*Discontinued* No Longer

Chit-Chat 'Bout That

Era Damon White**

"About that, Lucius. . . Well, there was an accident this evening in the Potion's classroom," Severus said delicately, not lying, but dodging around the truth like a rabbit from a fox.

"Oh no! Are you hurt? Is everyone alright?"

"Uh, I am alright, that is to say, no harm was intended or done."

"What happened?" Lucius asked directly, seeming to aim for the full and un-altered truth.

"Well, you see, there was a child serving detention, and he decided to remove any, how shall I phrase this, remove impurities, from the classroom. Thus cleaning the room as well as the cauldrons he'd been tasked to clean.

"I believe there was actually too much power put behind the spell. Truly, the child is rather remarkable. There was actually a staff meeting held this morning focused mainly on him. It mostly involved the logistics of furthering the child's learning."

"Was there indeed? Would I know the child?"

"I believe you just may. He's rather close with Draco."

"His name, Severus. You know very well what I was asking," Lucius said reprovingly. 

Apparently, these days, the more submissive you were the more dominant you behaved. Era found himself immensely uncomfortable in his present situation. That feeling you get when you hear someone talking about you, and even though you know you really shouldn't be listening in, you just can't help yourself? Yeah. 

"I am his teacher. My job is to protect my students."

"Yeah right. You never wanted to be a teacher in the first place. You only- Never mind," Lucius said, tossing a quick glance at Era, "You have my word I'll never reveal it to anyone."

"And you?" Severus asked Era, bitingly, "Your word?"

"Of course," Era said, extremely interested, mostly in the contents of the staff meeting.

"His name is Harry Potter," Severus said, gaze internal.

"Oh I have indeed met the child. He was extremely polite towards me, and Draco has nothing but compliments and exaggerated stories about the child's skills in class in his letters to me. It's practically hero worship. He told me that he always gets spells right on the first try, never needing any help, and is better at explaining things  than the teachers," Lucius said, sounding amused.

"The reports are not exaggerations, nor are they false. The staff meeting was called because of that. In the end, it was decided that he would stay as a first year because his social skills are somewhat stunted, and he is friends with a few boys in his year.

"That isn't to say we will continue treating him as we would a first year, however. We settled on presenting him with significantly more challenging assignments, and there was even talk of having him do OWLs as well as his NEWTs this year."

"Merlin's beard! Severus, surely you cannot mean to say an eleven year old is about to be presented with all the fifth and seventh year materials at once! It'd be impossible to get through it in a single year! What of the pressure you're putting on him? He's only a child."

Severus said drily, "I would be concerned about that too, had I not met the boy. He might be better at potions even than myself, and I already intend to give him some mastery level work."

Lucius gaped, "He'll kill himself and everyone in the classroom attempting to brew things that dangerous. Era, help me out here."

That was just about the last thing he wished to do, and he responded in a slippery fashion, much to his chagrin, "I don't think I can comment on this matter, I have never met the child, nor am I aware of his level of intelligence."