19) Hypocrisy

"I have heard a lot about you from my daughter, Heir Prince" Alice's mother spoke up as she joined the conversation.

"All good things I hope" Severus said with a slight amused tone looking at Mrs Fortescue or Lady Fortescue.

She laughed softly as Florean scoffed from beside him that moment.

"Oh certainly good things, Heir Prince" she said with a smile.

"Alice tells me that you are quite studious and knowledgeable" she said looking at him only to be followed by Florean's mocking words.

"Yeah in dark arts" Florean spoke up from besides Severus.

"Florean apologise to Heir Prince, this is no way to talk to guest" Alice's father spoke up from the head of the table sternly as he looked angrily at Florean. "Heir Prince, I am sorry for Florean's actions" he said turning to him.

Florean looked like he had swallowed a lemon as he looked upon the enraged looks of his mother and father directed at him.

"He is young and hot blooded Lord Fortescue, a little misslip of words are okay" Severus said calmly as he was amused inwardly at the brat's actions to frame him.

"Besides he is right the dark arts are one of the subjects in which I have a little knowledge of" he said as he looked at Florean with a disinterested gaze.

"See he even admits it?" Florean spoke up instantly as he glared at him.

"I do Heir Fortescue, but you see I am confused about what are you trying to instigate" he said frankly leveling the boy with a gaze of his own. From the corner of his eye he could see Lady Bethany raising a hand to stop Lord and Lady Fortescue from speaking as she gestured them to calm down and back off.

Florean looked eager as he started speaking "see you even admit that you learn Dark Arts. I have seen you with Mulciber and his group and everyone knows in the school that how you hate muggleborns and how you want to be a Death Eater and join You Know Who. Mulciber and your group certainly proclaim their goals loudly and how that You Know Who will purify the world" he finished as he looked angrily at him.

Severus saw Alice facepalming herself from the corner of his eye as he gave an amused laugh.

"Very well then Heir Fortescue, I shall satisfy your anger and answer your allegations" he said amusedly looking at him as he saw the brat.

"Now I have a question to ask you myself, when and where did I told anyone or you that I wanted to be a Death Eater?" he said calmly as his eyes turned cold and betrayed no emotion.

Florean looked like he wanted to speak but suddenly no words came from his mouth.

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you bully others with Mulciber and his group or you never went against them" he said changing the point as he couldn't find a direct answer.

Severus looked at the brat and spoke mockingly "now you decided to change the question as you were unable to answer directly. You know perfectly well that I never said to anyone that I wanted to be a Death Eater."

The boy looked like he wanted to say something but Severus didn't grace him the moment or chance to do so.

"You ask me why I never did stopped them then, let me ask you one question of mine after which I will answer your question" he said calmly looking at the brat infront of him with a calm look.

"Don't the students of your house too bully students of Slytherin and why you never stopped them from doing that?" he asked looking at Florean.

Florean spoke up instantaneously as he defended his house "they are just harmless pranks."

"Yes, if locking a first year student in a room and then leaving him there terrified and alone is your version of a prank then why is it called bullying if we do the same thing to your first year students, my my such hypocrisy" he said waving his hand off looking at the brat amusedly, his tone mocking him.

He could see Lady Bethany's amused look on her face as she watched the exchange carefully.

"As for your question regarding why I never stopped them, I may not agree with them on many things but I am not foolish to make enemies of mine at a place where they can easily slit my throat while I sleep" he spoke up frankly as he looked at the boy.

"I may beat any student of Hogwarts in a fair duel but taking on the entire house is not in my capabilities for the moment not to mention it will end up all in a mess" he said as his tone gained a surety in it.

"And as for your answer to why I learn about Dark Arts and that I hate muggleborns, I don't hate them, I just had to keep appearances besides I am mostly indifferent to them most of the times. Why would I hate a muggleborn when I am a halfblood myself? And as for your question regarding the Dark Arts, it is simple, I learn them to protect myself" he said silkily as he answered the brat's final question.

"Protect myself? that's totally ridiculous" Florean scoffed at his words.

"I see you are still in denial, perhaps it would be better if I show you" he said as he turned to Lady Bethany.

"My Lady, would it be a nuisance if I show something to your grandson?" he spoke smoothly as he asked for permission to her as he could see that she was the one in-charge of the house.

"You can do but I shall warn you that don't do much damage, it gets quite a burden for my elves, I don't like my things to be destroyed" she said cordially, amusement shining in her eyes. Besides her, Lord Fortescue was baffled while Lady Fortescue was just sitting sliently and watching all.

"Thank you my Lady" he said with a half smile as he turned to Florean. He suddenly flicked his wrist causing his Ebony wand to come to his hand as he turned a little more and spotted free space behind Florean.

With a quick wand movement of figure 8 he conjured three humanoid figures of manekin, the next thing happened too fast for Florean as he saw three consecutive blue spells fired at the manekin and then two consecutive red spells fired at the second manekin, the first blue spell entirely destroyed and disintegrated the first manekin whereas the second manekin looked entirely unaffected and the third manekin was burning. The first red spell did nothing at the second manekin but the second spell cut the manekin's surface with a long deep cut.

Florean looked at the interested face of his grandmother and the calm faces of his mother and father and finally at the confused and embarrassed look on his sister's face which was replaced by jealousy and admiration at the whole scenario. He couldn't fault her, he had never seen someone cast spells at such speed before and certainly not a Hogwarts student.

Severus looked at Florean, all the spells were fired by him while sitting on the chair relaxed.

"I believe you saw the spells correctly, if you think so then would you tell what was common with all these spells" he asked simply as he looked at Florean.

"The first three were blue and the last two were red" Florean spoke up hesitantly as he looked at him, still unsure at the whole scenario.

"You are right, but you missed one important thing, I never used an incantation during the whole time" he said as he explained to the brat.

Florean thought about his words and nodded reluctantly afterall he was right, he hadn't used any incantation during the whole process.

"Now imagine yourself in a fight Florean, the first blue spell was a simple reductor curse wasn't it?, Care to guess the second one" he asked with a hidden smirk.

"Some kind of body bind spell" Florean said after a moment of thinking, he didn't understand what the spell did but he personally thought it was a body bind spell.

Severus gave him an amused look, the brat didn't knew what he was dealing with.

"You're wrong" he said calmly to the boy, "that spell was not a body bind spell but the blood boiling curse, a curse which has the ability to kill someone so fast that it takes immediate healer help if you don't want that person to die, the third curse is a creation of mine, it burns a person's organs from inside and has the ability to kill someone in seconds" he said to a wide-eyed Florean who looked completely afraid now, he heard a slight gasp behind him.

"The first red curse was a simple stunner but the second was a slicing spell" he said to the afraid boy who paled slightly at the words.

"Now how would you know which one is reductor or blood boiling in a fight, which ones you could take and still fight or which ones you should dodge. One could never know as nearly there are more than hundreds of blue spells and many which are kept as a secret by some families. One couldn't be lax when he puts his own life in line, and you know one interesting thing" he asked calmly as he looked at the afraid brat.

"What" spluttered the brat.

Severus smiled "the blood boiling curse or it's countercurse is not taught in Hogwarts curriculum but that was always not the case. You see when Hogwarts was founded, the most important enemies of wizards at that time were the muggles. Now at that time the blood boiling curse was taught in curriculum and used as a defence tool by the wizards. Which means that the esteemed founder of your house also practised magic which we today call as Dark Arts, so how does it feel to be in a house which was founded by a Dark Wizard" he said amused, looking at the boy who looked like he had swallowed a bitter pill, what he said was right as Severus in his time has a professor had learnt it from Hogwarts archives.

Florean didn't said anything, "the magic which you frown upon today was taught in and practised by your own idols, what changed were the times, the circumstances and the thinking of people. In a fight outside at the real world, the only thing that matters is the winner. They will use everything they got against me so it falls upon me that I should protect myself from it. You may not like the fact but the world is not ideal, besides I learn the Dark Arts mainly to learn countercurses which could save me from sudden mishap. The Dark Arts has a certain allure to them I would admit it, which is the reason it is frowned upon but those who are skilled in resisting the allure could use it to their benefits" he said in a calm tone as he looked at the boy.

Florean didn't said anything and remained silent, Lady Bethany spoke up at that moment "well said Heir Prince."

Severus looked at her as he gave her a nod and Lady Alyssa spoke up at that moment "don't worry Heir Prince, Florean will be reprimanded for his actions, I want to know more about the shop you are opening though" she said with a small smile as she slowly decided to change the matter of conversation.

Severus nodded and started explaining more about his shop leaving a relieved Florean who was starting to have seeds of doubt in his mind and Alice who had been enamoured at his words.

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This chapter was longer than the other ones and I have only one thing to say to you all.

"Send some powerstones mugglefu*kers!"