Harry potter : Forgotten Lord

Listening to the Deputy Headmistress explain their task, one could clearly see the subtle signs of concern hidden beneath her stern expressions if one was looking. Her whole posture seemed to be shaken, rattled by the previous night's events, and the whole student body could feel it.

After all, if the opening of the Chamber had the unshakable Professor McGonagall rattled, everyone should be alarmed. However, before they could start their lesson for the day, Hermione raised her hand. Many wondered what the Gryffindor wanted; the instructions were rather clear, even Ron could understand them.

"Professor?" the bushy-haired lioness asked nervously as the whole class looked at her, all wondering what she wanted. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets."

Silence fell over the classroom; no one dared to breathe as the professor weighed up what to say, clearly wrestling with what to do, before finally deciding, "Oh, very well."

The Head of Gryffindor House began to explain about the Chamber of Secrets and its legend, the whole classroom listening with interest. No doubt the information would be around the school by lunchtime.

"Want to bet Granger heads straight to the library after this lesson?" Padma offered, looking over at the student in question.

"Sucker bet." He replied, already remembering the lioness heading there before breakfast as he returned from his morning run. "Saw her this morning returning from the library, no doubt the only reason she asked about it is that she couldn't find anything." He guessed, still taking notes.

"Alright, how much you want to bet they blame Malfoy for it?" Terry asked from the row behind him.

Snorting at the question, not even bothering to look around and risk drawing the teacher's attention, he replied, "Not even a bet. Both Longbottom and Malfoy always blame each other for every drama or issue. If Malfoy got a paper cut from toilet paper, he would somehow blame Longbottom for it."

...

"Severus, may I have a moment of your time?" The familiar voice of the Headmaster rang in his ears as he made his way to his classroom for his upcoming lesson.

"I have a couple of minutes I can spare for you, Headmaster." He replied coldly, still rather bitter with the old man for putting him in such an embarrassing situation with fucking Potter, as well as his own stupidity for not reading the document in the first place. Damn the boy, and damn the goblins and their stupid contracts.

Worst of all, all the upper-year Ravenclaws were now carrying notepads of their own, noting down every action he took, every comment, forcing him to play 'nice' or at least neutral to all of them. It didn't matter if he took their notepads; they had spares, backups, and backups for their backups. The only small mercy was that at least the Gryffindors weren't in on it, or the Puffs, allowing him at least to have some means of release for his growing frustration.

Entering his classroom as the Headmaster started throwing up several advanced privacy wards to protect their discussion from potential eavesdroppers, he waited patiently until the older man was done.

"I trust you haven't learned anything else about the Chamber of Secrets, Severus?" The Headmaster asked, referring to the task he had set him earlier on in the term.

Remembering his meeting with his close friend, he answered, "No, Lucius paid a middle man to plant the book on a Hogwarts student." He lied effortlessly, knowing that Lucius had planted the object himself on a student, but not willing to betray his friend even if he did not approve of Lucius's scheme. It was too risky; there were too many unknowns, and it even risked his own son's life. But he couldn't betray the man Lucius was like a brother he never had. Then he was also Draco's godfather; betraying Lucius would mean betraying Draco and Narcissa, both of whom would suffer if Lucius's actions ever came to light.

In addition, it conflicted with his duty as a professor to protect his students, even if at times he hated teaching the dimwits and wanted to strangle them with his bare hands on a regular basis. But there was nothing more rewarding than helping shape the next generation, watching and directing the growth of a talented brewer, helping them to reach their potential.

It wouldn't be so bad if he could teach the subject he wanted; instead, he was stuck teaching a difficult and dangerous subject he had no desire to. Potions, as far as he was concerned, shouldn't be taught until the student had matured and had gained patience and sensibility, instead of messing about with dangerous mixtures. "He had the name and face of the man removed. No doubt he's already had the man killed if it was possible." He explained, giving no emotion, knowing that his friend was more than capable of such an act and hoping the Headmaster wouldn't question him further on the subject.

"Such a pity." The aged man answered, buying his lies, clearly deep in thought, as he went about setting up the lab for the next lesson and setting out the instructions for a modified Calming Draught he would be brewing with his sixth-year class.

"I've instructed Pomona to plant some new mandrakes in her private greenhouse. The last batch was found dead this morning; someone sabotaged the plant feed with a root-killing potion. It could be an innocent accident, but I doubt it with the opening of the Chamber." The Headmaster admitted, catching him by surprise at the sudden news.

"An unlikely coincidence..." Snape added, thinking over the recent setback.

"Indeed, I reached the same conclusion. The problem is it does nothing to help us. The whole school had access to the greenhouse they were being grown in." Dumbledore explained further, moving to examine some of the potions on display.

Several minutes passed as he carried on preparing the classroom, leaving Albus to his thoughts, before finally getting started on his grading. Scanning the first assignment on the stack, he gave it a 'T' without thought. There was no way Ron Weasley could have written it; clearly Granger had either helped him or, more likely, he'd copied it from her when she wasn't looking.

Personally, he hoped it had been copied that would give him a fitting excuse to take a good number of House Points, and the old cat could do nothing about it, making him feel slightly better. After all, he couldn't get the boy expelled or even suspended since he was one of the Headmaster's pawns. The worst part of this was the boy knew he was; he'd seen it in the boy's mind as of late. Apparently, the infinite wisdom of Albus bloody Dumbledore had decided to clue the worthless little shit in on his worth.

Speak of the devil, "Severus, I want to test Neville to make sure the boy isn't somehow involved." The Headmaster finally announced, looking over in his direction.

"What do you have in mind?" Severus replied, looking up from his marking, putting the quill back in the inkwell, ready to listen to whatever scheme his employer was brewing up.

"I'm going to arrange for Professor Lockhart to open a Duelling Club. I want you to be his assistant." He planned, causing Snape to frown at having to waste more of his valuable time. "Then set young Neville up in a duel with your godson. Teach Draco a snake-summoning charm, then have him summon one against Neville, and we'll see if young Neville is a Parseltongue."

Thinking over the scheme, somewhat annoyed that he would have to spend a couple of hours with the fraud that was their current DADA teacher, he spat, "Fine," already knowing he couldn't get out of it. "Have you checked Ron and Hermione's minds?"

"Yes, I scanned their surface thoughts yesterday evening after finding Alastor. I found nothing foul, but I just want to make sure. You know as well as I do, with Neville wearing his ring now, I dare not risk looking into his mind." Albus grumbled at the minor setback in their means to monitor Neville.

He remembered the Headmaster had previously persuaded Lady Longbottom to hold back on giving Neville his family's ring under the guise of preventing the boy from getting too big a head or growing too arrogant. It looked like that deal had run out not that it had done what it was supposed to. "Any idea why he's suddenly wearing it?" he asked. His mental probings were already limited from that stupid magical contract, restricting his abilities to spy.

"I believe one of the staff may have let slip your skills to his grandmother." The Headmaster responded offhandedly, getting a sharp look from the Head of Slytherin House.

"Do not worry, they can't mention the whole ordeal with Potter due to their employment oaths. The only thing they could do was let slip your unique skills, not how you use them."

"However, I have a plan in place. If everything goes well, we'll make proper use of your skills, legally, within the school." He added thoughtfully. "To a point it depends on the outcome of this year."

He mulled over what the Headmaster had said. The last thing he needed was that woman coming after him. He turned his attention back to his marking for a few moments before asking carefully, "Have you found a solution yet to the Potter situation?" Trying to stay emotionless around the Headmaster when it came to the subject of the son of his school nemesis, lest the man try and make them get along.

"I'm working on it. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing solid. I don't want to underestimate him again." A reply that only caused his temper to flare, since it was he who was paying the price for the failure of the Headmaster's plans.

"He could be of some use to us, though, if we handle this right." The scheming old wizard continued, causing Snape to mentally recoil at another one of the Chief Warlock's plots and schemes, which no doubt involved him somehow.

"Albus, you better get going; students are already arriving." Snape said, the wards triggering as the students started piling up outside, as he noticed the Headmaster's thoughts were elsewhere.

"Oh, sorry about that, lost track of time." The Headmaster excused before popping out the door, greeting the students as he left, firmly back in his jolly grandfather persona.

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