Harry Potter: Go To Hell

Severus decided to stop by Potter's room to give him a heads up and warn him to be alert as the Headmaster was likely to come after him now that he had finally noticed things in the Castle weren't running according to his whim. He knew Albus would be calling the boy to his office as soon as he recovered from tonight's events. Likely as not as soon as he'd figured out exactly how he wanted to spin Ms. Granger's expulsion and the marking of the three students. Potter deserved to be warned so he could be prepared to defend himself and not be blindsided by the old man yet again.

Not that Severus had any intention of allowing him to face the Headmaster alone. Now that he understood what the Old Man had been trying to do and how intelligent as well as how Slytherin Potter actually was, he was determined the Old Man wouldn't destroy the boy as he had so many others. Himself included. Because looking into Potter and recognizing how games had been played with the boy and his reputation and image had forced him to realize that for the Old Man to have succeeded as well as he had, he'd have to have done this before. That had him looking through piles of Hogwarts records and transcripts.

For the first time, he finally understood the bond of hatred between the Dark Lord and Albus Dumbledore. The Dark Lord was afraid of Albus. Not because Albus was any more powerful than himself really. More because Albus had already been the cause of so much suffering and pain for him, it was hard for him to realize he didn't have that power any more. The Dark Lord wasn't a helpless, defenseless child any more without resources or affiliations of his own to call upon. Still old lessons tend to stick with you and Albus had taught his lessons very well.

Seeing that had allowed Severus to look at his own situation with clearer eyes as well. He could now see how Albus had played him just as easily as he'd been playing with Potter. He'd made sure the Marauders never really got into trouble when they'd ambush the Slytherin students. Especially Severus. He controlled Minerva to the point where he almost could be said to do her thinking for her. It was clear in how she almost universally blamed Potter for everything that went wrong in the Castle during the last four years.

And since he had Slughorn by the balls, -literally- it had been just as easy to make sure the Slytherins got into trouble every time they defended themselves or retaliated. Slughorn had been a disgusting man who collected children as naturally as some people collect stamps or rocks. He was also a little too fond of them for his own good. Especially well born sons of high-ranking and influential people. He would then blackmail his chosen victims later in their adult lives for political favors as he needed them. And Albus had known it. So naturally he'd used that small indiscretion of his to bend him to Albus' will in the matters between Gryffindor and Slytherin House. Consequently Slughorn had never bothered to stand up for the students of his house just as Albus never stood up for Slughorn's victims. Or interfered in his choices so long as the student Slughorn chose wasn't a Gryffindor.

It was no wonder so many of his classmates had gravitated to the Dark Lord. They had answered his call because they were hurt and angry after seven years of abuse and mistreatment in the Albus run Hogwarts where anything and anyone Slytherin was automatically bad just because he said they were. The foreign born and educated Death Eaters and those who hadn't attended Hogwarts during Albus' tenure didn't have that excuse but they more than likely had their own reasons.

Harry was sitting on his bed reading a book Madam Pince had recommended to him about the old magic and the days when simple laws were all a man needed to live his life right. The book covered the customs of the time to explain why the Old Laws existed. In those days, most magical people didn't carry a wand or even use a staff to wield their magic. It was understood that if you had magic, and you desired to do something bad enough you could do it if magic allowed you to. It was a simple concept but very telling in it's simplicity.

To the people back then, Magic wasn't seen as something man controlled. Rather it was a gift you'd been granted access to just like your hair or eye color. You could wield if your intent was clear and your reason was sound. The magic people did was no better or worse than the magic being done today. But people back then didn't think like the people of today did. They used both dark and light magic equally and not all harmful things were done solely with dark magic spells just as not all helping magic was done with light spells. People seemed to have had the thought that magic was magic. Plain and simple. It was the intent of the wielder that determined if the spell was good or bad. Not the spell itself.

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