Seeker of my Heart

16. Head Boy

Yoongi clenched his teeth together as he watched them walk away, his heart still pounding from the combined excitement and fear of his first real challenge outside of school. The Acromantula wasn't as big as a female was supposed to be but that didn't make it any less significant that he was still standing after facing off against one.

Professor Finnegan came to stand next to Yoongi, his hands on his hips as his eyes followed the trail the giant spider had disappeared down. "You handle yourself well, Min." He said in a grudging manner, almost as if giving the young Slytherin a compliment would shorten his life by five years.

Yoongi snorted meanly and ignored the Professor's compliment. "Will the Ministry deal with them now that they've actually been spotted and aren't just a rumor?" He wondered instead.

The Professor grunted and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess they don't have much of a choice. If need be I will write Hermione and get her to make them look into it."

Yoongi rolled his eyes as the older man tried to sound as casual as possible as he named dropped the Minister of Magic. It didn't impress Yoongi simply because he'd grown up around important people all of his life. He didn't find them any more or less extraordinary than normal people.

The high ranking people his parents associated with usually thought everything was someone else's problem so nothing ever got handled. At least this muggle born Minister took a more active role in ensuring that laws were followed and everyone was treated equally.

"Don't make us come out here again." He said instead, trying and failing to forget the look of utter terror on Cassandra's face. He didn't care if the rest of the class got eaten in their sleep by the giant spiders, but he didn't want to hear or see that from her again.

"Are you forfeiting your place on the mandatory seventh year field project?" Professor Finnegan asked as his brow rose and he looked Yoongi over from head to toe.

"That isn't what I said." He replied back with a cool tone. He knew he needed that week project to graduate and pursue his career as an Auror but he didn't think it had anything to do with what they were discussing right then.

Professor Finnegan held up his hands in surrender to stave off Yoongi's calculating look. "As far as I know, we will be camping in the Forbidden Forest for the week, tracking and hunting a group of mountain trolls that are believed to be in this area."

Yoongi opened his mouth to protest but quickly shut it. First he didn't want to give the Professor the satisfaction and second, he knew most of them were capable of dealing with a stupid mountain troll if worst came to worst. Still...

"Make certain the Acromantulas are gone by then." He demanded. Yoongi couldn't imagine having to deal with Cassandra if she was forced to sleep in the same place as those monsters. She barely made it through a fifteen minute encounter with one.

The older man said nothing but rolled his eyes before he turned and headed back toward the castle. "Time to return to our regular lives my little students."

Everyone groaned as they headed back to the castle, the mood raised as excitement and mirth ran through the small group. Yoongi tried to tone out the things they were saying about Shaw, about her fear, about how useless she was around the monster.

Yoongi shook off the need to defend her because he didn't think he cared. But the longer it went on, the harder he had to clench his teeth to keep his mouth shut. Despite her fear, after he called to her, she was remarkably capable and quick. He didn't need to worry about protecting himself because he knew she was, making it easier for him to focus on his offensive magic.

He shook a disgusted grunt out of his mouth as his gaze snapped to the Professor. Was this what he meant by sticking the groups together? He didn't want to admit that the other man might have been right. So he didn't.