Chapter 83: Snakes Coil When Provoked
{A/N: Here's Another Update...what is adolescence without a little rebellion?}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S
{"No, we won't give up, we won't go away...'Cause we're not about to live in this mass delusion...No, we don't wanna hear another word you say...'Cause we know they're all depending on mass confusion...No, we can't turn back, we can't turn away...'Cause it's time we all relied on the last solution...No, we won't lay down and accept this fate...'Cause we're standing on the edge of a revolution..."} Standing On The Edge Of Revolution, Nickleback
The Corridors, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland...
Phaeron had been riding high from his little stunt in the Great Hall. His plan to humiliate Potter and Dumbledore both before the entire school had been a success. Realistically, he had known all too well that Dumbledore would go back to his tried and true pro-Gryffindor antics. Driving home the humiliation on Potter's part had been the main goal anyway. The raven haired wizard strutted about the halls as per his due given hall that he accomplished the previous night. Months of careful planning and practice and it all went off without a hitch. With the fan fair died down, the younger Snape simply wished to get back to his studies. He had not doubted that Dumbledore would be searching for his just punishment and Potter was probably cooking up his latest scheme to save face for Gryffindor house and his new Marauders.
The raven haired Slytherin found himself venturing down an empty corridor on his way to the library. He sensed that he wasn't alone when he felt a familiar but unwanted presence with him in the darkened corridor.
"A word if you please Mr. Snape." said the serious tone of Albus Dumbledore.
Phaeron turned to face the old man. He showed no fear nor surprise at the unannounced visit.
"Certainly, Headmaster." he replied with sickening politeness.
He had not been surprised when Dumbledore led him all the way to his office. He had expected as much given all that he had gotten away with the previous day, and all the imperfections in Dumbledore's stint as Headmaster he brought to the entire school's attention. It was understandable that the old man would have been quite furious with him.
The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland...
Obsidian eyes met obsidian when Phaeron bypassed all the formal nonsense for his visit and walked over toward his father's portrait. Snape's obsidian eyes glared at him from his position on the wall. The raven haired teen turned his attention back to the Headmaster, as the older wizard took his seat behind his imposing desk. His cold blue eyes unnerving in their relentless search for any sign of weakness in Phaeron.
The young Slytherin had remained un-phased by his all knowing glare, no doubt due to him being use to it given his many stints in detention following his antics with James Potter II. Dumbledore sighed.
"I am very disappointed in you...Phaeron." he said in a heavily father-like tone. "I surely expected better from the child of Severus Snape and Hermione Granger."
Phaeron rolled his eyes.
"When haven't I heard that before?" he asked sarcastically. "Seems to be your given mantra ever since my first time in this stupid office...when are you going to learn old man...I'm not my father...you're little "father-son angle" isn't going to work on me."
Dumbledore narrowed his blue eyes at the young Slytherin. He had certainly grown more bold in the recent years. It was quite possible that he had become even more full of himself than either of the Potters.
"I see that you have inherited your father's sense of self-delusion." said The Headmaster. "Make no mistake I did not negotiate with him due to his antics and I will not negotiate with you either Phaeron."
"I'm pretty sure Father was passed negotiating with the likes of you."' replied Phaeron showing off a confidant smirk. "There's no need for small talk old man...you and I both know why you called me in here."
Dumbledore sighed.
"I had sincerely hoped to avoid causing a school wide rabble." he said. "But this was as fitting a punishment for one such as yourself...a head strong young wizard with little to no regard for the rules."
"Don't patronize me old man." spat Phaeron. "Potter's father broke a hell of a lot more rules than I did and you did nothing to punish him no matter how many times my father pointed out your obvious favoritism."
Dumbledore's chest rose in a huff upon hearing this.
"You leave me no choice Mr. Snape." he said bitingly. "In light of your unrepentant actions in endangering your fellow school makes and inciting a rabble where tempers were already flaring...I hereby strip you of your Quidditch rank and bar you from ever playing the sport on these grounds at any time in the future."
Phaeron's obsidian eyes went cold as he took into account what he had just been told.
"Y-You're barring me from the field...because I bet your precious Gryffindors!?" he stood up clearly out raged and intent to let his notorious temper run away with him.
His father's obsidian gaze from the portrait on the far wall had gotten his attention. He quickly quelled his seething rage and sat down silently. Dumbledore noted the strange coldness in the young wizard as he seemed to be as resign to this new decree as Snape had been to take the unbreakable vow not to reveal Lupin being a werewolf.
His sallow pale face the immediate reflection of his father's as he sat there silently taking this all in.
"I hope for your sake Mr. Snape that this is punishment enough for your antics and that you realize stunts like this are not going to be tolerated in the future." said Dumbledore.
Phaeron said nothing still as he sat letting the coldness set in.
"Have you nothing to say?" asked The Headmaster.
Phaeron simply looked at him, his obsidian eyes as cold as those on the portrait on the far wall.
"It doesn't matter." he said in an emotionless tone. "It will be as you say...Headmaster...A tyrant always finds a pretext for his tyranny."
Dumbledore rolled his eyes at the comment about him being a tyrant. He had been nothing of the sort and people accuse Gryffindor of being a house of dramatic youths, Slytherin was packed with them from Snape's era to the present.
"Don't be so dramatic boy." said The Headmaster. "Think of it as me giving you ample time to continue with your academic studies."
Phaeron said nothing else as he glared at the far wall struggling like a mad man to keep control over his rapidly boiling emotions. He had expected to be punished not stripped of his Quidditch rank and forbidden to play ever again. It appeared the old bastard found one punishment that actually struck home.
"Will that be all Headmaster?" asked the raven haired teen.
Confident that he had taken the wind out of the young Slytherin's sails, Dumbledore imparted another aspect of information on the younger Snape.
"The game from the previous night was made forfeit in accordance with the new rules and guidelines of Quidditch, it pains me to say...your house's apparent victory was simply ruled as a disqualification." said The Headmaster. "Slytherin and Gryffindor will play one another again in the near future and I am sure they can manage with your on going support, as long as it is off the field."
Phaeron kept his temper in check.
"Any thing else?" he asked with little to no emotion.
"No." replied Dumbledore turning his attention to the stacks of parchments on his desk. "That will be all Mr. Snape."
Phaeron took his leave of the Headmaster's office and headed back to the common room. He had been exhausted having wrestled with his boiling emotions to keep them in check in the wake of this unsettling news. He wondered how Ursula and everyone else was going to take it. Draco had stormed passed him on his way to the Headmaster's office. It wasn't like his Head of House was being rude. Phaeron simply had not wished to speak to anyone at the moment. He had not the energy for social conduct.
He made his way toward the common room. He had hoped to get some sleep and recover some of his wasted energy. Of course he wasn't too keen on that actually happening.
Common Room, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland...
Ursula Black had been in the common room pacing as the other Slytherins looked on. They had no illusions about Phaeron being punished for what happened the previous day and his antics on the Quidditch field. They had hoped whatever it was it had been mild or at least Dumbledore had been listening to part of their demands and punished Potter as well. Both teens had been reckless and both had something to prove on the field. They ended up paying dearly for it almost with their lives.
"Phaeron's been barred from the field." said Carlo Reddy.
"Are you fucking shitting me?" asked Albus Severus stunned by his words.
"No...but I wish to Merlin I was." said Carlo as if it pained him.
"There is no fucking way." said Ursula in disbelief. "Phaeron's the best fucking player we have."
"Tell me something I don't know." replied Carlo. "There's more."
"What can be worse than Phaeron not being allowed to play Quidditch?" asked Ziare. "That guy freaking loves being on the field...it's the only time he can be himself without being compared to his parents."
"My Grandfather is going to hear about this." said Scorpius getting to his feet.
"There is no way Dumbledork is going to get away with this." said Ursula with rage behind her dark eyes.
As the Slytherins chatted amongst themselves, Phaeron entered the room. All eyes immediately fell on him. The couldn't imagine how he must have been feeling.
"Phaeron?" said Ursula turning her attention to her boyfriend.
"What's everybody standing around for?" he asked not wishing to get into a massive spiral of emotions. "Don't you all have work to do?"
"We heard what that dictator did to you." said Ziare. "He's not going to get away with this."
"Of course not." replied Phaeron flashing a charming smile. "Look I may be barred from the field for life but that doesn't mean you get to be slackers...we still got a game against Gryffindor coming up and I will not cheer for losers."
Scorpius sighed.
"I hear you uncle Phaeron." he said.
"Good." said Phaeron turning his attention to pressing matters. "I'm gonna get some sleep...see you guys in the Great Hall."
With that he made his way toward the boys dorm and his bed.
Ursula gritted her teeth as she watched him go.
"There is no way I am letting Dumbledork get away with this." she said. "It's not right that Phaeron is bared from playing but Potter gets to strut around like he owns the place...sorry Sev.."
"No offense taken." said Albus Severus. "I wholeheartedly agree...James Potter II should bare just as much responsibility in his antics on the field as Phaeron if not more...it was Jimmy II that attacked Phaeron on the field in the first place."
"I am so sick of that old fossil favoring his precious Gryffindors." said Ursula enraged. "I'm going to take them down a peg...who's with me?"
"Count me in." said Albus Severus almost immediately.
"Me too." replied Scorpius. "It's time for Slytherin to shine."
"No it's time for Slytherin to rule this school." said Ziare with a low growl.
"I'm in as well." said Carlo. "Dumbledore has gone too far this time."
Slytherin house had been in virtual agreement that they were all going to show Gryffindor house and Albus Dumbledore what for. They had all been prepared to accept the consequences of their future actions, be it expulsion or barring from Quidditch. Dumbledore was not about to win this war. His time had been over and done with right along with his backwards methods.
Lucius Malfoy was Governor of Hogwarts, he had Dumbledore impeached once before and Ursula had been confident that with his help they could do it again. Clearly Hogwarts was in need of revamped policies and if need be a new Headmaster, one capable of governing over the school without obvious bias and giving credit where it was due.
"So here's the plan." said Ursula before she cast a powerful silencing charm to mask her intentions.
There was no way she was giving Dumbledore a heads up through his eavesdropping.
The Boys Dorm, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts...
Phaeron had passed out as soon as his head it the pillow. He had not taken into account just how exhausted he had truly been after everything that has happened so far. He had not been privy to Ursula and his fellow Slytherins grand plans when it came to the injustice thrust upon them via Dumbledore's tyrannical rule of Hogwarts. As a matter of fact he had been blissfully unaware and it was just the way they wanted it. They had not wanted Phaeron to get into any more trouble than he already had on their behalf. It was their collective way of showing support by getting into trouble for him for once.
Thought he would never anticipate just how much trouble that would be in a million years.