A Queen Will Rise

Chapter forty four- Informing the first years

Calliope was perched in the spot she had claimed the previous year, only now instead of sitting alone, she was surrounded by members of her court. There were many free spots available in the area they were sitting but no one dared to sit there. It was an unwritten rule that those spots were reserved for the Slytherin court only. Every other seat had been moved away from these ones so that a clear divide could be seen by all. Only a select few people could cross the line and the court made sure that everyone knew this. 

Callie had finally gotten comfortable as the first years had entered the common room. She was just glad they entered when they did. The train ride was long and the feast was unnecessarily loud, if it had been any longer then she was sure she would have had a killer headache. At this point all she wanted was to be curled up in bed with a book.

After the fifth year prefects had given a speech that was remarkably similar to the one from her first year, they walked the new first years over to where the court was sat instead of just sending them to bed as they were probably expecting. All of the firsties seemed genuinely confused and everything was silent until Calliope directed a nod towards theo.

"Good evening, Welcome to Slytherin house. I know you are all probably tired but this needs to be done" Theo kept a small smile on his face so he wouldnt appear too menacing to the young ones in front of him "My name is Theodore Nott and i am a member of the Slytherin Court, im seeing a lot of confusion, so i can only assume that you have no idea what im talking about. Well listen very carefully because i will not be repeating myself. The court is essentially created by someone who claims power over the whole house, this isnt always achieved as a hierarchy usually changes a lot but a fully fledged court is created when the person in power isnt contested. Only they can choose who will be a part of the court and when a full court is established the rules of said court must be followed. Our court was established last year and we have a Queen, as you can see by the way i didnt step up until i received the go ahead from her.

our first rule is; Do not spread the pureblood propaganda. you are free to believe in whatever you want, just don't try to spread it around to others. if you want to talk about it then do so in the safety of the common room, just don't let any of the court members hear you. you wont like the consequences if we hear you using the word mudblood.

our second rule; dont get caught bullying people. if you want to feel all big and powerful because youve attacked a lone hufflepuff or something like that then at least glamour your identifiable features. wed rather you not bully at all as we have plans that wont be helped by this kind of behaviour but we understand the want to feel powerful. we're trying to get slytherins seen in a better light rather than people just referring to us as the evil house.

our last rule, which in my opinion is the easiest to follow; choose one person from your year group and make sure its only one. that person and that person alone will be allowed to pass on any issues you have to the court. unless we start a conversation with you, we'd much rather be left to go about our business.

any questions?"

the court noticed that one particular child kept glaring at Calliope so none of them were surprised when that child opened his mouth.

"why in merlins name should we listen to you? most of you are just second years and the girl is nothing more than a half-blood anyway" everyone in the common room had expressions that showed various stages of fear at the attitude of this first year.

the child went dead silent when they felt the tip of a wand pressed against their neck. Calliopes face held a smirk when the rest of the common room had shock because no one had even noticed that blaise wasnt with the court anymore. Blaise was very good at going unseen and instead of trying to stamp out these abilities, Callie nurtured them, she told him to keep working on them as they could be very useful in the future. Here Blaise was showing how much hed developed over the last few months alone.

"How dare you! Talking about her in that way was a big mistake" no one had seen this side of Blaise except for the members of the court who were always encouraging each other to be better versions of themselves. "adolebit" the common room was so quiet, so even though blaise practically whispered his spell, everyone was able to hear what he said.

The members of the courts faces practically lit up with sadistic expressions whilst the rest of the common room looked confused because it looked like nothing had happened but the court knew. They were just waiting for the effects to kick in so everyone else could see what they knew. Calliope looked immensely proud as she could see the curse start to affect when the boy had to loosen his tie and sweat started to appear on his forehead.

"Why is it so hot in here?" 

After that statement the boy suddenly dropped to the floor and started to writhe in pain, clearly Blaise had performed the spell very well and Callie couldn't help but be proud of the young italian. Members of the court began to laugh which struck fear into the rest of the house which was only heightened when the little boy began to scream. Callie had found this particular curse over the summer on one of her many trips to the Malfoy library and when she read about what it did, she shared it with the rest of her court. After all, what kind of leader would she be if she didnt share important information. The curse slowly raised the temperature directed towards whoever it was cast on until it felt like the person was burning alive, the longer it was active, the more it would hurt.

The boy was clearly in a lot of pain when a "stop" was heard from someone in the crowd. The person stepped forward and slowly made their way to where the court was sat and he got down on his knees in front of them. "Please stop, he's my little brother. I'll explain everything to him. He wont speak out of line again, i promise"

Everyone noticed that it wasnt Blaise he was begging though, no, it was Callie. She let Blaise continue for a few more seconds as the desperation began to build in the 6th years eyes. She only knew it was  6th year because Emerys had made a passing comment about this guy being extremely talented when it came to runes. She gave Blaise a signal and he cancelled the curse, the first year stopped screaming but he was still lying there twitching as if he'd been under the cruciatus curse.

"He is your responsibility, every time he steps out of line, you will receive the punishment. Are we clear?"

The boy nodded and when Calliope made a gesture of acceptance the 6th year moved to help his brother. She noticed how no one else helped, maybe they didnt want to get a similar treatment. Although torture wouldnt be used if it wasnt necessary and Calliope wasnt even the one to begin the punishment. Her little snakes sure were protective. She found that she liked how they defended her honour without her having to lift a finger. It made her feel slightly warm inside.

"You are all dismissed" as soon as Theo had finished his statement, the common room emptied so fast, it was as if everyone had apparated to their dorm rooms. The only thing heard besides the shuffling of feet was Calliopes dark laughter following them as they left.