"One point from Ravenclaw House for backtalk, Miss Canta."

She goes white. "You," she says, voice shaking - deep breath - "You don't get to bully her - "

(There's muttering, around the classroom.)

"I am the Professor," he says, voice even. "And you will find in this room that my word is law. Three points from Ravenclaw House, Miss Canta, for further backtalk."

She stands, suddenly, her chair clattering back -

"Nice words from a bloody DEATH EATER - "

His expression freezes.

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw House, Miss Canta. You are dismissed from this classroom."

It's really unclear how much she's crying because she's frustrated or angry or what -

"I don't want to be in your stupid class anyways!"

She snatches her bag, turning to run out the door.

Ellie is breathing very carefully. Her hands are still hidden below the desk.

And one of the Ravenclaw boys stands up - a muggleborn like Anathema, the one who keeps arguing with Ravenclaw's statue about freedom of information instead of ever answering any questions, Oliver Rivers - and says, "You have no right to treat students like that. That's wrong and should be illegal." And, at the 'five points from Ravenclaw House,' he turns, grabbing his bag and leaving behind Anathema.

And one of the Hufflepuff girls stands up, too - Sophie Roper, probably, though she hasn't talked to Ellie or Anathema ever - "I'm not taking a class with you." She glances around. "None of us should. I dunno if he's actually a Death Eater but he's a jerk - "

Her table mate stands too - the rest of Hufflepuff class follows nearly in sync, and Ravenclaw a few beats behind them, and Snape apparently can't take points off from their Houses fast enough -

Ellie stands and exits with the crowd.

Anathema's in the hallway still, crying. Oliver and Sophie are standing nearest her, Oliver sort of awkwardly patting her back.

The door closes behind the last of them.

No one seems to know what exactly to do or say, right now, but they're all lingering.

Ellie walks over to Anathema and takes her hand.

"We're going to go see Professor Reynolds," she announces.

There's nods, some of them more certain than others.

From Sophie Roper: "We should all go together. So it's a bigger complaint. And we shouldn't ever go back to that class even if they try to take away points - my da's a union man, you gotta stick together for strikes to work."

From one of the Hufflepuff boys, more hesitantly: "I mean, he was out of line, but we don't really know he's a Death Eater..."

From another Hufflepuff girl, voice like steel, "He is. No one's supposed to know, 'cause all the Death Eater trials were closed, and a bunch of them were exonerated and those ones' names didn't get published anywhere. But my aunt's head of Law Enforcement, and she warned me he'd - had some really strong evidence against him. But that the Ministry cleared him so no one could legally do anything."

There's uneasy glances. From Mandy - a Ravenclaw - "Our Houses are, like, half muggleborn, aren't they? Lavender - she's in Gryffindor - said he was basically decent to them except for yelling at Longbottom, but their section only had three muggleborns... And - I dunno much about that yet, but didn't Death Eaters kill muggleborns?"

From Lisa, more quietly: "There's only one muggleborn in Slytherin this year - Morag. She said he hasn't been mean to her face, but all but two of her housemates are picking on her, and he won't do anything..."

"We," says Sophie, voice intense, "Are getting him fired."

Anathema leans against Ellie, trying to scrub at her face a bit.

Off to the Defense Professor. She doesn't much care if the others follow along.

Ellie's steps and grip on Anathema's hand are both very firm.

Professor Reynolds is in her Defense lecture room - door closed, a sign noting class is in session affixed to it.

She knocks.

The door opens. Professor Reynolds appears to be teaching a class of Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth years. She pauses, though, looking over with her brow furrowed at the gathered first years.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry for interrupting, Professor. I was wondering if you could help me with the proper procedure for filing a complaint about one of the staff members at the school."

Ellie looks a lot like she did the first time Professor Reynolds met her, on the floor of the hut.

Her expression goes severe. "Of course."

She turns to her class. "I'm sorry about the disruption, class, but Miss Amy will be taking over your instruction today," she says. "Scarlet, can you get her - ?" The kneazle mrrs, voice low and intense, and hops down from the desk, heading through a side door.

And Professor Reynolds comes out into the hallway, shutting the door behind her as her students start muttering. Deep breath, and - "Alright. Do you guys want somewhere to sit down, so we can talk about what happened?"

Nod.

There's a lounge nearby, pretty close to her suite, big enough for all twenty two students - Scarlet seems to have been using it as a cat toy room.

She makes sure everyone's comfortable, then sits.

"Alright. I need to know who you're filing the complaint against, first, and why."

"Professor Snape." She lays out events in chronological order, neglecting the color commentary.

She seems - stunned, actually, by the accusation from two separate students that Snape is a Death Eater.

"That - isn't something we were ever informed of," she says, voice thin and distant.

Anathema opens her mouth, closes it - "One of the Slytherins told me," she says, awkwardly, hesitantly. "Lots of them've got Death Eater parents, so."