Daddy Dearest - (No Update, Edit)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 4 ~ Mathias' First Morning

Severus was in the shower, getting ready for his first day of teaching. He had just soaped his back and turned to rinse it off when he found himself face to face with the Bloody Baron.

"Arrrgh!" the startled Potions Master exclaimed, dropping both soap and washcloth at the sight of the horrible ghost bobbing in front of him. He clutched his heart for a moment, catching his breath. Severus wasn't easily frightened but the apparition surprised him.

"Baron, what the hell are you doing in my shower?" he gasped at the ghost. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The grim, bloodstained ghost bobbed for a moment longer, then spoke in a low hollow voice, his sightless eyes fixed on the Potions Master.

"I have a complaint, Professor," the ghost said, his face contorting and making him look even more horrible.

"A complaint?" Severus repeated. In all his years at Hogwarts the ghost had never come to him with any complaints. What did a ghost have to complain about?

"Yes, a complaint. Last night I visited the first year Slytherins as I do at the start of every term. The proper bedwetting and screaming occurred, and I was making quite an impact until I entered the last room. I floated over the beds of the first three first years, moaning and making faces as I am wont to do, and they all screamed and hid under their bedding. But when I came to the last student, he looked at me, then pulled out his wand and hit me with a spell!" the ghost said angrily.

"What kind of spell?" Severus asked, wondering what first year would have the presence of mind to defend himself against a ghost, rather than hide from it.

"I don't know," the ghost replied, "But it froze me and I dropped to the bed unable to move. Then the little curmudgeon rolled me off the bed to the floor and left me there, while he covered up and went to sleep. It took several hours for the spell to dissipate," the ghost complained. "I demand something be done about this mistreatment of my person, Professor."

Severus stared at the ghost. Not only had the first year cast a spell on the Baron, but tossed him to the floor and went to sleep. Whoever he was, he had balls, that was for certain.

"All right. I will see what I can do. What room and what bed?" the Professor asked the ghost. The Baron told him.

"Fine. Later today I will find out who occupies that bed," the wizard said to the ghost, "but I must remind you Baron, that you are a former Slytherin yourself, and you know the Slytherin philosophy concerning action and reaction. You terrorize the first years at the beginning of every term. For the first time one defends himself. You were the cause and that was the effect. We all have to pay for our actions if they in some way affect others negatively. You received a just reward, Baron. Do you really believe the wizard should be punished for defending himself against you?"

The ghost stared at him mutely, then without a word drifted through the wall and disappeared.

Severus picked up his washcloth and what was left of the soap. It had melted under the spray as he talked to the ghost. The Potions Master rinsed out the washcloth, put the soap in the tray, cut off the water and exited the shower. As he dried himself, he smirked.

It seemed he had a lion among the latest Slytherin sheep. He had to find out who it was.

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The moment Mathias woke up, his roommates descended on him.

"What did you do to the Bloody Baron?" one rather apelike Slytherin, Boyle Goyle asked him, impressed. "I saw you drop him and roll him on the floor! I'm Boyle."

The first year stuck out his hand to Mathias, who looked at it rather coldly before sitting up in his bed, eyeing the students. He didn't shake the wizard's hand.

"I'm Mathias," he said shortly.

"Wow. I'm Charles Bulstrode. Where'd you learn a spell like that?" a heavy-jawed, black-haired wizard with a uni-brow asked him, also offering his hand.

Mathias didn't take it.

"My mother taught it to me. She's a Spells Mistress," he replied, scowling a bit at all the attention and the questions.

"Cool," said the last roommate, Gerald Parkinson, who had a hard, pug-like look to his face. "Know any other spells?"

"A few," Mathias said, sliding out of the bed. He was only dressed in his boxers, whereas the other boys had on pajamas.

"That's how you sleep?" Boyle asked, looking at Mathias boxers. He and the other boys still wore cotton briefs.

Mathias looked at him.

"Actually, I like to sleep naked," he responded, pushing past the boys and heading for the bathroom.

"Naked?" Boyle said, looking at the other boys. "He might be a fruit."

Gerald looked after the thin, pale wizard.

"No, I don't think he is, but he's weird. Not too friendly," Gerald said.

"Well, I'm glad he's in here," said Charles, "At least we're ghost-proof with him around. He dropped that ghost like a rock cake."

Boyle glowered towards the bathroom.

"I don't like fruits," he growled. "I'm going to settle this right now."

Charles and Gerald looked at the burly first year. He was much heavier than Mathias.

"You saw what he did to that ghost, Boyle. I'd leave him alone," Gerald said a bit nervously.

Boyle looked at Mathias bed. His wand was sticking out from under the pillow.

"He doesn't have his wand with him," Boyle said, punching his fist into his palm.

Mathias exited the bathroom and walked back toward his bed, only to be blocked by Boyle. The pale wizard looked at him with narrow eyes for a moment, then tried to walk around him, but the bigger student blocked his path again.

"We don't want no naked sleeping fruits in our dorm," Boyle growled at him.

Mathias blinked at him and stepped back a little.

"Get out of my way," he said evenly.

"Why don't you try and make me, fruit?" Boyle said, smiling a little at the smaller wizard. Boyle was a bully, like his father.

"I can make you," Mathias said evenly, "But I don't want to. I'm here to learn, not fight."

"I'm here to learn, not fight," Boyle mimicked him, the other wizards laughing. They could smell blood, and thought it best to be on the winning wizard's side. Mathias looked at each of the boys. They all were assholes.

"Well, you're going to fight," Boyle said, taking a swing at Mathias' head.

The young wizard slipped the blow and retaliated, catching Boyle squarely in the nose. Blood gushed out of it. Then Mathias swept Boyle's legs out from under him, sending the wizard crashing to the floor, then dropped on top of his back, twisting his arm back painfully.

"Still want to fight?" Mathias asked the wizard through clenched teeth. He'd dislocate his shoulder if he had to.

Both Ron and Harry were Aurors for the Ministry and taught Mathias holds and moves since he was very young. He took to it naturally, and on occasion could even take his uncles down if he moved quickly enough, though he couldn't beat them. Yet.

"No. I give. Sorry," Boyle cried. Mathias released him.

The other two wizards looked at him incredulously.

Boyle stood up, blood running from his nose. Mathias looked at him, picked up his wand and flicked it at him, stopping the blood flow and cleaning his face at the same time. Boyle touched his nose.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," he said to Mathias, his eyes wide.

"It shouldn't. I fixed it," the wizard replied, then looked at Boyle consideringly. "You shouldn't pick on wizards smaller than you."

Boyle blinked at Mathias as he opened his wardrobe, his back turned to the bigger wizard without concern. Normally, Boyle would have hit him with a sneak attack, but somehow, he felt this wouldn't be wise. It wouldn't have been either.

Mathias removed a set of robes, a pair of socks and a hairbrush. He put on the robes over his boxers and fastened them.

"Aren't you going to wear your uniform?" Gerald asked him.

Mathias looked at him.

"Obviously not, since I am fastening up my robes," Mathias replied.

"Moron," he thought as he looked at Gerald.

When he finished fastening his robes, he sat on the bed and pulled his socks on. All three wizards were still staring at him. Irritated, he leveled his black eyes on them.

"Aren't you three going to breakfast?" he asked them. All three nodded at him.

"Then I suggest you stop staring at me and go get dressed," Mathias said coldly.

All three boys left and did as he said. Mathias scowled.

Gods, was this what it was going to be like all year? Maybe he would owl his mum and beg her to get him a private room. He could tell her about the fight…no…he couldn't. What happened in Slytherin stayed in Slytherin. He sighed.

Mathias pulled on his shoes, stood up and left his dorm room, heading down into the Slytherin common room. Students of all ages milled around, the first years clustered together as the older students teased them about the Bloody Baron.

"The first level smells like a piss pot," teased one fifth-year witch as she eyed the new witches.

"You should have heard all the screams coming from the first year male dorms. They sounded like a slew of terrified little girls," said a sixth year wizard, grinning evilly at the huddled males.

Mathias made to walk past the sixth-year, who stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulder.

"So, when you saw the Bloody Baron did you scream, wet yourself or both, firstie?" he asked Mathias, who shrugged the wizard's hand off his shoulder. The rest of the students in the common room oohed at this rare little display of first year aggression.

"I did neither. I hexed him and went to sleep," the boy replied.

The sixth year's eyes went wide as the room went silent in disbelief.

"No you didn't," the sixth year accused. "You pissed yourself! Like everyone else."

Mathias looked at him calmly.

"I have no reason to lie, but I really don't care if you believe me or not," he said, starting to walk toward the exit.

"Where do you think you're going, you little wise-ass?" the sixth-year said, walking after Mathias. "You're going to tell the truth."

The Potions Master was walking down the corridor and sped up when he heard the challenge. He stopped just outside the entrance to the common room listening.

"I don't have to prove anything to you," Mathias said, sliding his hand into his robes pocket and grasping his wand.

"He did hex the ghost!" Gerald cried, running down the stairs, "I saw him. He hexed the ghost, rolled him off his bed to the floor and went to sleep!"

The sixth year and the rest of the students looked at the wizard, then back at Mathias.

"Yeah," Boyle said, entering the common room behind Gerald, along with Charles who nodded enthusiastically. "We all saw him do it."

"I don't believe it," the sixth year seethed. "What spell did you use?"

Mathias was tired of this. He pulled out his wand.

"This one," he said, muttering something and flicking his wand at the wizard, who stiffened, turned rather blue and fell over.

Mathias strolled out of the common room as the shouting started. He saw Severus standing in the corridor, said "good morning, Professor" and kept going. The first-year didn't even look guilty about what he'd done or as if he expected to get in trouble for it. The wizard had been asking for it after all.

Severus let the boy go, though he knew he should have stopped him. He would deal with it later. Right now he had to calm down the common room and restore the fallen student. So, it had been Mr. Granger who hexed the Bloody Baron, and now a fellow Slytherin. The boy hadn't been here a full day yet.

Severus couldn't help smirking a little.

Mathias was a snarky little bastard.

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A/N: Wow. Mathias is establishing himself very, very quickly. He doesn't take much guff, that's for sure. And what's this with Severus smirking? Hmm. Anyway, please review.