Nor did he chide Harry for refusing to stay in his appointed tower. Truthfully, as someone who's life was always on the line, he understood what the boy was saying. He wouldn't have been comfortable staying there either in his place. His own life had always been in danger since even his own father had been a verifiable threat to his well-being. Which was probably why he hadn't recognized the danger of becoming a Death Eater until it was too late to back out or walk away, now that he thought about it. Personal danger had always been a constant in his life.
As for taking vengeance on the trio, in his opinion, the Triad deserved everything they'd gotten and more. And if Harry hadn't gotten his revenge on them personally, Severus knew damn well he'd have done something himself. He was after all the boy's Guardian/Protector here in the magical world. He may not have wanted to be but he was. He even had it in writing just in case he had to act in a way that called it into question. It was his duty to look after the boy and his interests. That definitely meant dealing with those who harmed or tried to harm him. No matter what their reasons for doing so. And those three had done more than try. Still, the boy had done an admirable job getting vengeance on them himself.
So, he reflected as he walked first to the Library where Irma handed him a copy of the booklet and then to his tower and the waiting Slytherins, he was proud of him for it. The boy had aced as a perfect Slytherin in the way he had trapped them and delivered his just punishment on them. How could he not be proud of that? As Draco had said last year, Gryffindor tie or not, Potter's more Slytherin than he ever was a Gryffindor.
He stopped outside the tower for a few minutes to read through the section Irma had marked for him and couldn't help smirking again when he finished reading. The boy had done well. He didn't have a doubt in his mind after listening to every word spoken today, those three had deserved what happened to them and it helped that Harry was correct in his summation. It was his right to do so. Not only was he the wronged party for all three but he was a Wizard of high standing in their world. Much higher than the three who had been defaming and defrauding him. Not even the Ministry would deny that. So no matter how much the three complained or who they complained to, nothing would come of it.
He entered the Slytherin common room to find it packed full with every Slytherin who wasn't in a class right now. Those who hadn't been in the Library for the Showdown were sending him questioning looks while those who had were looking smug. His smirk grew as he knew those who had missed the Showdown and weren't here now would be really upset over what they'd missed. Anything involving the Triad and Potter was hot news to the student body. He began to speak and his children listened carefully to what he had to say.
He explained what the fifth years had seen in the Library and explained that yes, what Potter had done to the Triad was legal and justified. That they were in essence tried by Magic and found guilty by Magic. That it was their own gift that would be used to hold them to the rules of their punishment. It helped, he told the children, that even wizarding law said Harry had the right to punish them for their crimes if they admitted to said crimes in front of witnesses. Which they so obligingly had.
It had taken him a few minutes to explain to the children that the magic Potter had used was neither light magic nor dark magic. It was Judgment magic used in the days before the Wizengamot and still legal because the 'gamot hadn't ever gotten around to formally outlawing it. Judgment magic in those days had been widely used when one magic user accused another of wrongdoing. Though it was still legal today, most people had forgotten about it and didn't try to use it.
This Severus knew was nothing but the truth of the matter. He'd made a detailed study of the current laws when he'd realized the error of taking the Dark Mark and found Albus wasn't really a better Master than the Dark Lord. Albus had implied just having the mark on his arm was illegal and he could get Severus arrested just for having it on his forearm. But the law said no such thing. Being marked was not a crime. Nor could the person who administered the mark be arrested for doing so since having or baring a mark wasn't against the law no matter what said mark was for. You still had to prove the marked person had done something illegal.
He'd decided then and there he needed to know how he could help himself when the day came and he was no longer of any use to Albus Dumbledore. Because he knew when that day arrived Albus would toss him aside without a care for whether or not he'd survive the tumble. And that was only if he didn't force him into a position where he'd be breaking the law in front of witnesses so he could be legally arrested and detained. because the Albus that he knew didn't leave tools or toys he was finished using or playing with laying around where another might pick them up and use them against him. He would seek to make sure Severus wasn't and never could become a threat against him.
As a result of all his study into the laws, he knew Harry could've chosen to punish the Triad in any manner he wished so long as said punishment didn't involve permanent enslavement, incarceration, dismemberment, or death. His justice hadn't involved any of that. Well, except for the Betrayer's Brand seeing as how that one would never go away. But no one was going to protest that mark and disfigurement wasn't against the rules. So it was quite likely that even if someone did protest it,( Minerva, Albus) they wouldn't get far. Because while the Patron Rune was a behavior modifier it wasn't permanent. All it did was force them to change their undesirable habits. The Betrayer's Rune didn't force Mr. Weasely to change his behavior at all so that didn't count either.
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/Sonic_Spectre
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon