Flitwick was an absolute savage as he promised every older student months of scrubbing toilets if he heard of any bullying instead of explaining the rules to the first years once we all reached the Ravenclaw common room. He looked generally fed-up with absolutely everything once I took a better look at him.
It felt nice to have someone fully in your corner despite everything that happened.
A small speech for the firsties followed, but eventually, from his floating pillow, Flitwick looked at me and continued, "It has been my absolute pleasure teaching Talion this last year and watch him grow into a reigning dueling champion, easily beating wizards and witches three years older than him on the international stage. He is a kind, considerate, talented, and very driven wizard. Despite spending most of last year's free time tutoring you second and third years in DADA, I have seen how you all looked at him before and during the feast. I swear on my honor as your head of house that Talion is the furthest thing from a blood purist bigot and a Death Eater in the making. His origins have no bearing on what and who he is as a man."
I gave him a thankful nod as he broke off eye contact and once more fully addressed the room, "Being a Ravenclaw isn't all about reading and believing. It is about wit and critical thinking. So before you start ostracizing Talion for having a father he has never met, I suggest you think before you take everything written in the Daily Prophet as gospel!"
Penelope excitedly clapped and continued doing it when nobody joined her. She only did after I gave her a reassuring nod as she gained a sheepish smile.
"Now. Have fun catching up for my older claws and enjoy your stay, my little firsties," Flitwick announced and got back down on the ground.
I walked away with Flitwick after giving the timid Luna a reassuring nod and saw that Penelope joined the female fifth year prefect to bring them up to their dorm.
"What did you wish to talk about with me, professor?" I asked once we were in his quarters just outside the dorm. It was only my third time inside as we usually met at his office.
"How do you wish to retaliate?"
"Huh?"
Flitwick's grin turned a little vicious as he scoffed, "I know what your name means, Talion. Now, how do you wish to retaliate?"
"Well, my law tutor didn't give me any lessons yet, so... do you have any suggestions?"
Flitwick nodded and praised, "Never shy away to ask if you don't know. I taught you well."
I shrugged in answer and got a small lecture in return as Flitwick's smile slowly made way for a disdainful sneer, "Though fake humility is not what I taught you. Now, out with it. Who do you suspect to have revealed your secret, and what are you doing about it?"
I sighed and replied, "Lucius Malfoy, almost definitely. We both know he was in the dark lord's inner circle, just like my father. There's no way he didn't know about my mother... he told me as much during the time he threatened me after a Magical Etiquette lesson. But Lord Arcturus Black gave me leverage on the man for helping him with Sirius. I sent that leverage to both the DMLE and a contact at the Daily Prophet."
Flitwick narrowed his eyes. It was the first time he heard that Lucius threatened me while on the school grounds as a tutor.
"Do you trust the contact at the prophet that much? They could derail the investigation by tipping off the man or going to the wrong person at the DMLE."
I shook my head, "No. And I don't trust my contact at the DMLE either. Lucius got away with so much shit that I took nothing for granted. I threatened both contacts with serious repercussions if the investigation into Lucius turns up with nothing. I know for a fact that his crime is enough to send anybody into Azkaban for years unless they change the law to Lucius' benefit before the sentencing. So if they don't investigate or make it go away quietly... let's just say it will be the corruption scoop of the century."
"Oh? Anything you wish to share?" Flitwick asked with an intrigued grin. I was glad I wasn't given a lecture about my foul language.
I almost fully trusted the man by now. Well, with most of my less... murder-y secrets. I thought about that for a moment and answered, "There's an illegal animagus I found working at the prophet and one of the aurors at the DMLE is secretly the owner of the brothel I sold to Gringotts. He kept it quiet, and I'm almost certain that most of the squib women and muggleborn witches he employs aren't completely there on their own free will."
Flitwick's gaze turned frosty as he narrowed his eyes at me, but I held up my hand and reassured, "No matter the outcome, I will expose him soon."
And it was true. I wanted revenge on the goblins and the pimp who originally rented the shop-turned-brothel at the entrance to Knockturn Alley. They ripped me off by a few thousand galleons when I sold the deed of the shop. And, one of the two parties even dared to forge a signature from my dead grandfather, the Death Eater, for an extended lease signed after Walden's death.
That was why I spent a few days together with Patrick investigating the shop during the summer. What I learned robbed me of any sympathy for the man running the brothel, and it teared me up inside that I didn't free the women working there immediately.
I simply had Patrick secretly scare away any of the clients to give the women some rest. I wouldn't be surprised if Patrick used the magical rope that I left him to kill some of the darker wizards going to the brothel. My little elf really got a taste for it now that we got rid of some of this society's most foul.
"Make sure you do," Flitwick said with clear distaste in his voice as his fingers rapped on the table.
"Anything else?" I asked as I scratched my cheek with a sheepish smile.
"I told Severus that I will not tolerate any of his students getting out of line. Do tell me if they confront you with your father's misdeeds," Flitwick revealed with narrowed eyes before softly adding, "Do try to be cordial with your friends. You may go."
After giving him a small bow, I made my way to the common room. Once I entered inside, every conversation ended as almost everybody stared at me.
Too much happened today.
The reveal about who my father was. Those pictures Patrick threw on the platform. Flitwick's anti-bullying announcement, which for anybody above the fourth year without a younger sibling came completely out of left field. And, of course, Flitwick speaking out in my defense.
Originally, I didn't plan to address my fellow Ravenclaw's this early. But I couldn't let Flitwick's great speech be for nothing.
Taking a deep breath, I threw a book into the air and wordlessly cast an 'Arresto Momentum' on it, which, thanks to my increased spell proficiency, meant it was pretty much locked into the air. I wasn't comfortable enough with the levitation charm to just surf around in the air on a pillow like Flitwick did.
With a small jump, I landed on the book and knew I already had everyone's attention. Even Penelope's and Luna's, who had just come down from the dorms.
"Just taking the Daily Prophet's word, you'd likely think of me as a monster. If you do, I honestly don't even care to change your mind. Last year, I did my absolute best to be as helpful and friendly to everyone as I could because that is who I am. If that didn't clue you into the fact that I am not my father's son, I don't want to find out what will. You're clearly a dimwitted moron in that case," I monologued with a purposefully indifferent expression as I looked pointendly at Lisa and Harry. Lisa gave me a deep scowl. I still didn't know what I did to her for her to react to my mere presence the way she did.
"At the age of fourteen and two weeks, Professor Babbling revealed to me that I had a magical family, dead though they be, and learned that my late mother was a witch. It wasn't until I met my mother's aunt that I learned of my mother's fate and my father's name. Since then, I made no effort getting closer to that part of my origin. I have not contacted a single Lestrange or taken a knut out of their vaults because I am disgusted by Rabastan's crimes. Not even the ones known by you because what the Daily Prophet failed to mention was that my grandfather sold my mother to Rabastan as breeding stock. I'd rather live in my mother's spirit, who died as a war hero who spied on the Death Eaters than be known as my father's son... but by the looks on your faces, I see that I am in for a rude awakening."
I stepped off the book and stopped the spell on it without looking at anybody.
"Good riddance," I mumbled as I walked towards the male dorms. Since it was quiet enough that a needle falling on the ground would be heard, they all heard my indignant whisper... just like I planned.
My words already had the effect that I wanted them to have. That, plus the fact that the second day of September was a Saturday which allowed me to give an interview with Rita early would allow for the gossip at the school to become a melting pot, which would hopefully, ultimately, lead to me being seen as more than my father's son.
And at the very least, Padma, Mandy, Hermione, Lara, and Penelope didn't look at me like I was trash to be avoided anymore. Isobel did, too, but she still had a complicated expression because of my earlier actions. But I wasn't going to reward sheeplike behavior as she bullied someone just because everybody did. Sheeplike mentally is what brought magical society almost to its knees already. The stagnation since the statute of secrecy went up is very clear to see from an outsider's perspective. Most muggleborn simply didn't act on it, but I was in a unique situation to do something about it.
One last look into the silent common room as I reached at the top of the stairs showed me that quite a few orange silhouettes once more turned white and even green... but it seemed not everyone took what Flitwick and I said at face value. Maybe seeing dead Death Eaters after my reveal riled them up too much, or they never liked me to begin with.
Inside my dorm room that I still shared with Harry according to the plaque on the door, I took out my shrunken down suitcase. I didn't leave it on the train, because I was an 'adult' now and could just personally shrink it without care for the trace and I didn't need to think about some weird scenario where a disillusioned Lucius Malfoy enters the Hogwarts Express to load up my suitcase with dark artifacts to frame me.
I was tempted to hang up a curtain in the middle of the room so that I wouldn't need to see Harry, but I decided not to be so petty just yet.
After I finished sorting my stuff and got ready for bed, the door to my room opened, and Harry walked inside alone. I looked at him for a moment, but he didn't look at me. I scoffed a little and continued reading my book.
Once he was done in the bathroom, I decided to break the ice because by the way this was going, either one of us would start cursing the other in his sleep in a week at most, or I'd cave and beg Flitwick for a change in rooms.
"You're a little bitch," I said after choosing my words carefully.
Harry looked at me with narrowed eyes but didn't say anything.
"I stood by you all year because of who you are and not what your name, either of your names stand for, boy-savior. I even got your godfather out of prison, and to repay me, you almost stand me up for the birthday arrangements we had. I don't care how overwhelming your summer was for you as you were surrounded by people you liked for the first time. I don't care even if you did stand me up on purpose to humble me or something because you think I slighted you beyond what's tolerable by catching a snitch in one of the Quidditch games," I explained with an indifferent expression. Looking at him look at me in quiet anger, I concluded, "Ergo, no matter the circumstance: You're a little bitch for the way you're acting."
Since he didn't say anything, I simply continued reading.
What made the situation extra awkward was that despite the two of us icing each other out, Hedwig and Nyx were snuggling together on the big owl perch I put up for birds. They didn't seem to mind that Harry and I weren't on good terms.
-----
Harry hadn't said a single word to me the entire time. He left before I woke up and sat down in the common room instead of reading at his desk like usual. When I made my way down to breakfast, the boy-who-lived was long gone. I didn't wait for him or any of the girls either - but curiously I made my way down together with Luna.
"Did you wait for me?" I asked after the two us made our way out of the door as we were among the first. Breakfast would only start in a few minutes.
Luna hummed in confirmation. Stumped for what to say to that, I offered a wry smile and asked, "I hope you didn't have to wait too long?"
"No. I watched one of the walls for a while. It was quite interesting," Luna said in a sing-song voice and looked at me for a short moment with that dreamy, lost look of hers.
"What makes a wall interesting?" I asked as I wrestled with the notion of what she might have seen. Maybe the wards? Something deeper my Eagle Vision couldn't yet see? Was it possible to evolve the ability and allow it to do more? Could it be possible that I will actually be able to see magic in its essence if I trained it?
My increasing excitement was dashed when Luna started to giggle and say, "You're silly. I read some of the notebooks in the Ravenclaw library. I don't just stare at walls for no reason..."
Oh. It seemed my wish to not be like the others backfired as I tried to see sense where there wasn't any.
Indeed, how silly.
"So, Luna. Nargles are orange. Any other creatures you see around people that have a distinct color?" I asked as I tried to be a little direct about my inquiry on whether or not she did have Eagle Vision or a form of it.
"Mhm, my mum used to tell me about the dangerous wrackspurts who eat tiny little droplets of blood from you so that they appear a menacing red," Luna revealed with a shiver. "Haven't seen many of them yet... I kind of don't want to either..."
Watching her downcast expression as she almost whispered the last part, I checked my memory for Luna's original descriptions of these magical creatures she could see.
I was pretty sure that was not what she described in the original story. But if her mother helped her see these colors and explained them... did Pandora Lovegood have Eagle Vision, too? Was it even Eagle Vision? Uh, was Pandora even dead?
"If you do see wrackspurts, tell me. I think I've seen them before and managed to drive them away," I reassured Luna after thinking about it for a short moment.
Red in her vision meant someone wanted to harm her, I was almost certain by the way she emoted when she revealed it. She was clearly very uncomfortable, frightened even, to think that someone would think about harming her or those around her. I didn't mind prematurely putting a few students into the infirmary if they thought about Luna like that.
She didn't say anything, merely hummed once more, as she looked at every portrait and every little knickknack on our way. Somehow, she even jumped over a vanishing step with a deliberate little hop. Well, I was beginning to think that I knew how. Because vanishing steps appeared in my Eagle Vision, too.
"Ahhh!" A woman behind us suddenly exclaimed loudly. I looked back to see a hurried Penelope grip onto the handrail as she missed a step.
"How did you two not step over those!? That's clearly a rare double vanished step! Luna, you're a first year! How did you even know about them!"
I looked to see that - indeed - two steps were vanishing steps back to back.
Sometimes I wondered why there weren't a few deaths in the school every semester...