Flame On

[Athena Zhefarovich]

As other students were scurrying to get back to their common rooms before curfew, Athena slipped into the abandoned classroom, glancing furtively around as she closed the door as quietly as she could. The sixth year student hadn’t spotted any professors and figured that no student would be silly enough to risk getting in trouble by a prefect or professor for being out late this early into the semester. The teenager’s normally silvery eyes were dark, a clear signal that she was troubled. She walked over to the windows, ignoring the piles of books and dust that permeated the room wherever students had not tread. Leaning against the windowsill and using the moon for light, Athena pulled a haphazardly folded piece of parchment from her pocket. She unfolded it and began to read a note she had spent all of breakfast reading and re-reading.</FONT></COLOR></FONT>

Athena,

I’m really sorry. I know that you’re probably never going to want to talk to me again after you read this, but here it goes. My aunt reads the Daily Prophet and when she met you over the summer, she knew that you were related to that woman who died in Azkaban. Why didn’t you tell me?

<FONT font="times new roman"> What was I supposed to say? she thought to herself, blinking back tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. It wasn’t as if she went around telling the world that her mother had been mentally unstable and she’d been rescued by her father. It was a painful secret that the girl kept close and closer still was the fact that she was relieved the woman was dead. She blinked several times before she continued to read.

And when she found out that you were a Zhefarovich, she and my uncle went through the roof. Your family scares them…and me too. I don’t think weI think we should I can’t be with you anymore. My aunt and uncle think it is best, and I think they are right. I can’t go against my family on this.

<FONT font="times new roman"><COLOR color="#108070"> The blonde couldn’t read the signature at the bottom or the hurried P.S. asking for her not to hate him. The tears began to fall quickly and Athena felt as if she was on the verge of the breakdown that she so feared. The girl slid down the wall, ignorant of the dust that was now on her back. She brought her face to her hands, feeling the rough edge of the parchment against her cheek. “I do hate you” she whispered, before bringing the parchment between both of her hands and ripping it in two and then ripping it again. Thoughts of telling her brother Levi about Matthew and the things he’d tried to get her to do filled her mind and slowly her tears stopped, though the pain was still very much there.

When she looked down, a pile of parchment scraps lay at her feet. The teenager sat up so that her knees were on the ground and her legs were under her. She picked up her wand and pointed it at the papers. “Incendio” she stated in a cold voice, watching as the parchment pieces began to burn. Her silver eyes stayed transfixed on the flames, oblivious to her surroundings.

 

[Mikolaj Lukosevicius]

Individual flames were consuming the parchment pieces that were lying on the floor. The wonderful element that was providing light and warmth was created by hatred and indignation. Emotions that could bring someone to their limits and lose control. Like that, from a flickering flame a sole, tiny spark was thrown off on a nearby pile of books. Time had dried out the thin paper of the books' pages, a fertile ground for the fiery particle to cover the piles of books in the room with a blanket of orange and red silk. The flickering eyes of hell turn against their master, surrounding the teenager. That's what you get when you mess around with the element of destruction. That's what you get when you play with fire.

---------------------------------------------------​

Mikolaj was still trying to find out what had urged him to accept the post of the professor at a such exemplar institute like Hogwarts. The previous flying professor came in touch with him and asked him if he could take over his post. Mik had no idea how on earth that Icarus Stratis had found him but when he stated that he could trust his post to him, Mik got flattered in someway and decided to set aside his demurs. Teaching and providing to new generations were really appealing to him and his disability wasn't going to get an obstacle to that.

He was looking forward for his first class. There was nervousness but it was the expected one, the kind one that anyone would have while anticipating his first time of teaching. He had already taken seriously his new job and he had accepted eagerly his first patrol around the castle. The crescent moon was showering its silver light through the glazed window. It was enough for Mik to navigate around the corridors so he didn't cast an illumination charm to assist him. Everything seemed to be in order. Silent and still. Just his own muffled footsteps against the thick carpet on the floor. While finishing his partol on the second floor, he noticed a distinct, luminous line right through the crack at the bottom of a door.

Bewildered by the phenomenon, he approached that door. He wondered if students were out of their beds and were hanging out there or someone had forgotten some candles lit. Either way, it was his duty to check it out.
As he hand reach the knob of the door, he distinguished the familiar, static sound of flames. With no further hesitation he bursted the door open. A mightly structure of flames answered back with a furious roar. The professor's pupils widened as unpleasant memories flooded his mind. When he noticed however, that a student was trapped there his hand slipped instinctively into his pocket to draw his wand.
"Aqua eructo!" he ordered a torrent of water out of his wand's tip to control its course with his free hand. The torrent of water moved around the room like a snake that splashed against the fiery towers of books to extinguish the raging fire. The torrent evaporated as soon as the flames were out leaving only smoke and small wet patches on the floor.
"Are you alright kid?" he asked as he approached the teenager to make sure she was alright.
"What happened here?" he asked again, clueless of what have caused that beastly inferno.

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena had zoned out completely, allowing her feelings of hatred to burn as brightly as the flames on the parchment before her. Her gaze had only been on the words on the page, watching them burn away. When she finally focused again, Athena realized that the room was much brighter than it should have been. She heard a sound that was similar to the one that came from the fireplace in her house. It seemed that an ember had gone towards the pile of books not too far from her and the ember had caught. The flame grew slowly and the Slytherin’s expression changed to one of abject terror. As the flame moved more quickly, the Slytherin stood with a quick, low exclamation, a word that she wouldn’t be caught dead saying in front of her father. She reached for her wand, her boots stomping the charred remains of parchment to ensure that the flames wouldn’t spread elsewhere as she fought to remember the incantation for water. She couldn’t remember and quickly abandoned her wand to grab a hardcover book to beat the flames out. She had succeeded in batting some of the flame down when she saw water pouring down the books. The teenager jumped back to avoid the splash and she dropped the book quickly, realizing that she had company. I’m screwed she thought to herself, not wanting the professor to see the damage that she’d done to the book. As if that’s what you need to worry about she thought to herself as white misty smoke rose from the now extinguished pile of books.

Coughing, Athena shrugged her shoulders at the professor’s question. She was pretty certain that she was fine physically. The flames hadn’t touched her and the fire hadn’t been on long enough to do much damage, especially since she’d been by the window. Her emotional well-being was another matter, but she knew that the professor wouldn’t be able to tell. The floor around her was wet as was the leg of her pants, so the fact that her face was wet could be from that. Still, she wiped her face with her hoodie, coughing once more before her throat was clear of soot. “I’m fine and I don’t know what happened here, but I have to head back to my common room” she stated shakily, moving quickly towards the door with her head down. Perhaps if she moved quickly enough, she could be out of the professor’s range before he realized who she was and what she had been doing.

 

[Mikolaj Lukosevicius]

The room was now full of smoking remnants, smoldering remains of what used to be old books.
Mik should be able to explain how this incident occured during his duty. He wasn't sure if that classroom was used for teaching or it had been turned with the years into a storage room. He still had to explain how a room inside Hogwarts castle was turned into a furnace especially when students were supposed to have long entered the realm of dreams.
The girl that was looking rather concerned or frustrated with something, must have been in her final year or maybe a sixth year and she looked like she knew more than she was telling. Mikolaj stepped in front of the door and blocked her attempt to leave. At first he didn't say anything, he just jerked an eyebrow waiting for an explanation but she either looked like she wasn't going to cooperate so easily or she was still too shocked.

"Fire doesn't pop out of nowhere." he began talking, determined to find out what was going on.
"You're either a pyromaniac or someone played a nasty joke on you by trapping you here, which both of them are pretty serious if you ask me and must be acknowledged by the headmistress." he slowed down his word in order to see any changes in her expression while he was talking about the possible scenarios.
"I am afraid I'll have to inform your head of house. Which would be your name?" he asked in a direct manner. He was going to give her a chance to speak. No long before he was a student as well. What he had just said wasn't necessarily going to happen. He just wanted to make her speak.

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena wasn’t too surprised that the professor stopped her from leaving. She had been half expecting it. Stuffing her hands into her pocket, she allowed him to speak, looking him straight in the eyes as he spoke but not saying anything herself. She knew that all of this looked quite suspicious, but she wasn’t going to explain what she had been doing to him. "You're either a pyromaniac or someone played a nasty joke on you by trapping you here, which both of them are pretty serious if you ask me and must be acknowledged by the headmistress." The girl’s eyebrows rose and she shook her head quickly. If she was sent to the headmistress’ office, her father would be quite displeased with her. Even her brother had never been taken before the headmistress. “It was neither of those things” she insisted quietly, not adding on any more information. Athena wasn’t even sure what a pyromaniac was, though she assumed it had something to do with fire. She just knew she wasn’t it.

Shifting slightly, Athena spoke once more. “Athena Zhefarovich” she stated, her head held proud as she stated her name. She now knew that this professor had to be new. Most of the other professors had taught one Zhefarovich or another and knew that the silver eyes were a dominant trait of most Zhefaroviches. She wasn’t sure who she was more afraid to be brought in front of. Professor Styx was notoriously hard on his Slytherins and Athena would receive even more punishment for being a prefect and for being his niece. Professor Styx was not easier on his kin, despite popular belief. He was not going to be pleased with her at all. Still, she knew he would find out. It wasn’t as if the professor before her could do anything anyway. She wasn’t in his classroom and punishments had to go through Styx. “My head of house is Professor Styx before you ask me that too” she added sullenly, her arms crossing under her chest.

 

[Mikolaj Lukosevicius]

He raised an eyebrow when the girl stated that nothing of his two suggestions had happened in the room.
"So you do know what have happened here." he smirked as he insistence betrayed her. If she really didn't know who had set the room into fire she wouldn't reject so easily his suggestions. He had planned that, he liked mind games.
Her name wasn't familiar to him and clearly she wasn't one of his students. He studied her expression and focused for a moment on her silver eyes. The reflex motion of his eyebrows revealed his surprise when she voluntarily revealed the head of her house.
"So you prefer to not tell me and guide you to Professor Zhefarovich." he concluded, trying to understand why she wasn't trying to avoid a confrontation with the head of Slytherin house.
"Fair enough. I wasn't intending to take you to the head of her house but if that's what you want." he shrugged, really meaning what he was saying. Whether she was feeling safe because the head of her house was soft towards his students or she just didn't care was unclear to him. There was one thing though she was going to make her do while se wasn't really cooperating with him.
"First however, you have to clean the mess. You can use any means you want. You may begin." he said with an amused smile across his face, wondering if she was really going to do it or just tell him the truth.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Patrolling through the second floor, Professor Styx could easily sense that there was some sort of fire going on. The odor alone was hard to miss. He looked over to the side, and he noticed that there was some smoke occurring from the abandoned classroom. He decided that it would be in his best interest to go check it out. He suspected it to be a bunch of first years, or third years even experimenting with the spell Incendio. However from afar, he could see that the new flying professor was here intervening, however the voice was actually older. He knew that voice, it was one of his prefects. Surely one of his prefects did not do something so reckless and stupid. He then heard Athena say his name, and that he was the Head of her house, and then the new Professor confused him with his younger brother, Professor Zhefarovich. 'Athena just said my name, and he was going to guide her to Professor Zhefarovich. Idiot.' He rolled his eyes and he stepped in, his arms folding over his chest as he entered the abandoned classroom.

"That would be Professor Styx, that you should be guiding her to, since you somehow misheard what she had said," stated the Slytherin Head of House, "Which won't be necessary anymore." It would save him looking like an idiot to the Potions professor as well. He looked around the classroom, and he knew that punishment was going to be required. His expression was stone cold, and his onyx eyes looked down at Athena Zhefarovich angrily. This was dangerous to do, making Professor Styx angry. This was his niece no less, and a Prefect. She knew better than to act like she could do what she wanted. He looked back at the other professor before he said, "Your services are no longer necessary, professor. I can handle it from here." He turned his head to look back at Athena and he stated in a harsher tone, "Explain, and you better not lie to me." He would be able to tell a lie fairly easily. He did have the skill of being an Legilimens after all.​

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

"I didn't say that" Athena responded evasively, her eyes shifting to the ground. Athena didn't care what the professor did or said to her. She was not going to incriminate herself or explain that she'd been burning her ex-boyfriend's breakup note. As the professor continued to speak, her head shot up. Hadn't she told him that Professor Styx was her Head? She remained silent for a moment, not wanting to correct him, especially since he intended to visit her Head now. Thoughts of losing her prefect badge or having her father notified flashed through her mind, the two most terrifying things she could think of. Her thoughts were interrupted when the professor spoke once more. "Are you serious?" she exclaimed, eyes widening. "Why don't you just take me to Styx?" she hissed, correcting the professor finally. When she realized that the professor actually expected her to clean, she reached for her wand and pulled it out, her back turning so she wasn't facing the door.

It was then that she heard her worst fear realized. Professor Styx's voice. The teen was afraid to turn back around. She did so anyway, her eyes forced to look up into those of her Head of House. The look of anger on his face was enough to bring tears back to her eyes but she blinked them back. The Slytherin was not having a good night at all. She dropped her wand against her leg as Styx addressed the other professor and then turned his attention on her. Athena's face burned and she knew that if she could see it, it would be bright red. That was what happened to her when she was getting ready to cry. She knew better than to lie to him, but she didn't want to tell him the truth either because she didn't think that Styx would take any pity on her whatsoever. At first, the tears trickled down her cheeks, silently burning against them. "I don't know what happened. One second I was burning some parchment and then...and then..." she stopped talking as she began to sob with more earnest, partly because of the breakup and partly because she knew she was in big trouble. All Professor Styx had to do was look around the room to see what had transpired. Her shoulders shook as she tried to wipe the tears away. They kept falling more and more quickly though. She could barely keep up. Athena used her shirt to wipe her face and attempted to stop crying. She was a Zhefarovich. She had to get herself together.

 

[Mikolaj Lukosevicius]

Being just a few days at school, Mikolaj had to learn yet the names of Hogwarts staff. He wasn't good at remembering names, something quite ironic when he had a strange name for foreigners as well. What really mattered to him at that moment was if the girl was alright. She didn't look like it and he was feeling a deeper need to help people when they were in a similar state. He wasn't planning to take her to the head of her house. It seemed that she didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering her but she obeyed when he requested her to at least clean the mess she had probably caused. Then the worst case scenario occured when the head of Slytherin house arrived in the room out of nowhere. He instantly realized fear kicked in. It was easy to distinguish it on the girl's face.
"If you don't mind Professor I would like to stay. I want to know what exactly happened during my shift." he insisted to stay. She was definately terrified now and he couldn't understand why. Students shouldn't be afraid of their professors. Just respect them. For some reason he didn't want to leave her alone. His heart sunk when tears rolled down her cheek and sobs interrupted her words.

"Professor, I think it is obvious that Ms. Zhefarovich is emotionally charged." he made an attempt to defend her. It could by family issues or a boyfriend incident. Adolescents' emotions were amplified and were sometimes just unable to deal with them. It seemed to him that the event was accidental and she didn't deserve a punishment. In addition, she was ready to fix the mess she had caused.
"Magic might get out of control when emotions take over. I believe she didn't mean it. It was an accident and besides, she was eager to clean the room without answering back to my request." he finished, knowing however that Professor Styx had the final world and he was going to respect that. He just wanted to make sure that Ms. Zhefarovich wasn't going to be punished like another undisciplined trouble-maker.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Seeing his niece sob only made him worry more and more about her future. Allowing emotions to control someone's actions would lead to destruction. That was all there was to it. He listened to her, but before he would speak to her, he turned to look at the flying professor. Staring down at him, Professor Styx stated, "You will get your answer, or you may already have it considering you say that she is 'emotionally charged', however sticking around to see a punishment to a student that is not yours is something I do, in fact, mind. A Prefect no less." The Slytherin Head of House withdrew his wand and in an instant, the entire room was cleaned up. There would be no excuse to stick around, since he had something far worse in mind for Athena Zhefarovich. Professor Styx gestured toward the room, "Stick around this room, if you like. However, Athena will be coming with me to my office where she will receive a stern talking, and punishment fit for a sixth year Prefect. There won't be an audience." His tone was not even that harsh toward the flying professor, but it was more or less cold and stern. It was quite obvious that with those words, he had ended the conversation. He was irritated enough with Athena, and this flying professor that no one could possibly say the name of was just making Professor Styx gain a headache. He motioned for Athena to get a move on before he would follow behind her, ensuring that she did not even try to run away.​

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena continued to rapidly wipe at her eyes as she managed to get some modicum of control over herself. The new professor obviously didn't know who he was talking to as she had never seen anyone else speak to Professor Styx in that way. She certainly wouldn't have, and she knew that there were few people in her family who dared argue with him. If it happened at all, it had never happened in front of her. The young Slytherin cringed a bit when the professor began to speak about her not being in control. Getting her tattoo was supposed to be a sign that she was old enough to control her emotions. She hadn't even uttered a peep during that entire process even though she had been in agony throughout most of it. But, this breakup seemed to have caused her to regress in front of an outsider no less. Taking a deep sniff, Athena dropped her hand to her side, knowing that the professor meant well but that it would make no difference. It Professor Styx wanted to punish her, he was going to. If being his niece didn't matter, then surely the opinion of a new professor wouldn't either.

Athena looked to the ground as Professor Styx took his wand out, but she knew that if she turned around now the room would be in perfect condition, probably better than it had previously looked. She finally looked up again when her Head of House mentioned that she would be going to his office to receive 'a stern talking and punishment.' Her eyes widened once more and then she looked towards the door avoiding all eye contact with the other professor in the room. She knew better than to speak until she was next spoken to. The young professor seemed to want to help, but right now that was not what Athena needed. She thought that it might result in her punishment being worse, especially since Professor Styx was already annoyed over what was happening. Seeing his motion, Athena did not hesitate to step out of the abandoned classroom and head for the stairs that would lead to the dungeons. The Slytherin's only consolation was that it was past curfew now and all of the students should be in their common rooms by now. She felt dreadfully sorry for any student who crossed their path now. Athena kept her head to the ground, not daring to look behind her as she walked. She could feel the professor's looming presence behind her. It wasn't until they'd reached his office that Athena stopped, moving to the side so that she was not blocking the doorway.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Professor Styx proceeded forth, leaving the now clean classroom behind as he followed the Prefect to his office, where he stepped in front of her. He unlocked the door, and he opened it, allowing the two to step inside before the door would slam shut. He walked around to the desk, where he took a seat behind it. He motioned with his gloved hand for Athena to have a seat as well. After a few moments of silence, Professor Styx finally uttered in that all too familiar cold voice of his, "Now tell me the whole story. I have half of mind to take away your prefect badge for setting the room on fire, because no sixth year is stupid enough to set fire to one piece of parchment without a good reason. Tell me what that reason is, and you won't receive the maximum punishment. In fact, I wouldn't punish you much, since I figure crying in front of me is enough."​

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

This was not at all how Athena had pictured starting the school year. She could already picture returning to her dorm room, stripped of her prefect badge and boyfriend-less. One was enough to deal with, but both would be traumatizing. The tears threatened to come back, but Athena forced them back, determined not to lose control again. She moved quickly to the seat that her Head of House motioned towards and sat with her hands nervously clenched together. The silence in the room was deafening and it was a slight relief when Professor Styx began to speak. Though once he began to speak, she wished that the room was still silent. The teenager cringed at his threat to strip her badge, her stomach dropping, and as he called her stupid she bit her lip.

Athena's hands moved nervously around because she knew that lying to him would be useless. Her uncle would absolutely know if she lied. Telling him the truth would be no better, though what he was offering was more than she had expected. Leniency for the truth. She began in a bitter tone, though by the end she spoke softly. "I was burning a note from my...boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend now." She looked away from the professor and down into her lap as she continued. "I didn't realize that the note had spread to those stupid books until just before the professor came into the room. And I tried to put it out, but I couldn't because it was moving quickly." Athena stopped, realizing that she was just rambling now. But, she'd revealed the truth, a truth that she hoped would remain in this room since Athena wasn't exactly allowed to date. She hadn't even told Kamaria for fear that the news would someone get back to her brother or father. She didn't know who she feared more if they found out about this.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

The thread to strip her of her badge seemed to work. Professor Styx leaned back in his chair and he folded his arms over his chest. With one finger tapping against his robes on his arm, he waited patiently for the prefect to fess up. The tears were trying to come forth, but this prefect seemed to have good control as far as he could see. Professor Styx immediately closed his eyes when he heard the one word. 'Boyfriend'. This was all over some boy that probably managed to break her heart. He could not believe this. This was teenage drama, not something that he wanted to get into. However this would have to be dealt with. "All this, all over a boy. Teenagers," muttered the professor with a roll of his eyes. Staring ahead at her, he concluded, "Your father will be notified of everything. Otherwise, if I catch you out of line again, or you are brought here because your actions were out of line because of some boy or something equivalently stupid, then your Prefect status is revoked." Professor Styx waved his hand at the door and it opened to let her out. "By the way, respect every professor, no matter how ignorant they are behaving. You don't want to be in this office again, unless you have a question or need tutoring in my subject." Professor Styx would practically see that she did not respect the flying professor. Although if he was in the same spot, truth be told, he would not have either.​

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena's hands were clenched in her lap as she waited for the professor's reaction. When he began, rolling his eyes, she actually thought she might escape with little punishment. As he continued, her shoulders sagged in defeat and she looked down at her hands, not wanting her uncle to see how very right his punishment was. There was nothing that Professor Styx could have done, aside from take her badge, that Athena would have been upset about. Sure, it would have sucked to have detention or have her Brightstone privileges revoked, but she would have dealt with it much easier than this. Her father constantly reminded her that he didn't want her dating, that he wanted her in school and concentrating on that. Athena's eyes darkened as she slowly stood up and headed for the door. Once her father found out, she would be in so much trouble. Athena did not care what happened to Matthew. She hadn't mentioned his name to her uncle so her father wouldn't know it either. The girl had temporarily forgotten how good her father was at finding things out that he wanted to know. Only a simple nod let Professor Styx know that she understood. She knew better than to have any reaction to her punishment, though inside she was panicking quite a bit.

The Slytherin had only taken a step when her uncle spoke once more. She turned to him, listening to his instructions to respect every professor. She nodded her head slowly, though she wasn't entirely sure she would follow this warning. "I understand, Professor" she responded before she left the room. Once she was out of his office, Athena immediately headed to the common room. The last thing she needed was to be stopped for being out past curfew. The Slytherin's face was stony as she made her way past her housemates and to her dorm, which was thankfully empty. Slamming the door shut, Athena dove onto her bed and had a good cry over everything- the note, Matthew, how stupid his family was, the fire, that her dad would surely be sending her a note, how she had almost lost her prefect's badge. There were many tears for the girl that night. And when she was finally done, she fell into a restless sleep, her sooty sneakers and wet pants still on.