Z shifted her bag, still thinking things through. She finally decided to start with honesty. Gabe seemed to appreciate that.
"I'm trying to come up with the most diplomatic way to approach the topic and so far I've got nothing. Basically, it sucks that Concerned Wizards of Britain exists and that they're singling you out. And I think you're handling it well right now-letting the class ask three questions was a good move. By now the entire house knows you're under attack and I'm guessing that a lot of them aren't sure how to react. How you handle the next couple of days and how you handle things long term will-"
Z closed her eyes and thought for a moment. She had to phrase this carefully.
"The issue isn't, okay, it is about you. But it's also about Slytherin history and blood purity. It's about where the house might go. You're just...the figurehead, or maybe the catalyst. So it sucks for you and I'm sympathetic, but I'm more worried about the house. We need a leader.."
Z tailed off a little helplessly. She didn't want to say Slytherin was going to need assurance that things would be okay and a good role model or three for how to deal with this. She also wasn't sure how to say that as soon as people started reading between the lines, Slytherin was going to need someone who could navigate the mess of politics and loyalties and skeletons that'd be coming out of the closet-and be able to help Slytherin keep a unified neutral public face. Gabe was going to have to be a much bigger man if he wanted to keep the house resembling whole-never mind if he wanted to keep the job.