Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry McGonagall - Chapter 4 - Protesting Against Snape
"…and so my official name actually is Harry Mark McGonagall, and until last spring I didn't know any different." He added with a smirk, "So legally, I wasn't lying when I said my last name is McGonagall."
Harry was explaining the details of how he'd been kidnapped and adopted to Hermione.
"That's truly amazing," said the girl. "It's also a brilliant way to keep you safe. Only one person in Britain knew where you were, and she's not the one anybody would guess."
"And no one would've guessed that I was in America," Harry added.
"And they still don't know you're at Hogwarts."
"So now that you know, do you think you can forget?"
"No, but I can help you stop messing up." She took a deep breath. "Most of the clues I had were from spending so much time with you, but some things, like the pain in the shape of a lightning bolt on your head, were easy to spot."
"I don't know why I have that pain, but what can I do about it?"
"For now you can pretend that it's your whole head and not just that small area, and we can start making note of every time you get the headaches to try to determine what is causing them. There's got to be more to it than just being at Hogwarts."
"I know. The first time was at the opening feast just before Snape tried to read my mind. At first I thought it was part of the attack, but the headaches don't just come when I'm around him."
"We were in Professor Quirrel's classroom the last time it happened. Have you gotten the headaches in any other classrooms?"
"No. I mean Snape tries using Legilimency on me in his class, but I don't get a headache from forcing him out of my mind. It's actually a bit amusing."
Hermione furrowed her brow in concentration. "So it happens in Professor Quirrel's classroom and in the Great Hall, where he's eating. Has it happened any place that he wasn't at?"
"No, now that you mention it. I wonder why that is. Do you think he could be up to something?"
"I'm not sure what that means, but we should keep an eye on him."
"Maybe I'm just allergic to whatever that smelly thing is that he keeps inside his turban," said Harry, chuckling.
-
The next morning at breakfast, Harry and Hermione were sitting with Padma and Penny when a Gryffindor prefect with red hair walked up to the table. Hermione was asking Penny how she liked being a prefect when she was interrupted.
"Hello Penelope," he said pleasantly, completely ignoring the younger students near the Ravenclaw prefect.
"Hi, Percy isn't it?" He nodded. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Why yes there is. There is a Hogsmeade visit this Saturday, and I ask that you would do me the honor of allowing me to be your escort?"
She blushed slightly. "All…alright. What would…"
"Splendid. I'll see you then." He turned around and walked away without another word, leaving her speechless.
"That was rude," said Padma.
"He was, er, probably nervous," said Penny, "and then relieved that he'd gotten an answer so he left in a hurry."
"If you say so, Penny," said Hermione, "but I wouldn't go out with a boy who just walks away while I'm speaking to him."
"Isn't he one of Fred and George's brothers?" asked Harry.
"Yes, he's Percy Weasley," said Penny. "By his own admission, he's the best prefect in the school. He completely disapproves of his younger brothers. He always seems a bit arrogant."
"Then why are you going out with him?" asked Padma.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, I didn't have a
date."
-
The next Potions class Harry had was the same as usual. No one but Harry and Hermione would look Snape in the eye, and every fifteen minutes or so, the Greasy Git would try to read one of their minds and get forced out, stumbling backwards. This caused him to take more points away as students chuckled at him. During this particular class, Harry noticed a small beetle flying in one of the corners.
-
The day of Penny's date arrived, and she joined Harry and his friends at breakfast a little later than usual.
"Good morning guys," she said.
"Morning Penny," said Harry. "Is that a new outfit?" She smiled and nodded. "It looks real nice."
"Thanks Harry."
"You really do look great," said Padma, "You'll knock Percy's socks off." Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Penelope, you're late," said Percy from behind them.
"What?" asked Penny, turning around to face him.
"You showed up here later than usual, so you won't be done with breakfast at your usual time. Which means that we won't have as much time in Hogsmeade. Do try and hurry up."
As he took off without another word, Hermione said, "You should tell him the date is off if he wants to act like that. He didn't even say what time he wanted to leave with you."
Penny sighed. "He, he just wants to spend time with me, and he's afraid we won't have time. I did show up fifteen minutes later than usual. He's just anxious for our date to start."
"If you say so."
-
Fifteen minutes later, Percy and Penny were walking together toward the carriages. She'd let him hold her hand when he grabbed it as soon as she got up after hurrying through her breakfast.
"You really should work on your punctuality, Penelope."
"Just call me Penny."
"For example, I've never been late to any class for my entire Hogwarts career. I've worked hard and as a result always gotten the best grades, and now my prefect status." He stuck out his chest in pride. "It's not going to stop here, you know. I intend to be Head Boy. After that, I'll get a job in the Ministry of Magic, and rise up through the ranks. I should be head of an important department before I'm thirty, in the perfect position to become the next Minister when Mr. Fudge decides to step down."
About half-way through this speech, Penny started tuning him out. They were now leaving the carriage as Percy continued bragging about what he was going to do.
"While wearing a prefect badge, we should be examples to the other students. I understand that during the troll incident, you left most of the Ravenclaw students behind when you were supposed to be leading them to Ravenclaw Tower."
"Three of the first years were missing, so I had to find them." She said, snapped back into the conversation by mention of the troll.
"But those three troublemakers got you to shirk your responsibilities to the other students."
"There were five other prefects with them."
"But there should've been six. You shouldn't have bothered with the students who refused to follow you."
"But it's our job to make sure that they're safe."
"No, it's our job to tell them what they should do to be safe. If they don't want to listen, it's not our fault. Take that ringleader Harry McGonagall for instance. You should've known he was a troublemaker the moment he wasn't sorted into his aunt's house. He's been trying to stir up trouble since classes started with that stupid C.A.R.E. club, trying to make the most respected members of our society look bad. I understand he's even had altercations with the Malfoy boy, a member of one of those respected families. He's also caused trouble with Professor Snape. You should've lost points for leaving the group to find him and his friends."
"He's an eleven-year-old boy, and he's right about house elves. Malfoy's father is one of the worst elf abusers out there; they've got pictures of him beating an elf in the middle of Diagon Alley! Harry's at the top of all his classes but Potions, and that's because of the trouble Snape is causing by trying to read everybody's mind. Harry knows more about Potions than I do. He's never been anything but nice to me and anybody besides Snape and Malfoy, and what's wrong with being a Ravenclaw?"
"Nothing, Penelope," said Percy condescendingly, "It's just that Gryffindor is where his family is, and so he must have been rebellious to end up elsewhere."
"Maybe he's just different. I can't believe you want to simply show off your prefect badge without doing anything! No matter what you claim, that's what you're doing if you wouldn't go after three missing first-years while there's a troll in the castle. I thought you were supposed to be a 'brave Gryffindor' anyway." She took a deep breath. "Look, I don't think we're going to get along very well, so let's end this date right now as a mistake, Okay?"
"Fine. If you'll take a first-year's side rather than a fellow prefect then you obviously have problems with your priorities!" He took off with a red face, leaving Penny behind. She wasn't sure if she was happy or sad that the date was over, but decided that she would never date Percy Weasley again.
-
When Penny got back a few hours later, walking hand-in-hand with Oliver Wood, she had bought some snacks from Honeydukes for all the Ravenclaw first and second years. When asked how the date went, she simply replied, "We both realized it was a mistake before we got to the first store and split up. We have absolutely nothing in common. While I was at Honeydukes, I ran across Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain, and we decided to have a butterbeer together at the Three Broomsticks."
The next morning when the Daily Prophet arrived, most of the students received a surprise. The front page was about Hogwarts.
"Hogwarts Students' Privacy Regularly Invaded:
Headmaster Dumbledore Does Nothing About It
By Rita Skeeter
The right to privacy is essential to all our lives, but it is robbed from our children when we send them to Hogwarts. It has come to this reporter's attention that Potions Master and head of Slytherin House Severus Snape, a former Death Eater under Professor Dumbledore's protection for questionable reasons, regularly practices Legilimency, a type of mind-reading which requires eye contact, on his students with the blessing of the headmaster. The reason this has come to light is that certain students have been taught Occlumency, the defense against Legilimency, and have frustrated his efforts.
However, that's not all that Snape is guilty of. Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, has recently given this reporter access to overwhelming evidence that Snape has abused his position over and over again for the past decade. She has presented this evidence to the headmaster countless times calling for action to be taken, but claims, 'my pleas have fallen on deaf ears.' For full details of Snape's abuses of his position, see page 3. One has to wonder what Headmaster Dumbledore is playing at, putting a man like that into a teaching position. He most certainly does not have the children's best interests at heart…"
Another article talked about how a troll got into the castle on Halloween. Rita Skeeter basically tore Dumbledore's reputation to shreds. Harry, along with every student who received the paper, looked up to the Head Table where both Dumbledore and Snape appeared furious. Minnie appeared rather smug until Albus said something to her. She shouted her reply.
"I will not see you privately so you can sack me without witnesses! I simply gave that reporter the same evidence I've been showing you for ten years! This is supposed to be a school, not a torture chamber for children! That's what Potions class is if you're not a Slytherin! I will not apologize for telling the truth!"
Harry started clapping for his aunt and was soon joined by almost everybody who wasn't in Slytherin. She started to blush.
"Silence!" said Dumbledore authoritatively. He then took the podium with a pleasant look and a twinkle in his eyes. "As most of you are aware because of this morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, there is a dispute between a few members of the faculty. I believe that as students, you should simply ignore it and go about your studies as you normally would, showing the proper respect to ALL your teachers."
Someone from Gryffindor shouted, "But he's a Death Eater! He should be in Azkaban!"
Another said, "I always knew Snape was no good!"
More comments about both Snape and Dumbledore were said until the hall was filled with so much noise you couldn't hear yourself think. "Silence!" said the headmaster again. "I believe it is time for breakfast to end."
-
It being a Sunday, they didn't have any classes. Harry and Hermione decided to visit Minerva. The first thing Harry asked was, "Are you getting fired?"
She smiled, "No. Professor Dumbledore knows that if he fires me right after that article printed, he will be sacked as well. He can get away with almost anything, but not that. I had to do something when I learned that he doesn't even bother reading negative mail sent by parents. He has an elf deal with that, even the howlers. I had wondered why he wasn't bombarded with them after you two made sure everyone knows that Snape's reading their minds."
"So what's going to happen, Professor?" asked Hermione.
"Well, the Board of Governors will meet and look at the evidence. However, I don't expect to win. Lucius Malfoy owns the board, and he's one of Snape's few friends."
"Snape is Draco Malfoy's godfather," added Harry disgustedly.
"But regardless," said Minerva, "This is putting some pressure on Professor Dumbledore."
"Is that true about Snape being a Death Eater?" asked Harry.
"I actually don't know. All that the headmaster says to anyone who questions Snape is that he trusts him, as though that alone would put our minds at ease. If I were to guess, I'd say that he was a Death Eater who betrayed You-Know-Who, perhaps did some espionage for the light side, so Dumbledore decided to protect him."
"So he's probably a murderer who betrayed his friends to stay out of Azkaban," said Harry with a mean look in his eyes.
"Yes," said Aunt Minnie. "Maybe the details will be revealed at his hearing. I would say that even if it turns out that he deserves protection that still doesn't make him a good teacher. I'd think a reformed Death Eater wouldn't act like he does anyway. He's certainly not discouraging Slytherins from becoming dark wizards. He's teaching them to lie and cheat their way to the top. Wait until you see their first Quidditch match! When Gryffindor plays, I only hope there won't be any serious injuries. I know we won't win because of the poor sportsmanship of the Slytherin team. They win by injuring all the other team's players - not by Quidditch skills. And then Snape brags that his house won like it was an accomplishment!"
-
The next week, if possible, Snape was even worse during Potions than before. He vanished both Harry's and Hermione's potions five minutes into the 'lesson' and declared they each earned a zero for the day and both had a detention with Filch.
A few days after that, Harry found out that parents had put together a petition to get rid of Snape. That Saturday would be a hearing with the Board of Governors, Dumbledore, Minerva, Snape, and Cornelius Fudge. Fudge would be there with a few aurors in case they needed to arrest Snape after the hearing for invading the privacy of minors. Any other member of Hogwarts faculty, as well as any Ministry department head, was welcome to attend. No one else, including reporters, students, and parents, was allowed at the hearing.
-
Friday night, Harry was talking to his family with his mirror. "Aunt Minnie doesn't think he'll be sacked. She believes he'd have to murder a student in the Great Hall in front of a hundred witnesses before Dumbledore would stop protecting him."
"It sounds like you're not getting a good Potions education," said Cindy with a frown.
"I already know all the first-year potions, so I'm not missing much. Aunt Minnie says that he doesn't conduct the O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, so as long as I study the subject, it actually doesn't matter what grades that slimy ba…"
"Harry!" said a stern-looking Cindy while Brianna giggled. Mark looked like he wanted to laugh.
"I was gonna say 'slimy bad teacher.' Honest."
"Of course, dear."
"Sure, Harry," said Brianna. "I'll bet Hermione doesn't like it when you use that language."
"Does Bobby like it when you do?" asked Harry, reminding his sister of their truce.
He looked at his parents again. "The point is that Snape doesn't matter. He takes house points all the time so that Slytherin wins the meaningless house cup no matter what. The only things that bug me are detentions. And they're really stupid! This is a magical school, but if you have to clean or something, they make you do it the muggle way! What do you learn from that? The truth is that the magical way gets things cleaner, and it's faster. I'll bet the entire school could be cleaned magically in one day, but Filch the caretaker does everything by hand so he gets through the castle in a week unless he's got a dozen kids doing it for him! Then while we're cleaning he talks about the old punishments where they'd hang kids by their toes. The man is psychotic!"
"Then why don't you prank him?"
"Brianna!" said Cindy, "Your brother gets into enough mischief without you giving him ideas." Harry smiled but said nothing.
"Try to stay out of trouble, Harry," said Mark.
"I always try, dad," answered Harry, "but I get in trouble with Snape for breathing. I honestly think I'd be in less trouble for just skipping class. I'd learn just as much if not more."
"Now Harry, don't make me come over there…"
"That might be a good idea, mom! You can tell Snape and Dumbledore off!"
-
The next morning at breakfast, Harry and Hermione were approached by Fred and George Weasley.
"You may have noticed…"
"That our revered Potions master is gone…"
"And will be gone for most of the day."
"We were wondering…"
"If you'd like to help us…"
"Show him our appreciation and respect…"
"By leaving him a surprise in his living quarters…"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other for a moment before Harry said, "Absolutely!"
Hermione said, "If anyone deserves it, it's that creep!"
Padma then surprised them by saying, "Count me in!"
Harry quickly smiled at her. "Great. Where can we meet to discuss the finer details?"
-
After they met in a hidden passageway, they snuck into Snape's living quarters (by pointing a wand under the door and summoning the hinges - he never figured that out) and set up a prank for the first person to walk in.
-
At dinner, they saw that Dumbledore (who looked tired), Minerva (who appeared livid), and Snape (who had a smug look on his face) were back at the head table.
"What do you think happened?" said Padma.
"Obviously Snape wasn't sacked," said Hermione.
"He hasn't been back to his office yet, either," said Harry. "After dinner, let's ask Aun, Professor McGonagall."
They continued eating until they were full, and waited until Minerva had left the Great Hall to follow her. They arrived at her door while she was still walking through it.
"Professor McGonagall," Harry called out.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Could you tell us what happened?"
She sighed, "Oh, I suppose. Come on in."
After she got them all some tea, she began speaking.
"The meeting began with Lucius Malfoy stating that he believed the allegations against Snape were false. I honestly don't know why Professor Dumbledore didn't stop backing Snape when he realized that he was on the same side as Malfoy. I knew from the beginning that I was fighting a losing battle no matter how much evidence I had against Snape. I at least was able to demand to know why Dumbledore trusts him, and that's the worst part of it."
"Why does he trust him?" asked Harry.
She gave Harry a pointed look. "I trust you've all heard of Harry Potter."
Harry and Hermione controlled their expressions to remain neutral while Padma said, "The Boy-Who-Lived-and-Vanished?"
"You mustn't tell anyone what I'm about to reveal." All three of them nodded. "Yes. You see, Snape gave You-Know-Who the information that caused him to target the Potters. You see, James Potter and he had been bitter enemies at school. Anyway, just before they were killed, Snape came to Professor Dumbledore with a cock-and-bull story about being sorry that the Potters were being targeted, and he believed him. Snape was a Death Eater, and had personally killed and tortured countless people, but Professor Dumbledore protects him because he claimed to be sorry about one target and became a spy for a short time. It's interesting that when I asked, Professor Dumbledore had to admit that none of Snape's information led to the capture of a single Death Eater, nor did it save any lives."
Without Padma noticing, Hermione took Harry's hand while his aunt was revealing this information. Padma said, "I wonder if Snape took Harry Potter and killed him."
"I hope not," said Hermione, playing along.
"He probably wanted to," said McGonagall seriously. "I can just imagine how he'd treat the son of his worst rival. Oh, and here's the best part of the story. Snape said he owed James Potter a life debt. Even if that were true, paying that debt wouldn't mean he shouldn't go to Azkaban. It would mean that Snape has no remorse at all about what he's done, and that he only felt obligated to help James."
Harry was staying quiet, but he was very mad. Minnie could see it in his eyes. "Anyway, Snape has been ordered not to read any more students' minds. I don't know how they expect him to obey that. He has also been put on probation for the rest of the school year. Until that is finished, he cannot give or take house points, nor can he hand out punishments to anyone who is not in Slytherin. If he feels that a student in another house needs to be punished, he must inform that student's head of house, who will investigate the matter. I have told both Professors Sprout and Flitwick that they are more than welcome to use my pensieve to determine appropriate action in such an instance. I for one won't simply take Snape's word for anything."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" asked Hermione nervously.
"It's better than nothing," said Minnie, "but they wouldn't hear a word about his incompetence as a teacher. Therefore, the important subject of Potions still isn't taught at Hogwarts." She sighed. "At least we got some results. I think the only reason for that is so it looks like the Board of Governors is doing something. Lucius Malfoy wants to at least appear like he cares about students in a case like this one where the press is involved. I'm sure tomorrow's headlines will make him out to be a hero for slapping Snape on the wrist."
"I guess," said Harry coldly.
"Miss Granger, Miss Patil, I believe you should probably be getting back to your common room. I'd like to speak to my nephew for a few minutes if you don't mind."
"Of course not, Professor McGonagall," said Hermione, figuring that she wanted to talk to Harry about Snape's involvement in his birth-parents' deaths.
Once the girls had left, Minerva charmed her door for privacy. "I thought about not telling you about it, but I know that I'd want to know in your position."
"Thanks for that, Aunt Minnie. I can't believe that Dumbledore lets that murderer walk free!"
"There's more to the story, I'm afraid. I haven't been told all of it, but there was a prophecy made regarding you and You-Know-Who. Snape heard part of it and told his master. Professor Dumbledore isn't sure about the prophecy anymore because of how you disappeared, but he still hopes that you'll fulfill it. All he said is that according to the prophecy, you were the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. I'm hoping that it already was fulfilled when James and Lily were killed. There is a copy of it in the Department of Mysteries, but only you can touch it where it's kept. To see it, you'd have to reveal your identity to someone at the Ministry, and I'd strongly advise against that for obvious reasons."
He sighed. "That's alright. It looks like I haven't been following it too closely anyway. Besides, you always said that Divination is a wooly discipline. Anyway, if the prophecy is true, it'll happen whether I know about it or not."
She took a deep breath. "I suppose so. Sometimes I wonder why I even stay at Hogwarts."
-
At the same time, Severus Snape was strutting into his quarters. He performed the special unlocking spell that he'd invented on his door and opened it with something similar to a smile on his face. As he took his first step inside the room, an orange cloud appeared above his head and began to rain pumpkin juice on him.
As he was getting drenched by the sticky liquid, he pulled out his wand. As soon as he cast a spell, a neon-green powder filled the room, sticking to his body as he chocked on it for a few moments. He ran to the toilet to clean up, but found that he couldn't open the door, and every time he tried another spell, the room filled up with the powder again, except it was sky blue. He tried his bedroom to find it was also locked. With apparently no alternative, he quickly walked out of his quarters toward the nearest men's room, only to be photographed by a flashing camera that was floating in front of the door. As soon as the picture was taken, the camera disappeared and a venomous Snape managed to finally clean up after walking past a small group of students gaping and laughing at him.
-
The next day, copies of that photo could be found all over the school. The other heads of houses each got one to hang in their offices, although Dumbledore did not approve.
Snape's behavior in classes actually did change. He simply put instructions on the board and ignored everyone. Even Neville commented during a study group how much easier it was to make potions without Snape's interference. All the Gryffindors had to worry about was making sure the Slytherins didn't interfere (since they're the ones who shared a class with them - Ravenclaws were with Hufflepuffs) and that was solved by dividing the room evenly into two sides, making sure the two houses stayed separate. Snape didn't say anything about the new seating arrangement because he knew that he was on probation and the students knew he couldn't threaten them.
-
One thing that did temporarily raise Snape's spirits was the Quidditch match on November 9th, wherein Gryffindor's Keeper and captain, Oliver Wood, was put out of commission by a Slytherin beater very early in the game. His broom was broken by the destructive ball, and it couldn't stay in the air for long after that. Fortunately he wasn't hurt too badly when he hit the ground, but was unable to play for the rest of the game even if he'd found a replacement broom. Without a decent Seeker to bail them out, Gryffindor lost terribly, but not before Fred and George Weasley knocked both Slytherin beaters off their brooms with well-timed Bludger hits. Unfortunately for Snape, at the end of the game the Weasley twins also 'accidentally' sent a Bludger that hit Snape in the face, breaking his nose and effectively removing his gloating smile. They both got detentions from McGonagall, but felt it was worth it.
A few weeks later, Harry mentioned how he missed the American holiday known as Thanksgiving, where students got Thursday and Friday off school and had a turkey feast. Brianna naturally gloated to Harry about that on Thanksgiving Day.
Soon November turned into December and with that came the end-of-term exams. Harry and Hermione both knew they'd aced their tests, although it remained to be seen what grade Snape would give them. They decided to worry about that when they got the results. They also knew their study group would do well. C.A.R.E. was doing well with membership in the school, but Hermione was still hoping to make more of a political difference. She planned on finding out if any members had any political connections that could be helpful. For now, they were leaving the castle for their Christmas break.
-
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