Every year there was a new wave of students for the Head of Slytherin to deal with. Easier on his own house, yes, but his expectations were not lower – he expected them to succeed at what they wanted to do. However, in his fifth-year class there was a particular student who had always had a lot of… trouble, one might say, when it came to their studies. The thing was, he could understand if his students were just idiots – Crabbe and Goyle of the sixth year (technically fifth as they failed last year) were not very bright. However, this student he knew was smart – brilliant in fact. Yet he continually did terrible in his classes.

He could understand the boy’s reasoning behind what he did – Severus was a lot like that in school himself. However, unlike Mr. Sorcier, he still did well with his other studies and simply did his other things on the side. Hell, his side projects complemented his schoolwork. This kid would simply not do what was needed and work on his own self-improvement and interests on the side. He was missing the whole point of going to school. This year needed to be different – if he wanted to have any chance at a future, or any employment.

Severus was sitting in his office, waiting for the young man, when he strolled in. He stayed seated and gestured to the chair. “Sit.” Severus gave him an even gaze, rolled his neck and let out a big breath. “As you are well aware, this year you have your O.W.Ls coming up at the end of this year. As your head of house, I have allowed you to do what you wished up until this point, but this is one of the most important years, Mr. Sorcier. I can understand your view on this – but the point of this school is to teach you how to use magic. You can work on your own side studies on your own, but if you want to have any sort of future, you have to do well on these tests.”