Hydrus Black chapter 32

Chapter 32 -

"I find this all to be highly unfair and quite frankly grade 'Outstanding' level bullshit," Hydrus stated bluntly as he sat opposite Dumbledore in the headmaster's office. Standing next to Dumbledore and glaring viciously at Hydrus was Snape, also standing along with the headmaster was Professor McGonagall.

"Language, Mr Black," Professor McGonagall said in a warning tone.

"My humble apologies, Professor McGonagall," Hydrus said in a respectful and apologetic tone. "But my point still stands, I have done nothing wrong yet Professor Snape is intent on punishing the best student of all the first-year Slytherins, and arguably the rest of the year."

"You are not the best!" Spat Snape, still glaring at him.

"The grades in our year say I am, so far at least," Hydrus shrugged. "In the majority of our classes, I'm at the top, am I not?"

"If you truly are the best then that's just more evidence against you!" Snape said triumphantly.

"Enough," Dumbledore spoke up, softly. "Let us start from the beginning, shall we? Professor Snape, I would like you to tell me first, in your own words, what exactly happened."

"It is as I said before, Headmaster," Snape growled. "I had arrived at my class and saw the Gryffindors and Slytherins waiting outside, with the Gryffindors naturally causing trouble again."

"Severus," Professor McGonagall gave him a mild glare.

"I opened the door to my classroom and found myself attacked by a swarm of spiders!" Snape continued on, shouting angrily. "It was clearly the work of Potter!"

"Black," Hydrus said mildly.

"I don't care!" Snape snapped at him.

"Might I now be allowed to tell my side of the story?" Hydrus asked respectfully to Dumbledore.

"You may," The old headmaster nodded his head, gesturing for Hydrus to continue. Hydrus gave him a small nod before he started speaking.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore," He began. "It all started when I arrived at the potion classroom with my friends, when we were there I started having a rather delightful conversation with two of Professor McGonagall's lions, Granger and Cooper. Then Neville Longbottom and his friends arrived and interrupted, he started trying to have an argument with us when Professor Snape arrived and punished him. After that point, he opened the classroom door and suddenly found himself attacked by a wall of spiders. He then started insisting that this was my work."

"Because it obviously is!" Snape hissed.

"Why would you say that?" Hydrus asked mildly. "Why would I attack you? After all, it's not like you had ever done anything to me that's worth attacking you over, right?"

"You arrogant, little -"

"Professor Snape!" Professor McGonagall cut him off with a glare. "Is it too much for you to act with the sort of behaviour befitting a man of your age and an employee of this school? If so then perhaps we should do away with this conversation until you find the ability to control yourself. You are supposed to be a professional at the most prestigious school in the wizarding world! Act like it!"

"I wouldn't be so harsh on Professor Snape," Hydrus said, giving the man an innocent smile that only seemed to enrage him further. "After all, he's had quite a trying day. I'm sure the stress of everything has simply gotten to him. Perhaps a day or two off would sort matters out."

"Thank you for your input but that's unnecessary," Snape glared at him before turning to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, I insist action be taken,"

"In that case, so do I, I'm being blamed here with no evidence and no witnesses to say that I did it," Hydrus replied.

"We can always check your wand then if you're so innocent," Snape sneered at him.

"Unfortunately, there's this little thing stopping you from doing that, I believe it's called the 'law'." Hydrus pointed out. "You don't have the authority to check my wand, you're not an auror."

"If you have nothing to hide then why not let us check it? Hmm?" Snape said with a victorious smile.

"I'll let you check my wand if you let me dose you with truth serum and ask you some questions, after all...if you've got nothing to hide..." Hydrus trailed off and looked pointedly at Dumbledore.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly. "Unless you have proof that young...Hydrus is the one that attacked you then I'm afraid that he's free to go." He told his potions master who looked quite furious.

"Since I don't believe you have any proof, I'll just take my leave now," Hydrus said respectfully, rising up from his seat. "Professors," He nodded at them all before turning and walking out of the room, allowing himself a small grin once he was outside of the headmaster's office. He had barely walked down a couple of corridors when he heard someone call his name, turning around he saw Liv waiting at the entrance of an unused classroom.

"Come here, quick," She said, gesturing him over. He smiled before quickly joining her in the classroom, she shut the door and quickly turned to face him. "Heard you had a meeting with Dumbledore,"

"Professor Snape seemed quite insistent that I was the one responsible for that unfortunate incident," Hydrus said with a dramatic sigh. "Don't know what would give him that idea, I'm just an innocent little boy."

"Innocent my foot," Liv scoffed. "So, did you get in trouble?"

"Why would I? Like I said, I'm an innocent little boy," Hydrus smirked. "Is that why you called me over her, Miss Cooper? Were you worried about me?" He grinned at her.

"Don't flatter yourself," Liv huffed. "You were the one that said you wanted to talk, remember?"

"That I did," Hydrus nodded. "Very well, straight to business then, I want to know what you did to me during that troll battle."

"I didn't do anything to you," Liv crossed her arms and stared at him. "Are you sure that you didn't hit your head or something? Maybe you're imagining things,"

"Miss Cooper, I do not insult your intelligence, do not insult mine. We both know that you did something to me," Hydrus said, staring right back at her. "What did you do?"

"What's it to you?" She asked, stubbornly refusing to answer.

"I want you to do it again," Hydrus told her honestly.

"No," Liv said bluntly.

"Why not?" Hydrus asked, sounding more irritated than before.

"I don't have to, do I?" She replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah, you do, actually," Hydrus glared at her. "In case you haven't noticed, your little friend won't stop bothering me and won't leave me the hell alone and you seem incapable of controlling him. So, here's how this works, you'll do your little mind magic again or the next time Longbottom does something, I'll break something."

"You're blackmailing me? Really?!" She demanded, glaring at him.

"I have the right to retaliate if someone wants to keep going after me," Hydrus glared back. "You're lucky that Longbottom can still walk. All I'm asking in exchange for him being able to stay breathing is for you to do your magic and fix up my head. You'll do this and Longbottom doesn't visit the hospital wing, that's the deal that I'm offering."

"You're a jerk!" She spat angrily.

"Proudly, do we have a deal or what?" He asked in an almost bored tone.

"Once a month," She said, still glaring.

"A day,"

"A week!" She shouted at him, he opened his mouth to respond when she shouted again. "Once a week! Take it or leave it, jerk-wad!"

"Agreed," He said, staring at her curiously. Unsure why she was so upset about it, it seemed perfectly reasonable to him. She does her magic and in exchange, he doesn't put her friend in the hospital wing, it's not like she loses anything from doing it. "Shall we start?" He said, walking over and sitting on the nearest chair.

"Fine," She grunted as she came over and placed her hand on his forehead. "For the record, I hate you," Hydrus opened his mouth to respond when he suddenly froze, a gasp escaped his mouth and his whole body relaxed. A wide grin appeared on his face as he slumped in his chair.

"That's the good stuff!" He laughed as Liv stepped back and stared at him with an unmoving gaze. "Thank you, Cooper," Hydrus said, barely able to stand up. "I needed that,"

"I'm sure you did," Liv said in a neutral voice. "Well, if that's all..."

"For now," Hydrus confirmed. "I'm a man of my word, mind magic once a week and Longbottom stays safe. Be seeing you," He smirked as he turned and left the room.

Once he was gone, Liv waited for a minute, just in case he came back. When she was sure that he wasn't, she dropped down into the nearest chair. A noise escaped her lips, she wasn't sure if it was a laugh or a cry, perhaps an odd mixture of both. She was dimly aware of the tears dripping down her face. She shook her head back and forth, breathed deeply in and out and used every technique she knew to calm herself down.

She thought of Hydrus Black, despite what she told him, she didn't really hate him. Not after he had saved her life. If anything, she felt like she understood him better than ever. Someone who had this madness constantly in his head, how could she feel anything for him other than pity?

It took another minute or two but eventually, she found the strength to make herself presentable and leave the room so she could head back to the Gryffindor common room, luckily the halls weren't that busy, she only passed a couple of ghosts that were too busy trying to strangle each other to notice her. Plus there was that one Hufflepuff that kept trying to hex Peeves who constantly dodged and taunted him. It didn't take long before she found herself in front of the Gryffindor common room.

"Noli esse stultus," She told the portrait of the fat lady.

"If you're sure, dear," The lady said before her portrait swung to the side to reveal the entrance to the common room. Liv let out a small sigh before she walked in, it didn't take long for her to spot the other first years. Lavender and Parvati were talking with some upper years about magical make-up while Dean and Seamus were arguing about whether quidditch was better than football. She found Hermione sitting in a corner, reading a book as she often did, a short distance away from Neville and Ron who were in a chess match with each other.

"Hello Hermione," Liv said as she walked over and sat down next to the bushy-haired girl. "Good read?"

"Just the standard book of spells," Hermione answered with a smile, looking over her book, though the smile quickly vanished. "Liv, are you okay? You look really tired," She said in a concerned voice.

"I'm fine," Liv waved her off. "Just went for a little run...it was fun. You want to try it with me?"

"No thanks," Hermione frowned, never one for physical activity. "Well, if you're sure you're alright, but you should really see Madam Pomfrey if you're not feeling well."

"Thanks, Mother," Liv said with a small roll of her eyes. "Seriously, I'm fine,"

"If you're sure," Hermione said, looking somewhat doubtful. "Anyway, have you completed your charms homework?"

"Did it this morning," Liv confirmed with a nod.

"Good, it's glad to see you're not leaving it for the last minute, like some people." She said with a pointed look at Ron who looked up from his chess game.

"I'll do it after I finish my game," He groaned. "I'll win in a minute,"

"How do you reckon that?" Neville frowned. "I'm winning, aren't I?"

"For now," Ron said confidently. "Anyway, you still got to go to your detention?"

"Yeah, it's not like Snape cancelled it," Neville huffed angrily. "It's all Black's fault,"

"It's all his fault that you tried to start a fight with him?" Liv said slowly, glaring at him. "You're bloody lucky I was there to stop him or he would have turned you into a paste and smeared you all over the Hogwarts walls."

"I'm not scared of him!" Neville seemed almost offended by the idea.

"You should be," Hermione told him matter-of-factly. "He's a duelling champion, and that's not to mention what he did to that troll. It takes several witches and wizards to stop one, he killed one. Like him or hate him, there's no denying that he's a dangerous person."

"Especially with the other Slytherins following his lead," Liv agreed.

"He's nothing more than Bellatrix Black's puppet!" Neville said firmly. "They're both evil and I'm not scared of him."

"Maybe you should be!" Liv shouted at him, the whole common room turned to look at them but that didn't stop Liv from continuing. "For heaven's sake, every time you go up against him, he ends up winning. You even tried to beat him in a four-on-one fist fight and he ended up beating you all. How many damn times do you need to end up in the hospital wing before you realise that he'd bloody leave you alone if you did the same thing to him?!" She snapped before standing up and storming out of the room and up to her dorm.

"Bloody hell, wonder what's her problem?" Ron frowned.

(.)

"That will be all, homework will be due for your next lesson." Professor Quirrell said, the class all stood up and left at their own speed, all except one Hydrus Black. "Mr Black, ready are we?" He asked, standing up from his desk.

"Sir," Hydrus nodded respectfully.

"Good, now I will be teaching you a spell known as 'the scorpion's sting'," Professor Quirrell told him as he pulled out his wand. "Stand up, atta boy, now I will show you the wand movements for the spell. But before that, I want you to repeat the incantation with me. 'Scorpio ictus',"

"Scorpio ictus," Hydrus repeated slowly.

"Exactly, now watch me," Professor Quirrell told him before aiming his wand at a training dummy at the side of the classroom. "Scorpio ictus," A bright purple bolt shot out from his wand and crashed into the dummy. "It's not a very flashy spell, it won't kill a person, but it does hurt a lot. Now, you saw the wand movement, yes? Go on then, you try."

"Scorpio Ictus," Hydrus incanted, the spell shot out of his wand, not quite as bright or fast as Professor Quirrell's but it did so and crashed into the dummy.

"Very good, Mr Black, very good," Professor Quirrell smiled brightly. "Not perfect, mind you, but still...very good for a first attempt. Once more, please."

"Thank you, Sir," Hydrus smiled back at him before casting the spell again.

"Again, Mr Black," Professor Quirrell told him. "Imagine your opponent in pain, imagine how much you want to hurt him and cast the spell again. Again. Once more, Mr Black. That was good, do it again. Again. Again! Make your enemy feel the pain he deserves! Again!"

The lesson continued for another forty minutes or so before Hydrus was allowed to leave, the boy left the room with a bright smile on his face. Professor Quirrell had spent the whole session praising him and had even taught him a second spell called the 'Spartan Spear', a spell that shot out a red spear-shaped light that burned anything it touched and pierced through the training dummy like it was made of paper. Hydrus happily made his way down the hallway, looking like the perfect happy student. He had barely turned a corner when his smile dropped along with his shoulders. The boy continued walking to the owlery, intent on delivering a message to his mother. She had to know that for some reason or the other, his defence teacher was trying to hook him onto the dark arts.