Hadrian Romanoff and the Beginning

Chapter 21

Severus sneered down at the pathetic potion the youngest Weasley had turned in. What should have been a thick sea green liquid that was resistant to spilling instead was a runny mess of clear purple with inexplicable flecks of wooden splinters. It was easily the worst potion from the first year Gryffindor-Slytherin class, including Crabbe and Goyle's, two Slytherins even he could admit were placed in his house out of lack of options than anything else.

Only Granger, Greengrass, Malfoy, and Romanoff had managed to make perfect batches, something he had come to expect from those particular students.

Romanoff...

That boy still caused more questions than he gave answers. The mystery and hype around Romanoff's mother breaking into the castle had finally fallen away to a few questions then and now and reminders whenever someone overheard the boy talking about his family. Of course, Dumbledore had yet to stop in his quest to find out what happened, despite his assurances that he knew well enough and to let it be. Severus had been there when Natalie Romanoff had torn the old man's barely veiled attempts at gathering information in the same condescending tone he disguised as a grandfather humbly asking for help up the stairs.

Then there was the Defence Club he and his friends had founded after having had enough of gaining nothing from Quirrell's stuttered lectures. A club in which students of all years and houses were willing to come together to participate. The grades of each member had gone up, though it was difficult to tell how well they were doing seeing as Quirrell wasn't in the habit of giving practicals. Even his godson, the very person who had attempted to knock Romanoff down to the bottom of the Slytherin hierarchy through a confrontation based on blood purity, had been to several of the club meetings. The blond heir had yet to try to use what he learned on other students, something Severus could admit had been a fear of not only his, but the other professors as well. Looking into it Severus had learned that Helena Hoster of his house had proposed that all active members of the... Knights of Loki... defence club had to sign a non-disclosure agreement that kept them using what they learned unlawfully in accordance to the school rules and Ministry set laws. Any who broke the contract would have their names etched onto a specially charmed board in the defence room and the student's respective head of house's office. Minerva had only huffed when he had awarded ten points to Slytherin for Hoster's thoughtfulness and another ten for application of less than common legal practice.

None of that stopped a few loud mouthed Gryffindors from shouting out for all the world to hear that the Slytherins shouldn't be allowed in the club since they'll just use what they learn on innocent people. Cormac MacLaggen - a second year Gryffindor with a particular breed of arrogance and lack of common sense - had even attempted to provoke a second year Slytherin by throwing a leg locking jinx while the boy was at the top of a set of stairs.

Severus would've paid anything to see Minerva strip the stupid reckless boy's hide and hang it on her wall.

There had even been talk of starting more clubs for other subjects, even those not part of the official Hogwarts curriculum. He would be damned, though, before he allowed a Spa Club to be founded in his school by Brown and Patil.

Severus sighed.

No matter how many times he questioned the boy about finding Hagrid's slobbering beast of a pet, he never received the answer he was looking for. Accounting for the chance he was wrong about what had shaken the friends up so much Severus had been deliberately vague in his interrogation but gave enough clues and hints for Romanoff to catch on had he known what he was talking about. Which the potions professor was sure he did. The boy was good, he would give him that much, but he still played up his curiosity a bit too much for a Slytherin. Had the boy been a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, Severus may have fallen for the act.