'Damn It! Snape's going to be an even bigger ass this year.'
Harry could almost feel that inside his bones. As the best false prediction maker in his divination class, Harry was fearful that his just now uttered prophecy would, for once, turn out correct. But then again, you don't need to be Cassandra Trelawney to make that prediction. Why in the Merlin's saggy nuts do we get the dungeon-bat the first thing in the morning?
Fucking Dumbledore!
His bag swung behind him as he raced across the corridors, swallowing the haphazardly made sandwich he had shoved inside his mouth at the end of breakfast. His Dragon-hide boot skidded to a halt as he made a sharp turn, reaching the final hallway.
All these years, dragging Ron to breakfast and classes, and the bastard was nowhere to be seen in the time of his need. And Hermione…
Well, maybe not her.
He grimaced, realizing he would have to sidestep some green-robed assholes to join his fellow Gryffindors. Squaring his shoulders and thrusting his chest out, Harry reduced his pace to a strut. Maybe the blond moron would keep his gob shut and mind his business —
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the boy who disappoints?"
It was too much to hope for, huh?
Harry had to hold back a snarl before remembering where he spent the previous night. His eyes went past the rat-faced Malfoy and stopped at the blushing face of Parkinson. His irritation at Malfoy evaporated in the blink of an eye, and he had to hold himself from grinning. Harry checked all around the corridor, taking notice of his housemates huddling away from the Slytherin bunch.
Not seeing any sign of the potions professor, Harry finally turned to Malfoy. The shivers of vindictive pleasure ran through him as Malfoy blanched seeing the way he towered over the blond's thin, pasty body. Following a foreign instinct, Harry stalked inside Malfoy's personal space, leering at him.
"Malfoy, why don't you ask that in front of the mirror? After all, who can relate better to being a complete disappointment than you?"
"What!" Malfoy's face turned puce. His gray eyes glared daggers at him before he glanced at the two gorillas standing by his side. "Are you barking mad, Pottah?"
Spittle flew in his direction, though Harry was thankful that he was out of the firing range.
"Let's see, who among us needs his head of the house to hold their hands for better grades? Or how about the utter disappointment of a quidditch player who can't even catch a snitch if it flutters under his nose?"
"Potter! Shu—"
"You know what? I bet even your parents probably lament what kind of disappointment their son turned out to be. I'm sure if you had a brother, your family would have disowned you for being an utter failure."
"You know nothing, Potter! My father is proud of me." Harry could see Malfoy was pretty sure of his assertion and there was conviction behind his words. "He said so."
So, that's why…
"Hnn… Just shows what is his standard, then." Harry wondered if Draco would understand the insult, but his clueless face just proved that he had given the blond more credit than his due. "You said nothing about your mother, though. Mommy not putting up with your shit? She seemed disgruntled that day in the box, you know. Maybe that was because she had to endure your presence? Maybe she is secretly ashamed of giving birth to an abysmal excuse of a wizard?"
"Don't you dare say anything about my mother!" Malfoy's face was red, fists balling at his side, fuming like an angry bull about to gore him.
The brash Slytherin's constraint actually surprised Harry. Usually, wands should be out by now.
Harry Potter from last year would have been happy with this victory and tried to move on, but this new him… He couldn't wait to twist the knife even further.
"You know what, Draco—I feel really bad for your mum. She had probably given up on your pathetic self." Harry shook his head, trying and failing to stop a lecherous grin overtaking his face. "Now I can't help her son become a better wizard, but I can certainly try to cheer her up. Why don't you ask her to meet me the next Hogsmeade and I promise to make her the happiest woman in the world."
A couple of loud gasps came from the emerald-robed girls from Draco's behind, and Harry barely stopped himself from saying—Like your girlfriend.
His eyes stayed glued to Draco's, and he saw the exact moment the pompous Slytherin comprehended his proposal. The hand that was balled at the blond's side fumbled inside his robe and a roar thundered from Draco's throat.
"You son of a mudblood whor—"
Harry was barely fazed as Draco fumbled inside his robes for his wand, making an animal-like sound while his oaf bodyguards cracked their knuckles.
His blood was singing in his veins, hands twitching just thinking about taking revenge for all these years of abuse, when a loud thump broke the tension. Every Slytherin turned to the closed door of the Potion classroom to see a frowning Snape beckoning them inside. His housemates, being closer to the door, filled inside first, while he remained with the Slytherins, waiting for Draco's next move.
"Inside! All of you!" Just the venom in Snape's voice as he spat those words while glaring at him left no doubt that the bastard was eavesdropping from behind his hole.
So he shoved his nose when his godson was about to get kicked in the nuts. What better can you expect from the head of the Snakes?
A furious Draco hesitated for a second before turning on his heels and stomping toward the door, but not before giving him the most hateful glare of his life.
Harry just snorted, feeling oddly disappointed.
Hopefully, Malfoy will try something in the future. It would give him a proper excuse for the teachers. Not that there weren't hundreds already.
Even though it was a spur of the moment to talk about Malfoy's mom, Harry found the imagery too enticing to just forget about it. He still remembered the way every single wizard sitting in the minister's box had sneaked glances in the aristocratic woman's way, with what they thought was discreetness. Harry included. Hell, even the Weasleys kept doing that.
Harry could imagine that smug smirk of superiority wiped off of her face, replaced with the same stupid expression that Molly showed whenever she was stuffed full of his dick.
Maybe Lady Malfoy would demand an audience with him if he came to blows with Draco. Demanding his apology with that stacked body and that upturned nose.
Harry rubbed his hands together like the villains of the old movies.
He could hardly wait.
By the time he entered the classroom, Gryffindors were already seated in their aisles. His eyes searched for Ron and Hermione, quickly finding them sitting with Dean and Parvati. His annoyance rose when Ron shied away from meeting his eyes, preparing his station as if he was about to compete with Hermione for Potion's grade.
Harry shook his head, planning to ask what was bothering his first friend before taking a seat at the back.
Harry busied himself with his preparation, hoping Snape wouldn't make too much fuss about his lack of partner. The notice on the board did worry him a bit. From the periphery, he could see the Slytherin students taking seats on the opposite side of the room, as far away from them as possible.
"Potter! Why are you without a partner, if I may ask? Think you are too great to be partnering with one?" Harry sighed internally before raising his head from his station. "If that's the case, then I have to burst your arrogance, boy. Your grades were abysmal in the final exams and you will be thrown out of the classroom if I had my way. Not that you—"
Harry tuned out his potions master before doing a mental count of the students. There was an odd number of students on the Gryffindor side and Harry wondered who had been fortunate enough to miss this wonderful start of their year. He even checked the Slytherin side, thanking his lucky stars no one was sitting by their lonesome on that side as well. However, he wouldn't have minded partnering Pansy, or the white haired-girl whose name he should have known by now. Even the evil twins known as the Carrows would have been an enjoyable challenge. An enjoyable challenge, indeed.
"Potter!"
Harry stared at the fuming professor, at last, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
"20 points from Gryffindor for your absentmindedness!" Snape's voice echoed around the silent classroom and Harry thought the bastard seemed double-minded by his tone. Probably his happiness of docking early points from him was warring with the utter nonchalance of his. Whatever. Long gone were the days when he was intimated by a professor who seemed to cosplay an overgrown bat.
"Maybe you should be sent back to the muggles if you can not follow a single instruction!"
Harry's eyes narrowed as a vindictive smirk shadowed Snape's face. Harry had always wondered if the headmaster was aware of what his life was like before coming to Hogwarts. But his insistence that he returned there every year had caused him some doubts. If the headmaster was aware, then probably this hook-nosed bastard must also know of his misfortune there. The headmaster seemed to like him for some unknown reason. Then he remembered the revelations of the summer and his jaws tightened.
Of course, if the headmaster was aware of his scar and planning what Adrastia and he had theorized was planning, then this bastard must be on it too…
Well, he couldn't let Snape have the last laugh now, could he?
"Maybe you should be sent back to preschool, professor. I mean, surely any five-year-old could deduce there is an odd number of students here and one student has to work alone." Harry said, intentionally keeping his voice pleasant.
"You…Potter! Fifty points from Gryffindor for insulting a professor!" Snape shouted the word Potter like it was the worst kind of curse known to wizard-kind.
Harry knew he was asking for trouble, but nobody had given him credit for maintaining restraint.
"You sure it was fifty, professor? Do you need someone's help to… you know…count the points… for you?"
Snape's face matched a color that he had only seen once on Uncle Vernon's face just after he had left a grease mark on his brand-new car. But where his uncle was seconds away from bursting a nerve, Snape's furious expression stilled for a second before his face took an odd, detached visage. The color returned to the pasty white face.
Snape's eyes bore down on his before he glanced ahead at the room. Specifically, at Ron and Hermione's back.
Though Harry was irritated at Snape's insinuation that he wasn't wizard enough to attend Hogwarts, it wasn't something he had previously not heard. But the blooming sick smile on the professor's face gave him an odd foreboding feeling.
"I never thought I would see it, but it seems there's finally a Weasley with an ounce of brain. Distancing yourself from Potter's arrogance, Weasley? That must be the only good thing you have ever done." It disheartened Harry to see that Ron just grimaced at the professor's way before staring straight ahead, not looking in his direction once.
"And Granger…" Harry saw Hermione's shoulders stiffen. "Even miss-know-it-all can use that big brain of hers, it seems. Who would have thought that the less famous duo of the Golden Trio would have enough sense to cut their losses before it's too late?"
Harry's teeth clenched and he could hear snickering from the other side of the room. Snape turned around and looked down his nose at him.
"On the other hand, if the rumors are accurate, then your deficiencies extend beyond just potions, don't they, Potter?"
A vein twitched in his neck as a cackle rang around the room. A cackle that he had the displeasure of hearing multiple times in previous years.
'Malfoy…I will show you who is lacking.' Harry thought, glaring at the professor's beak-like nose and wishing it would combust in a fiery blaze.
Snape seemed to take relish in his Slytherin's delight, holding his gaze, causing Harry's hands to clench, almost drawing blood.
"It's a shame that some take too much time to realize that Potters are nothing but disappointments." Harry's fury rose as Snape continued insulting his family. "If only Lily Evans had Granger's sense and realized what a failure James Potter was, then we wouldn't have to endure another entitled brat's presence."
Blood thundered in his ears and he was distantly aware the snickering in the room had stopped entirely. All those petty insults that he had to endure in this classroom over the years rushed back into his mind. And with that came anger. White, hot fury spread through his veins, erasing the sense of civility that Dursleys had forced into him with the smacks of a leather belt. An uncaged animal took that place.
Enough is enough!
A leap and he was standing in front of the startled professor. His balled hand flashed up and the wand that had appeared in Snape's hand cluttered at their feet. He savored the widened, panicked eyes of Snape before his other fist connected with the belly of the bastard. A gasping wheeze came from Snape as he folded in half, which was silenced as Harry raised his left knee and slammed it against the hook-shaped nose. A snap of broken cartilage gonged even louder than the previous cackles.
Harry knew in the back of his mind that there would be consequences for assaulting a professor, no matter how abhorrent a person he might be—but the fear that had stalled him multiple times in the past was blissfully absent. So was the dread of punishment.
After all, if he got expelled from here, then maybe he could look for ways to get rid of his scar on his own. With the help of Adrastia, maybe.
The pained moans and grunts from the kneeling professor made Harry realize the bastard couldn't get away with so little beating, so he took hold of the scruff of his robes and slammed his head into Nevile's cauldron. A loud metallic thump and the body in his grip stilled. Harry dumped the bastard on the floor with relish, ignoring the awed looks on his dormmates' faces.
A loud exhale followed his rampage as he tried to stop the blood that was thundering in his veins. After a few moments of silence, he snatched his bag from his station, intent on never stepping inside this pigeonhole again.
A wooden rod crunched beneath his steps and Harry slammed his heels down with relish before turning to a shaking Draco Malfoy.
"Tell your head of the house—the next time he foul-mouths my parents, I will Fucking KILL him."
Harry Potter stormed out of the potions' classroom, not glancing at his classmates for once after beating the shit out of his professor and threatening his nemesis.
His boots thumped along the empty corridor as he followed a fuming deputy headmistress. Harry dragged his feet, or at least tried to but one glare from his head of the house and he thought better of it.
"Can't my punishment wait for tomorrow, professor? It's getting late."
"And whose fault is that?" Harry winced at the venom in his head of the house's snap. "You shouldn't have hidden for the entire day at the lakeside. You didn't think that…your actions during the potions class would go unpunished, did you?"
"But…" Harry snapped his mouth shut at the way Professor McGonagall whirled around mid-step, her lips stretched into a thin line.
"All right. Fine!" Harry barely stopped himself from growling. "What's my punishment?"
"That would be Headmaster's prerogative." Professor McGonagall seemed oddly happy about that. "We are going to his office."
Harry clamped up after that, dogging behind the professor. He had evaded interacting with the headmaster till then, but his good luck seemed to have finally run out.
Hopefully, he could stop himself from strangling his one-time grandfather figure if push comes to shove.
A folded parchment inside his pockets at least promised some rewarding news if the regal owl that delivered it and the flowery handwriting above the envelope were any sign. Shame he got found out before he could open the letter.
Harry almost stumbled into Professor McGonagall as she stopped. He mumbled a small apology before raising his eyebrows when the professor put her hand forward, staring at him expectantly.
"Your wand, Mr. Potter…"
What!
Harry looked around the empty corridor, his muscles tensing as he wondered if he could outrun the professor's wandwork. His eyes fell on the lifelike statue at the Headmaster's office entrance, reminding him of the omnipotent power Dumbledore held over his domain.
"I don't understand, Professor…"
"You know that an off-age wizard assaulting another could be a punishable offense and the Headmaster has every right to bring Aurors in your case, don't you?"
Harry gulped. Maybe he should have taken his revenge without eyewitnesses.
"So…" Harry asked, hoping she was not asking him to surrender his wand for good.
Professor McGonagall sighed, pushing her spectacles up her nose. "Headmaster has asked me to hold on to your wand until he talks to you and decides if DMLE should be involved in this issue."
"But he insulted my—"
"Mr. Potter?" Harry felt a pang of guilt as his head of the house sounded pained. "You should plead your case to Albus."
A reluctant Harry Potter surrendered his wand to the awaiting hand of the Professor before striding to the alcove where the headmaster's office's entrance was located. At least he was thankful that he could hear heels clicking behind him.
Let's get this over with.
His ascendancy came to a stop when the great doors of the headmaster's office blocked his path. Raising his hand, he was about to knock when a voice floated from inside.
"Come in Minerva, Mr. Potter."
Hmn… he snorted. Show off. Still, he steeled his heart and pushed the doors inside, striding forward with his held high, as if he hadn't kicked a professor's ass all over the classroom just that morning.
Harry's strutting came to an abrupt halt as he came across the other person standing beside the headmaster, with his head wrapped around white bandages. His teeth clinching together, Harry whirled around and stalked towards Professor McGonagall, who was standing beside the just-closed door.
"My wand, Professor!"
"Mr. Potter, you will get—"
"I don't care. I will not stay in the same room as him without my wand!" Harry dared the professor to challenge him.
"Forgive me, Mr. Potter, you don't think you are in any mortal peril in our presence, do you? The idea seems preposterous."
Harry wished he hadn't expected the headmaster to shove his nose into the matter. But dealing with him for the last three years, Harry would be lying if he said so.
"Yes, Professor. I mean exactly that!"
"Headmaster, I hope you have already informed the DMLE about the blatant assault on me. Don't tell me this insufferable brat will get away from this just by a slap on his wrist?"
"Now, now Severus. No need for any haste. Let's hear Harry's side of the story before a decision is made."
"Mind I remind you about the similar assault on myself by another Potter and his gang? You let them wriggle free that time as well."
Harry wondered what the hell Snape was talking about. The few spots on his face that were unhidden by a bandage were reaching a dangerous shade of red as he whined to the headmaster.
"Severus…" Harry's blood curdled just by listening to the chiding tone of Dumbledore, even if it was directed at someone else. That all-knowing tone—no doubt he probably thinks himself the wisest and everybody should follow his whims. "Let's not talk about past events, especially as your recollections seemed to be muddled by your anger. I remember something else entirely."
"You…You…" Snape frothed at the mouth, completely overlooking his presence for the time being. He was thankful for that. "I will not let that bastard James Potter's spawn get away with—"
Harry's feet moved on their own accord. He crossed the scant few feet in the blink of an eye and gripped the back of Snape's robes, turning him around, and lifting him from the ground.
"Snivellus!" Harry's teeth bared in a snarl as anger drained from Snape's face. "Say one word about my father and everybody will know if you can fly like a bat after I chuck you from that window!"
"Mr. Potter! Enough! Unhand Professor Snape this instant!" Dumbledore said calmly.
A rising pressure of magic flowed from the Headmaster's vicinity and Harry finally let go of Snape's lapel. Even while backtracking, his green eyes glowered at the bottomless dark ones of his most hated professor, who seemed to have found his nerves after Dumbledore's interference.
"I hope that showed—" A hand from the headmaster stalled whatever Snape was going to sprout again as Professor Dumbledore regarded him with unusual interest. Even more than his usual self.
"Mr. Potter, please take the seat." Harry thought about resisting the thinly veiled order before, with a last glare at Potion's professor's way, shuffled into the plain, wooden chair that looked to be conjured intentionally misshapen.
Taking his seat, Harry put his hands under his chin and looked around the oddities scattered around the office, not meeting the heated stare he could feel from three sets of eyes.
"Harry, my boy… you seem unusually agitated. Anything you would like to share with us? Anything that you are troubled about?"
There it was. The attempt of fishing information. Harry, for a moment, thought about blurting out his knowledge of his scar; but sanity prevailed, and he corralled his impulses, taking a deep breath and finally deigning to look the headmaster's way.
"No, headmaster. I am not troubled. Only fed up with one teacher's repeated barbs and asinine comments." He said, focusing on the large nose of Dumbledore, which seemed to have been broken multiple times. Harry, for a second, wondered where could he find the person who had taken a potshot at the powerful wizard and if he would be interested in taking Harry as his apprentice.
"My dear boy…your reticence in divulging, no doubt what you think an important knowledge is very troubling." Dumbledore sighed tiredly, as if Harry had done an unforgivable sin. "You must be aware I have only your best interests at heart?"
Yeah, sure.
Harry had to use all his willpower not to twitch at the attempt of guilt-tripping him. He was doubly ashamed as Dumbledore's trick would have been successful just last year. How naïve had he been?
He kept his mouth shut and Dumbledore seemed to sigh even louder.
Old prick!
"Well, I hope you will reconsider your stance, my boy," Dumbledore said, before straightening up from his slouch, radiating a sense of danger that was previously absent.
Finally, it was getting tiring to hold himself from letting another one-two fly out at the old headmaster.
"Mr. Potter, I don't think you are aware of the consequences of the morning's event." So it's back to Potter, huh? Harry leaned back in his chair, hands folded in his lap. "Professor Snape could rightfully demand your expulsion from Hogwarts. And if he presses charges to the Aurors against you…"
"Hmm…" Harry hummed in the back of his throat before shoving his pinky in the ear and twisting the small digit vigorously.
"Mr. Potter!"
"What!" Harry kept cleaning his ear, looking sideways at the scandalized Professor McGonagall's face.
"Show some respect to the headmaster!" Harry just snorted at her scandalized tone.
"Yeah. Do it." Rather than looking at the stilled face of the trio, Harry finally got a glance at Fawkes and cooed.
"I don't think you are realizing the graveness of the situation, Mr. Potter." Harry could feel the furious tremor in the Headmaster's voice. Finally, the old goat seemed to be riled up. "With the expulsion from Hogwarts, you will be deemed a full adult and the ministry will prosecute you to the full extent. Azkaban isn't for the faint of heart, Mr. Potter."
"Yo! Fawkes, come down here, buddy." Harry beckoned the majestic phoenix toward him. His lips twitched as Fawkes unfurled his wings and swooped from his high place, taking a seat on his thigh, though not before cuffing Snape in the head with his wings.
Stroking the gorgeous-looking feathers of the phoenix and smiling as the phoenix let out trill after trill, Harry looked up at the stony visage of the headmaster.
"Yeah, just like I said. Expel me. Give me to the Aurors. Do whatever you like."
"Mr. Potter…Harry… What?" Harry barely withheld a smirk as the headmaster gaped at him, imitating a gaping fish.
"I…" Professor Dumbledore visibly pulled himself together. "There will be no need for that, Harry, my boy. An apology to Professor Snape in front of your peers would suffice for now."
"Absolutely not, Headmaster!"
"Silence!"
Harry sat up straighter in his seat as the first sign of anger erupted from the headmaster's tone. And to think it would be directed at his most hated professor. Harry could savor the look on Snape's face for the rest of his life.
"No. Professor, can't do that."
"Surely you will rather apologize than get expelled and face charges?" Dumbledore asked, his voice incredulous.
"As I just said, I will not apologize to Snape. Not now. Not ever." Harry glared at the headmaster, a few embers of distaste for the old man slipping from the crack in his expression.
"And for the record, I doubt that Beauxbatons or Dumstrang will reject my plea of admission, even if the cause of expulsion is walloping a vermin." Harry could hear the gnashing of teeth from the man standing beside the headmaster. "As for the charges, I know the wizarding world at large has always been eager to know about my whereabouts and what I had been doing all my life. I guess there's no harm in giving an interview about my life growing up—" He pointedly looked at Headmaster's eyes. "—and my adventures in Hogwarts. They could probably write another couple of books this time, though I wonder if the new books will be children-friendly, like their predecessors."
Harry almost flinched as Dumbledore flicked his wand and shot his patronus toward the entrance, where the silvery construct passed through the wood and metal like a phantom.
Harry watched, with narrowed eyes, hands stroking the phoenix as Dumbledore flicked the wand back inside his sleeve and slouched in his high-backed chair. Trying very hard to look his age for once.
"I can't think of any reason for this distrust, my boy," the Headmaster said after a long beat of silence, sighing tiredly. "Nor can I think of ever seeing you so aggressive and impulsive."
Harry just shrugged his shoulders, realizing how the old man had held onto so many powerful positions for so long. It was a shame the headmaster was born a wizard. The normal world certainly missed out on a fabulous actor.
"Festering anger in your heart can lead to darkness, my boy. It is not a path that I would like to see you trod on."
Of course, now I am a dark wizard.
"200 points from Gryffindor." Harry's expression remained flat as the headmaster peered at him from over his spectacles. He opened his mouth again before closing it, looking at Harry in disappointment.
"We will talk again, my boy."
"Headmaster, surely you aren't—"
Realizing the dismissal and not wanting the headmaster to play his games again, Harry gave a jerky nod, slightly disappointed about losing the chance to see Snape get chewed on.
He had already crossed the distance to the door when the Headmaster's voice halted his steps.
"I have already informed Madame Pomfrey that you will need to be examined, so kindly visit her on the way to your dorm."
"But…I have no need…"
"This is non-negotiable," Harry's eyes twitched as Dumbledore looked at him with pity. "We can only hope that this bout of violence and bullheadedness is just the result of teenage rebellion and nothing nefarious. But it is never wise to overlook magical interference in case of a sudden change in behavior."
Harry Potter gritted his teeth, cursing the old wizard for putting him on the spot. The bastard!