[Hogwarts]

The next morning, Nate twirled the aspen and beech wand between his fingers as he lazily sat beside Percy Weasley who had again taken his seat at the head of the table.

The boy looked smug about the whole thing, making Nate want to hex the boy.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by one Minerva McGonagall.

"Mr Grey, Professor Snape just informed me that he has deducted twenty points from my house due to actions taken by you. Would you like to tell me what happened ?" Her voice had drawn the attention of the resident teacher's pets, Hermione Granger and Percy Weasley.

Nate knew that owning up to his mistake would be better than arguing, "I requested Professor Snape, to let me duel against him while he uses the dark arts. He told me if I wanted duelling lessons Professor Flitwick would be a better choice. It escalated from there."

"You wanted the duelling lessons. Why not go to Filius then?"

"Because Flitwick doesn't use dark magic? I know duelling etiquette Professor, what I wanted was someone who would cast dark curses and spells that I could practice fighting against."

"And pray to tell why would you want to do that? And why Severus only? Why not your DADA Professor? Why not Filius? Surely he would have allowed you."

"Professor Flitwick is a charms expert who uses a combination of Charms and Earth element spells to fight, Professor Snape is good at Dark curses which he won't hesitate to use and the less said about the DADA Professor, the better." His words elicited a grimace from his head of house.

"Mr Grey, that still does not explain the loss in points."

"Professor Snape had refused me and then added that the headmaster showed me favouritism. I replied that he should take it up with the board of governors, after all, Lucius Malfoy, his longtime friend would be interested in it." Nate then sighed, "Professor Snape sadly might have taken my words out of context."

McGonagall was staring at him while lifting her eyebrow as if saying,'I am pretty sure that was not true.'

"So he said that I wouldn't want one of the best potion masters in Britain angry at me, if I somehow find myself in need of his assistance he might just jeopardize the potion as revenge, the same courtesy would be extended to my family."

Nate knew that Snape was nothing more than a bully despite all his bluster. He had never killed for Voldemort either, how Nate knew was simply how easily the man was let go at Dumbledore's words.

His words had caused a murmur among the students who heard him along with a sharp intake of breath.

"Did he say that now?"

Nate nodded but added that "I am sure he wasn't serious. If he had been, I might just get that duel anyway, won't I?"

McGonagall's face twisted into an angry look.

"I still had to respond to the threat so I simply told him that he might want to know about favouritism and vendetta.

The man has a bias towards Slytherins and against anything that resembles James Potter. That led him to throw me out of the office, not before deducting points though."

"I see." she muttered before adding, "Nate, I hope you understand that provoking a teacher was an idiotic idea, and I cannot allow for a change in the point deduction."

Nate nodded knowing that he was lucky to not get detention for his words.

"But what I can say is that while Severus may not wish to allow you the privilege, Filius would be happy to help you."

' Rejecting her here would not only be impolite but also stupid,' Nate knew that she did not have much goodwill for himself thanks to his unwillingness to study Transfiguration.

So he nodded and said, "I will ask Professor Flitwick."

She nodded and went away.

His attention was drawn by the pompous and loud voice of Weasley, "You lost our house twenty points in the first week?!"

' The bastard should have been in Slytherin.' Nate couldn't help but admire the bastard's move to push into social isolation, ' Two can play the game.'

"Unlike you, I am not a teacher's pet, who would allow himself to be walked all over for a position, Prefect Weasley. He can take all the points he wants, I couldn't care for them, Slytherin will win anyway."

The insult was enough to push Percy to stand up from the seat he had been occupying so he could glare at Nate who smiled knowing that the game of tag was ending.

Nate's smile turned Precy's calm glare into a snarl.

Their confrontation, however, was interrupted, "You can't fight in the great hall, we will lose more points," came the furious whisper of a bushy-haired girl.

She was standing alone as she looked towards the Staff table, Nate followed her line of sight to see Dumbledore frowning at him.

He kept the smile he had on his face which had turned polite from mocking as he looked at Percy Weasley and said, "Looks like this conversation will have to be postponed."

The Gryffindor Prefect left immediately, looking disconcerted at the loss of composure, he had just displayed.

Nate turned to the girl who had interrupted and said, "What's your name?"

"Hermione Granger," she introduced herself.

"You don't like me, Ms Granger, any particular reason?" Nate asked as he had seen the slight annoyance in her gaze.

"You lost a lot of points and insulted a teacher." She said as if he had committed a grave sin.

"I did lose points but the professor insulted me first."

"You could have complained to the Headmaster."

"I don't like others fighting my battles much Ms Granger."

"You insulted prefect Weasley."

"He was acting rudely towards me."

"You insulted him first, he just said you lost points and you started insulting him by calling him a teacher's pet."

"His housemate was just threatened. His first thought was that I lost house points, tells you a lot about his character, doesn't it?" Nate gave her a piercing stare. While sending a legilimency probe.

' I can see why the hat decided Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw.' Her mind which had been focused on Nate insulting a professor had shifted targets to Percy not being a loyal Gryffindor and Snape threatening someone's family.

Nate continued gently, "Look, you are a first year and you shouldn't get involved in matters like these. My issues with Percy are greater than just house points. So, Ms Granger, I hope you let this matter drop and I will show you a charm that you might like."

She started biting her lower lip cutely as she looked around conspiratorially.

' Bribes work best.' Nate thought to himself when he sent another probe into her mind that showed that she would accept, albeit reluctantly.