Chapter Ten. Injustice
Repression for "Mamba" followed. I can't say that anything terrible happened... at first glance. The administration made it clear that they were dissatisfied, and dissatisfied administrators at a school where you not only study but also live... is unpleasant. Even a boss who has it in for you is bad enough, but at least you can go home and take your mind off things. But at school?
The minor annoyances began — one of the teachers who was particularly loyal to the headmaster would stop me in the corridor with an exclamation...
"Robert John Tally, running in the corridors of Hogwarts is not recommended!" And then they'll give me a lecture for several minutes, forcing me to listen and making me late for class. After that... that's right — points deducted and extra work assigned!
Well, the points are okay... although at that time they gave the faculty certain privileges — more "treats" on the faculty table, easier to get "leave" to go to Hogsmeade, and so on. But Ravenclaw, as the faculty of smart kids, had no problems with everyday spells, personal connections with the Hogwarts elves, etc. So I wasn't penalised for points.
But as for the work...
"Mr. Tally, I've been asked to make sure you do your best and clean the cups without using magic.
"Who asked? — I tilt my head to the right and look at Dumbledore, narrowing my eyes slightly.
"Get started," he says, walking away.
Nodding, I got to work. I'm not a boy anymore... hmm, considering my past life... so I have a lot of skills, very diverse ones. Therefore, I cleaned calmly and, if I may say so, skilfully. Cups are Albus's speciality; other teachers assign something more useful, often even involving magic. Like, go through the third floor and clean up the dirt with Evanesco... while they make sure the punished student doesn't slack off or collapse from magical exhaustion. They can make you clean with your hands, but again, it has to be useful. Wash the floors in the hallway, help the house elves in the kitchen. And this one... I'm openly afraid of Albus. And no, I'm not afraid of getting caught — many people don't like him at all, and he's still a long way from his future image as the "Good Grandfather of All." is still far off — right now he's just a mediocre teacher with questionable relatives (his father is a deceased Azkaban prisoner) and acquaintances (Gellert Grindelwald and Co.), and those who have been punished consider it almost a "sacred duty" to snort at any "supervisor" and make faces. Not everyone and not to everyone... but if you consider yourself unjustly punished... And I did.
We don't need this kind of cricket*" Work is a thing... First of all, it's a waste of time — very often it takes three or four hours** of your life that could be spent more usefully. There were two ways to fix the situation — shut up and show the school administration humility, or show them your teeth. As you can imagine, I chose the second option.
I won't say that I'm an exception — the heirs of pure-blooded families are, in principle, exempt from detention, and instead they are punished (if they are punished) at home. Other pure-blooded and half-blooded students can also be exempted from detention — they just need to provide a letter from their parents. It wasn't for all detentions, only for the "New Ones."
Let me explain: in the original Charter of the Founders, work was provided for, but not "as the teacher sees fit." Everything was clearly defined: what could be assigned, for what, at what age, and so on.
Then, after the introduction of the Statute of Secrecy (and the defeat of the goblins at the same time), the headmaster's power grew suspiciously quickly, while the power of the trustees and parents over their children during their studies declined. The students were gradually "pressured," and by the twentieth century, extra work had become a kind of "sacred cow" of the Ministry. Thus, a student's behaviour at Hogwarts was evaluated not only in terms of hooliganism and disobedience, but also in terms of their reaction to these very punishments.
The mischievous ones who meekly accepted the punishments introduced not by the Founders but by the headmasters after the Statute were perceived as "loyalists" and found it easier to build a career in the Ministry. It was somewhat more complicated with the offspring of the Most Ancient and Most Noble (even if they were not Heirs) — they enjoyed a certain immunity simply by virtue of their status.
But here other factors came into play — blackmail, persuasion, simply strange beliefs of parents or (much more often) guardians. Gradually, it became accepted that they too should be "like everyone else." Well, the laws in Albion, whether for Muggles or wizards, are largely based on case law***, and gradually, century after century, the power that the headmaster, deans and teachers possessed in practice, but not legally, ended up in their hands.
So, having decided to "show my teeth," I became a kind of "official dissident," and from then on, the Ministry of Magic in Albion began to treat me with obvious bias. This meant no positions in the Ministry itself above "junior sweeper," no contracts to supply the Ministry and its employees with any ingredients, and so on.
That is why the hereditary farmers/craftsmen (mostly) Hufflepuffs mostly demonstrated loyalty — up to a certain point, after which their famous solidarity kicked in and the offender had a hard time. The majority of Gryffindors were just as loyal, if not more so. The faculty was oriented towards the security services and the civil service, and there were plenty of disenfranchised Muggle-borns here. Slytherin had its share of "hereditary dissidents" and they even boasted about it. Well, Ravenclaw, the "native" house, was somewhere in the middle.
Am I afraid of getting involved in squabbles? Well... I'm afraid so. But do you seriously think that you can study for seven years (even five) and not give yourself away during all that time, meekly putting up with injustice, especially considering that I'm not exactly childish? Hmm... sooner or later (and sooner rather than later), such a "hidden dissident" will be found out — my opponents are far from stupid, and they're better at intrigue than I am... It's another matter to present yourself as a harmless "dissident" who can cause trouble if provoked, but who is generally uninterested in the political and economic life of England. Almost every third person can be classified as such, since magicians from fairly old families with their own manors are quite self-sufficient and do not depend much on the Ministry.
In the end, I wrote to my "parents," but in reality, I wrote to Lotte von Wald. Since we were engaged, any magical test would have identified us as relatives.
It was decided in correspondence (Protean spells, not owls, that goes without saying!) that she would come as my "aunt" to confirm the decision of the Head of the Clan. She decided to disguise herself using Muggle means — magicians valued shape-shifting and illusions, but they had no immunity to ordinary makeup.
Lotta played her part flawlessly...
"How are you, my boy?!" my aunt jumped up, looking tenderly into my eyes, followed by a series of hugs, quite natural for a childless and unmarried woman (which is easily determined by magic; there are options for engagement) who adores her nephew.
"Bad," I replied in the mischievous tone of a slightly spoiled child, "Dumbledore is bad!
Then came a string of complaints about "bad Dumbledore" with a list of injustices (and here I lumped together punishments for real misdemeanours and "made-up" ones). The conversation took place in the dean's office, and Malfoy blushed and turned pale, trying to justify himself...
"What, you can't cancel obviously unfair punishments? – His aunt raged.
"I can, if they weren't assigned by the director, and he considers your boy too spoiled," he spread his hands, skilfully "shifting the blame."
"Spoiled?!
In the end, the angry "aunt" yelled at Dumbledore and Dippet, forbidding them to assign me detention other than "according to the Founders' will," promising a lot of fun if they didn't.
No one wanted to get involved with the scandalous lady, and in the end, Rod Tally was listed as an "official dissident." Since I did not cooperate and had no intention of cooperating with the Ministry, I was... well, you get the picture.
Along the way, she defended my right to take some subjects externally, because while it's difficult to get rid of charms, transfiguration, potions and herbology, all kinds of numerology... But at least I had more time...
Revenge... How could I not? I'm a hurt child, remember? And revenge should be childish — petty but annoying pranks. At the same time, I could cover up my other actions.
Revenge... I decided to take revenge like a child — petty, nasty, but very annoying. And most importantly, in such a way that no one could hold it against me later. So...
"Of course not just like that," I pick up the conversation about Dippet, "why would he want to be headmaster? There must be something... something like that.
"Come on," says Leith Zabini, a third-year Ravenclaw, doubtfully, "he's an old wizard, he probably just wanted to 'play with the kids and pass on his skills'.
"Come on," I echo Leita, "where does he play with them? He teaches classes, at least to the most promising upperclassmen? No... He did something for the good of Hogwarts... I mean, he introduced some useful subjects or is renovating the castle... No, again. Maybe he wants to go down in history? Dippet is already very famous, he doesn't need the position of headmaster for fame.
Zabini snorts discontentedly, but bows his head in acknowledgement of my point.
"You know," he says with slight surprise, "I hadn't thought of it that way.
"Me neither," says professional gossip Lisa Green Grass from second-year Slytherin with a hint of renewed interest, "there's a headmaster in office, and that's it.
It's a start... I didn't pursue the subject, changing the conversation to something else. But later, during fencing class with the third-year students (I'm too good a fencer for the second-years, my Sidovian heritage is showing, and the fourth-years don't have enough physical strength — they're at that age where a year or two makes a noticeable difference), I cautiously brought it up again and said a few key phrases. You know — "Secrets," "Hogwarts"... And on the way to the shower, Zabini brought up the subject of Dippet as headmaster again, but this time as if he had uncovered it himself.
I grinned... Dippet would dig up the dirt if he wanted to, but again, I wasn't worried — the representatives of the Houses start such intrigues from the first year, so I'm no exception...
Then the topic of Dippet died down and I brought up the Ancient Treasures.
"You know," I say excitedly, jumping up and down next to Miriam Flint, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, "this is Hogwarts! There must be something here, wow!
"Yes, the castle itself is one big 'wow!'" the girl says softly, with a hint of laughter in her voice, and carefully adjusts my hat — we have a tour of the Forbidden Forest, and it's quite cold outside.
Such care is not accidental — the older students generally look after the younger ones, and a seventh-year Slytherin can easily stop a first-year Hufflepuff, shake his head, and clean him up with spells. What do you expect — almost everyone here is related in one way or another! Family feuds never go away, but it's considered inappropriate to bring them up while studying at Hogwarts. I, as they say/said in the future... Ah! Cute, that's it! His training as a Sith may not be complete, but it's already showing... No, not "handsome" (although he is very attractive, like all Sith), but rather the charm characteristic of his race. Plus, he's still young...
"No! That's understandable — the Founders and all that. I mean, a lot of wizards studied here, right? Plus the wars and everything... I'm sure there are some treasures that were hidden, and then the owner died and didn't have time to tell anyone.
"Of course there are," she shrugs with a smile, "the students regularly find artefacts from the old days, gold coins, and other things..."
Soon the conversation was interrupted — Kettleburn led us to the unicorns.
"Look at these little darlings," he said fondly, sniffing, "Have you all read the textbook?
A resounding "Yes!" rang out.
"Well then, just admire them, but don't make any noise, and on the way back, if anyone has any questions, I'll answer them. Agreed?
That's how I had several conversations about treasures and Dippet... And soon they began to "mix" in conversations. Closer to Yule, everyone was convinced that there were "a lot" of treasures at Hogwarts and that Armando Dippet had not accidentally decided to become headmaster in his old age, even though he did not interfere in the educational process.
Several times I caught hostile glances from Dippet, Dumbledore and several other teachers. I grinned in response... A worthy revenge for the bloody extra work! And most importantly, it might complicate the lives of the "Champions of the Common Good" a little. If they started watching them, hoping to find out the way to the treasure or the secret...
We don't need cricket like this*" a fairly common variant of an English saying meaning an unfair "game". Mc no longer considers himself English (magicians are a different Branch of Humanity!), but in his first life he picked up many purely English habits.
They take three or four hours*" as in the canon.
Precedent law***" A precedent is a decision made in a similar case resolved in a similar legal proceeding. A precedent is a case or event that occurred in the past and serves as an example or basis for similar actions in the present. A judicial precedent is a decision of the highest court on a particular case, which is subsequently binding on courts when resolving similar cases.
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