The next day was relatively similar to the first. Most of the subjects were the same, except for Herbology, which replaced Charms, and which the Slytherins shared with Ravenclaw. Blake was okay at Herbology, by his standards. It was probably the subject in which he and Greengrass had the largest difference in ability, but he could live with that.
The rest of the classes were alright - Blake was prepared for Transfiguration, having learnt his lesson, and was able to answer many of the questions McGonagall threw at him, and even though Snape largely ignored him for the whole of Potions, he could easily follow along the lesson, having read ahead for his plan. Blake had even prepared for History of Magic, which he believed earned himself a well needed nap, and he successfully woke up without Zabini hexing him in his sleep.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts, however, the lesson was very similar to the previous one. Whenever Quirrell tried to engage with Blake, the Professor's fear seemed to grow exponentially, and he was reduced to no words, even though Blake hadn't even done anything to him.
What's Quirrell's issue? Is it blood status? It has to be, right? I'm the only muggleborn in this classroom. But why the hell would they let a blood purist teach here? Surely that can't be it…
To try and ascertain what exactly Quirrell's deal was, or to at least try and get a clue, Blake stayed behind at the end of the lesson.
"Sorry to bother you, Professor - I was just wonderi-"
Again, Quirrell's face contorted into that same expression, but this time it was different. Maybe it was the lack of noise from the empty classroom, or maybe it was tinnitus in Blake's ears - but he could swear he was hearing something - whispers. Blake looked around rapidly - no one else is here.
But Quirrell's mouth was barely moving, certainly not enough for any type of speech. Who's talking? The boy's efforts to listen to the whispers, however, were futile - they were too quiet, almost hissing sounds, and he couldn't make out any words.
Before he could investigate any further, Quirrell quickly apologised and excused himself.
"S- Sorry, R- R- Renshaw, I have another class I- I rea- really must get t- to!" The Professor moved faster than Blake had ever seen him move, out of the room before Blake could respond.
"But… this is your only classroom…"
What the hell? Am I going mad?
—-
That late afternoon, Blake was huffing and puffing.
"Decent, Mr Renshaw. Better than yesterday. Keep practicing - once you master the second year content properly, I'll teach you the 'Stupefy' spell from yesterday, and then we'll go on to consolidate third year content."
Blake beamed. "Thanks, Professor - what year are we going up to?"
"That's an excellent question, Mr Renshaw. In truth, I haven't really decided yet. Pro-"
"I don't mind where we get up to, Professor, but whatever we do, could you teach me wandless and wordless magic?" Blake said quickly, noting his own interruption of the Professor.
Luckily, she only smiled.
"Typical ambitious Slytherin, aren't you? We shall see, Mr Renshaw. I doubt you'll be able to do any this year, perhaps not even next year, either - remember, you've not reached physical or magical maturity yet. But perhaps I can teach you some of the theory if we cover everything else."
"Thanks, Professor!" Blake said, his smile growing and genuine. For the umpteenth time, he was glad that McGonagall was the one to contact his mother, and to teach him. I don't have to fake smile to her. Besides, I'm sure she'd pick up on it anyway.
As he was packing away, Blake decided to ask his question, but veiled it behind a normal conversation.
"Professor?"
"Yes?"
"I was just wondering - in Slytherin, there's a lot of the Sacred 28 families, right? And they care a lot about blood purity, don't they?"
McGonagall stiffed slightly. "Yes, that's right."
"And that's why a lot of them probably hate me, right?"
"Well, I wouldn't-"
"It's okay, Professor. But if they hate muggleborns so much, and there's not that many, doesn't that mean- well, doesn't that mean they end up marrying each other?" he said, cynically, causing a small smile to appear on McGonagall's face.
"That's correct, Mr Renshaw - but it's not all of them, and you should know that many of the Sacred 28 don't care about blood status - take Mr Longbottom and his family, for example. Those blessed people fought alongside us in the most recent War," the Professor replied, trying to be as positive as she could.
"But to answer your question - to be quite frank, yes, some do." At the disgusted look on Blake's face, she rapidly continued. "But most of them don't - take the Malfoys, for example," Blake's expression grew even more disgusted.
"They're definitely inbred, aren't they?"
"Mr Renshaw!" the Professor admonished, trying to hide her smile. "5 Points from Slytherin! Please do not use such foul language - and no, the Malfoy's don't. While they try to marry purebloods, they don't always, specifically to avoid inbreeding."
Blake's brow furrowed. But that means…
"So they marry halfbloods?"
"Correct."
"But that doesn't make sense?"
"I'm well aware of that, Mr Renshaw," the Professor replied drily.
"No, Professor, I mean - well, I thought pureblood families also discriminated against halfbloods, don't they?"
McGonagall looked thoughtful for a second.
"Well, yes and no. On one hand, they certainly believe they're better than halfbloods, but at the same time, they don't typically outwardly discriminate against them either. Actually, if a halfblood is also bigoted against muggleborns, they're normally welcomed by those purebloods."
Blake looked at her, trying to process that. Then why doesn't Zabini, who just wants to take an easy route in Hogwarts, just say he cares about blood status to get in with Malfoy and his group?
"You look confused, Mr Renshaw. Is something the matter?"
"No, Professor, it's just that - well, in that case, wouldn't a lot of halfbloods just become bigoted to fit in with them?"
McGonagall's nostrils flared.
"Of course, Mr Renshaw - if they're cowards that would choose to discriminate and harm others just for the validation of other people!" But that's exactly what Zabini said he would do, and it's not like he's the silent hero type…
"That makes sense - thank you, Professor!"
McGonagall watched the boy leave her office, and sat back into her chair. He's a talented and clever child. Cunning, too, but not too far it seems - it appears that most of the boy's Slytherin attributes come from that ambition. Thank Merlin he was raised by an angel of a mother - I'd hate to see that boy fall into something dark because of that ambition.
Unfortunately for Professor McGonagall, however, her wishes for the boy would not be granted.
After all, fate had other plans for Blake Renshaw.
AN: If you would like to view up to 20 more bonus chapters on all my fics so far including this one, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! The target is 100 POWER STONES for the next BONUS CHAPTER!