"Hey, Avery, did you hear that Potter's the heir of Slytherin?"
She looked up from her breakfast with a severely unamused expression aimed at one Fred Weasley.
"Oh, ha. Ha. Ha. You're hilarious, Freddy. I'm in stitches, really," she deadpanned.
"No, really, I swear! He's a parseltongue, what more evidence do you need?"
"Look, I'm just sick and tired of all this heir of Slytherin stuff, okay? That is all I hear in the common room nowadays, especially after Justin got petrified. I'm seriously considering just sleeping in the halls to get away from all the ridiculous gossip."
"So you don't think Harry's the one petrifying everyone."
"Nope, not at all."
"Well that's good. Seems like I can't go five feet without some Hufflepuff screaming at Harry about Justin. I swear your entire house is insane."
"I wouldn't go that far," she replied, "but they are taking this whole thing a bit too far. Anyone can see how terrified Harry is; the real culprit wouldn't be that scared."
"Unless he actually did it and is scared someone is going to find out."
"Just whose side are you on?"
"The side of justice!"
"The side of justice? Isn't that what we all want?"
"Actually, I'd much prefer the side that gets rid of you," George told her as he rounded the corner, glaring at the girl with his brother. "Don't you have better things to do than hang around Fred like a lost puppy? Do you even do work? I don't think I've ever actually seen you do any work."
"More than you. Aren't you failing like half of your classes?"
"Shut up, pipsqueak."
"Alright, alright, everyone just calm down," Fred tried to soothe them. "There's no need to get snippy, now is there?"
"With him there's always the need," Avery growled, causing George to wrinkle his nose at her. "No one can have a civilized conversation with this kid."
"That's rich coming from someone who still looks, and acts, like she's nine," George shot back quickly. "Fred, why do you even hang out with her? As if our family's reputation couldn't get any worse, you decide to start hanging around a half-blood," he muttered under his breath.
Avery's eyes flashed dangerously before she launched herself at the Weasley twin, sinking her puppy-like teeth into the soft flesh of George's forearm. He let out a pained yell, yanking his arm back, trying to dislodge the beast from his person to no avail.
"Get off!" he shouted. "Get off me, you freak!"
"Mr. Weasley, Miss Lemaire," Snape's voice drawled coolly as he approached them, "is there a problem here?"
George turned to look at him in disbelief, pointing with his free hand to the tiny child hanging from his arm just by her teeth. Did he not see that he was being blatantly attacked in the hallway?
"Uh, yeah, this one here has her teeth in my arm, Professor."
"You, you, with me, now."
"What? But I haven't done anything!" George sputtered in shock. "Professor, I haven't done anything!"
"Liar!" Avery snapped, finally releasing him as Snape snatched her up by the collar of her robes. She swung from his grasp like a pup would from its mother's. "Professor, he was being quite aggressive with his words."
"Silence, Miss Lemaire, you can explain this all to me once we reach my classroom."
"Now look what you did," she said to George accusingly.
"Me? You're the one who bit me!"
Fred laughed as his brother and best friend were led away by the Potions master. The other two, however, were still bickering, not at all amused with the way things were going at the moment. Finally they were deposited in two chairs in front of Snape's desk, glaring at each other as he moved to sit behind it. Avery groaned when she saw a certain Malfoy in the corner, pretending to put away ingredients while he curiously peeked at the unfortunate pair that had been detained.
"Now, why don't you explain what happened, Mr. Weasley?"
"Did you not see what she did?" Professor Snape just continued to stare at him expectantly. "She bit me, Professor! The little devil actually bit me!"
Nathaniel felt his lips twitch slightly as if he was tempted to smile, finding it just a bit amusing that the tiny girl actually managed to bite the quite tall Weasley.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of that," Snape sighed. "I'm talking about what led to the biting incident."
"Nothing! Just a normal conversation when suddenly that demon's teeth-which are quite sharp by the way-are embedded in my flesh!"
"He's lying, Professor!" Avery blurted out. "I can usually control myself around him, even though his constant blabbing annoys me to no end, but this time I just couldn't let it slide."
"And what did he do that caused you to bite him, Miss Lemaire?"
"He insulted my heritage."
"Surely being half-French isn't something that fills you with great shame."
"Not that heritage. He told Fred that I was destroying their family's reputation just because I'm half-blood." Avery crossed her arms and sunk farther into her seat. "I may not be pureblood like everyone else in this room, but that still doesn't give him the right to throw my oh so disappointing blood status back in my face."
"So you're saying he made fun of the fact that you're half-blood?" Snape asked to clarify, sounding even colder than usual for some unknown reason.
"I think this is going farther than making fun, but yes. So I got mad and bit him, but I think it was well deserved."
"I didn't mean it," George mumbled.
"Yeah, maybe didn't mean for me to hear, but I know you meant what you said."
"Weasley, 100 points from Gryffindor and two weeks of detention with me," Snape told him, "for discriminating a fellow student based on blood status. Lemaire, thirty points from Hufflepuff. Now come here."
She cautiously approached the desk and held out her arm when her professor gestured for her to extend it. He cradled it in his cool hands before giving her a slap on the wrist, causing her to blink in shock. That was it? No late night detention with Sprouts-or worse, Lockhart?
"What? How come she just gets a slap on the wrist?"
"Oh, would you like a slap on the wrist as well, Mr. Weasley?"
"N-no sir." Something gave him the impression that it wouldn't be quite like the tap Avery got, and he really enjoyed an unwounded wrist. He needed it for casting spells after all.
"Then you can leave."
The two students moved to leave, shooting each other fierce glares, when Snape stopped them once more.
"Miss Lemaire, I'd like you to stay behind for a few more moments."
George smirked at her and waved as he exited the dungeons, leaving Avery stuck in the cold room with Nathan Malfoy and Professor Snape. She nervously bit at her lip and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.
"Yes, Professor?"
"You're aware that physical violence is forbidden at Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"For biting another student, you should have been given at least three weeks of detention, as well as over 100 points deducted from your house."
"Then why didn't I?"
"I am, unfairly, biased and sympathetic to your case, Miss Lemaire." She blinked up at him in surprise. Snape could be sympathetic to someone not in Slytherin? "Just let it be known that if you ever get in trouble for biting again, I will not be as lenient. Understood?"
"Of course, Professor! Thank you so much!"
She smiled at him gratefully and ran out, even sparing Nathan from one of her glares. Snape sighed and shook his head, not really regretful for his decision but questioning whether he should have told her about his leniency. Why had he decided to tell her?
"Malfoy, back to work."