"Stop speaking.  Do not interrupt me again, Clover Evans-Potter.  I am sure you are quite impressed with your own ability to gather followers about yourself, and cause them to hang on to your every word, and throw their weight around in lieu of your own in petty preadolescent squabbles.  But there are people in the world who have seen all of the games you play and all of the masks you wear before, and are not much moved to be impressed by them.  Since three of the five of you seem entirely content to victimize your own House I do not imagine you will be moved by deducted points, but I will be speaking to your Heads of House and you can feel confident in your decision to schedule your future meetings around your upcoming detentions.  You will depart from Miss Parkinson and her friends now, and if you have any sense about you you will spend less time around Evans-Potter in the future as well."

He turns away from Clover, and addresses the students at large:

"The duel will be postponed until this afternoon while I attend to a matter of school discipline."  To the House Elves: "Batty, finish setting up the ward-anchor pylons, you do not need my input for the last few."

He swishes toward the castle and stalks off.

what the FUCK did he FIND HER OUT COMPLETELY SOMEHOW

"Bloody hell's his problem?"

Millicent looks Extremely Nervous to have been given detention!  She's wringing her hands a little.

"Didn't Bill talk about how Snape used to be really nasty, before McGonagall and Dumbledore set him straight?"

ABSOLUTELY CATEGORICALLY SHE IS NOT PANICKING THIS WOULD NOT MAKE CLOVER EVANS-POTTER PANIC

"She'll probably sort him out again, then," Fred says casually.  "Wish I could see her do it... I bet McGonagall yelling at old Snape is a sight."

Clover Evans-Potter would be comforting her nervous friend Millicent and not PANICKING ABOUT HOW THE HELL SNAPE DID THAT, IS HE READING HER MIND, DID HE KNOW MALEDICT AND FUCKING RECOGNIZE HER OR SOMETHING

"Millicent," she says, going for bracing, "I don't think Snape can actually set us detention on his own recognizance.  And Professor Whitlock is reasonable," is she Clover doesn't know there are other things on her mind HOW DID SNAPE DO THAT "she's not going to take Snape's side if we're honest about what's going on."

To Fred, the Slytherin Weasley: "Though it might be a good idea to find our respective Heads quickly and give them our side of the story."

Millicent nods, looking like her resolve is firming a bit.  "Yeah.  All right."

George nods seriously.  "Good thinking, Clover.  Me 'n' Ron can find McGonagall, you three handle Whitlock?"

Fred gives his twin a casual salute.

"Absolutely," she says.  She doesn't have the spare brain to figure out whether to usher Millicent to come along or set her aside to recuperate (THAT LADY COMPARED HER TO TAMSYN RIDDLE, WERE TAMSYN RIDDLE AND MALEDICT GAUNT THE SAME PERSON AFTER ALL AND SHE AND SNAPE USED TO WORK TOGETHER AND AND AND) so she decides for the time being to just follow Fred and let Millicent tag along or fade into the background as she prefers.

It's not a long walk.  Knock knock.

"Come in."

She takes the lead, more or less without consciously intending to.  "Professor Whitlock?  We need to speak with you."

She's setting aside a parchment.  "What is it?"

"Professor, a few minutes ago Pansy Parkinson came over to me and my friends to harass us.  I asked her to leave twice and she refused.  When Fred and George stuck up for my friends Wardwizard Snape intervened and blamed the whole thing on us."

"Blamed it on Clover, more like," Fred says.  "He went off on a rant about Clover being some kind of ringleader."

"He said he was going to speak to you and Professor McGonagall and give us detentions.  We wanted to make sure you heard our side of the story."

"All we were doing was sticking up for Ron and Millicent, Professor."

Whitlock sighs.  "I see.  First of all, Wardwizard Snape is not allowed to hand out detentions.  Acting as though he does is already wrongdoing on his part, and I am not going to follow through for him on threats he is not allowed to make.  Regardless of what else happened today, that's already ground for a formal complaint to the Headmaster or the board of governors, which I would be more than willing to help you with."

 - shit.  Maybe Hogwarts really does have a better caliber of teacher than Muggle schools.  "Thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome.  As for the rest - I'd like to hear your account of the - altercation - between you and Miss Parkinson, in as much detail as you'd care to provide."

Clover nods smartly.  She is pretty sure she can spin this.

"I, and Millicent Bulstrode, and Ron and Fred and George Weasley, were all talking pleasantly when we were approached by Pansy Parkinson and Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.  Parkinon said Is it Ronnie's turn with the family pet in a contemptuous tone, I asked her to leave, she said You don't know the Weasleys, do you, Clover, there's about twenty of them and they only have one familiar between them in the same tone, I asked her to leave again, she said You don't have to stand with them, you know that's not a proper Bulstrode, right.  Ron told them to get lost, Crabbe and Goyle mocked his phrasing, Fred and George defended their brother with a joke, Goyle decided to interpret it as a threat, and Fred and George explained why it would be stupid of them to pick a real fight with us.  At that point Wardwizard Snape intervened.  He immediately rounded on us, and even before he started threatening and interrogating us I found his demeanor to be unpleasant and suggestive of a deliberate attempt at intimidation.  He implicitly believed Pansy's insistence that she was just trying to start a conversation, and picked at the details of our attempts to defend our behavior in a way that seemed less like he was trying to get at the truth than that he was trying to make us look ridiculous.  He interrupted me when I tried to give an account of events and accused me of manipulating Millicent and the Weasleys into being my lackeys so I'd have backup when I decided to pick fights with other students like Pansy, which is categorically untrue."

(That's a delicate tone to hit, at the end, firm and energized by righteous indignation but still crisp and professional without seeming to actually lose control of the tenor of her voice.  She thinks she did a pretty good job though.)

"Good lord."  Whitlock rubs her forehead.  "I'll want to hear Severus and Pansy's accounts, of course, but I don't expect to be impressed by them.  I apologize for Wardwizard Snape; whether or not you decide to file a complaint I intend to speak to the Headmaster about having him suspended or - censured - if this is how he's treating my students.  I had thought - "

She pauses.

"There were complaints about his behavior towards some of the students when he was first hired," Whitlock says.  "Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore - spoke to him, regarding them.  Until now it had seemed they'd gotten through to him, that he was able to - meet a minimum standard of professionalism.  I'm sorry that we the staff were wrong about that."