"Professor Lupin taught me that. Easily the best
defence professor we've had..."
Ron's sorrowful voice cut across Harry's praise for their favourite professor. "Harry mate, Professor Lupin resigned this morning. Someone let slip all over Hogwarts about his condition. He's packing right now." Ron's glare at Snape's back left them in no doubt where that slip had come from.
Seeing the shock on Potter's face, Severus grasped the opportunity to rub some salt into this open emotional wound. Pleasure first, then he would sort out the detentions issue. "Quite right too. A werewolf teaching students in Hogwarts, the parents would never stand for it. The complaints will soon be flooding in."
Even with Hermione almost painfully squeezing his hand, and talking to him via their rings, there was no way for Harry to control his temper here. Like last night though, she was so proud of him for using that anger constructively.
"They don't seem to complain about a Death Eater teaching their children, or does Professor Dumbledore treat their complaints the same way he's treating mine here? 'Professor Snape has my full trust' - hundreds of witnesses, including himself - doesn't matter - case closed and forgotten about. That neatly sums up my three years at Hogwarts."
Instead of silence, this time there were whispered conversations happening all around the hall. The words 'Snape' and 'Death Eater' were clearly discernible however, probably because everyone was using them.
Snape's anger gauge was in danger of exploding. He held his head high though and looked to Albus to pass judgement in this matter. Once he had Potter down in his dungeon though, all bets were off. "Headmaster, you were there last night and witnessed Potter's extreme insolence and continued disrespect toward me. Do you think my punishment here is justified?"
Even knowing of the animosity between these two, Albus was shocked at the amount of venom in Harry's retort. He was then stunned at Severus' question, a baffled Albus couldn't help his potions professor. "Severus, I have no idea what you are talking about. I can ask Poppy if she knows anything, but that's the best I can do."
Still trying to help Harry keep a lid on his temper, Hermione then introduced their solution into the mix. "Professor McGonagall, last night Professor Snape claimed that Harry, Ron and I had all been confounded by Sirius Black. Since Professor Snape was unconscious for most of last night's events, and the enmity between these two wizards is hardly a secret, wouldn't it have been possible for Black to use the same curse on an unconscious professor? I also believe Black was a renowned prankster. Having Professor Snape think Harry was extremely rude to him seems to be, however irresponsible, like something Black would do." Both Harry and Hermione were certain Sirius would forgive them for blaming him. If they pulled this off, Sirius would probably be rolling on the floor with laughter after hearing about it.
Nodding her head as she easily pictured such an event happening, Minerva had to agree. "That certainly sounds like something Sirius Black would pull. Do you have any notion of what Professor Snape is talking about, Miss Granger?"
They could both feel Snape and/or Dumbledore trying to read Hermione's thoughts. Without either of them removing their wands and actually casting the spell, their rings easily dealt with the problem. Hermione would also like to think she lied a lot more convincingly that after the troll incident in her first year. "Professor, Harry never left my side all night. If what Professor Snape claims happened then I would have had to have witnessed it, I didn't."
Albus wanted this wrapped up quickly, before any more revelations came out. "Severus, looking at the evidence I can't support your detentions of Mister Potter..."
"And my complaint against Professor Snape?" Harry's anger at hearing Remus Lupin had been forced into resigning was still mighty.
Wearing his best grandfatherly smile, Albus thought he had a rather elegant solution to this tricky problem. "Harry, my boy, Miss Granger just built a very convincing case for Professor Snape being confounded into believing something awful happened between you both."
Albus' wand had Harry's sleeve slipping from Severus' grasp and sliding up Harry's arm before flawlessly reattaching itself. "I can't punish someone who wasn't in complete control of their actions. The other matter mentioned was settled by trial many years ago." He may have thought this would end the matter but Albus was wrong, way wrong.
"Was my godfather the only person who was denied a trial after I defeated Voldemort? That smells something awful." Turning to his head of house, Harry had made a decision. "Professor McGonagall, I know part of the Hogwarts charter allows students to bring in their own tutor if they believe it would be beneficial. Myself, my girlfriend, Hermione, Luna here, Neville and Ron will no longer be taught potions by Professor Snape."
Hermione was in his head, asking how he knew that. Harry just showed her the pages of some book Tom must have read. 'The knowledge just feeds into my thoughts, pity our exams are over.' This revelation shocked Hermione into silence, it seemed too much like cheating before her sensible side kicked in and asserted itself. They needed every advantage they could get. Trying to prevent Severus exploding, Albus attempted to be the voice of reason. "Harry, that would cost rather a lot of gold. Whatever money your parents left you, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to waste it like this. Won't you reconsider?"
Thinking for a few seconds, Harry again spoke with his head of house. "Professor McGonagall, I've reconsidered. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of my Gryffindor yearmates to have Professor Snape take his anger out on them. They are welcome to join me too."
The cheering from the Gryffindor table was almost enough to set the powder keg that was Severus Snape off. A quick glance confirmed neither teen was were wearing the rings Severus was sure were on their fingers last night, he also had no problem believing Black would curse him while he was unconscious. While lending credence to him being confounded, not being able to get a read on either of these two concerned Severus a lot more. He needed to get to the bottom of this so Severus made one last desperate attempt to get Potter into detention.
"Headmaster, it's undeniable that Potter and his two friends were out after curfew last night. Aren't they going to receive any punishment, or is Potter exempt from the same rules that govern everyone else?"
This was just too good of an opportunity to tweak Snape's hooked nose for Harry to resist. Sirius would be pissing himself with laughter at this one. "But Professor Snape, you yourself said - in front of the Minister of Magic - that all three of us had been confounded by Black. Professor Dumbledore just ruled that people who aren't in complete control cannot be punished for their actions. I really think you should get Madam Pomfrey to check you out, there's no telling what else Sirius Black might have cast when you were unconscious…"