Phineas

"There's Phineas Nigellus ... my great-great grandfather, see? ... least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had..." - Sirius Black (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix UK edition page 105)

Chapter One

Reputation and Reality

"Detention!" roared out the dark haired man, his black eyes blazing at the unfortunate first year. Phineas Nigellus, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was in another mood. Some said that it was permanent, but then again he must have been happy at one time, because he had a child, Sirius.

Sirius was a pleasant enough boy, in Slytherin house as all of the Nigellus family had been. His younger sister Andromeda was a first year as well. Unsurprisingly they never got detentions or lost house points, which was why Slytherin were close to the top of the house table.

Meanwhile, the Gryffindor first year cowered before the furious man. Hannah Potter looked down. All she had done was drop her bag after a third year had knocked her. It was not her fault that the third year was Sirius.

"And ten points from Gryffindor!" said the imposing man, baring his teeth.

"Er, sir," said Sirius. He and Andromeda were the only people who got away with interrupting the man, but even so they could not call him 'father', only 'sir'.

"What?" barked Professor Nigellus crossly.

"It was, it was an accident sir. She didn't mean to drop her bag, I knocked into her," said Sirius. The crowd in the corridor did not move and a hush had fallen over it.

"Very well then, Gryffindor can keep the points, but you've still got a detention," then as Hannah turned away he added, "and five points from Slytherin."

Sirius gasped, and then he turned back into the crowd. His father had gone mad!

In the Slytherin common room that night, talk was rife. The few points lost by Sirius had allowed third place Gryffindor up into second! Even though the headmaster was of their house even they now agreed with the rest of the school: Professor Nigellus was Hogwarts' worst Headmaster ever!

***

Later that night, the door to the Slytherin common room swung open, but no one was there. However the Slytherin students were used to this, as a few students from the rich families - Malfoys especially - owned invisibility cloaks. Sirius and Andromeda looked at each other, and then both made their way towards the dorms. Slytherins were far more lax than other houses, and the boys and girls shared one corridor. This was because Salazar Slytherin had the ambition of making boys and girls equal. Unlike Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, he trusted males and females equally.

The siblings went into the third year boys' dorms, and soon the cloaked people also entered them. Tom and Hannah Potter took off the cloak, and sat down. Hannah, Tom and the Nigellus children had the only Gryffindor and Slytherin friendship at Hogwarts. No one knew about it of course, and especially not the headmaster.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," said Hannah to Sirius. She rubbed her wrists, which were very red after her detention. The caretaker Professor Rodgers had the job of supervising the detentions, which always involved hanging from the ceiling by wrists, or worse, thumbnails.

Sirius went to his drawer and brought out a bottle of a sweet smelling potion.

"Hold out your wrists," he said in a friendly manner. Hannah did so, and he allowed three drops to fall onto each hand. His cool fingers massaged the clear green liquid into them, and the redness started to fade.

Sirius had given Tom and Hannah the most recent Slytherin passwords as usual. Unlike with the other houses, there was a password for going in and a password for going out. It was very complicated, and according to a seventh year it had only started when the old Transfiguration Professor, Nigellus, had become headmaster in their fourth year.

***

As the time grew nearer to midnight, the strict headmaster called the staff meeting to a close. He had made it clear that from now on no special treatment was to be made of his children; they were to be treated just like everyone else. Leaving the staff room he went up to his office, smiling grimly. The world was a tough place and these children had to know that.

For some reason, the password to his office was "Riddikulus". Firstly it was to protect him from any boggarts behind the door, not that he was afraid of anything, and secondly the children would never suspect him of having such a non-evil password.

Actually, Professor Nigellus was afraid of one thing, although he'd never admit it, and that was happiness. Delight was a weakness, which made one vulnerable towards Dementors. That was why he was so unkind to the students. His wife he had married out of necessity, an arranged marriage concocted between his father and his father-in-law. His children were only around because he needed heirs.

Phineas had not gone to Hogwarts as a child, although his first language was English. His family was originally from the continent, and he had a good bit of Bulgarian in the range of languages he knew. He had been schooled at Durmstrang, where they had taught the Dark Arts. He wished that he could teach that subject at his present school, but the Ministry wouldn't have it.

Suddenly an idea came into the man's head, something to protect the pupils from the happiness that filled them. They were getting too used to the current detention scheme, and enjoyment was growing in them again. What was needed was something to prevent the pupils from daring to disobey the rules while keeping them from being too cheerful, something painful, blood quills.