Uncanny Snake

X - Baby Steps

I never quite understood how rumors spread so quickly, it had been less than 24 hours. It's like a massive game of telephone, and extreme exaggeration is bound to happen. That being said, what was once boys will be boys was now a hate bandwagon. I was still salty from yesterday's events, I knew not to take insults to heart, but that didn't mean they didn't hurt. Severus wouldn't take credit for his work, but he was the one who started the rumor mill by calling the boy out in the middle of class, leaving the rest of the students to speculate what had happened in the brief 30 seconds of interaction. And his house didn't look too kindly on him, I mean 70 points was a lot, and he was in Slytherin. Never in the history of ever, had Severus deducted more than 10 points to a student in his house, the boy had broken a record, one our house would never quite recover from.

I spoke to Severus about the boy's punishment, but he was adamant that he had made the right call, however dodgy his morals could be, I couldn't bring myself to argue with him, not when he was doing it for me. It felt nice though, Sev no longer acted as though I was the enemy, and it seemed crazy that he was always there when I needed him. But running over those thoughts a few times, I realized that it was rather fishy, was he spying on me? I glanced up to the high table, but his attention was solely focused on Albus.

The two were engaged in quite a somber conversation, Remus even chimed in, and the look on Severus' face was one of consideration and contemplation, that never happened between those two, they were mortal enemies, despite it being one-sided. Oh, I guess Severus could hold a long ass grudge. The only one who looked remotely calm, was Albus, well from an outside perspective they all seemed calm, but I knew something was amiss. Minerva herself looked put off by the conversation, her hands resting in her lap, she had yet to touch her food, expression grim. And as our eyes met, she made a point to look away. Okay.

My attention refocused to Viktor who groaned in frustration tapping his wand like there was no tomorrow. His eyes glaring at the pages of his N.E.W.T textbook as if there was something wrong with them. "Stop glaring at your textbook like that. You're not Superman."

"Superman?" he questioned.

"Nevermind."

"Not all of us are prodigies," Viktor sneered. I remained silent, unable to defend myself, and it wasn't my fault I was stuck here! But Viktor did not need to know that.

"Well, why don't you calm down for starters, yeah?" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he calmed, he looked to me awaiting further instructions. I couldn't quite blame him, non-verbal spells were truly a hassle, but once you got the hang of them, it was a breeze. "Before casting a non-verbal spell, you should cast it verbally. With a clear image in mind, picture every vivid detail and then let your muscle memory do the work." He nodded grabbing his wand, with a flick of his wrist he recited the spell, and sure enough, he conjured up a paper bird, and I smiled. The bird burned into ashes and Viktor concentrated his wand waving effortlessly, no words escaped his mouth, and the results were underwhelming, nothing happened. He frowned visibly frustrated and growled under his breath. A chuckle slipped my lips, not meaning to offend him, but it was cute.

"Well, it won't always work on the first try, go on, give it another go," I ushered. He groaned in pure misery and continued to wave his wand, trying to conjure up a paper bird wordlessly. I gathered my textbooks preparing to leave when Viktor stopped me.

"You do it," he snapped, but as commanding as he tried to sound, it came out as a plea, and I sat back down. I wasn't thinking straight and waved my hand, but luckily Severus grabbed my wrist canceling my non-verbal incantation.

"Miss Salazar, perhaps you should leave the great hall intact." I nodded not looking at him as I regarded Viktor who frowned at Snape. My wand was still tucked in my combat boot, and I glanced to my hand, there was a vast difference between non-verbal magic and wandless magic, and part of me let out a shaky breath, thankful Severus had stopped me. Crisis averted.