Chapter 3
The next morning after he had a duty to guide the first years to the great hall, if it was not granting him a position of power and making him look good before the teachers, Tom wouldn't have bothered even. He finally joined the Slytherin table for breakfast, Dolohov already prepared a spare copy of the prophet for him. Just as he sat down, he heard Walburga talking or screeching early in the morning
"We are going to have defence with that mad woman today?"
"You are in no place to call someone a mad woman Walburga. Are you jealous? She is so old yet still looks prettier than you? I don't think you would have aged so fine" Druella snapped. Tom had no idea why she was offended by what Walburga said, she usually avoided fighting her future sister in law no matter how much Walburga tried to get on her nerves. Something like calling a teacher mad shouldn't have got her so heated up and suddenly helped her grow a backbone.
"Druella, mind your tongue! You do not want to cross me! " Wlaburga's face shifted in anger
"Or what?"
"Hey, girls! Calm down. Besides, Druella is right, Walburga. We shouldn't go around calling others mad" Tom found that funny, Cygnus would have no qualms saying worse about others, he just wanted to back Druella up. Seems like she had him around her fingers.
"Hmph! Of course, you are going to defend your harlot, Cygnus! You are a disgrace! And you Druella , your family should be thanking the stars for your affiliation to the house of Black."
"What do you mean, Walburga! Cygnus, tell your sister to control her mouth! The Rosiers are not a family you can bully around. As for my sister, you better not let me hear you call her that again or you are going to see what the Rosiers are really capable of!" Evelyn shouted, his pretty blond face looking grim from the insult and his golden locks comically shaking from anger. Walburga really had a gift for rallying people against her. Having heard enough, he decided to intervene.
"Let's all calm down. I happened to meet with the new professor yesterday" He started seemingly unconcerned. Those words got him quite the interest, it's not like any of his words doesn't get interest.
"Really? And what is she like?" Mulciber managed to say through his pie filled mouth. Crumbs falling on the potions homework he left neglectfully open on the table.
"Very nice.I would venture to say even better than Merrythought. I think this year we would get an even finer education"
"That's a lot coming from you, Tom. You got me curious" Rosier managed to calm himself down enough to go back to a semblance of control.
The breakfast continued in silence, the atmosphere still a bit frigid from the previous interaction.
Early in the morning was double potions in which SlugHorn spent quite a consequent amount of time praising Tom for his work and insisting he doesn't forget to come to the new Slug club party he would throw one week from now. Tom decided that Slughorn liked him enough for him to venture to ask him questions about horcruxes, he would have to wait until the end of the party came to an end however. Tom couldn't wait to make one horcrux at least and gain immortality. His forced stay at Wool in the summer only reminded him how vulnerable he can be because of those filthy muggles and their bombs. And Tom didn't like to be vulnerable.
The defense class finally came. When he entered the classroom, Tom noticed that the room was neutral, not decorated like previous teachers did. There were merely some silver trinklets on the teacher's table and nothing overly personal. After they sat down, she began introducing herself first before moving on unceremoniously to start the lesson. The lesson was not bad, really and in fact seemed very knowledgeable about her subject and she managed to keep a semblance of calm throughout it all even if he had the impression that she was getting more irritated the more she stayed in the classroom. Sometimes however, she caught herself talking about some slippy territory, much too dark for a Hogwarts class before catching herself and reeling back the discussion. Her face and mannerisms too were peculiar, she managed to be sane throughout it overall but sometimes a hardened expression escaped her, a screech here there when reprimanding somebody, her voice getting deeper. The class seemed intimidated by her even if she really didn't make a show and get out of her way to establish authority. She also didn't attribute any points at all no matter how good of an answer someone gave or from which house they were unless it was Tom. Whenever Tom talked even if he said something obvious and standard, she would award him points. Tom was almost tempted to keep answering just to see if he would fill up the house cup in one day. Her favoritism was very obvious. All teachers liked and favored Tom, Slughorn the most of them all but this treatment was even more outlandish, so much so that it escaped nobody. It seemed as if whatever Tom said was golden. Midway through the session, a fight broke in the back, it was Walburga and Druella having a falling out and Evelyn Rosier .
"SILENCE. What do we have here? Care to explain?" She screeched , irritation visibly coloring her features as she made her way through the tables where the noise broke out.
"Miss Black" she took a moment to look at Druella, her features suddenly softening "Druella?..Mr Rosier?"It didn't escape him how she called Druella by her first name"....What happened here? Mr Rosier, lower your wand" They all refused to talk. Usually, fights between purebloods were solved between them as any public dirty laundry display would lead to embarrassment to the families involved.
"Professor, there is nothing really, just a conflict between friends" Cygnus decided to involve himself. Bellatrix turned to lopk at him carefully and Tom was sure there was something bizarre in how she looked at him. She turned her head and decided to ignore Cygnus.
"50 points from Slytherin..."there was huge uproar at that, taking away so many points was very rare, specially since she only kept rewarding Slytherin this morning, mainly Tom really "...for Miss Black's disgraceful behavior towards her classmates" Surprised gasps were heard, they probably expected her to take points for the noise but not her to target Walburga directly. Walburga often got away with nasty behavior because of her family and even if nobody would want to offend the Rosiers, in a situation where nothing was explained, nobody would assume Walburga was at fault. But this professor not only assumed Walburga was at fault where nothing was said really, she directly took that 50 points from her, that was clearly taking side and quite biased because even if it was Walburga, she didn't really know her that much either. Tom was not surprised really, he remarked how she called Druella. Walburga's face morphed in anger and disbelief, nobody dared to treat her this way!
"Professor, how.." she started agressively
"30 points from Slytherin for talking back" she said while looking at Walburga with a sneer. Walburga wanted to say some more before Cygnus stopped her from talking. They really just started and couldn't afford to lose so much points. The professor continued "5 points for Mr Rosier and Mr Black each for... promoting house unity and standing up for your classmates" Rosier was the first pointing out his wand and she called it standing up for his classmates? Cygnus did nothing really but she awarded him 5 points? even Tom had to admit it was ridiculous, her preferences were clear as day. He just didn't know why she favored Cygnus while punished his sister Walburga so much, only because she liked Druella? Tom was amused really, Walburga probably never faced someone giving her this treatment. The whole class was watching with rapt attention and nobody dared to make a noise when Eccleshell turned to look at Druella.
"Dru..Miss Rosier, you are always too kind for your own good" Tom, just like Druella it seems was surprised why she said that, wasn't this the frist time she talked to her? And it was clearly nonsense, Druella was not some kind innocent girl. She was able to get very nasty when she wanted to and she often manipulated Walburga into looking like a fool and playing her like an idiot. Eccleshell suddenly waved her wand and delicate small flowers emerged from Druella's hair and tied it into a very pretty shape, it was a very proeficient use of magic and a feat that few managed to make even on witch weekly magazines he read if he were to need to appeal to witches specially. Druella gasped with her hand going to her hair, the students around her looked with wonder and many girls were looking envious.
"Noble flowers for a most noble lady. It suits you well miss Rosier" Druella raised her head looking proud, she tried very much to hide the cockiness, glee and disdain in her eyes when she took a brief look at Walburga before smiling "Thank you, Professor" It was an almost intimate moment and Tom couldn't believe they didn't know each other. Almost everyone could catch on the very obvious soft spot the new teacher had for Druella. Did she really have any link to Grindelwald? The lesson continued without any other hitch.