Papa K's lesson
Keralis K. Papa was not your typical pureblood Slytherin. Unlike some others in his house he was kind and compassionate, he tended to see the good in a person when that person could not see it himself.
That was a Keralis thing, not a Papa thing.
The Papa’s were known to be a very powerful family regarding the mind. All of them were either a legilimens or an occlumens, which made hiding your true thoughts extremely difficult. Especially for a child.
Keralis had been reprimanded multiple times as a child for not thinking the way he was supposed to think and he was threatened not to befriend any ‘Mudbloods’ when he first went to Hogwarts.
Knowing that his family was able to watch his every move and terrified of the outcome, he obeyed them.
It made for a lonely first year, having only friends that he knew were pureblood, because they were just as stuck up as his family. He did not step a toe out of line.
But in the summer leading up to his second year, the first signs of his mind magic started to show.
It started with being able to hear his father complain about how the table was set up by the House elves.
“I can rearrange it if you want father,” he had answered and the man looked at him dumbfounded before he broke into the first real smile he had ever seen of him.
“My my, looks like we have a little legilimens on our hands! Monique, come quick! Keralis is showing his first signs!”
It did not end there like everyone was expecting. Soon after they found out that his father, who was also a legilimens, was not able to read his son’s thoughts. Being both a legilimens and an occlumens was not something that was unheard of in his family, but special nonetheless.
It gave Keralis a lot more confidence regarding who he was to be friends with. Being an occlumens meant that his family could not look into his day to day life at Hogwarts and that he could be friends with whoever he wanted.
So much so that he one day befriended a particular Hufflepuff Muggleborn that went by the name Xisuma.
It was late in the evening when Keralis heard someone crying in the Astronomy tower, and who was he to let them cry on their own!
So, he sat by the boy, who he recognized to be a third year Muggleborn Hufflepuff, and gave him a shoulder to cry and lean on. He had asked what was wrong and Xisuma had told him all about how his father was going to die from some terrible Muggle disease.
After that he never let him go, quickly becoming inseparable from each other. Where X went, he went.
He learned a lot from X, especially from the man’s passion. It was contagious and quickly Keralis found himself a passion of his own; he was going to be an architect.
He began drawing all sorts of buildings when he sat in the Hospital wing, waiting for X to finish his shift. It gave him a sense of peace and self worth when he looked at his creations. That and the sound of a pencil, a Muggle thing X had given him for Christmas, hitting the paper. It was soothing.
Keralis liked taking care of people, but not in the way X liked to take care of people. Well, partially.
When X formed a studygroup for all the students he had met over the years and had grown close to, Keralis found himself beginning to care for them as well.
He, of course, already knew Doc and Cleo, them being Slytherins in his year, but there were lots of them that he had never spoken to. He grew a soft spot for the group that liked to call themselves the Hermits, just like X had.
So everytime one had a question regarding schoolwork or just life in general, Keralis was there to help them.
He may be a bit overbearing at times, which is where the name Papa K came from. And instead of laughing it off, he embraced it. He was proud to be one thank you very much!
It was not just the Hermits he smothered with love and affection, it was also their quote on quote leader, who they just called the admin because Xisuma did not like the name leader. He monitored them, that was all.
Xisuma, or Sheshwammy as Keralis liked to call him, did that often. Everytime he got praised for something he just brushed it off like it was no big deal. Keralis was done with that, Sheshwammy needed to take some of the credit from time to time.
So he was on a mission; make Xisuma feel loved. And that he did.
He never liked using his legilimency on people, least of all X. But sometimes he could see that something was bothering the elder and he would brush it off. Only then he would take a small peek into the Head Boy’s brain in order to see what was bothering him and how he could fix it.
Today was one of those days where Xisuma was feeling down and he would not tell Keralis anything.
Keralis knew that he had had a shift at St. Mungo’s earlier that day and ever since he got back, he had been in a bad mood. It would not hurt to check right?
Keralis relaxed his body and his mind, so he could get a glimpse of the man's thoughts without alerting him.
A pristine white room with a cyan chair and some magazines.
A bed with a heartbeat monitoring spell attached to a sign.
A loud beep.
Ah.
X had lost a patient.
He pulled the elder in a big hug and that was when his Sheshwammy broke. Xisuma’s shoulders began to shake and Keralis heard him sob.
“I could not save him, Keralis. I tried so hard, but nothing worked!” Keralis shushed him and held him even closer.
“That wasn’t your fault, Sheshwammy. You did your best and he knew that,” he stroked his back a few times.
“You need to know that you can’t save everyone. You’re doing such a good job, I wish you could see that as well,” X looked up from his shoulder and gave him a tiny smile.
“That’s where I have you for, right?” Keralis had to smile as well.
He did not mind giving that lesson to his friend, he would give it forever if he had to.