Professor Harry Potter sat in the teacher’s lounge of Hogwarts. Cup of coffee in his hand, he sat at the large table positioned annoyingly in the direct center of the room. This meant that no matter how he tried, he couldn’t avoid Professor Snape’s staring eyes. Harry had only become a teacher at Hogwarts that year at age 25, which meant he was currently the youngest.
//Why me?// he wondered glancing down at the ceramic mug in his hand.
“You look harried, Harry.” Severus sounded amused with himself over the pun. Harry narrowed his eyes. “Trouble with you class? If you’re having problems, I could take over easily.”
“I bet you’d like that.” Harry snapped. He didn’t mean to be rude, but Severus had been after the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position for as long as Harry could remember. Now the new DADA professor wasn’t going to let him goad him into giving up. After all, he was Harry Potter. Hadn’t he defeated Voldemort multiple times?
“I could give you some advice.” Severus offered in a tone that was too close to patronizing for Harry’s liking.
“Look, Snape.” He growled gripping his mug tightly as the older man watched him as he walked around the long table. “I appreciate your offer, but I can do this. Besides, I’ve never had any problems with the material. It’s practically second nature to me.” The little jab implying Severus’ inability to defend himself against the dark arts made Harry feel instantly better. He’d have to do it again sometime.
Severus chose to ignore him, which resulted in several minutes of silence. Finally deciding that he’d either given up trying to make him feel extremely uncomfortable for the day or he was plotting something new, Harry picked up a form letter that he had to fill out. It was a disciplinary form. Basically it was a recommendation to Head Master Dumbledore to keep an eye one particular student and they had broken this rule or that rule.
“I wonder how many we used to get.” Harry muttered to himself as he levitated a quill and some ink from the shelves behind Severus.
“What?” Severus asked as he dipped his tea bag into his teacup.
“Disciplinary forms.”
“Ah.” Severus replied smiling. Harry had grown to hate his condescending smiles over the years. “I used to fill out at least five or six a month about you, Weasley, and Granger.”
“Oh Merlin.” Harry shook his head and began to fill out the form. He didn’t want to hear how many of these were probably in Dumbledore’s office. How long did he keep these things anyway? Harry didn’t know, but maybe he should ask. A part of him wanted to see exactly what was said and by whom, but the more sensible side told him that it wasn’t prudent.
“Yes, you certainly had a Marauder quality to you.” Severus continued.
“I’m not my father.” Harry pointed out. “Which I will keep reminding you as long as you think I am. Can’t you just let the past be?” Severus looked down at his tea. It was true Harry Potter wasn’t James Potter. He shouldn’t hold grudges and the truth be told he actually liked Harry. The new DADA teacher actually had turned out well, all things considered.
“You’re right.”
“What?” Harry asked in amazement, not sure if he’d heard right.
“I said, you’re right. Merlin knows Minerva has been after me for years about that. Dumbledore too. I’ve never liked your father and you took the brunt of that anger. I was simply using you as a substitute, which I’ve been told isn’t healthy. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt when you started at Hogwarts, but I didn’t.
“You’re a different person than your father. With your own abilities and ideas. Besides you were instrumental in defeating Voldemort.” Severus said not believing that he was admitting to this, but he needed too.
“So were you.” Harry pointed out. “Without your help, I may not have survived long enough to defeat him.”
Severus was actually surprised by the compliment. He hadn’t expected Harry to acknowledge his role. “In fact, I was wondering if you could guest lecture about your experience in the Death Eaters.”
The offer just sort of slipped out of his mouth. Harry hadn’t been sure how to approach Severus about lecturing, but it was an opening he wasn’t going to miss. As long as Severus didn’t get it into his head that he was in charge of the class.
“Certainly. I’ll have to arrange it so that it doesn’t interfere with my potions classes.” Severus began.
//The olive branch has been extended and hopefully received.// Harry thought. //Let’s hope he might become more tolerable now.// With that done Harry turned his attention back to his disciplinary form. Severus sipped his tea and stared out the window for a bit. After writing furiously for several minutes, Harry glanced up to see Severus watching him again.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who is that for?” Severus asked.
//Ah, so that’s his game. Snooping to see if it was a Slytherin who was in trouble.//
“If you’re concerned about one of your Slytherin’s being in trouble, don’t.” Harry practically snapped. //Dammit! I don’t want to make a bigger nuisance out of him than he already is. Damn! Damn! Damn!// Harry scolded himself.
“I wasn’t actually. I think that you and I perhaps should be co-signing that form if it’s for who I think it’s for.” Severus said calmly. Harry looked up at him and for a moment he wondered if they were thinking of the same student.
“Prudence Longbottom.” They said in unison. Sighing Harry leaned back running a hand through his black hair.
“What did she do this time?” Severus asked.
“Late, disrupting class and that’s just what I’ve written down so far. Don’t get me started on the curse she put on poor Rodger Finnegan. I know it was an accident, but still.” Harry growled. “And this is a Longbottom! Neville’s cousin’s child! You’d think she’d be sweet and considerate.”
“I see you were fooled as well. When you’re finished, let me fill in what she did during potions class today.” Severus took a sip from his cup. The tea was beginning to cool to a point where it was almost undrinkable. Severus muttered a quick spell causing the tea’s temperature to rise to an acceptable level.
“Have you had problems with Reeve and Kody as well?” Harry wished that Bill’s oldest child wasn’t involved in this. He liked Bill, but Reeve was beginning to remind him a lot of Fred and George. Kody, well, Harry didn’t know Kody’s family so this was the first time he’d dealt with the Smiths.
“Yes. They’re following in your footsteps.”
“Oh Merlin. Tell me the truth, how did you put up with us.” Harry exclaimed as Minerva McGonagell walked into the teacher’s lounge.
“What are you talking about?” She asked.
“Miss Longbottom, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Smith.” Severus told her as she took a seat next to Harry.
“Ah.” Was all she said, a knowing smile crossing her face.
“How’d you do it?” Harry asked feeling exasperated at these three students. He didn’t know what to do about them. Minerva exchanged a knowing look with Severus.
“Patience.” Minerva said.
“And a stern hand.” Severus added.
“I take it, that’s how you dealt with Ron, Hermione and I?” Harry crossed his arms and looked from one to the other.
“Well, yes.” Minerva smiled sweetly reaching for the disciplinary form. Reading it, she understood immediately. “They remind you of yourself, don’t they?”
“A little, except Prudence seems to have a knack for dragging Reeve and Kody along whether they want to go or not. Hagrid has caught them twice trying to sneak into the forest. Don’t they know that place is dangerous at night?” Harry suddenly remembered that he’d entertained thoughts of going to the forest when he was younger and acting on them. Hanging his head he shook it trying not to think about the similarities between Prudence and himself.
“How did you two survive? I mean we must have driven you nuts!” He asked the older professors. “I can’t believe we didn’t get kicked out.”
“That wouldn’t have happened.” Severus grumbled. “Dumbledore wouldn’t have thrown you out unless you’d burned down Hogwarts and even then he probably would have forgiven you.”
“If disobeying the rules were the only reason to expel a student, then don’t you thing the Weasley twins would have been gone after their first week here?” Minerva pointed out in an amused tone. “The truth is, as Severus said, you would have had to truly do something that put all the other students at risk before Albus would have expelled you three. But you mainly put yourselves at risk and tried to protect everyone else.”
“Even though you broke the rules in the process.” Severus added before finishing his tea. Harry took one more look at his disciplinary form and picked up his quill again. Just as he was about to put the finishing touches on his final paragraph the door to the teachers lounge opened and an anxious Rodger Finnegan poked his head in.
“I’m sorry to intrude.” He apologized. “But there seems to be a fire in the potions lab.” All the teachers stood immediately and bolted towards the potions room with Rodger trailing behind.
The room itself wasn’t on fire, just one chair. With three very frantic students trying to dump anything liquid on it to put the blaze out. Severus rolled his eyes as Harry grabbed conjured a bucket of water. As soon as the fire was out, Severus with his most fearful and stern look in place, turned his wrath upon the three students in front of him.
“What WERE you doing?”
“We were working on that potion you told us to practice in class today.” Reeve Weasley said quickly stepping forward. Kody Smith tried to make himself small and insignificant behind Prudence Longbottom.
“The burner got knocked by accident. We grabbed it, but not before it lit the chair. Is there any chance we’re getting new chairs? This one went up like kindling.” Prudence met Severus’ eyes in hopes that he might take her suggestion.
Severus bit his tongue, refusing to scream at them and tell them how dangerous it was to just dump random potions on a burning chair. “You do realize that any one of those potions could have caused the fire to spread?” He hissed. The three students shrank back. As one, their gaze turned to Harry in hopes that he might come to their rescue.
“Professor Snape is right.” Harry said in a calm collected voice. “You should be more careful about what you throw on flames. Next time try to stamp out the fire with a towel or blanket. Use your robes if necessary. Or get some water.” Casting a wary look at Severus, Harry was relieved to see that the man didn’t seem like he was going to rip off their heads and feed them to Fluffy. This was a step in the right direction. Harry really didn’t want to get a howler from Ron demanding why his nephew’s body was minus a very important part.
“At least you sent Mr. Finnegan to fetch us.” Minerva said hurriedly.
“Minus twenty points from Gryffindor.” Severus growled. “And let this be a lesson in proper safety. Now find some mops and clean up this mess!”
“Yes, sir!” The three bolted like rabbits, leaving the professors alone briefly.
“Look at it this way Severus.” Minerva soothed. “At least you have a reason to purchase some new chairs. These have been here since you were a student.” Severus sighed deeply then went over to inspect the damage to his classroom. Minerva and Harry left, each silently wishing him good luck.
“This is going to be an interesting year.” Minerva commented as she turned toward the dining hall.
“I think I’m going to send an owl to Ron.”
“Feeling nostalgic?”
“Commiserating. He and Hermione had Reeve spend the summer with them while Bill and his wife visited Charlie in Romania. I just wish they’d had the decency to warn me.” Minerva smiled and disappeared down the corridor. Taking a flight of stairs back to the teachers’ lounge Harry thought he heard her laugh.
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