Better Be Slytherin!

'Confunded us, yesss. After we blocked or repelled his curses many times.' The ghost almost smiled, a sight Severus never wanted to see again, he was sure. 'Then we drove him away.'

'How?'

'I . . . we . . .' The pale being looked down at his silver-blood covered hands. 'There may have been fire.'

'Fire.'

'Yesss. And . . . a wind. I cannot be sure.'

Severus snapped, 'I expect it's a bit of a blur, is it?'

'Indeed.' The ghost did not appear taken aback at all, but almost . . . repentant. 'I had to Obliviate him, you understand.'

'The boy.'

'Yesssss. I was in control . . . he would have . . .'

'Dealt poorly with the aftermath.' Severus sighed and barely refrained from rubbing at his temples in annoyance. He had no doubt at all that if the Brat had known he had been possessed by a ghost, even if it was to help him fight off an attacker, he would have caused even more of a scene. And likely exacerbated the damage already done to him by the 'many curses' thrown at him. 'And the wound?'

'I did not mean to leave it behind.'

'It was yours? You left your own wound on him when you left his body?'

'It was not my intent.' The Baron twisted his hands around, so Severus could see the blood on them. 'But I have . . . not done such a thing before. He has recovered, you say?'

'He has. Although, not the memories.' He had another way to get at them, but he had not wanted to use it. Not without Dumbledore's permission, at any rate.

The ghost's mouth pressed into a thin line. 'Leave them be. He will not do well with that, Severus Snape.'

Severus growled, 'He will be attacked again and again, unless we discover who was behind this.'

The Bloody Baron nodded tiredly. 'He will. But . . . let me . . . speak to him first.'

'Speak to him? That is all?'

'I do not like this gap in my knowledge,' the Baron admitted. 'But he is a Slytherin . . . I will not cause him further harm.'

Severus regarded him for a long time, judging the verity of his claim. He had known the Bloody Baron a very long time, since Severus had been a child here, in fact, and he had never known the ghost to do anything remotely anti-Slytherin. And though he was usually taciturn, the Baron was not known for saying things he did not mean. 'Very well. I should like to be present for this discussion, however.'

The Bloody Baron nodded and started to fade backwards, down the corridor.

Severus halted him with a, 'Peeves has been quite the troublemaker while you've been away.'

The expression on the Bloody Baron's face shifted so quickly that Severus had to keep himself from taking a step back in fear. Rage and a promise of vengeance to come carved into the translucent form like wire. 'I was . . . recovering, as well. I shall see to Peeves.'

With that, he vanished entirely.

Severus went to the Headmaster immediately, and made a report.

That evening, the Brat showed up on time, with a scroll of parchment that he handed over without a word. His gaze remained on his feet.

Severus put down the scroll. 'In my classroom is a bucket of murtlap tentacles which need to be pickled. First, you will cut them in the way specified by my written instructions, and then place them in the vat of brine. Any questions?'

'No, sir.'

'Did you check in with Madam Pomfrey today?' He already knew the answer, having received a confirmation from Poppy, but he wanted the boy to acknowledge his own success.

'Yes, sir.'

'Good. Now go.'

The boy lifted his head for a brief look, then scampered into the classroom. Severus scooped up the scroll and followed after him, to make sure the Brat had no problems deciphering his instructions. The beetles had been done very well, so he had little concern that the boy could do this one, too. Keeping one ear tuned to the sound of precise slicing, Severus unraveled the scroll and read through it quickly, once, and then more thoroughly a second time.

The first thing that occurred to him was that the boy had to learn better penmanship and soon, or it was going to drive Severus quite mad to have to read any essays he turned in. His second though was that he was . . . pleased the boy had put in an honest effort. So many children did not, when their work was for detention. Giving almost three feet of examples and counter examples of his rules-abiding behavior, as well as his reasons for doing so when he understood them, Potter had shown, too, that he had a decent head on his shoulders and was not a complete waste of breath, unlike his father.

Some of the examples of rules Potter did not respect or follow, however, drawn almost entirely from his aunt and uncle's domain, took his breath away.

Apparently, in his home, Potter was expected to do everything he was told, up to and including tasks that put him in the way of serious physical harm, to accept any kind of abuse as his due, and to agree with every nasty and illogical thing he was told about himself, his parents and magic in general.

Severus realized the sound of murtlap separation had ceased, and he looked up to find Potter staring at him,