Fair Play, Fair Punishment
Avi stuck to his father like glue for two days before Severus finally kicked him out of the hospital wing. He had even been sleeping in the bed next to the man and had refused to leave his side since his dad was attacked and the Ravenclaw Prefect Henry Boot had been killed. Honestly, he was surprised the reserved man had let his fretting continue for this long.
Being sequestered away for so long, Avi didn’t realize how much he had missed. Everywhere he went students were talking about that night. Whispering about what the monster could have been and if it was still on the grounds. The Hit Wizards had been unable to track the beast in the gloom of the Forbidden Forest at night. There were even roomers of a Creature Hunter being called in to search the surrounding area. But no one seemed to know what creature they were all hunting.
Avi was passing an empty classroom when he heard a noise. Curious, he looked through the cracked door. He jumped back, narrowly avoiding being hit with the door as a boy with puffy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks came out in a rush. “What are you looking at!” the boy snapped. Avi took a hurried step back. The ice-blue eyes looked furious as they glared at Avi from below the older boy’s black fringe. “Come to gawk at the poor kid that lost his brother? What kind of sick game are you playing at?!”
Avi looked around at the kids stopping in the halls and murmuring to each other while they stared. He blushed at all the unwanted attention. The angry boy stomped closer and Avi held up his hands as he continued to back away. He flinched as he bumped into something solid, shrinking into himself as he turned and saw the looming form of a hulking blond boy. The student was dressed in yellow and Avi’s head barely reached up to the much older boy’s hip. Before he had a chance to react, a thickly muscled arm snaked around Avi’s waist and lifted him off the ground, pinning him against a broad chest. The feeling of having his arms pinned at his sides and being held by someone so large instantly made Avi think of Uncle Vernon. He struggled with all his might as instinctive terror flooded his veins. But the grip only tightened like a vice, forcing the air from his lungs.
“What do we have here?” the burly boy purred in his ear menacingly with a voice that reminded him of Dudley and his friends when they were Harry Hunting. “Is this Dungeon Scum bothering you, Terry?”
The other boy, Terry, rolled his cold blue eyes. “Leave it MacNair. I already told the kid off.”
Avi looked around frantically, trying to find a way to escape. There was a ring of students gathered around the three of them. There was a group of boys dressed in yellow behind the big kid holding him, smirking at Avi as he dangled in the air. Others looked sympathetic to his plight, but none of them looked inclined to help him. The trunk-like arm restraining him gave a jerky shake, making Avi’s head spin. “So the snake has been bothering you,” the burly boy, MacNair, crowed in delight. “Evil little bugger was probably spying on us decent folk. Reporting back to your daddy, Dungeon Bat Spaun?” The grip around him tightened further causing Avi to gasp in pain as his ribs felt like they were being crushed. He swallowed hard as a wand dug into the hollow beneath his chin. The grip on him shifted so MacNair could get close enough to smirk directly into his terrified eyes. “Maybe I should teach him a lesson?”
Avi began to panic in earnest, flailing wildly in a desperate bid to get away. Memories of Dudley and his gang flashed through his mind. He began to hyperventilate as memories of sharp pain and fear took over, causing him to shake. MacNair and his friends laughed as he struggled. “Look at him squirm! He looks just like a snake trying to wriggle away!” one of the other boys scoffed.
Another boy reached around MacNair and pinched Avi’s side. Hard. Sucking in air through his teeth at the sharp pain, Avi hissed and futilely tried to curl up and make himself smaller to protect the more vulnerable parts of his body. The older kids laughed, “Did you hear him hiss? What a bloody idiot! Nobody is going to be scared of such a runt even if he acts like a rudy snake! Pathetic!”
Suddenly a hand tugged the wand out from under his chin. Terry Boot glared at the older boys as he tugged the wand out of the bully’s hand. “I said leave off, MacNair!” His icy gaze glared at the other boys as well. “Shouldn’t Hufflepuff’s have a better sense of fair play? Four on one, and against a little kid? You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“What are you complaining about? I’m doing you a favor!” MacNair growled. In a fit of temper, the Hufflepuff threw Avi against the wall, pinning him with a heavy hand over his collarbone. Gesturing wildly with his free hand, MacNair began to shout at the Ravenclaw boy. “Fair? Fair! This git’s father had me skinning boomslang snakes for hours! Meanwhile, the Weasley twins didn’t even have to get their hands dirty! Those terrors attacked a teacher! They should have been expelled if you ask me, but no! This runt managed to manipulate the headmaster and his father into letting them off scott-free!”
Avi flinched as he felt the hand on his collar tighten viciously and the rough stones bite into his back, but he glared at the older boy looming over him. “Fred and George were only trying to protect their brother! Ahron deserved what he got!”
MacNair balled his hand into a fist and pulled it back to strike the smaller boy. But before he could, Avi struck first. He bit down hard on the arm holding him in place. MacNair let out a high-pitched scream, flailing his arm and throwing Avi to the floor. His head struck the hard stone on impact, leaving him dazed and winded. “You little bastard!” the Hufflepuff bellowed.
Terry stepped between the two before the bigger boy could retaliate, but MacNair lifted his fist ready to take down anyone who got in his way. Even if it was the boy he was supposedly defending, but before the fight really got underway, they were interrupted. “What is going on here?” At first, Avi thought it was over, but then his eyes caught up with his ears. His heart sank as he watched Ahron sauntered out of the crowd.
“That stupid snake BIT ME!” MacNair accused in a nasally, whining voice that would have made Avi snicker if he wasn’t so terrified. The shaking eight-year-old didn’t even bother to defend himself as he lay sprawled on the ground. Trying to justify his actions had always just made Vernon more angry. He had no idea what the school would do to him if he got in trouble. He wasn’t a student, but could they still expel him? What would happen to him if Severus was forced to send him away?
“Williams, take MacNair to the Hospital Wing to be checked for poison,” the professor directed one of the other bullies with a smirk. It’s Venom you dunderhead, Avi thought in an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like his father.
“Snape, follow me,” Ahron commanded. “You will serve detention with me for attacking a student.”
Terry stepped forward from the crowd, blocking the professor's path. “But, sir! MacNair was the one that started the altercation!”
“Who caused it is irrelevant, Boot. Avyaan Snape is the one who escalated the fight to the point of drawing blood.” The man suddenly reached down and dragged Avi to his feet by the collar of his robes and began pulling him down the hall like a naughty puppy. Feeling utterly humiliated, Avi jerked his robes free from the man’s grip and glared up at him as he grudgingly followed. They entered the DADA room and Ahron locked the door with an ominous click.
Avi hunched his shoulders defensively, “What do you want me to do, sir?” He just wanted to get this punishment over as quickly as possible.
In answer, Professor Ahron walked to the far side of the room and pulled a thick velvet curtain off a large tank. “The Grindylow tank needs a good scrub,” he said with a vindictive smirk.
Avi watched the tentacled and sharp-toothed creatures with trepidation. “And how am I supposed to do that?” he asked warily.
Ahron carelessly pointed over his shoulder at the closet. “There is protective equipment and cleaning supplies in there, and a ladder on the back side of the tank.”
Avi scuffed his toe on the floor, hating that he had to admit weakness to this jerk. “I don’t know how to swim, sir.”
The professor scoffed. “What kind of idiot doesn’t know how to swim?” When Avi didn’t answer he huffed in disappointment at his obvious jab being ignored. Without warning, the man let off a wordless spell at his head. Avi tried to duck but it was too late. Light flashed, blinding him as the spell struck and a sticky sensation wrapped around his head. Avi instinctively clawed at the barrier that enveloped his head, thinking the man was trying to suffocate him, but nothing would pull the rubbery material off. Ahron snorted at his frightened expression, “It's just a bubble head charm, you idiot! It will let you breathe underwater.”
With that last bit of wisdom, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room, slamming the door to his office. Sighing in relief at being left alone at last, Avi gathered the supplies and got to work.