An: Still don't own any of it, still not making any money off of it, though if I did or if I was it'd be awesome.
AN2: Snape is the most complicated characters in the Harry Potter universe. He has been discussed by almost everyone at one point or another, ripped to shreds by some, and put on a pedestal by others. I try and make him out not to be a complete bastard, just like I'm trying with everyone, like I said I don't bash characters just to bash them, there will be a reason behind it.
Anywho let's get back to the story.
Harry, "The money will be available as soon as you redeem that bank draft. So business is concluded on your end."
Dumbledore, "May I ask why you donated to the school?"
Harry, "A few reasons. First being, this is the only magical school in Britain, many of the families don't have the money to send their children over seas to have a proper education, so logic dictates that the school must improve. Second being the school needs to run a lot smoother, fifteen adults, five of which can't use magic, and close to four hundred magical children is a recipe for disaster. Third, because this will keep you so busy attempting to fix all of the problems around here will keep you so busy, you won't be able to meddle with anything that I need to do. It's going to keep you out of my hair.
"You've done a lot of things that you classify under the Greater-Good, you look at the big picture, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless you don't take into account all of the people that you affect. You sit in your throne there and make big plans but you either over estimate or under estimate the people around you. You don't trust anyone to either do the right thing with the information you can give them, or you don't trust that they can handle it. Remember this, forewarned is forearmed. Denying anyone crucial information only hamstrings their efforts. Stop claiming to trust so many people and actually trust them, they and you will be much happier after the fact."
Dumbledore did his impression of a fish at that, which pretty much gave an opening to get out of there. He really wished that someone other than Dumbledore was headmaster, he wouldn't feel as dirty as he did right now after being cooped up in a room with him for the last several hours. Sure Dumbledore wasn't evil, but him not caring how his plans and scheme affected anyone other than the desired outcome was disconcerting. No he wasn't evil, how else would a phoenix stay with him if he was?
Snape and Harry left Dumbledore's office at the same time. Harry followed Snape to his office in the dungeons. As they got to the door, "Is there a reason you're following me Potter?"
Harry, "I wanted to talk to you alone for few minutes."
Snape, "About what?"
Harry, "The fact that you don't belong here." Snape started to get angry but Harry kept going before he had a chance to vent his ire. "You shouldn't be teaching at this level. As I see it, your problem isn't the fact that you're not a people person, or that you don't have pleasant personality, it's the fact that you're a genius."
Snape was perplexed, "How in Merlin's name could that actually be a problem?"
Harry, "Your a halfblood correct?" At Snapes nod Harry continued. "Do you know anything of the non-magical world or have you gone completely magical?"
Snape, "I keep up with certain things that interest me."
Harry, "Have you ever heard of an organization known as MENSA?" After seeing Snape's negative he continued. "It's an organization for people who are extremely smart. But there have been studies done that the higher your IQ score is the more socially awkward you become. Some of those who are affected by it crave social interaction like a drug, others become extremely anti-social. They find many things inconsequential such as interacting socially with their peers. Some of them even find it extremely hard to be around people who are quite obviously below their standards. It may be a bit of an elitist attitude but when you're doing research into things most people wouldn't ever understand even if you tried explaining to them, then it's more understandable."
Snape, "And what does this have to do with me?"
Harry, "If there were a magical version of MENSA, you'd be a member. You are plainly a genius. A genius makes leaps that other people can't. They see correlative points with minimal information, the easiest way to put it is if you are given the letter "A" you can skip immediately to "D" or even "E" without having to go through "The B and the C". You could teach NEWT level without many major problems or becoming angry. But teaching first years and people who have no desire to learn about your passion irks you.
In my first potions lesson in my dimension your counterpart asked me three questions. One was only referenced in a footnote for a single line, the second is only briefly gone over in a later chapter, and a trick question about the name of an ingredient which was known by multiple names. I was essentially a muggle born since I only had less than a month of preparation before coming to school, I only had read through my potions manual once at that point and didn't know the information yet.
It's obvious that you either have a photographic memory or close to it, because you don't need to read over things multiple times to understand it. Between your amazing memory and the fact that you can make logical assumptions which are more than often correct than not, you hold people to a higher standard, a standard which not many are able to live up to because unlike you, they need "the B and the C". You don't teach ingredient preparation, reactions, or identification as part of your classes, you assume that because you're able to absorb the information from the reading, that they are also able to.
You need to teach to a level where people are only a few steps below you and have a will to learn instead of a group that are entire floors below and they don't all have the desire to learn the craft."
Snape, "So what do you believe I should do?"
Harry, "After your counterpart died, I ended up with all of his research notes, he didn't have any family to leave them to. This is how I realized you're a genius. But this is how I also realized you're on an entirely different level than anyone. You made a more precise reaction chart, based on arithmatical formulas that you made for each ingredient, you had no notes on basic things but you had new recipes for every advanced potion and improved ones for almost everything else.
Before I ended up here a friend of mine and I were working through your notes and creating a new set of advanced text books based on your work. I eventually ended up getting a hold of my mother's old potion notes from when she was in school and we were able to work on the basics which you had a hand in creating as well since most of her work was affected by you."
Snape was flabbergasted by this information, sure he had a high opinion of his work but his work creating an entirely new curriculum? That didn't seem possible, or was it? And the boy had to bring up Lily, sure he had helped her with the basics but considering that she had no grounding in the subject she needed help.
Harry, "I had to have someone help me with it because I wasn't able to understand a lot of your work. But if you took a year, you could have most of your work made into book form. Two to three if you stayed on to teach NEWT level. You could actually leave a mark on the world other than being remembered as one of the most hated professors to ever walk these halls. Your work as a spy will never gain you recognition because you will never let the details of it ever be told. For crying out loud you started an apprenticeship before you had your NEWTs, which is a modern record in Britain. Sure four hundred years or so ago there were kids getting apprenticeships for just about any subject, but by the mid seventeen hundreds that had passed to the idea of mass schooling the children before they went on to study more in depth in subjects.
"You should have been credited for the wolfsbane potion but that arrogant wanker you were studying under for your mastery took all the credit, even though you did all of the work. Hell the only he did was get the idea to work on something to stop the change and based it off of Schroder's work for Grindelwald forcing the change without the full moon and making incredibly effective shock troops. You were the one to create the potion that lets them keep their mind, hell even as an unfinished work it's incredible and should have been your mark on the world, but you had your glory stolen from you, which was pretty much the final straw that lead to you becoming a Death Eater. You need to finish your work and publish it because your genius shouldn't be forgotten because you don't know how to deal with snot nosed brats that have no desire to learn about your craft."
Snape, "Why are you trying to help me?"
Harry, "Because you scare children. In my dimension during third year one of our defense lessons was to take care of a boggart. Ten kids that year had their boggarts turn into you. If things are like that here it's a shame. I'm not going to lie and say you're a good man, because let's face it, you're quite the bastard. But you could be so much more than just the greatest fear of some kids, you should be the greatest potion master in Britain's history, but if you keep going the way you are, no one will know your genius until after you die.
If you want to remain teaching because you're comfortable here do it because a complete life in seclusion is no life at all. Teach NEWT classes, take a couple of assistants now that there's money for it, have them teach first through fifth year and help them gain their mastery if that's what they want. Turn your research into books and you'll revolutionize the teaching of potions. Hell if you're interested I'll provide you with a copy of my mother's notes and you can make a basic curriculum as well.
You're a complicated man, not only because you've been forced into a horrible situation of protecting your cover if Riddle ever comes back but because you've had only one outlet for your emotions for twelve years. You need to live, get out, get some fresh air, find a woman or a man that makes you happy settle down with them and raise the next generation of potion masters. You don't need to be cooped up in a castle with little to no intelligent conversation, people you can't stand, in a job you both love and hate. You've been repressing your emotions for such a long time that when something actually provokes a reaction from you it's an extreme one, it's a recipe for disaster."
Snape, "And what of my obligations? What of the promises I've made?"
Harry, "You've kept those. This summer, you have the potential to be finally free of Riddle, which means everything else doesn't matter. I know for a fact that those with the dark mark don't die when he's finally gone because of the hunt for all of the DE's that weren't captured during the Battle of Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy had the mark and was still alive almost years after Riddle died. It's not a death sentence when he dies for good.
Your promise to protect Lily's child will be fulfilled. You've already kept her alive more times than necessary for the life debt between you and James. Your obligations are over as of this summer."
Snape, "I still don't know, what if I can't."
Harry, "Then do it for revenge." Snape quirked an eyebrow at this. "Hasn't anyone ever told you what the best revenge is?"
Snape, "The only thing I remember hearing of revenge is that it's best served cold."
Harry, "The best revenge, is living well. You outlive your enemies and enjoy it. Drink to their demise then never think of them again. Living your life hating them only wastes your life, there are much better things to do with it. I mean you're what, in your early thirties? You're a wizard for crying out loud, barring accidents and murder most wizards live to at least be a hundred on the low side of things, on the high side two hundred. You've got years ahead of you, actually living them rather than just existing for them seems preferable."
Snape got a glint in his eyes after hearing that. Revenge was something that had crossed his mind often, and now Harry had given him a piece of advice that seemed like it was from Merlin himself. Living well is the best revenge, oh if those who have wronged him saw him living the good life it'd be sweet. It'd be sweeter to actually live it for real. Editing his notes into book form? He could do that, especially since they were all his own notes. He was going to do it, for no other reason just to spite those who thought he couldn't. His abusive father who said he'd amount to nothing, his near squib of a mother who let herself be beaten to death, those dunderhead kids he tried to cram knowledge into, both of his supposed masters who held him back, he'd show them all that Severus Snape was more of a man than even he thought he was. He could see it now, a ten volume series, translated into over a dozen languages, being the foremost authority on the subject, a house in a respectable neighborhood, a wife, kids, and his own chocolate frog card.
Harry recognized the glint in Snape's eyes as one of those that shouldn't be disturbed, so he politely made his way from the potion master's office. With lunch already being over and him already having gotten his homework done, he decided to go grab Heather and show her the room of requirement.
He fund her in the library with a book about the Wizengamot. She had the pages he gave her to fill in her family tree on the table in front of her.
Harry, "If you're working on that, you're better off looking through the Daily Prophet archives at the birth announcements, they always say the parent's names. If you're lucky, each one might tell you how old the parents were at the time of the child's birth, that would make your search a lot easier."
Heather sighed and put the book down. "You can't just tell me who the person was that made you give me this assignment?"
Harry, "Where would the fun be in that?"
Heather, "Come on, just tell me. I've already got it figured out anyway."
Harry, "I won't tell you. But I will confirm or deny your guess."
Heather, "Godric Griffindor. Dumbledore told me last year after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets that only a true Griffindore would be able to pull the sword from the hat. Combine that with Voldemort being the heir of Slytherin and it sort of makes sense."
Harry, "Not exactly who I was going for. Sure he could be in your family tree somewhere, but you do have to remember that he lived over a thousand years ago, how many families could be connected to him today? Not to mention that the legend surrounding the sword says that anyone who is defending the school righteously can use it."
Heather, "So I'm not related to Griffindor?"
Harry, "I'm not saying that. I'm saying it's quite possible, people back then had big families. Griffindore himself had like five kids. It only came about in the fifteen hundreds or so that most families would only have one child, or would keep going until they had a male. The magical world is so steeped in tradition that even today most kids only have maybe one sibling. There generally aren't big families, the Weasleys are the exception to the rule."
AN: This is a shorter chapter than I would have liked. I'm in the process of moving so writing has taken a back seat to real life. I'm working on my update for Monday, hopefully it will be done on time, and up to the standard I've been using for myself. As always I hope you enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome. I will be attempting to write in some conflict soon, but have a few things I want to get to first. I'm always open to suggestions, so if you have a good idea for this story don't be afraid to share it. - Flounder
