Once he was gone Blake coughed and said, "You're related to him somehow? You guys look a lot alike now that I think about it."
I nodded happy that I didn't have to start this conversation, "He's my father."
"Really? Why aren't you in Slytherin then? No offense of course but normally families are in the same house."
I shrugged and said, "I don't know. I'm just glad I'm in Gryffindor I like it more than I think I would like Slytherin regardless of what house he was in."
Blake nodded and said, "Was he mad? My parents would be so mad if I didn't get into Slytherin."
I shook my head, "No he wasn't upset at all."
"That's good. I assume you live with him and not your mother? The scars you showed me looked pretty old."
I tried to start then fumbled with my words until I finally said, "Well I lived with my mother until a week before my 11th birthday when she kicked me out to live with Severus. Now I'm living with him."
"That's good that you don't have to see her anymore. I wish I never had to see either one of my parents; especially my father."
"You could get disowned on purpose," I suggested, "I don't know how that would work but once you are old enough to get a job you could just get disowned on purpose so you don't have to be with them."
He nodded and said, "I've already thought about that. Once I am old enough to get a job I'll move out of the house anyways and they won't be able to hurt me then."
I nodded, "That makes sense."
He nodded but didn't respond. This led to an awkward silence filing the space between us.
I figured it was my turn to start an attempt at conversation, "Do you think you'll be safe going back to Slytherin? If everyone liked this Wilkes guy they might not like you."
He shrugged and said, "Nope. No one liked him. Everyone was afraid of him for sure but no one liked him aside from a few guys. I'll be fine."
I nodded and said, "Okay that's good."
"Yep."
I was thinking about something else to say when my father burst into the room.
"I got the two of them and brought them up to the Headmaster's office. You can come up if you so desire."
I beamed at him and said, "Great thanks."
He started to walk down the hall. Blake and I followed behind him all the way over to where the Headmaster's office was. He said Lemon Drops and much to Blake's surprise a staircase appeared. We took it up to where a large oak door was there closed.
Severus stopped in front of it, took a deep breath and knocked loudly.
"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice.
He pushed the door open violently and walked into Dumbledore's office. Blake and I followed behind him carefully. I saw Draco and a boy I recognized from Blake's memory to the side of the room. Draco looked scared and the other boy glared at Blake.
Severus walked up to Dumbledore who was questioning the two students and said, "I brought up Mr. Cox and Miss Wallwirt to help explain, or in Miss Wallwirt's case; moral support."
He looked past Dumbledore at the two boys and glared at each of them in turn. Draco drew back under his gaze and the other boy looked smug.
Dumbledore waved his hand and a row of chairs were conjured, "Please let us all sit down and talk."
Blake and I sat on the far right. Draco and the other boy sat on the far left side of the row of chairs. Severus stayed standing. It didn't look like the Headmaster was going to ask him to sit down so I reached up and patted his arm softly. He looked down at me and with a sigh he took a seat.
Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk as he said, "Well Professor Snape has told me that he would like to have Mr. Wilkes expelled and Mr. Malfoy put in detention for 3 months. Do you have anything to defend yourself with?" he asked of the two boys.
The older boy said, "Cox, you told them? Didn't I tell you what would happen if you told anyone?'
Blake nodded and was about to retort when Severus said, "Oh yes he did tell us. I was very unhappy to find out that you were blackmailing him into silence by using the safety of Miss Wallwirt to force him to remain silent."
The boy's mouth opened slightly and he said, "I didn't blackmail him or mention anything about the Gryffindor girl."
Severus said coldly, "Yes you did."
"How would you even know? He could by lying just to get us in trouble. It's common knowledge that the Gryffindor girl hates Draco. Maybe he was plotting against us with her."
"Well I would be careful who you make enemies with Mr. Malfoy. Miss Wallwirt is easily one of the best students here. So much so that she was able to perform a spell to take Mr. Cox myself and her back to the memory Mr. Cox had. It worked much like a pensive and I'm sure you know that you cannot manipulate memories unless you are extremely powerful."
He looked terrified by the time Severus was done talking, "Well if the Gryffindor girl is so powerful maybe she made up the memories to get us in trouble."
Dumbledore said, "While I believe that Miss Wallwirt could manipulate memories with a little training I do not believe she did. Now instead of making excuses with no evidence behind them can someone tell me what happened?"
Blake said finally, "Well you see I wasn't being as mean to Gryffindors as they would like so they bound me and then they were able to render me unconscious."
He didn't include how they did so; Dumbledore had seen him when he came to see the troll.
"I assume Miss Wallwirt and Professor Snape were able to heal all of your knife wounds?" Dumbledore questioned.
Blake nodded and Dumbledore thought about something for a while.
"Mr Malfoy and Mr. Wilkes you may return to your common room for now. I will be able to tell you what your punishment is tomorrow."
They both nodded and walked out of the room. Draco walked out looking at the ground but the other boy glared at Blake one more time before leaving.
Once they were gone Severus stood up and asked, "Why couldn't you just expel him right now?"
Dumbledore spread his hands out and said, "Both Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Malfoy are both Govenors of Hogwarts. They both use intimidation to get what they want. If I was to try and expel Mr. Wilkes I'm sure they would be able to overturn my decision. I can put him in detention for the rest of the year but I'm afraid that's all I can do."
Severus yelled, "What? No! He can't stay here at Hogwarts!"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why not? He wouldn't dare try and hurt anyone else after this."
My father shook his head and said, "You would think that but this will only propel him to hurt others even more."
"I'm sure Mr. Cox and Miss Wallwirt will be on the lookout. I'm sorry Severus but even if I wanted to expel him; and I do, I would not succeed."
Severus looked furious and kept sputtering words until he finally said, "But this is preposterous! He was so brutal that a student was unconscious not to mention that he threatened both Mr. Cox and Miss Wallwirt's safety."
The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes came back as he asked, "Mr. Cox, Miss Wallwirt could you please go to your common room. I think your professor needs some things explained to him over and over until he finally gets it."
I smiled and said, "He needs that a lot sir."
This earned me a glare from my father as Blake said, "It's no problem sir. Thank you."
On our way out Severus called, "Straight to your common room Jessica. I don't think Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Malfoy really went to their common room."
I nodded and said seriously, "Yeah I will. See you tomorrow."
I closed the door but made no move to follow Blake down the staircase.
"What are you doing," he hissed.
"I want to hear what they are talking about," I replied simply.
"You'll get caught."
I laughed quietly and said, "No I won't, I'm going to put up spells so they can't tell I'm here."
"Okay fine. I'm going back to my common room. Bye."
I waved and said, "Bye. Be careful."
"I will. You worry too much," he said laughing slightly.
I returned it with a smile as he went down the stairs from the Headmaster's office. As I had said I put up spells around me then crouched down next to the door to listen in on their conversation. I felt bad about spying on them. I was sure I could ask Severus what happened but I wanted to make sure I heard everything.
A few seconds later Severus said, "You need to at least try to expel him."
"You seem very adamant about him getting expelled. Do you not think that detention for the rest of the year is fair?"
"Normally I would say yes, but he will continue to hurt other students. More importantly I know he will go after Blake. I'm sure he'll use Blake to get to Jessica."
"You seem very sure that this will happen. Are you sure you aren't just being paranoid Severus?" asked Dumbledore gently.
"Of course I'm not being paranoid. I know very well Jessica can defeat him in a duel with her eyes closed and I know she isn't stupid enough to fall into a trap of his but I also know that she has a tendency to try and save people. If Mr. Cox is in some kind of danger she will be more than willing to put herself in danger to save him."
"Well then they would probably engage in a duel and you are telling me that she would then win, so why are you still unhappy?" asked the Headmaster.
It was quiet for a second before my father hissed, "If there was no way Mr. Cox was going to make it out of there without getting injured I'm sure Jessica would make a deal with Mr. Wilkes and I can't have that happen."
"But you are avoiding the question. Whycan't Jessica ever be near Mr. Wilkes? It is to my understanding that she would win in a duel against him easily, so what did he say he would do to somehow hurt her?"
There was a silence inside the room and I could almost see Severus thinking about how much to tell him. Finally my father sighed and I could picture him running his hand through his hair.
"I went into Mr. Cox's memory with him and Jessica. In it Mr. Wilkes said some bad things about Gryffindors and how Blake shouldn't be friends with Mudbloods and whatnot."
Dumbledore said, "But that is normal Slytherin behavior. What could he have said that is worse than that?"
I heard Severus grumble and say, "I'm getting to that. Like I was saying he was insulting Blake and making fun of him for being friends with Jessica and whatnot. Near the end after Mr. Cox was all cut up Mr. Wilkes and him had a conversation. It went that Draco asked if they were going to get in trouble. Mr. Wilkes told him that Blake wouldn't tell anyone because he was sure he didn't want Jessica to get hurt."
"Wouldn't he know that Miss Wallwirt would win against him in a duel?" questioned Dumbledore.
"Yes I am getting to that Albus," Severus said obviously annoyed he had been interrupted, "Mr. Cox told him that Jessica could take him in a fight," he paused then said barely above a whisper, "To this Mr. Wilkes responded with yes perhaps but there are some things I can do to her that don't require any magic."
"Exactly like that?" asked the Headmaster.
"Yes," replied my father quietly.
There was a short silence before Dumbledore asked, "What happened after that? I'm sure Mr. Cox wasn't eager to tell anyone after hearing that Mr. Wilkes would violate Miss Wallwirt."
"Well after that Mr. Cox told him that he would never get near her. Mr. Wilkes told him that he knew she would come running if she heard that he was hurt."
"So that is why you believe that he will use Mr. Cox to get to Jessica?" the Headmaster asked to clarify.
Severus didn't say anything so I assumed he nodded.
"Well thank you for telling me but I'm still afraid that I cannot do anything more then give him detention for the rest of the year with Mr. Filch."
There was a sigh before Severus said, "Okay I understand. I'll tell Blake and Jessica to be on guard around him at all times."
"That will be all we can do. Now I would recommend going to bed. I told Professor Quirell that Jessica will not be at her lesson since it begins in about 5 minutes."
"I'm sure Jessica is waiting for me in my office at this point. I'm going to go talk to her then get to bed," Severus said as I panicked