There was a giant student cabal to bring Severus Snape, Potions Master and nastiest teacher in the school, down.
The whole conspiracy had begun innocently enough. One day, a student declared that she simply could not stand Professor Snape's rudeness any longer and would like to teach him a lesson. Rose Horbants had meant it as an exasperated statement muttered to her friend, Alice Matker, after a particularly difficult Potions class. She certainly had never meant to act on it.
But Alice was intrigued by the idea of bringing Snape down. And so she began an underground campaign: Make Snape Pay (MSP). She had quite a few followers, too.
Severus had seen many buttons come and go during his teaching career. Harry's classmates had certainly enjoyed making them. Severus recalled SPEW and all such things. He never took a stand, never encouraged it, and never discouraged it. Let students think what they would (except, that is, when it came to Dark magic).
So when Alice walked into class wearing a button with the letters MSP, Severus didn't blink an eye.
Then again, he didn't know what MSP stood for. Had he, he would definitely have done much more than blink an eye.
Take House points, for example. Assign detentions. Teach them what 'due respect to teachers' meant. Possibly take limbs.
But Severus was blissfully unaware that MSP was the beginning of a campaign to make him regret teaching.
Not that that would take much, anyway.
"Matker," Severus began, "Would you mind telling me why your potion is orange instead of purple?"
"I would," Alice answered.
"Detention, eight o'clock, and ten points from Gryffindor," Severus answered automatically.
"I won't be there," Alice replied.
"Matker, I will drag you down here myself," Severus growled. "If you don't wish to suffer bodily harm, be here at eight."
Alice glared but said nothing.
She did show up for detention, purposefully ten minutes late.
"I feared I would have to seek you out," Severus snapped as Alice entered. "Start dicing slugs."
"No," Alice answered.
"Do you think you will achieve anything defying me when there's no one to see you do so? Beyond incurring my wrath, that is?"
Alice said nothing, opting instead to glare at Severus hatefully.
A knock fell on the door.
"Enter!" Severus snapped. "That is, if you dare disrupt me."
"I do," Harry answered as he walked in.
"What is it, Harry?" Severus sighed. He adored his husband, but this was neither the time nor the place.
"I was looking for Matker."
"Why?" Severus and Alice asked at the same time.
"Because she's the founder of MSP," Harry answered.
Severus was puzzled, though he tried not to show it. No luck, his husband was well-trained in reading the signals.
"MSP: Make Snape Pay," Harry said softly. "I leave this in your capable hands now, Severus."
Severus looked at Alice speculatively. By the end of the night, the members of the cabal would be sufficiently scared of him not to try anything.
Cabal – n. 1. A secret, conspiratorial association of plotters or intriguers whose purpose is usually to bring about an overturn especially in public affairs. 2. The schemes or plots of such an association Word of the Day, March 7, 2008)