Harry was the last to arrive, with Madam Bones. When they entered the room they were talking together, and Dumbledore gleaned that their chosen subject was shield charms.
"So you can add "horribilis" to the end to get a better protection against a dark magic spell?" Harry was saying.
"That's correct, yes," replied Madam Bones.
"So what does adding "duo" do?"
"That works as a double layer," said Madam Bones "It can be used to better protect you against multiple spells at once."
"Interesting," said Harry thoughtfully.
"To the feeble mind maybe," said Snape, sounding bored "but the rest of us have better things to be getting on with so drop the chatter and tell us what you must so we can all get on with our lives."
Dumbledore cringed as Madam Marchbanks turned to the potions professor "I am so glad that you are so eager for this discussion to happen, Professor Snape, because believe it or not, you are a big part of the reason for us being here."
"Oh really?" drawled Snape "Do tell?"
Madam Marchbanks drew herself up and spoke "Yesterday evening, Professor Umbridge escorted Mr Potter to the Ministry so that he could file a complaint of staff misconduct with the Wizarding Examinations Authority against both Headmaster Dumbledore and Potions Master Snape. He also accused the both of you with impeding him in his duties as student advisor."
At this Snape exploded out of his seat, ready to deliver a verbal diatribe. Against whom they did not know, nor would they ever find out, for he soon deflated when the wands of both Madam Bones and her Auror were jabbed into his throat. He sat back down and Madam Marchbanks continued as though the interruption had not happened "Upon hearing his evidence I personally recommended that he also file a harassment complaint against both men with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and make his grievances known to the Board of Governors."
"Our purpose in coming here today was to question witnesses to several key events that have occurred since Mr Potter was appointed to the position of Student Advisor. We had hoped that the situation was not quite as bad as we were led to believe. Much to our disappointment, we found that things were a lot worse. Almost every other student had at least one complaint to make against you, Severus, your Slytherins included."
"Oh, come now," said Dumbledore "I can hardly believe that they all expressed such complaints."
"Those who did not were also those who refused to answer our questions," said Madam Bones "Draco Malfoy demanded that we bring in his father to sort things out. When we refused he sat there sulking like a spoilt child denied a cookie until we got fed up and kicked him out. We took his silence to mean that he was attempting to protect his Head of House from justice."
Dumbledore pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily. Snape was still fuming, but remained quiet in light of the fact that two wands were still pointed at him.
'How have things gone so wrong since the end of last term?' the old man wondered.
Madam Longbottom picked up the thread of conversation "The list of complaints filed against Snape today go back several years, and by all rights we should be kicking him out of the castle today. However, a potions master is hard to find, so we will not do so."
Snape sat up a little, a superior smirk working its way back onto his face.
"However," continued Madam Longbottom "some action must be taken. First of all, we will be removing you from the position as Head of Slytherin House, as you are clearly incabable of performing such a role effectively. In addition, Professor Snape, you are now on probation. We will conduct a full review of your work nearer to the Christmas holidays. If we do not see an upturn in your behaviour by then you will be dismissed from this school and never be allowed back into the castle again. If before then we receive many more complaints against you, we will forego the review and dismiss you outright, whether we have someone lined up to replace you or not."
"As to the issue of the harassment complaints made by Mr Potter," said Madam Bones "we have found them to be just and will take necessary action. Headmaster, from now on you will only speak to Mr Potter about school-related issues, and your meetings with him will be restricted to one a week, unless it is an emergency or Mr Potter seeks you out first. Beyond that you will keep away from him. Failure to comply will result in further investigation and possibly criminal charges.
"Professor Snape, under no circumstances are you to approach Mr Potter, nor are you to speak to him. If you see him doing something that you feel he should not, you will report it to either the Deputy Headmistress or Professor Umbridge. He may, however, address you under the following circumstances – either when he requires you to deal with a situation involving troublesome students, when he is talking to you regarding a complaint made against you by a student, or when discussing the behaviour of a student from one of your classes with you. In short, he will speak to you only when his role as Student Advisor requires it, and I have advised that in any such situation another Professor should ideally be present so long as the situation allows it. Failure to comply will result in further investigation and likely imprisonment within the Ministry holding cells."
Silence reigned in the room for a few moments until Madam Marchbanks broke it "Are we all clear on this matter?"
Most nodded, but Dumbledore raised a concern "If Professor Snape is not to interact with Harry, how is he going to teach him potions?"
"That issue has already been raised and resolved," said Madam Longbottom "Previous to his complaints last night, Mr Potter was looking into the possibility of hiring a private tutor for his potions classes. Last night a recommendation was made and he accepted. The two Law Enforcement Officers who previously accompanied us here are waiting for her arrival at the front doors."
"Actually," said Madam Bones "They've just contacted me through our charmed badges. They should be here any moment."
Almost as if in answer to that comment, there was a knock on the staff room door.
Madam Marchbanks walked over to the door and opened it. The two Law Enforcement Officers entered the room as Madam Marchbanks warmly greeted whoever they had brought with them.
Dumbledore watched with no small amount of trepidation as Griselda turned back into the room. He was worried sick about whom they might have chosen to allow private access to Mr Potter.
"Everyone," said Madam Marchbanks "allow me to introduce Mr Potter's private potions instructor, and likely our first choice to replace Professor Snape should it become necessary, Auror Healer and Potions Instructor, Sarah Abbott."
As the blond haired woman entered the room and gave Harry a warm greeting, Dumbledore hit the roof.
Lord Voldemort sat on his throne in the most luxurious room in Malfoy Manor, thinking over what he had learned. Wormtail had returned from the Ministry at one in the morning, three hours later than he was supposed to. Initially Voldemort had been furious. Not only was the rat late, but he had also failed to gain access to the Department of Mysteries. He had made the fool pay for that.
However, the man was not completely without information in his return. Once he had gathered himself together, he managed to relay that he had seen Harry Potter arrive in the Ministry atrium. The lateness of the hour had made Wormtail curious as to the purpose of the visit and had followed on behind them to learn more. Of course, he didn't' hear everything. He had to pay constant attention to his surroundings and go from one hiding place to another to avoid getting caught, and he had wisely not dared to try and sneak around the Department of Magical Law Enforcement when things had moved there, especially with Madam Bones present.
He was, however, able to gleam that there was now a big rift between Potter and Dumbledore, bigger than rumour had made out if Wormtail's claims of Potter lodging complaints against the man in two different departments was to be believed.
It seemed that Potter was distancing himself ever further from the illustrious Dumbledore and looking more and more to the Ministry for support.
Voldemort needed to figure out how to use that to his advantage.
Wormtail had also brought more food for thought about their spy within the castle. As much as Voldemort enjoyed hearing about the successes that Snape and his students had in baiting Potter and his friends, that things were now moving towards the possibility of Potter getting Snape kicked out of the castle was troubling.
Voldemort made a mental note to make sure that he made it clear to Snape at their next meeting just how important his position within the castle was to their cause, and what would happen if he lost that position because he was unable to let go of a childhood grudge.
All things considered, Wormtail's information was a mixture of both good and bad. Dumbledore's faction was breaking apart at the seams, but with Potter moving towards the Ministry could be a disaster. Lucius's standing with the Minister already seemed to be on the decline.
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