Samuel to leave, she turned to the first years, her gaze softening but still reproachable.

"John, Hercules, Lafayette…" she looked at her fellow Gryffindors with her lips pursed. "You know Samuel never says anything worth listening to."

"Sorry," Hercules apologized to his prefect. "But he was saying all kinds of weird things, and Alex-"

"Who's Alex?" Veronica finally noticed Alex Hamilton, who straightened and pushed out his chest when her gaze landed on him.

Veronica looked at him like she was both impressed by him and thought he was stupid. Alex bristled - he wasn't stupid.

"... Just get back to your Common Rooms, the lot of you," Veronica said with a sigh finally, and Lafayette grinned.

"No detention?" John asked.

The fifth year Gryffindor raised an eyebrow. "Do you want detention?"

"No ma'am," all four boys said, and Veronica smiled.

"Goodnight, boys," she said as she started walking away, but then paused and looked over shoulder.

"Remember, you don't have to refute everything wrong you hear. Samuel may be stupid, but that makes him not worth your time."