The Stress of Being Harry Potter

Chapter 12

On the walk back up to the castle, Ginny asked, "How are you going to deal with detention with Snape for a week?"

Harry replied, "Simple. I'm not going."

Hermione, who had left the stands and joined the team, began, "Harry Potter, you can not ignore a detention just because you don't get along with the Professor. Dumbledore instructed you to report to the dungeons."

"I don't much care what he says. I'll go to serve my detention with McGonagall, and he can like it or lump it."

Hermione continued, "You could be expelled, Harry. You have to give up this attitude and trust Dumbledore. He knows what he is doing."

Harry snorted, "That old fool doesn't even know what day it is. He's too caught up in his intrigues and games. However, let him expel me, and I will quite happily pay to relocate everyone I care about to another country, and let Voldemort have Britain. You should be careful about your attitude, Hermione, because right now you are very rapidly leaving that group." Harry turned and stalked away as Hermione stood there flabbergasted.

"I can't believe he said that to me."

Ginny answered, "I can. You seem to think more of Dumbledore's commands than you do Harry's friendship, and we all see the damage that is doing to your friendship, but you either don't see it, or just don't care." The rest of the Quidditch team looked at her in disgust and walked away leaving her to brood by herself on the implications of what they had said.

Finally, she decided, "No. Harry will come around just like Dumbledore said. He would never leave us at You-Know-Who's mercy. I just have to keep up what I am doing, and he will see reason." Then, she made her way up to the castle, convinced that listening to her head was the better course of action, despite what she felt.

Later that afternoon, Harry knocked on McGonagall's office door. She opened it, and said, "Mr. Potter, aren't you supposed to be in the dungeons."

"No, ma'am. I said that I would accept your punishment for my actions. I never acknowledged Snape's or the Headmaster's demand."

"Mr. Potter, while I can overrule Professor Snape, I cannot overrule the Headmaster, and you heard what he said."

"Too true, Professor, but I made my statement, as well, and he chose to ignore it. So, I came here, so that at the least I would have an impartial witness to the coming confrontation. I apologize if this puts you in a precarious position with your boss."

"Very well, Mr. Potter. Come in, and we will get this over with when they arrive. You can begin grading those first year papers. You should be well versed with the material by now."

About fifteen minutes after Harry's detention was set to begin, Snape stormed into Dumbledore's office in a rage. Dumbledore looked at him, "I take it Mr. Potter did not show up for his detention."

"Of course not. That little brat is going too far. He is making a mockery of this school, and he must be punished, appropriately."

"We will go take care of precisely that, right now. Come along, Severus."

"We don't know where he is in the castle, and I don't fancy looking all over the place for him."

"I suspect that we will find him precisely where he said he would be. He said that he would accept Minerva's punishment, but not yours, so I believe that is where we will find him." The two of them made their way to her office, and just as Dumbledore predicted, they found one Harry Potter, chatting with Minerva, while grading papers. Dumbledore cleared his throat to gain their attention, and said, "Mr. Potter, I believe that you are in the wrong place to serve your detention. I instructed you to report to Professor Snape."

Harry countered, "And I believe, that I said that I would accept Professor McGonagall's punishment, and not his, which means you either have hearing problems or you knew that I would not show up when you instructed me to."

"Nevertheless, Mr. Potter, you leave me with no choice but to remove 100 points from Gryffindor. Now, you must accompany Professor Snape to the dungeons for your detention."

"I'm not going, old man. I will serve my detention here, or not at all. Your choice."

"I fear you do not understand the seriousness of this refusal, Mr. Potter. If you do not acquiesce, I will have no choice but to remove you from the Quidditch team."

"You won't have a Quidditch season, then. I have already spoken with the rest of the Quidditch players in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and all have agreed that if I am removed from the team for this incident, then none of them will be playing, and I'm sure the Board of Governors, and the parents will be interested to know why at that point."

Dumbledore sighed, "Must you be so confrontational? Very well, I am removing an additional 100 points from Gryffindor and suspending your Hogsmeade privileges. If you do not comply, I will continue to remove points from Gryffindor, and you will not be allowed to leave Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays."

Harry chuckled, "You never learn, do you? You can take every point Gryffindor has for the next ten years and it won't do you any good. I will not serve detention with Snape ever again. However, you do have an even more pressing problem of how he is going to even be able to remain a professor, since every student in three houses sent letters home detailing a list of his abuses, and demanding that they not have to serve detention with him either. I figure that at least half of the parents will be sending you a notice removing their children from his influence."

"Alright, Mr. Potter, you may serve your detentions with Professor McGonagall, but you will still have to stay here for the holidays, and you will assist Mr. Filch in cleaning during them."

Harry snorted, "You don't even have the authority to do that, and if you try to stop me leaving, I will go through you. If you don't like it, expel me, and watch me walk away from your precious society, and all your plans can go up in smoke."

Dumbledore left in a huff, with Snape trailing behind him, strangely enough with a smirk on his face, as if he had gotten exactly what he wanted from the confrontation.

The next day the fallout that Harry spoke of became apparent to the Headmaster and Snape as several forms withdrawing children from potions were received by the school. Several of the forms also demanded that their children never serve detention with Snape again, and that if their demands weren't met, their children would be removed from Hogwarts. The small number of the letters the first day made Dumbledore dismiss the matter as if it were unimportant, but the succeeding days proved that to be a mistake. The number of complaints continued to increase with each passing day until the Board of Governors showed up at the school at the behest of Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore frowned when he spotted them coming through the doors of the Great Hall. The Head of the Board approached Dumbledore and said, "The Board will need to meet with you and Professor Snape directly after breakfast, along with the deputy Headmistress."

Dumbledore protested, "Professors Snape and McGonagall will need to attend to their classes."

"Professor McGonagall is competent enough to make up for cancelling one class session, especially this early in the term. As far as Snape is concerned, it is my understanding that the attendance in his class is down to less than half of what it should be, so it is unlikely that he will be missed."

Dumbledore huffed in annoyance, but then nodded in acquiescence. Harry smirked into his breakfast since he knew why they were there. Amelia had told Harry that the Board were coming.

Directly after breakfast, the Board met with the three teachers in a conference room. Governor Hastings addressed them, "We are here to determine the future of Severus Snape as Potions professor at Hogwarts. It has come to our attention that multiple parents have removed their children from his class, and that they have also requested that their children no longer serve detention with him. This is an unacceptable state of affairs since it puts undue burden on other professors that would have to cover detentions assigned by him."

Dumbledore smiled, "This is exactly what I have been saying. We should inform the parents that their complaints are ungrounded and that Severus is more than competent to continue in his position."

One of the governors snorted, "That is a delusional statement. We have viewed testimony and have obtained Pensieve memories from several former students. Professor Snape will be removed as potions professor. The only things to be determined by this meeting are the timing, and whether or not you go with him Headmaster."

This statement seemed to floor Dumbledore. He finally regained his wits enough to ask, "Are you suggesting that you would replace me as Headmaster over a few complaints about a professor?"

Hastings continued, "We are not talking about a few complaints. We're talking about over half the school, and a significant fraction of his former students as well. We have had numerous complaints in the past, but nothing like the number we are seeing now. Also, the complaints have most originated from Muggle-Borns which we incorrectly assumed were just misunderstandings, especially given that you assured us that was the case. Now, you have two choices, Headmaster. You can dismiss Snape from the castle and teach Potions yourself until we find his replacement, or you may keep him for the remainder of the term, but all his classes must be supervised by a member of the Department of Testing."

Dumbledore sighed, "I would like for him to continue under observation, and I will begin the search for his replacement as soon as possible."

Hastings shook his head, "No, the Board will be interviewing and determining his replacement. Also, if Snape is to remain, he must be removed as Head of Slytherin immediately. Also, any and all points removed by him for the remainder of the term must be approved by the Ministry observer or Professor McGonagall. You are to have no input into the decision."

Dumbledore protested again, "You are undermining my authority as Headmaster."

"Be grateful that we are not doing much more than that. You have skated perilously close to being removed again. This would be the third time, and I believe American baseball fanatics say it best, three strikes and you're out."

The rest of the term seemed to speed by and before anyone knew it, it was time to go home for Christmas. Harry and Susan's relationship had progressed steadily, and the two were officially boyfriend and girlfriend at this point. Harry's friendship with Hermione had fractured to the point where the two barely spoke outside of class, even though Hermione still hung around with them, and Harry's suspicion that she was spying for Dumbledore continued to grow.

The only bright side, was that there had been no more confrontations with Dumbledore and Snape, although Draco was continuing to be a pain, as usual. Neville and Ron both had received detention for hexing him.

Harry and Susan had made plans for the holidays, and while most of it was going to be spent at Bones' manor, they were going to spend a day with the Weasleys before Christmas, and Amelia was going with them to the Longbottoms for Boxing Day. Neville, Ron, and Ginny were also invited to Bones Manor the day before they returned to Hogwarts, along with Susan's friend Hannah.

A/N: Sorry about the chapter being late in the day. I've been out of the house all day, and this is the first chance that I have gotten to post. Happy reading.