Spiteful Beginnings // Severus Snape x OC

13 - Mister Longbottom

Breakfast came sooner than planned for Kalina as it took her a while to get back to sleep. She must have mistaken how strong the wine she that night was which resulted in her falling over constantly in her room as she tried to take of her boots as well as tossing and turning all night from a very brazen dream.

She woke up as soon as she fell asleep, her head slightly pounding but she guaranteed it would be nothing compared to Lockhart's. She didn't believe he would be at breakfast and as she arrived, she was correct in that manner.

Most of the teachers settled on a traditional fry up that morning consisting of eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, hash browns and beans but she settled on some cereal. She tipped her spoon into the cereal and dived it into her mouth.

"Good morning Professor." She looked up to see Minerva smiling down at her, a newspaper wrapped in her grasp and she knew instantly that it was nothing good.

"Do I even want to know?" She winced as she stared at the paper and then back up to Minerva who chuckled slightly and shook her head.

"Best not."

She pulled her lips into a tight line and sighed, holding out her hand as the Witch presented it to her and of course, herself and Lockhart were on the front page of the Daily Prophet as she predicted. The title itself was embarrassing but no more embarrassing than a snippet of Lockhart leaning over and attempting to kiss her only for him to fall on the floor.

She looked up over the paper, noticing some students giggling as they were looking at their own papers and then over to their Professor.

She folded it up and passed it back to Minerva and shook her head. "That's so embarrassing." She squinted her eyes closed, losing her appetite completely as she leaned back on her chair, her head facing upwards.

"There's been worse."

"Has there?" Kalina asked, a hopeful gleam on her voice.

"No..." Minerva thought for a moment, thinking but nothing could spring to mind.

"Stupendous." Kalina pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, deciding to take herself elsewhere for the time being. Besides, she couldn't face the sniggering that was right in front of her. Even some of the staff were doing it!

She walked down the halls and stopped as she noticed some Slytherin students crowding around a younger Ravenclaw student. The five boys had circled her in, pushing against her shoulder as she tried to break free from the students but the students laughed in her face as tears started to sting at her eyes as she dropped her books on the floor.

"Look at how stupid her glasses are!"

"You going to cry to mummy and daddy you sissy?"

"You filthy Mudblood!"

"Hey!" Kalina shouted over to the students, catching them by surprise as she stormed over, her hands on her hips as she glares down at the young boys who backed away, guilty looks plastered on their faces.

The girl scrambled to gather her things and bolted away instantly once the Professor nodded to her for her to leave.

The boys looked down at their shoes, some playing with the hem of their robes but once boy caught her eye immediately. The one who called the girl a 'Mudblood'; a foul name used to call someone with non-magical parents and since she was one herself, she knew how much the word stung where you're only young having being called it several times before.

"Want to tell me what on earth that was about? Why you find it acceptable to bully on another student?" She looked at each boy as they didn't dare to look at her scowling eyes, never seeing her so angry before. The boys themselves were typically in her good books, maybe once or twice telling them to 'hush' whilst she was teaching and not to pass notes around class but other than that, she had no issues until today.