Harry, Ron, and Hermione were setting in the Defense classroom anticipating their first class with Snape as the defense teacher. Harry and Ron were not happy. "This is going to be horrid. It'll be almost as bad as with Umbridge."

"Ron, don't be overdramatic. Professor Snape can be rather unfair at times, but he's hardly as bad as Umbridge. At least we'll learn from Snape and he won't use a blood quill on anyone," Hermione said.

"No, he'll just take loads of points and give undeserved detentions, mostly to me," Harry grumbled. He'd always been Snape's favorite target. A class couldn't go by without the man verbally attacking him when he didn't deserve it.

Snape stormed in at that moment. "Everyone sit down and remain quiet."

Everyone who was still standing immediately took their seats and those who were talking stopped.

Severus went to his desk and sat down behind it. "Before we get started, I have been designated to have a talk with you all. Why the headmaster has chosen me is beyond me, but he has. The events of last term with Professor Umbridge have come to light and the headmaster wishes to make sure that such events and events like them aren't repeated." That was a lie of course. The headmaster had asked him to do no such thing, but he wouldn't have them thinking it was his choice to have this talk with the students.

Severus took a minute to contemplate how to do this. He needed to warn them about the danger Slughorn brought, but he couldn't actually mention him. He needed to keep it generic. "The way Professor Umbridge behaved was an abuse of her power and it shouldn't be allowed to happen again."

Ron leaned into Harry's ear and started whispering. "He's going to talk about abusive of power?"

Severus narrowed his eyes towards the three gryffindors that irked him the most. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley. I believe I said to remain quiet. Now pay attention. This isn't something to be ignored. Now I was discussing abuse of power with teachers. As much as we would all like to believe that teachers will always follow the rules and never step outside the line, that is a romantic notion. There is evil everywhere, even in those you are supposed to be able to trust. Actually, that is where most of the danger comes from. It comes from those you trusted, those you thought had your back."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. This was hitting close to home. It hadn't happened to him and it wasn't a teacher, but this reminded him of how Pettigrew had betrayed his parents. They'd trusted him so much and he'd betrayed them.

"In many cases, you won't even notice that a teacher is crossing the line. He or she will start out small and gradually escalate. You may not realize what they are doing until it is too late. I caution you now to try to prevent that. Pay attention to your professors' behaviors. Should he or she begin to behave unbecoming of a teacher, make sure to protect yourselves in any way you can. Find an excuse to get away if you can. If you can't, scream or even hex," Severus said. He knew this conversation wouldn't be enough. If the worst happened, the students wouldn't be able to get away from Slughorn. He had way too many years and experience on them. But perhaps some of them would heed his words and avoid him if they recognized him becoming too close. Also, Maybe Slughorn would hear about this discussion through the grapevine and it would at least stall him in harming a student, giving Severus time to find a better solution.

"Blimey, is he giving us permission to hex the teachers?" Seamus asked in disbelief from behind Ron.

"That is not to mean that you idiots can just assault teachers left in right. This is only to be done if absolutely necessary. Should you attack a teacher and aren't able to give an adequate reason, I will see you expelled," Severus said firmly.

"What constitutes abuse of power? Because I can already think of someone who's guilty," Ron said quietly to himself.

He apparently wasn't quiet enough though because Severus heard him and glared. "That's another twenty points from Gryffindor, Weasley. Do you take this to be a joke? Will you think it's a joke should a teacher cross a line with you or someone you care for?"

Hermione suddenly raised her hand.

Severus grumbled at the thought of whatever the Gryffindor know-it-all had to say. "What, Miss Granger."

"It's just that this conversation seems to mirror a conversation my primary school teacher had with us about sexual assault. Is that what this is about?" Hermione asked.

Severus sucked in a breath. "That would certainly be abuse now wouldn't it. Just remember to exercise caution and remember what was discussed here. Now that this unfortunate task is complete, we will start to discuss what you are actually here to learn. Defense Against the Dark Arts."

___________

"That was really weird," Ron said as the three of them left Defense and started walked down the hall.

"Well, not so much. I've never heard it mentioned specifically about teachers, but as I said before, my class was spoken to similarly about adults abusing their power. It was mainly about sexual assault. My teacher wanted to make sure we'd know what to do in that kind of situation," Hermione explained.

"They really talk to you about stuff like that in muggle school?" Ron asked.

"Yes. It's really important. My parents spoke with me about it to. They told me what I should do if someone tried to make me do something I wasn't comfortable with. You know things like stranger danger and good touch and bad touch? You were taught that too, right, Harry?" she asked.

"In school a bit, but not at the Dursleys," Harry asked. He almost snorted just thinking about his relatives every worrying about a stranger picking him up and possibly hurting him. They would've been gleeful if something like that happened. They would've jumped for joy if he somehow got abducted as a child. "It was strange hearing Snape say it though."

"I know! Who is he to talk about abuse of power? He's the only one here to do anything like that," Ron said.

"He wasn't talking about that kind of thing, Ron," Hermione said as she stopped walking, causing the other two to stop as well. "It wasn't about being unfairly punished. This is something far more serious. He was talking about someone physically harming you, like Umbridge did last year. And he's right, it is something that we and every other student in every other school need to be careful of. Awful things happen when the wrong people are hired to teach. We've seen that ourselves."

"Whatever. I don't think anyone will be assaulting us anytime soon. There's no one here this year like that, except maybe Snape if he turns out to be on You Know Who's side Look, let's just get to class," Ron said before he began walking again. The others followed.