C053 - Year Two

[POV: Bathsheda Babbling at the start of the year professor's meeting, Hogwarts]

I was idly looking for my glasses as I was one of the first to arrive. Grabbing my wand from its usual resting spot, my ear, I noticed I had my glasses on - they were simply on top of my head.

Gently blowing on the glasses to get rid of any potential dust or lint, I wanted to put them back on, but suddenly, the door crashed open violently.

"DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS, ALBUS!?" Filius more or less screamed in absolute anger. I had never seen my once-head-of-house and colleague this angry. Waves of magic were just rolling off him as his short legs stomped their way toward our headmaster, who was reading one of the scrolls in front of him.

Dumbledore looked up with a puzzled expression until Filius threw, yes, literally threw a Daily Prophet at our esteemed headmaster. Confused, the centennial picked it up and read the front page as Filius was fuming beside him.

"Nobody except for the three judges, his lawyer, and you know that Talion is emancipated! The Daily Prophet would never print an article like this without their guardian's knowledge! They must have contacted you first!" Filius spat with more venom in his voice than I had ever heard.

"Filius, I assure-"

"None of that, Albus! Tell me why!" Filius demanded as he cut the headmaster off.

Dumbledore tilted his head, seemingly not getting the question, so Filius added with gnashing teeth, "You know as well as I do how many loyal Death Eaters died two weeks ago at the 18th! How volatile our society is at the moment! How much the ministry and the Daily Prophet covered all of it! And yet you can't protect a single boy?? Hell, I bet you even knew that Lucas Bole among the dead was one of those who attacked Talion - I know I do now after seeing the bodies and know where the bastard's allegiance was! So tell me why! Why can you not allow Talion to live his life in peace?"

The headmaster's confusion made way for exasperation and then resignation as he sighed and answered, "They would not let me change the article, and I was denied writing an opinion piece on the matter..."

Filius' anger didn't lessen, no. More waves of chaotic magic rolled of his diminutive form as his visage contorted even more.

"I would be an idiot to believe any of that! Cease your games with the boy, Albus, or I will have him moved to another country for the rest of his education!"

A few gasps rang through the room, coming from me as well, as Minerva sternly chided, "Filius! Show some restraint!"

But the short man wasn't placated at all as he took out his wand and duplicated the Daily Prophet still in the frowning headmaster's hand and floated an issue in front of all of us.

I looked at the front page with a tight frown until I heard Filius once more speak up to say, "You think I'm joking? The Italian Minister all but filled out the adoption papers when he handed him his trophy after the tournament! The Turkish delegation offered him immediate apprenticeship under their leading Curse Breaking master after learning about Talion's interest in warding. All he needed to do was finish his education in Istanbul. A French department head looked just about ready to marry his two daughters to Talion as we talked during the finals where the boy dispatched the clear tournament favorite before his entrance on the scene with absolute ease!"

Filius' glare went to Severus as he spat, "Attacked by Death Eaters in the making without getting justice at this school is not enough. Now the poor boy, who has never even heard of his father before, let alone met him, has to suffer the monster's reputation! It's good that he is no longer under your thrall, Albus. I shudder at the thought of what you could make him live through as his guardian in the future! And Severus! If I hear of just one Slytherin insulting the boy for his lineage despite most of your snakes having many known Death Eaters in their own family trees, it will be months of detention! Reign in your little monsters, I've had enough!"

With that, Filius stormed out of the meeting room instead of staying. The meeting hadn't even started. But it also looked like it likely wouldn't. The portraits in the room were all askew, a few parchments lay on the floor after getting swept off the table, a testatement to the magic that had rolled off of Filius.

Looking at my colleagues, especially Severus, who still had his usual sneer on his face, though it was a little less pronounced, I noticed that not everyone was on the same page. Pomona, who at more than one time last year told me she liked Talion the most among the new students for his green thumb and adventurous spirit as he brought elusive herb after herb out of the Forbidden Forest, looked just about ready to storm off after Filius.

But she merely shot Dumbledore and Severus a venomous glance and walked after Filius, calling his name.

Now, two heads of houses were gone, and the air was getting a little awkward. It didn't help when our headmaster merely coughed into his hand and ordered, "I'm guessing we will do this with a missive and adjourn the meeting until the... ruffled feathers smooth out a little."

As a few started walking after Filius and Pomona, I reread the article thinking about the boy. As the first ever muggle-raised that I introduced to Hogwarts, Talion had a special place in my mind. I remembered his wit and sharp tongue toward the goblin quite fondly.

And apparently, Filius mentioned he had an interest in warding? Maybe I could befriend him earlier than I thought. It looked like he might need a friendly face this year.

-----

[POV of Talion Macnair, as recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists]

The more Hermione and Mandy read of the article on the front page of the Daily Prophet, the more horrified they were. It was a slam piece on me disguised an open letter for the magical society to shun me disguised in the first paragraph as something they had to 'lamentably share with Magical Britain'. More than half of the article was about the crimes of my father - and they went into gruesome detail.

To distract themselves from the bloody pictures, Hermione had asked for the Daily Prophet on my lap. It seemed neither of the two had read today's paper yet, and discussions at the platform were cut short when the pictures started raining down. When Mandy saw a picture of me on the front page, she leaned over to find out what it was about. Both roommates looked more and more shaken by what they learned.

It seemed the original purpose of distracting themselves from the horror of the bloody pictures I had Patrick distribute was long forgotten. Hermione couldn't tear her eyes from the pages, and I saw the gears turning in her mind as she thought about what it could all mean.

She didn't have the full picture, so I doubted she would come to the correct conclusion, but at least she didn't stand up and storm out of the compartment while calling me a monster. Neither did Mandy, for that matter.

I counted that as a win. For now.

"Did you know?" Hermione eventually asked as she looked up from the pages for the first time since the train started.

"An aunt of mine learned that my mother was sold to him. She told me around October when we first met. So yes, I did know," I revealed. Now that it was 'common knowledge', I no longer needed to stop myself from revealing anything about it.

"How terrible," Hermione muttered, and her head snapped back to the article.

My guess was that she tried to find whether she read over the part where it said my mother was sold. Of course, that wasn't part of the article. But it was something I intended to reveal soon. I wanted to see if Dumbledore would set the record straight first, though.

Just to see where I stood with the man and how much more shit I could expect from him in the future.

"Why keep it from us?" Mandy eventually asked, and she looked... a little angry? No, incensed. But she was still green in my Eagle Vision, so she wasn't angry at me for being the son of a Death Eater. Neither was Hermione, apparently.

"Eh," I mouthed with a shrug. "What good would that do? I never met either of the two. One died at the hand of the other, most likely, the other is in prison when he should have been tossed through the veil a long time ago. In the grand scheme of things, I am who I am despite my parents, not because of them."

Mandy's gaze turned complicated again, and she looked down at the paper, pretending to re-read the article with Hermione.

When it was clear that neither of the two had the courage or the mind to ask me any more questions, I took out the book I found on animagi. Sadly, I was certain by now that I needed to involve someone in my plan with much higher potion skills than I had. Isobel came to mind, and when I looked up to see Hermione regarding me and then quickly looking down again when our eyes met, I was reminded that Hermione could do it, too. She did create an O.W.L. level potion in her second year in canon in the form of the Polyjuice Potion during the 'Cat Girl Hermione saga'.

And this thing I needed for the animagus transformation was definitely at or above that level...

The silence in the compartment was starting to get a little awkward. I was reading leisurely, but I knew both girls were only pretending to do the same. They kept stealing glances at me. I could just ignore it, but I decided to speak up anyway.

"You two have something on your mind. How can I help?"

The two girls looked at each other before Hermione spoke up, "What are you reading? There's no title on the spine..."

Okay, so they wanted to skip the topic of my birth. I could live with that.

"A book about African magical knowledge regarding Avatarism and the Animagus spell," I explained, put in a little card to save my progress, and handed the book over.

Hermione appreciated the book for a moment as her hand gently glided over the leather binding. She truly was a bibliophile.

"Burroughs? Isn't he the author of the 'Tarzan of the Apes' saga? I believe he was American and died in the 50s. I didn't know he was a wizard... how did a book personally written by him end up in England?"

"Don't know. Got it in that secondhand book store in Diagon Alley behind Zonko's," I could only answer with a helpless shrug.

"Wow, I need to go there more often," Hermione muttered under her breath as she re-read the inscription and turned the first page.

"Do you really want to become an animagus? I heard it's terribly difficult, and if you're not lucky, you could get stuck as an animal," Mandy asked as she leaned over her roommate and casually read the book as well.

"Well, this isn't the first book I read on the topic. So I'm quite sure by now how and why it's achieved. Still, I will contact Professor McGonagall to make sure I won't become a dog and stay as one against my will."

"You'd be a cute dog, I'd take care of you," Mandy muttered almost subconsciously and gained a bright blush when she noticed what she said.

Neither Hermione nor I were in the mood to tease Mandy, so Hermione just awkwardly handed over my book and continued reading hers.

-----

I didn't talk much with anyone after getting off the train. Mandy found the rest of the girls, and it looked like most wanted to stay away from me for the moment. All but Hermione and Isobel, who sat close to me in the Great Hall waiting for the welcome feast to start.

Isobel didn't quite know what to say as she sat next to me, but that didn't stop more than half of the Great Hall looking at me and whispering about my father. I saw Harry and Lisa look at me warily, Lisa even dared to look at me in outright disdain.

Looking at the sneers at the Slytherin table for a moment as Draco was more or less vibrating in his seat as he loudly told his housemates and anybody willing to listen about what a monster I was, I decided to pay them no mind for the time being and found Neville staring at me.

There was clear anger painted on his face. Even his girlfriend and her best friend looked at me like I was the enemy. Curiously, Neville was still white in my view, not that I cared after the shit he pulled, but Hannah and Susan were both orange. It looked like Amelia stopped being on my side and instructed Susan to stop regarding me as a friend, too. I could admit that that hurt quite a bit.

'Though, I do wonder. Is Neville looking at me like that because he thinks he is supposed to look at me like that for what my father did to his?' I thought but shrugged and started reading my book again in silence. The boy could fuck right off, I washed my hands of him even if he wasn't biased over my origins.

Watching in indifference as the first years were led inside, I continued reading until a certain name dragged me out of my own mind.

Luna Lovegood had been sorted into Ravenclaw, and the blonde girl was timidly making her way to our table. I could immediately see everyone in their fourth year and younger who attended P.S.Y. schools looking at her in ridicule and disdain.

With a small frown, I waved at Luna and patted the free spot next to me to make her sit down with me. Curiously, Luna was one of only four people in my vision in the Great Hall who was golden. Not even Filius Flitwick, my mentor, had that privilege. Only Harry, the Weasley twins, and Dumbledore did.

But I preferred that Flitwick was green instead of gold. Because I couldn't tell friend from foe if they were golden. Right now, for example, I was sure that without the golden outline, Harry would be orange just like his girlfriend Lisa. Hell, Dumbledore might even be red for everything I knew to be true about the asshole.

"Curious," Luna mumbled in a quiet voice as she looked at the scar going over my nose instead of my eyes after sitting down.

"What is?" I asked quietly.

"There's not a single nargle on you," the blonde girl quietly answered, never stopping her gaze at my scar.

"Oh? Can you tell me what a nargle is? Never heard of them," I inquired with a curious smile.

Before Luna could explain, I heard a little scoff from my side but ignored it in favor of waiting for an answer. Luna looked past me to the girl sitting on my other side as she explained, "Little orange flying monsters. They make people do all kinds of scary and mean things. They are everywhere."

As she explained, Luna looked at Isobel, and I made the mistake of following her gaze. My opinion of one my only remaining true friends was draining rapidly as I saw how she looked at Luna and Isobel apparently saw my disapproving frown as she tried to explain in a loud whisper, "Everybody knows that Loony Luna isn't all there!"

Damn. Did she just say that out loud?

With a deeply disappointed look, I turned to Luna and decided to ignore Isobel for now. But I did look at Hermione sitting opposite me and watched as realization dawned on her face. From what I knew, Hermione was pretty severely bullied in elementary school, and the school following that, despite being an expensive private school for the gifted, didn't help the bookworm much in terms of socializing. It wasn't hard to see that Luna's fate at P.S.Y. wasn't much different.

But now that she talked about colors, I started to wonder whether or not Luna's ability in this world was related to my own. Mean things are orange? I saw people who were antagonistic to me orange before they went as far as physically or magically willing to attack me.

What if Luna didn't have some kind of mage sight but she was actually similar to me and had Eagle Vision and she just decided to interpret the colors differently with imaginary or, well, very elusive magical creatures? There was a non-zero chance that she had a bloodline similar to mine. I already knew that there were assassins who had it, then why not other magicals?

I continued leisurely talking to Luna until my attention was roused once more. Ginerva Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor, but she looked quite miffed. From what I noticed at the Quidditch Finals, where she continued to mock Harry's girlfriend Lisa, it wasn't hard to figure out that Ginny was a boy-who-lived simp like in canon. It looked like she tried to convince the hat to put her in the same house as her crush but failed.

After ignoring anything Dumbledore advised for the year since he didn't speak up in my defense, not like I expected he would, I walked out of the Great Hall with a silent Hermione. Isobel had stayed behind with a worried frown together with Mandy and went to the Ravenclaw tower with the rest of the girls who hadn't spoken to me yet.

"Penny!" I called out to the now-sixth-year prefect when I saw her a few groups in front.

The blonde witch heard me and stood still so that I could catch up. Once we did, she joyfully greeted, "My little hero!"

"Did you have a nice summer?" I asked as I gently held her arm and continued walking toward our dorms with her.

"It was great, until this morning's issue of the prophet, of course," Penelope pointed out with a fed-up scowl.

"You're still my friend, so it isn't all too bad," I joked.

"Nothing could make me stop being your friend!"

With a warm smile that slowly faded, I said, "There's a favor I need to ask of you, Penny."

"Anything for you," the blonde prefect immediately answered, but sadly, I wasn't in the mood to tease her over the quick and ambigious answer.

"Do you remember Luna from the new firsties?"

Seeing me without a smile, Penelope slowly lost hers and nodded in confirmation.

"From what I overheard and how the others behaved around me, I suspect Luna was bullied quite harshly while in P.S.Y. school. I'd like you to look out for her."

"With your protection, what could I do?" Penelope asked in a joking tone, trying to lift the mood a little.

"Well, for starters, I can't deduct house points."

The prefect gasped and pointed out, "You want me to deduct house points in her defense? Talion, did you see how everyone looked at you in the Great Hall today? These people are all sheep. The bullying would never stop unless the hourglass remains empty from now until the Christmas break! Instead of stopping the bullying, they'd simply start messing with me, too. And do you truly not want us to defend the house cup? You pretty much won it on your own last year..."

I could only shrug and answer, "From what I understand of Flitwick, I doubt he'd want us to win the house cup if one of our little firsties gets bullied all year. I know I don't."

"Too true, Talion. Too true," our head of house commented as he suddenly appeared behind me. Too used to his ghostly entrances, I didn't react much. But both the quiet Hermione and Penelope still clutching my arm let out a little squeal and reacted quite heavily at the sudden noise from behind.

"Professor," we all greeted respectfully in unison after the two girls took a deep breath to find their center.

Flitwick nodded at us with a very muted smile before he looked at me and ordered, "Stay close for my speech for the first years. There's something the two of us need to talk about once I'm done."