Two Houses (HarryxDraco)

Chapter 12

"He did what?" Hestia exclaimed.

"He told me to stick my script up my arse," Liv repeated matter-of-factly. "To be honest, I was more upset that he broke my favourite mug."

They sat side by side on one of the classroom desks nursing cups of tea as Liv filled Hestia in on the events of the past couple of days. She knew better than to mention anything about her students at the dinner table for fear of being overheard, so she had waited until they were in the privacy of her classroom before telling Hestia about her conversation with Draco.

Hestia shook her head in disbelief. "That little shit. I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less from a Malfoy. How long did you give him detention for doing that?"

Liv took a protracted drink from her mug and avoided Hestia's gaze. Hestia's eyes widened with surprise at the silent admission. "You didn't give him detention, did you?"

"I didn't think it would help the situation," Liv argued mildly. "He was ready to pack his bags and leave, and I thought punishing him would have just pushed him over the edge. He needed someone to talk to—Merlin, he just needed someone to listen to him—not berate him."

"You're a big softie, you are," Hestia teased fondly, playfully nudging Liv with her elbow. "I'd have given him detention for the rest of term for swearing at me. So, what did he have to say for himself?"

"Not much," she admitted. "But sometimes silence speaks louder than words. It obviously wasn't his idea to come back to Hogwarts, that's for sure. Draco's in for a rough time of it this year; he's already had to pay a visit to the Hospital Wing because of some malicious prank."

Hestia nodded gravely. "Yeah, I heard about that. I think McGonagall's right to monitor the owl post for the time being. A few students have already received Howlers in the post."

"How mature of someone to send hate mail to school children," said Liv bitterly. "It's not fair, harassing students and treating them as though they don't belong. This is Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake, everyone should be able to feel safe and welcome here."

Hestia nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. Hogwarts has always felt like it was separate from the rest of the world, like a safe haven—even if staff members do die at an alarmingly regular rate."

"Especially in the last few years," Liv mused. "Tell me again why we decided to put our lives on the line?"

"Me? I needed the money," said Hestia bluntly. "You're one of the admirable minority who wants to try and better the lives of those students you teach. We can teach them what we know and provide sound advice that they'll likely ignore. Unfortunately, we can't protect them from all the ills of the world. However admirable McGonagall's intentions were saying that the school was open to everyone, we knew this sort of thing would happen. We can keep an eye on the owl post and try to temper the student's worst impulses—have a zero tolerance policy on bullying and whatnot—but outside the classroom, there's only so much that we can do."

Liv sighed miserably, "I know. The best that we can do is prepare them for life out there."

"Yup," said Hestia briskly. "It's a tough old world out there. Shame things can't be simpler, like they are in the pages of your Muggle books. Which reminds me..." She pulled Liv's copy of The Hobbit out of her robe pocket and handed it to her. "Rings of invisibility, man-eating trolls and dragons in mountains...are you sure Tolkien wasn't secretly a wizard?"

Liv raised her eyebrows in surprise and took the proffered book. "You finished it already?"

"Yeah, I couldn't put it down!" she said excitedly. "Do you have any more books written by him?"