"You are so cool, Professor Shafiq!" Justin Finch-Fletchley, the second-year student looked at him with shiny bright eyes. "You knocked down the prick just with your word! That was awesome!"
"Hahaha! This is nothing!" Albert laughed, all the warm that seemed lost when he dealt with the Slytherin students were now back.
"No, Professor, you don't know how annoying he was last year. He was so arrogant and always threw his father's name all the time as if he was the second coming of merlin. To see him like that was so satisfying."
All the second-year students nodded along in agreement.
"Anyway, you might be wondering why Professor Sprout trusts me enough to let me be here, right?" He asked, trying to divert the conversation. "Well, let me introduce myself. My name is Albert Shafiq, and I was a Hufflepuff student graduated in 1973. So, you can say I am your senior from the past."
"Really?!" One of the senior students widened his eyes, surprised. "But I thought you would be a Slytherin! Considering your family…."
"Considering the Shafiq family always produced a fine young Slytherin student, right?" Albert continued the word kindly. "But there would always be an exception in the family once in a while, and I can say proudly that I am one of the badgers just like you."
Several of the students had their eyes beamed in delight. Even though they didn't know the accomplishment of their new professor, just having one more excellent Hufflepuff graduated student as a professor would be able to increase their reputation. With Albert and Sprout in front of them, they wouldn't be the loser and forgotten badger anymore.
"Anyway, even though you may not recognize me, I bet if you tell your elder about my presence, they would react strongly. After all, I have quite reputation when I was a student." Albert smiled. "For example, the director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcer, Amelia Bones, would definitely remember me."
"Really?!" The small red-haired girl was surprised when she heard her aunt's name from him.
"Sure, she definitely knows about me." His smile then turned into a playful one. "After all I caught her several times on a broom cupboard."
"Oh, no!" The girl groaned while her friends laughed out loud.
"Not just her, I also know a lot of badgers who were involved in the wizengamot, ministry, and many more industries. And I tell you this is not to flex my connection, but to show you the resourcefulness of us badgers. When you graduated from here, the other fellow badgers would also take care about you outside of the school. After all, for us who was forgotten, if we don't take care of each other, who else will, right?"
"Good words, Albert." Sprout suddenly came from behind, her face full of smile. Then, she turned around and addressed her students, "As he had already introduced himself, he is your fellow Hufflepuff. So, if you have any question or difficulty in your study, just ask him. And don't worry about him not knowing the answer. He was the best student of his generation, one of the few geniuses coming out of the Hufflepuff. The Hogwarts curriculum is nothing to him."
"Really?!"
"Sure!" Albert nodded. "Even though I will only teach the first to the fifth-year students, if any of you have question, you can go to my office and ask. And I choose the office close to your room so you don't have to worry about going too far from here, okay?" He winked playfully.
"Good!"
"This is better than Snape!"
"Are you kidding?! Anyone would be better than him!"
"You are right! Hahaha!"
Albert exchanged a glance with Sprout, both of them smiled. Even though it had been a long time he was at Hogwarts, the warm and cozy atmosphere on the common room would always bring him back to when he first started his journey, when he was still young and free. This place was the first place he ever felt it was home, and coming back again, the positive energy radiated from the students was able to lift up the tension on his shoulder for a bit,
"Maybe, just like Professor Sprout said, relaxing here and taking care of the young badgers would indeed be good for me."
The conversation about the new potion professor also happened on the other house. In Ravenclaw, the most studious house out of the other four, the students asked their head of house about the new professor's academic level.
"Don't worry about professor Shafiq." Flitwick chuckled. "He is the best student graduated in 1973, holding the record of 11 O's out of 13 NEWTs he took. Honestly, if not for his personality, I would guess he is one of ours."
"That amazing?!"
"Yeah." The charm professor nodded. "And he is not just a potion master. In fact, potion is the latest one he gained the mastery. After he graduated from Hogwarts, he was an apprentice on charm under me and on ancient runes under Kassia Makris, the best ancient runes mistress from Greece. So, he is an all-arounder, if I could say so."
Everyone was surprised by the fact that not only their new professor was a genius, he was also the apprentice of their head of house.
"And don't worry about the issue of fairness. Unlike professor Snape who was impartial to the Slytherin, he is a Hufflepuff. Justice and fairness are one of their creeds. So, I bet you will have better experience in potion class this year."
Even though Flitwick knew speaking ill behind his colleague is bad, Snape favouritism toward the snake house was an open secret for any professor in Hogwarts. And since being told directly on his face wouldn't change anything and Dumbledore also wouldn't do anything about Snape, the other professor thought talking and complaining behind his back wouldn't hurt him either.
And no, they didn't hate professor Snape. Even though the potion master was hard to approach, they still maintain cordial relationship with each other. It was just when the matter of fairness was discussed that they started to harbour the ill feeling toward him.
"He is a bloody badger?!"
"Hey, what's wrong with a badger?"
"They are a bunch of useless people, you know?!"
"Not all of them are like that!"
"You can say so because your boyfriend is from there! But what about the other?"
"Oh, no! Why didn't he come one or two years ago?!"
"Yeah! This is our NEWT year already and I want to be an Auror!"
"Me too! We need to reach at least EE in potion, right?"
"You are lucky it is only EE! For us who want to be a healer, we have to reach the O to be considered as an intern at St. Mungo!"
"Well, if you have any difficulty, just go to his office and ask. I am sure he wouldn't mind helping the students of his charm master to study better." Flitwick chuckled. As for the remark about the useless Hufflepuff, if he knew anything about his former apprentice, he would bet there would be a grade explosion for the badger students. Albert would definitely take a step up to increase the quality of his house. Only then the prejudice of the Hufflepuff being useless disappeared.
"Oh, this would be an interesting year…"
Unlike the joyful conversation in Hufflepuff room and the academic conversation in Ravenclaw's nest, the atmosphere of the Snake pit was tense and heavy. Snape who just came in a bad mood after checking the problem with Dumbledore became gloomier when he received the story of what Albert said to them.
"You idiot!" He scolded his godson. "Even without him talking anything, you should know not to provoke him just by his family name, right? He is the head of Shafiq family, one of the sacred twenty-eight and one of the oldest pureblood families in the Britain! Just his one word weighed more than anything the Malfoy would ever be! And you provoke him just because he is a Hufflepuff?!"
If the other Slytherin students thought they couldn't be more surprised after the revelation from their new professor, now they received the second shock after seeing the outburst of their head of house. It was not often that Snape lost his composure and scolded someone for provoking the other. Usually, under his leadership, he would protect the Slytherin students from punishment even after offending the other professors. But just like what Snape said, the name of Shafiq family had weight in pureblood society.
"And if you think he only has his family name to gain his hold, you are in a rude awakening." Snape continued with a dark face. "In 1975, he rejected the Dark Lord invitation to join the circle." He ignored the dramatic gasp from his student. "As a result, the Dark Lord commanded the branch of the Yaxley family and the Carrow family to give him a lesson. His fiancée and parents were tortured to the insanity and was burned alive with his ancestral house, leaving him as the sole survivor of the family. But he retaliated…"
"Retaliated?" Several of them holding their breath, wanting to know what happened next.
"Yeah. He enacted the Lex Sanguinaria for all the people wore the dark mark." He said darkly. Several of the older students gasped as they heard about this ancient law.
This was basically a blood law that allowed one family to retaliate when its member was killed by the other family. And since its law was based on equality, the damage that was done had to be equal for the retaliated family or this law wouldn't be nulled for a long time. And since to enact this law, one needed to vow in his blood and his magic, not even Dumbledore or Ministry was allowed to intervene.
This was the most barbaric law, yet ironically the best way for anyone to receive justice he deserved. But if the one who enacted the law wasn't strong enough, he was allowed to be killed by the retaliated family, so only the strong one would dare to pull this up easily.
"Since then, in just four years, he slaughtered 23 werewolves and 7 giants, killed all the entire Yaxley family except for Corban, crippled Alecto and Amicus Carrow's magic, and made the Dark Lord lost about 150 of his loyal supporters. And one thing in common, the victim of him would always lose at least one of their limbs cruelly. Even the Dark Lord had a hard time dealing with him. But in 1979, he suddenly vanished, leaving us in confusion and relief. My guess is at that time, the magic deemed his revenge is enough and his enemy received the equal damage as his when his family was slaughtered. It wasn't until this year that I heard about him again."
The students who heard the name of their family or their relative spoken by Snape gulped in fright. They didn't expect their calm and handsome new potion professor would hide that kind of cruelty beneath his kind façade.
"Should we be worried about him?" One of the older students asked cautiously.
"Yes." Snape nodded firmly. "But not for him to retaliate again. Since he was able to join the school, you don't need to worry about it, since the ancient ward around us would never allow someone who was still in Lex Sanguinaria to become a staff. What you have to worry about is his power and connection. Just remember my word. Never underestimate him just because he is from Hufflepuff. He is one of the people that gave the Dark Lord and professor Dumbledore a lot of headaches. If you are still brave enough to provoke one who could deal with two of the most powerful wizards on this planet, then I cannot do anything for you."
And with that, Snape flicked his robe, turning around to leave the common room, letting his words sunk into his students' head.
"So, what do you think about this new potion professor?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I don't know about you, but anything other than Snape is a good thing for me." A ginger-haired boy said.
"I have to agree with Ron on this one, Hermione." The glasses boy with messy hair also nodded.
"Hmm…" Hermione hummed, ignoring the chaotic scene behind them.
Unlike the other three houses, since McGonagall was also the deputy headmistress of the school, it wasn't pretty often for her to supervise the lion den. So, a party out of nowhere was a common commotion happened here.
On one corner, there could be seen the Weasley twin shared the butterbeer that they got mysteriously with the older students, laughing merrily as they celebrated not having to meet Snape anymore. On the other corner, some was debating about quidditch, yet still enjoying the atmosphere as they also received the drink from the twin. And even though it was time for the first and the second-year students to sleep, only the first-year who had already reached their bed first. Even Neville Longbottom who was always shy could be seen having a good time chatting with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.
As for Hermione, after seeing her two best friends were alright and inquired about why they were late, she berated their reckless behaviour mercilessly. But after hearing they lost 200 points and also had to go to the detention for a full month, she finally took pity on them and decided to tell the good news.
"So, why do you think Professor Dumbledore suddenly hired a new potion professor? I heard from the older students that even though professor Snape received a lot of complain, the headmaster always defended him."
"I don't know, Hermione. And to tell you the truth, I don't want to think about it now." The ginger-haired boy said grumpily, his hand still holding a broken wand that only a 5 cm tape holding it back from being broken. Hermione who noticed his gaze on the wand winced, realizing how insensitive she was.
"I am sorry."
The ginger-haired boy sighed before stood up from his spot. "I will go to the bed first. See you tomorrow."
Seeing the dejected Ronald Weasley walking away from the common room, Hermione and Harry Potter felt guilty for completely different reason. Hermione for her insensitiveness, and Harry Potter for the self-blame, thinking that his friend got into a trouble because of his fault. Not even the crazy chaotic party atmosphere around them could lift up their mood.
Even though not being able to go to Snape's class again was a good thing, it seemed they had to wait until tomorrow, until the bad mood went away for them to discuss about it again.