"Hey, Cooper, wait!"
Pomona spotted Cole in the corridor. He was trying to stop Ben Cooper.
Pomona wanted to go over and intervene, but a Daedalian Key flew past her, followed by a group of younger students screaming as they chased after it.
Her way was blocked. By the time the crowd had passed, both Cole and Ben were gone.
"What are you doing?" Severus asked.
"I just saw Cole and Ben. They were right there!" she complained. "There should be a rule against running around in the corridors."
"You're worried Cooper will be bullied?" Severus asked.
"Cole must still resent what happened last year... Maybe he wants to go after Barnaby too," Pomona said.
He actually laughed.
"What's so funny?" Pomona frowned.
"Are you an Auror?" Severus asked.
She looked at him in confusion.
"They're both seventeen already. If they break the law, the Aurors will arrest them." He wrapped his cloak around himself, looking even more like a bat.
"But this is a school," Pomona said.
"Then all we can do is assist the Aurors," he said, enunciating every word. "Instead of worrying about him, you should be worrying about yourself."
"What?" she said in surprise.
He gestured for her to look at the Gryffindor girls sitting together in the courtyard. Émilie Taylor sat at the very center, like Vega surrounded by stars at the zenith.
"They must be looking for something to use against you," he said casually.
"So what if they find something?" Pomona said unconcernedly.
He said nothing until Pomona looked at him seriously.
"The condition Dumbledore agreed to was that Rita Skeeter could not write nonsense about the students at school. It didn't include the teachers. Don't let them get hold of anything they can use against you," he said sternly.
Pomona had wanted