"Mr Potter!" McGonagall called out as she finally caught sight of him, in a corridor two flights of stairs away from the Headmaster's office.
He came to a halt and spun around to face her.
She caught up to him and was just about to ask him to return to Dumbledore's office when he cut her off with a question of his own.
"Are students attending Hogwarts allowed to hire their own personal tutors if they feel that the school's Professors are not good enough?"
The question gave McGonagall pause for a moment. It was certainly a common practice for students to have their own tutors back when she had been a student, though usually these had been for extra lessons in a subject, or for a subject not taught at Hogwarts. There were, of course, a handful of cases where the parents of a student requested their child be taught by a tutor rather than attend any of the lessons put on by Hogwarts staff, but those cases were few.
However, in all of her years of teaching, not once had a student had their own tutor. If you wanted to learn potions you went to Snape, if you wanted to learn charms you went to Flitwick. In addition there were clubs, such as the one that Madam Pomfrey ran for those wanting to learn a few healing techniques, and there was the charms club, as well as the out-of-school lessons. But the idea of a student relying solely upon a tutor rather than make use of a Hogwarts Professor was all but unheard of.
'Not since Dumbledore became Headmaster…' she thought, but it was quickly quashed.
"There is no rule against it, but such a thing has not happened in years," she answered him.
"Well then, it is about to happen," said Harry "Snape has made it very clear throughout the last four years that he does not want to teach me anything, and I see no reason why my education should suffer because of his attitude problems. I will be contacting the Wizarding Examinations Authority to see if they can recommend anyone for the job and I will tell you now, if any student wishes to join me in my tutorial periods rather than endure Snape any further, then I, for one, will welcome their decision."
"Is it really necessary for you to keep in getting the W. E. A. involved in your issues here at the school?" asked McGonagall.
"If you have a complaint to make, then it pays to make it to someone who will listen," replied Harry "Countless voices have complained about Snape over the years, and Dumbledore has done nothing about him. Nor, for that matter, has the Board of Governors. The W. E. A. is the final option available and if Dumbledore doesn't like it, then it's just tough luck – he should have reigned in his potions master sooner."
Just then the man in question came around the corner at the end of the corridor. Without even looking at them he stormed past them and disappeared through the door at the opposite end.
The bell rang signalling the end of lunch and the start of afternoon lessons.
Harry turned back to McGonagall and said "You'll have to excuse me Professor. As much as I would like to stand here and deliberate with you further, I have a study period that I must be getting to."
And with that he turned and headed towards the door that Snape had just gone through. At the door he paused and turned back towards the transfiguration professor "Oh, and just so you are aware, unless it is an absolute emergency, any further attempts by the Headmaster to summon me to his office today will be ignored. I have more important things to be doing with my time."
McGonagall returned to Dumbledore's office and informed him of what Harry had told her.
The old man paled slightly and said "This cannot be allowed to happen. If Harry starts taking tuition with another teacher then everyone else will want to follow suit."
The portrait of Quentin Trimble spoke up at that point "Mr Potter is well within his rights to select for himself an alternate tutor for his potions studies, Dumbledore, and you know this."
"And if other students choose to follow his lead then it is nobody's fault other than yours and Snape's." added Vindictus Viridian.
"Professor Snape," Dumbledore corrected them almost automatically.
The expressions on the faces of numerous past headmasters and headmistresses displayed exactly what they thought of that assertion.
"You'll just have to face it, Albus," said McGonagall "Harry wants nothing more to do with Severus and I, for one, can't say that I blame him. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class of third years waiting."
In a swirl of tartan she turned and left the office.
"We warned you about ignoring all the complaints that are made about Snape, Dumbledore," said Dilys Derwent "I hope that you are prepared to reap what you have sown."
Dumbledore turned away from the portraits and took a lemon drop out of the bowl on his desk, all the while wondering how he was going to force Harry to continue studying potions under Snape's tutelage.
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