Professor Reilly just looked at them, as they nursed various bumps and bruises. A few complained, quietly, as they didn't want the full wrath of the man upon them, that he should be letting them go to the hospital wing. (Unbeknownst to them, Connor could hear them perfectly well, and privately thought the whole lot of them were a bunch of whiny brats. By their age, he'd been bandaging his own torso and dealing with demon bites. And, besides, they were lucky Faith had gone easy on them, or there would be far less bruises and cuts, and a lot more broken bones.)
"I didn't expect any of you to beat Faith." He finally said. "Because, let's face it, you all kind of suck." He ignored the insulted gasps from his students. "Who can tell me where you all went wrong?"
There was silence from the students, who were busy glaring at him. He went on ignoring them, and continued. "None of you- none of you- worked together. I put you in groups of two for a reason, and every, single one of you decided you were going to go at it on your own."
It was at this point that Harry Potter decided to speak up. "That's hardly our fault! The people you grouped together barely knew each other, and you were expecting us to win against a stronger opponent?"
Professor Reilly's gaze slid over to Harry. "Ah, Potter. Your group was, by far, the worst." He said calmly. "Don't use the excuse that you 'barely know' Goyle. You- all of you- have gone to school together for years. In a fight, sometimes, you don't get that luxury of knowing your allies. You have to pick up their strengths and weaknesses on the fly, while you're trying not to get the both of you killed. You all should have at least some basic knowledge of each other's strength- or lack of, as it happens. The fact that you're in rival Houses shouldn't change that. Now. Your homework is to get together with your partner at some point, and get to know them. Faith will be back sometime next week, and we'll see how you all do then. Class dismissed."
As the students began to file out, Professor Reilly's voice echoed into the quickly emptying classroom. "Oh, Longbottom, Greengrass, you two did the best out of the class. Try and give Potter and Goyle some pointers, would you?"
Watching Neville's face brighten at the subtle praise (It wasn't often that the boy did well in something other than Herbology), Harry really wasn't sure if he hated the professor or not.
Merry Christmas!