Reviews:
Selenity84: Let's be real, who expects the serious Slytherins to prank themselves?
DemonBry: Thank you for your criticism, I'll try and work on that. Truth be told, it's more just a problem with time and the regular hardships of life than anything else.
Joestar94: TFS Vegeta has so many great lines that I can see Hydrus using like 'the fucked he go' or 'nobody's killing that idiot but me' or even the classic 'I'll kill him!'. Heck, even Gohan's got some good lines that could work for his character. 'Try to forget your half-'insert character name' and don't fuck it up', or even the classic 'shut your fucking face'. So yes, expect those lines.
ArachnidHiveMind: You can find it in the reviews (easily, depending on what device you're using, I can find individual chapter reviews if I use my laptop but not when I use my phone) but basically he went on a long rant about god that I am quite frankly not qualified or willing to dissect. I've no problem with people believing what they want, makes no difference to me. I generally try to keep religion out of what I do on this site. I just replied to his response because I was very, very confused as to why he posted this rant about god on the 23rd chapter of my Harry Potter fanfiction.
Chapter 25 -
"Good work, Black!" Another Slytherin told Hydrus as he walked past the first-year group as they headed over to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Hydrus's plan to get back at the Weasley twins had led to him being even more popular in Slytherin than before, he had already gotten plenty of respect for merely being able to speak to snakes and being heir to the Potter and Black family. But getting the Weasley twins - a pair of boys that had pranked pretty much every year of Slytherins currently in school - was currently his crowning achievement according to many of his fellow Slytherins. Of course, now they had to get the common room back to normal, but a temporary change of colours was something they considered to be a worthy sacrifice.
"What do you think will happen to the Weasleys?" Draco laughed as he tossed a chocolate frog packet to Theo who caught it and began opening it.
"I don't know to be honest," Theo replied thoughtfully as he opened the packet. "Maybe a lot of detentions,"
"Hope they get expelled," Pansy spoke up. "They're horrible menaces, shouldn't be allowed to be in this school."
"I doubt it'll be expulsion with Dumbledore as headmaster," Daphne replied as Theo bit off the head of his frog. "Though Snape was clearly hoping for blood, and Professor McGonagall was far from impressed."
"But they will have to do something at least," Hydrus told them. "Dumbledore's got an entire house and two senior members of staff wanting them punished. There's no way they can avoid it."
"People in the common room are wondering what'll happen to them," Draco grinned. "Maybe they'll make them clean our entire common room with just their toothbrushes. If they even can afford toothbrushes." He added as they arrived outside of the class just at the same time as Hermione Granger and Liv Cooper.
"Ah, Miss Granger and Cooper," Hydrus greeted them pleasantly. "Lovely day, is it not?" He asked, Liv stared at him for a good second.
"You're the one who got Fred and George in trouble, didn't you?" She asked bluntly.
"I can hardly be blamed if two pranksters decide to redecorate an entire common room that's not their own," Hydrus answered easily. "I don't make them do their pranks after all."
"I had told them they should have focused on their school work," Hermione frowned deeply.
"Because you're clearly an intelligent young woman, Miss Granger," Hydrus quickly replied. "School is a place of learning, is it not?"
"I...well, yes, I suppose it is," Hermione slowly nodded in agreement.
"It's not a place for pranks, tell that to the Weasley twins, they pranked us all in the hallway while we were simply minding our own business," Hydrus added, the other Slytherins nodding along with him.
"They went after you because you attacked Neville," Liv couldn't help but point out, raising a questioning eyebrow at Hydrus.
"I attacked Longbottom?" Hydrus laughed. "Did you hear that guys? I apparently attacked Longbottom, guys, did I attack Longbottom?"
"I don't recall you doing so," Draco hummed thoughtfully.
"No memory of it," Theo shrugged.
"You see, it's Longbottom's word against mine," Hydrus told the girls. "And innocent until proven guilty, that's the right way to do things, don't you think Miss Granger?" Hydrus asked. "You seem like a sensible girl, you know about right and wrong, don't you? It's wrong to instantly believe someone's bad without proof, don't you think?" He asked, seemingly genuine, staring her right in the eyes.
"I...well, yes, I suppose," Hermione said, her face slowly turning red.
"And let's not mention that Longbottom had already attacked me before, so who is really innocent here?" He asked, taking a step forward. "Maybe Neville had lied and maybe the twins were just being a bunch of bullies," He suggested only to stop when Liv stepped past Hermione and suddenly stood in front of him and Hermione.
"Neville shouldn't have attacked you," Liv said quickly before Hydrus could respond. "And the Weasley twins shouldn't have been pranking you, I hope that we can spend the rest of the year peacefully learning magic and staying out of each other's way." Hydrus stared at her for a moment before smiling.
"Miss Cooper, if that's what you want then please tell your fellow Gryffindors, the Slytherins and I have no problem with neutrality." He told her genuinely. Liv opened her mouth to speak when suddenly a voice interrupted.
"Oi! Get away from her!" A voice shouted as Neville Longbottom and the other Gryffindor first years rushed over.
"Speaking of..." Hydrus snorted as he turned to face them. "And how are we today?"
"You framed Fred and George!" Ron accused as soon as they were close enough. "I know you did!"
"You know? You don't even know how to brush your hair," Draco scoffed.
"Your brothers have always been bothering us. They prank and prank Slytherins ever since they got to this school, everyone knows it," Daphne stated calmly. "You can't blame the Slytherins for them finally getting caught."
"I can if you framed them! I know you did!"
"Your accusations break my heart," Draco said dryly.
"I'll break your nose!" Ron threatened.
"Try it, Weasley," Draco said tauntingly.
"I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy," Ron glared.
"Fine then, you and me, in a wizarding duel, tonight after twelve in the old trophy room," Draco challenged him. "Nobody ever goes in there, so what do you say?"
"Deal," Ron said instantly.
"Ron!" Liv hissed.
"Ron, no! You can't!" Hermione said in a panicked voice. "You're going to get Gryffindor into trouble again!"
"Butt out, Hermione," Ron told her.
"Who is your second?" Draco asked, more amused than anything. "Please don't tell me it's Longbottom, you're pathetic enough as it is without adding the squib into the mix."
"You know what, yeah, it is Neville!" Ron decided angrily, Neville looked almost as angry. "What about you?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Draco laughed. "I'll be choosing none other than the duelling champion himself," Draco laughed as he gestured to Hydrus.
"You see what I mean?" Hydrus said to Cooper. "Control your friends and stuff like this doesn't have to happen." Liv opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the door to the classroom opened and Quirrell stepped out, standing tall with his turban on his head as usual.
"I trust there are no problems?" He asked in a smooth voice as he looked at everyone. "Get in," He said before anyone could respond. The students quickly shuffled into their class and took their seats, Professor Quirrell calmly walked to the front and began taking the register.
"I've always said Draco's big mouth would get us into trouble, dumb prat got you into a duel," Daphne whispered to Hydrus.
"Won't be much of a duel," He whispered back, though he couldn't help but agree with Daphne. Hydrus knew that a big difference between himself and Draco was that Draco - as decent of a wizard as he is - was more often than not 'all talk and no walk' as Tonks referred to him. Often Draco would annoy Tonks and then quickly fall behind his parents or Hydrus himself to prevent retaliation. He was starting to realise how big of a problem that could be, while Hydrus liked to duel, that didn't mean he wanted people getting him involved in duels at a moment's notice (at least not when there was a big chance that he'd get in trouble for it).
"Now," Professor Quirrell spoke up once he had finished with the register. "Today we will be starting with the 'severing charm'," He told the class. "It is a fairly useful charm in a large variety of ways, I could use it to cut an apple into smaller pieces for me to eat. I can even use it in fashion, believe it or not. This spell was in fact created in the fifteenth century by a wizarding seamstress that was named 'Delfina Crimp', She created it as an easy and convenient way of cutting cloth and thread, that is according to the standard book of spells. Inside it is in fact another story, a rival muggle business at the time discovered that she could do magic and raided her shop and nearly killed her, though she did manage to escape. And it's implied that she later would come back and use the very same spell to destroy all of her attacker's creations.
Now, I'm sure she made that spell with the best of intentions," Quirrell paused to make sure that everyone was still paying attention to him. "But when it comes to magic, even the best-intended spells can be rather harmful ones in the future. The severing charm is a spell that is used by wizards and witches, old and young, dark and light, and everything in between. It is a most serious spell and not one that is to be taken lightly. If I see any of you using it outside of this classroom without my express permission then I will not be amused." He said deathly seriously. "Is that clear, class?" He asked, rather lightly compared to before.
"Yes, Professor Quirrell," The class said together.
"Good, now, let's learn it, the incantation is 'Diffindo', pronounced 'deef-IN-doe'. Here is the wand movement," He performed the movement slowly and carefully. "Now, put it all together and we have this." He summoned an apple from his desk and quickly hit it with the severing charm, cutting it in half, he then cast again, cutting those two pieces into half before he levitated the apple pieces onto a plate. "Now, let's get to practising," He told the amazed class in front of him.
"I like Professor Quirrell," Hydrus admitted as he and his fellow Slytherin yearmates entered the Slytherin common room. "Tonks told me it's usually a fifty-fifty chance when it comes to getting a good defence teacher in this school."
"Why can't they just keep one for more than a year?" Theo complained.
"Apparently there's a curse on the position, nobody lasts more than a year, that's what Father told me anyway," Draco revealed with a small smirk as everyone sat down. Draco was about to take his seat with the rest of his friends when Hydrus stopped him.
"Draco, don't you think you should be preparing for your duel?" Hydrus asked. "You need to practise if you want to beat Weasley, sure he's a twat, but it's possible he might have some tricks up his sleeve. You never know,"
"I have no chance of losing to Weasley," Draco scoffed. "Even if I did duel him,"
"Even if you did duel him?" Daphne asked.
"I'm going to give an anonymous tip to the caretaker," Draco revealed with a pleased look as he sat down. "Let him catch Weasley and Longbottom in the act,"
"Genius, Draco," Pansy said with an awed look on her face, Crabbe and Goyle gave an obligatory laugh. Draco looked at the others, Blaise looked mildly impressed, Theo looked bored, Daphne looked mildly unimpressed while Hydrus was staring blankly at him.
"So, you have no intention of going to this duel?" Hydrus asked slowly.
"Not really," Draco said, staring at Hydrus, getting the sense that the green-eyed Slytherin was not that pleased.
"You see, Draco, I do respect the Slytherin nature of your little plan, but unfortunately, that is not what you will be doing," Hydrus told him.
"What?" Draco blinked.
"You're going to be going to that duel, Draco, and you will be duelling Weasley," Hydrus told him. Daphne nodded as if that decided matters while the others stared between Draco and Hydrus.
"Why should he?" Pansy spoke up. "His plan is brilliant, get Weasley and his squib in trouble and..."
"Parkinson, butt out," Hydrus told her irritatedly. "I'm not talking to you right now."
"Why do I have to go?" Draco complained.
"Because, Draco Malfoy, you are the heir to the noble house of Malfoy," Hydrus told him firmly. "You are the son of my Aunt Narcissa, a member of the Black family. The Malfoys are allied with the Black family as of right now, and you named me as your second, me, the heir of the Potter and Black families. Two warrior families that have been feared and respected for hundreds and hundreds of years. We do not back down from a fight, the Black family especially do not run from battles. This is the way the world works, Draco. If you open your mouth to start a fight then you had damn well better be ready to raise your wand to end it. You got me involved in this and I represent my family, the same as you do, we do not back down from duels that we agree to. So yes, you will fight that duel, Draco."
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"You'll fight the duel with Longbottom or you'll fight it with me," Hydrus told him seriously, staring a hole into him. "This is no longer just about you, Draco, this is about the respect and reputation of both our houses. We will not be branded as cowards that run away from fights. If you don't want to be involved in fights then in the future try to not start one. Now, go practise, you've got a duel to prepare for."