Never Let Go

“Leave her alone!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs, her gray eyes losing their warmth. “I said leave her alone!” she bellowed again, thinking that that would be enough to scare Pansy off the petite blonde that was pinned to a nearby wall. “That’s it!”

Emilia stormed towards Pansy, not caring if she was exhausted from her mornings exercise, she wasn’t about to watch as Sally-Anne was beaten past recognition by Pansy. The petite blonde might not have been a good friend of hers, but she was a kind acquaintance that occasionally shot her timid smiles when no one was around, and that was enough to endear her to Emilia.

“What part of leave her alone don’t you fucking understand?” Emilia grabbed Pansy by the cloak and using all her strength, yanked her off of Sally-Anne. “Honestly! You’re like a little savage!”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that you filthy –”

“– Blood traitor,” she finished the statement. “I know what I am, Pansy. You don’t have to be reminding me it ever single fucking day. I haven’t forgotten that unlike you, I'm a decent human being, not a blood obsessed bigot.”

“Need I remind you that our dearest Draco shares the same views as me?” snapped Pansy, thinking that bringing Draco into the equation would somehow swing the argument in her favor.

“I know what my cousin believes, and he knows what I believe.” Emilia stated. “But the thing is, pug, Draco’s my family. And that makes me turn a blind eye. But you?” she stepped towards Pansy, her voice deathly low. “You’re nothing more than an annoying pug that needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Are you so daft that you actually believe that I’ll just let you strike me?” Pansy’s eyes narrowed, there was no way in hell that she was about to let that blood traitor make a fool of her in front of her friends. “You may be a Slytherin and Draco may be your cousin, but you’re trash. And if anyone here needs to be taught a lesson, it’s you, you insufferable cow, walking around like you’re better than us. Well guess what? You’re not. You’re beneath us, and I’ll show you your rightfully place, just like the Dark Lord showed your mother, hers.”

Emilia didn’t verbally retaliate against Pansy, nor did she do so by any magical means. Instead her wand slipped from her grasp, falling onto the ground with a soft thud, as she charged the smug faced youth. The smug look on Pansy’s face vanished the moment that Emilia’s fist collided against her face. It turned into one of distress. Her eyes closed instinctively, lips parted to allow pleas for help to rush forth from them, but her entourage stood frozen, watching in mute horror as Pansy was punched repeatedly in the face. Had Emilia been thinking clearly, she would’ve stopped after the first few punches, those were enough to establish herself as the alpha female, to make it known to Pansy that she wasn’t going to put up with her shit anymore, but the fact that Pansy had mentioned her mother, the fact that she’d spoken of her with such malice, left Emilia beyond cooling down.

So she punched Pansy until Millicent recovered from the initial shock and ran off to fetch Professor Snape. She sprinted towards his office, pounding on the ancient wooden door with desperation. They’re fighting, she’d screamed, Emilia’s punching Pansy! Snape shook his head in annoyance. He knew Pansy had been the instigator. He’d born witness to enough of Pansy’s taunting to know that Emilia hadn’t been the one that started it, but the fact that she’d elevated it from a verbal confrontation to a physical one, left him irritated with her beyond belief.

“Miss Renner!” he shouted, thinking that the mere sound of his voice would strike fear into her and cause her to release the bloodied youth that was cornered, but that wasn’t so. “MISS RENNER!” he shouted again, only this time taking out his wand so that he could immobilize her.

Almost instantly, Emilia’s arms snapped to her sides and her legs came together with such force, that she was sent tumbling backwards. Had it not been for Snape, she would’ve sustained a blow to the head, but thankfully for her, he caught her mid fall.

“Millicent, see that Pansy is looked after in the Hospital Wing.” Snape ordered. He wasn’t going to deal with Pansy.

Had Pansy been able to, she would’ve protested against being taken to the Hospital Wing, and begun listing her grievances against Emilia, exaggerating certain happenings to make her seem completely without fault, but as it was, her throbbing nose kept her from speaking and she gladly followed Millicent to the Hospital Wing, all the while crying salty tears that mixed with the blood.

When the pair had faded from view, Severus revived Emilia. He gave her no time to protest or inquire. Her arm was immediately taken and she was dragged to his office, where she was thrown inside as he locked the door behind them. He stared at her in contempt, utterly baffled by the fact that she’d reacted like such a savage. She was meant to be better than that! The golden lion wasn’t supposed to be a temperamental teenager. They were meant to be honorable and chivalrous, cool and collected. But no, there stood the golden lion in the middle of his office, with blood staining her knuckles.

“You foolish little girl!” he hissed, completely losing his temper. “Are you aware of the severity of your actions?”

“I don’t care!”

“You don’t care?” he cried in indignation.

“That stupid pug was running her mouth about my mom! I wasn’t just gonna stand there and let her insult my mom’s memory!”

“The fact that she insulted your mother doesn’t give you leave to break her nose!”

“She didn’t just insult her. She said that she was going to show me, my rightful place like Voldemort showed my mother, hers.” Emilia’s nostrils flared. “How was I supposed to just stand there after she said that?”

“Miss Parkinson may have demonstrated her incompetence, but that did not mean that you had to demonstrate your ability to act a savage! Her parents will undoubtedly be informed of this incident and we shall receive complaints.”

“If she has the nerve to complain about this, then I want to complain about the fact that I saw her pulling Sally-Anne’s hair and slapping her about! If she’s gonna be a little bitch about this then fuck her! Get her in trouble to!”

“I have told you not to use that foul language in my presence.”

“Foul language is the only language I can use when talking about Pansy.” Emilia shot back. “She’s nasty! I honestly think she’s the worst person in Hogwarts! And even though I'm gonna get into trouble over this, I'm glad I punched her, because no one talks about my mother. No one! And you can call me a foolish little girl all you want, but my mom gave her life for me, so I’ll gladly take whatever punishment I have to take for defending her honor.”

“Listen to me, Emilia.” His voice returned to its normal tone. “In your life you will come across individuals that will insult and provoke you in a manner similar to Miss Parkinson, but you can not react with violence. That is not how you must be.”

“But if they –”

“You must keep your wits about you. It’s imperative that you do, because when the Dark Lord becomes aware of the fact that you are indeed the Golden Lion, he will garner every bit of information regarding you. And if someone is to tell him that you get hot headed and temperamental, then you may rest assured that he will use that to his advantage. And while you’re busy defending your mother’s honor by pummeling someone with your fist, he will be casting the killing curse at you.”

“What do you mean, when he finds out?” That thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Severus features softened momentarily, but they quickly returned to their usual authoritative presence. “It is only a matter of time before the Dark Lord realizes that you truly are the Golden Lion. Your being in Slytherin is simply buying us time, as is your fighting with Harry, but there will come a time, when your true self will be revealed to him.”

“Do you know if he suspects that I really am?” she asked, quietly.

“At the present, not as much as I would have expected him,” he answered, honestly. “There are more pressing matters at hand that he is tending to. The fact that you are in Slytherin and have publically harmed Harry Potter has made you less of a threat, but as stated prior, it is only a matter of time before something happens that opens his eyes to your true person. And it is our duty to prepare you so that when that moment comes, you will be ready to fight.”

“That’s why you push me hard during lessons.”

“Perfection is required of you. It is my duty to ensure that your abilities reach such a level. That is why the lessons are designed as they are. It is so that you will master spells that will be of great use to you in the future, spells that will very well save your life, but it is not only the spells that you must learn to master, but your temper.”

“I don’t have a temper.”

“I beg to differ.” Snape declared. “Behind that smile and gaze there is a fiery soul that will not hesitate in destroying. What you must do is teach that soul when to destroy and when to stand down.”

“I'm usually good about it.”

“All it takes is one moment of weakness to ruin everything,” he stated, calmly. “Take for example this incident with Miss Parkinson, it will now fall upon myself and Dumbledore to smooth things over with her parents.”

“She had it coming!”

“Be it as it may, you have broken her nose and for that, you will have to be punished. Her parents will demand you be expelled.”

“But I can’t be expelled.” Emilia argued.

“No, you can not. At least not in this instance, but if you were to lose your temper again, then perhaps it will not be in our power to keep you at Hogwarts. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Now as for your punishment, I believe that stating that you will have detention with me for the following month will suffice.”

“But when I am I supposed to do school work?” Emilia blurted out.

“You fool, you will not have detention apart from lessons!” he scoffed. “Your lessons will serve as detention.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And since we are on the subject of your punishment, I believe it would be best if you were not to be at the Quidditch match today.”

“But it’s the first match of the season! Ron’s gonna play. He needs me there! I promised I’d be there. Please Professor, next week I won’t go to the match, but please just let me go today.”

“Miss Renner, you physically assaulted a student, if confinement was still a method of punishment, you would surely be locked up for the duration of the day, but since it is not, you are forbidden from going to the Quidditch match and would do well to stay within the Dungeon’s. Have I made myself clear?”

“But I can’t stay in the dungeons. Ron needs me! He’s been nervous all week and I promised that I’d be there.”

“It is a pity that your temper has caused you to break your promise.”

“Professor –”

“If I hear that you were at the Quidditch match, you will come to know first hand, why it is that I am as feared by the student population, as I am.”