Gobbledygook
"Well, is that all the business we had to discuss?" Daniel suddenly asked. When they looked at him, confused, he grinned. "Come on, we all have kids who are the same age, surely some of you have embarrassing parenting stories? Arthur, I'm sure has more than the rest of us." When the others all laughed,, Arthur called Molly in to join the discussion now that they were done with business, and Bill even joined them for a bit when he came home for lunch before going back out on his next assignment.
Just because the Goblins were keeping him in England right now for his expertise on Horcruxes didn't mean they weren't keeping him busy on other things while they waited for the Rune schemes to find another one. And they weren't going out to the Black properties until the next day.
Harry took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him. It took a minute, but finally he heard, "Come!"
When he opened the door, he noticed Severus looked tense, although as soon as the door was closed, he relaxed and his face lost its scowl that he usually had when in public.
"Good acting." He complimented, making Harry flush slightly at the praise. "It is a shame that I had to take Malfoy's side though... twenty points to Gryffindor for such an inspired performance." Harry flushed, Severus had taken ten points off Gryffindor when Harry started an argument with Malfoy, then caused Malfoy's potion to explode, and then got away completely scott free. He only got the points and detention for arguing with both Malfoy and Severus. The only reason he got away with it was because he was able to act so completely innocent and confused that even Severus couldn't find any reason to blame him in front of the rest of the class.
"And..." He pulled out the 'quiz' Lockhart had given them, that Harry had slipped him along with his summer assignment. "What on earth is this?" He asked, staring at the parchment like it was a snake about to strike, poking it with his wand for good measure.
"That is the quiz Lockhart gave us on how well we read his books. I thought you might like to see it. Class with him was pathetic. You heard about the pixies, right?" Harry said, when Severus nodded absently, reading the parchment in disgust and anger, he continued. "Well, he gave us that quiz before hand, I think he's also trying to get the recall on his books revoked." Harry said with a shrug. "By the way, what did you do to him? He looked scared when your name was brought up."
Severus raised an eyebrow, gave Harry an innocent look (that was on par with the one Harry gave him in class), didn't answer, and snorted when he read some of Harry's answers to a few questions. Harry would have made a fine Slytherin, too bad he met Draco Malfoy first. Shaking his head, he put the parchment aside to go over some more later and decide how he was going to 'fix' the DADA problem. For now though, "Tonight, I was going to show you how to set up your Occlumency shields and your mind how you want it, then we can plan a training schedule. Let me know when Wood begins Quidditch practice, we may have to adjust." Harry nodded his understanding before he was fixed with a stern look. "And I will be keeping an eye on your grades. I don't expect you to suddenly be outperforming Miss Granger, but I do expect an average of Exceeds Expectations minimum to be maintained at all times. With your memory, I would expect better, however, I realize the mentality and habits developed at the Dursleys will be hard to break. If I feel your grades are not where they should be, I will pull you from the team." He said in a voice that warned Harry against protesting.
Harry grimaced, but nodded. He didn't like the threat to his Quidditch, but he liked the feeling that Severus cared enough to make the threat.
Severus nodded too, and paused a second to collect his thoughts. "Occlumency, as I'm sure you have read already, is one of two mental disciplines. Both of them, you tested as having a natural ability for. However, just because you have a natural ability for them does not mean you don't need instruction on how to use them properly and safely, and to ensure you don't hurt yourself. the other discipline is Legilimency. Now, Occlumency is the art of shielding the mind, while its counterpart is the art of... invading the mind. Understand?" He explained.
Harry nodded.
"Now, because this is a natural ability, I don't expect it to take long for you to get used to it and become proficient. True mastery will take time and patience to hone your skill in the art. Are you ready?" He asked. Harry nodded again, but Severus could see the slight nervousness in his eyes. "Sit, and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing and the sound of my voice..."
Harry closed his eyes and listened.
Under Severus direction, Harry sank into his mind and started to form it how he wanted, he also laid the groundwork for mental barriers and other defenses, that he could build on later over time. Severus explained that if his main shields should be broken through, a secondary 'defense' would be good. This, was where forming his mind to look a certain way would come in. A room, or building, that he felt safe in, where he could 'hide' his memories among the normal objects. Naturally he chose his trunk library. He was pretty sure that Severus mind would look like a potions lab, (he was only partially right) but he didn't ask.
Severus mind did contain a potions lab in it, but it was inside the Evan's house. Harry's grandparents house, where Lily grew up and where Severus spent every moment of every summer that he could, especially after his mother died and left him alone with his drunk, abusive father.
He decided to hide his most important memories on the higher shelves, while his Hogwarts memories, particularly classes, would go on the shelves that were at eye-level close to the door. While his scariest memories went in the glass cases to be locked away. Those memories he wanted to stay secret, like his years with the Dursleys (he just didn't like thinking about it and didn't want people knowing), would be well hidden amongst the random books he would fill the rest of the shelves with.
Or, at least, that was the plan. He would work on his room some more later. He did manage to make extremely good progress though, he took just an hour and a half to do what might take some months of meditation to just get the groundwork laid.
After that, Severus tested what he had done and decided that it was good enough to stop there for the night. "Very, very good. I don't think you will need too much instruction, if you have questions, feel free to ask. I will periodically test your defenses. Start working on maintaining your defenses in your sleep, as well. I could tell you how, but every mind is different, what works for me might not work for you. I know the Heir rings will protect you from mental intrusion, but you can never be too careful. Now, did you bring your class schedule?" He asked.
Harry grinned and handed it over. "Oliver hasn't said anything about Quidditch yet, but Fred says that when he does decide to start practices, he'll just come hunt us down and tell us to be on the pitch." Harry shrugged. "He'll probably give us some kind of schedule then."
"Severus frowned at the Gryffindor captain's ways. What if his players were doing homework or studying for a test when he came to get them? Were they just expected to drop everything and meet on the pitch? He resolved to keep an eye on Oliver Wood this year. If only so the captain didn't overwork his godson. If wasn't good if the captain overworked his team, it wasn't healthy. Not to mention they were here to learn, not play Quidditch. Quidditch was an extra, a privilege, one that could be taken away if need be.
"Until Wood gives you a schedule, meet me on the seventh floor on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I may throw in the occasional Saturday. Lets meet after dinner." Severus said after he studied Harry's schedule.
"Seventh floor?" Harry asked, he made a quick note on his schedule and Severus charmed it so only Harry could read it.
"Yes, near the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and the trolls. I'll show you when you get there. Don't forget to wear you Cloak." Severus said with a small, secretive smile.
Harry pouted briefly, now he was just even more curious, and Severus knew it! But then he frowned, "Hedwig wanted me to talk to you about Hermione..." Severus listened with a frown as Harry explained their concerns regarding his bushy haired friend. He had to admit, Harry had a point. "And I think the Daily Prophet article earlier might have helped, but now she's determined that they must have misunderstood his actions in pulling his wand. She says he was probably just about to make an oath or something."
The girl had a blind devotion to authority figures and the written word. He could probably show her a book detailing exactly why the sky was actually purple and the grass was pink, and she would probably open up debates about why that book may or may be true. "Bring her to your first lesson with me. We'll have to push my lesson plans back a bit, but it would not do for her to find something out and then go running to Dumbledore, believing that she was only helping. For someone so smart, she cannot think for herself." HE muttered so quietly, Harry barely heard him.
It took a lot of effort for him not to leap to his friends defense. Severus kind of had a point, after all. She mostly did her thinking out of books and what adults told her. She was much, much better about it, him and Ron were starting to get her away from that mentality, but... everyone once in a while it resurfaced. And resurfaced with a vengeance.
Severus looked at the time. "You best get back to your common room. Here," He scribbled a note and handed it to Harry. "It's curfew now, that's just in case you run into Filch or someone else."
Harry took the note and stood to go. At the door, he turned around, "Good-night, Uncle Severus." He said, and left.
Severus collapsed bonelessly back into his chair when he heard Harry call him 'uncle'. Harry had nothing but bad experiance with that word... he didn't think Harry would every call him that again. A soft smile crossed his face.
"Good-night, Snakelet." He murmured, using his old nickname for Harry while he watched the door where Harry had disappeared as soon as he said good-night.
When Saturday came, it seemed, for some strange reason, to give Lockhart permission to stalk him and give him some 'much needed' advice. Apparently, the idiot still couldn't decide between whether or not Ron flying the car would have been the perfect publicity stunt had Harry been with him, or too big to start with this early in Harry's career. Naturally, no matter what Harry said, the fool would not listen, and seemed to think the thought of Harry not liking his fame to be nothing short of blasphemy. He seemed to believe that having fame was the sole purpose of being a human being. Or, something like that.
Eventually, Harry gave up on being out and about in the castle and retreated to the Gryffindor common room. He decided that meals should be safe to emerge for, provided he moved quickly or used the Cloak.
If lunch proved to not be safe, then he would make himself dinner in his trunk. Saturday, of course, also happened to be the day Oliver Wood decided to start Quidditch practice... at the crack of dawn.
Harry was asleep, like any normal person would be, when he was suddenly being shaken awake. Much, much earlier than he wanted to be by Oliver Wood.
"Wassamatter?" he asked, still half-asleep.
"Quidditch practice! Come on!" He said, excited. Ok, he knew the twins said that Oliver would just find them when he wanted to start practice, but this early in the morning?! Did he get hit too hard over the summer by a Bludger?!
Harry squinted at the window. There was a thin mist hanging across the pink-and-gold sky. Now that he was awake, how did he sleep through the racket the birds were making? Oh, right, he put a timed silencing charm around his bed, it would 'activate' at a certain time of night whether he was in bed yet or not, that way he could sleep through Ron snoring. It 'deactivated' once he woke up or his alarm went off, whichever happened first.
"Oliver, it's the crack of dawn." Harry croaked. Ok, not even he could have anticipated Oliver waking them all up for practice, instead of waiting for them to all wake up on their own, or, you know, waiting until after breakfast like a SANE person.
"Exactly." Oliver said. He was a tall, and burly sixth year, and his eyes were currently gleaming with a crazed enthusiasm. "It's part of our new training program," That did NOT sound good. "Come on, grab your broom, let's go. None of the other teams have started yet, we're going to be first off the mark this year-"
Harry yawned and reluctantly got out from underneath his nice, warm covers, shivering as he went, to find his Quidditch robes.
"Good man, meet you on the field in fifteen minutes." He said before he left, whether to find the rest of the team, or to go out to the field himself, Harry didn't care. Although, he did briefly wonder how he was going to let the girls know. He'd read in Hogwarts, A History about the spells on the girls staircases keeping males out.
When he finally found his team robes and pulled on his cloak, he was cold right now, he scribbled a note for Ron to explain and went down with his Nimbus over his shoulder. He was about to leave when he heard a clatter behind him and turned around only to groan when he saw his number one fanboy and annoyance. Colin Creevey. And he was carrying his camera. Great, wonderful. He had something else too, but all Harry could tell was that it looked like a piece of paper in the low, early morning light of the common room.
"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry! Look what I've got here, I've had it developed, I wanted to show you-" The other boy said quickly and breathlessly. Harry hummed in interest and looked at the picture Colin was waving under his nose in amusement.
A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm Harry could tell was his. He was glad to see that his picture self was putting up a pretty good fight, and winning, to avoid being dragged into view. As Harry watched, the picture Lockhart eventually gave up and slumped against the edge of the picture, panting.
"Will you sign it?" Colin asked eagerly.
Harry looked at the boys eager face and sighed. "No," He said flatly, and glanced around to make sure the room was clear. "Sorry, Colin, but I'm really not comfortable with all this fame, I'm also in a hurry- Quidditch practice-" And with that, he climbed out the portrait hole. And... Colin followed.
"Oh,wow! Wait for me, I've never seen a Quidditch game before!" He said, eagerly. Harry sighed again, it seemed like the boy didn't pay any attention to what Harry said about not liking his fame. This was going to be a long year, having to share the Tower with this boy... he'd have to find some way of getting the boy to work with him that would hopefully curb his hero-worship a little...
"It'll be really boring," Harry said quickly, trying to get rid of the kid. But Colin ignored him, his face was shining in so much excitement, Harry didn't have the heart to just send him back to the common room. The kid kind of reminded him of an excited puppy his Aunt Marge had once, before she had her neighbor drown it...
"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't you? That's what some of the older kids said." Colin said while he trotted to keep up. Harry could have slowed down, but he was already late meeting with the team. "You must be brilliant, I've never flown, is it easy? Is that your own broom? Is that the best there is?" He rambled.
Harry had no clue how to get rid of him, not without hurting his feelings anyway. He'd never had such a talkative shadow before. (He'd never had a shadow before, period.) So, he spent the whole time they walked down to the Quidditch pitch talking about Quidditch. Harry actually kind of liked the other boy. He just needed to calm down and not worship the ground Harry walked on. Eh, he could work on that.. Either way, the boys photography skills could also come in handy, the kid could make a fortune being Gryffindor House's personal photographer.
Hmm, he'll have to suggest that later.
Of course, by the time he got into the locker room, Oliver spent the next hour and a half or so going over plays, ignoring the fact that his team was too busy sleeping or dozing off to pay attention. He was awake enough to notice when Severus peeked in, probably to make sure Oliver wasn't working them the entire time after getting them all up before he really should have.
By the time they finally left the locker room, the sun was already coming up, and breakfast had already started, judging by the toast Ron and Hermione were eating.
And then, and then the Slytherins showed up. And if Severus actually wrote that note giving them permission to use the pitch, he would eat Hedwig. (His Familiar caused him to get a massive headache when she caught onto those thoughts, because she was ranting about something, but he didn't quite know what because she could only communicate with him through a series of mental images and the occasional memory and he had to try and interpret them, but they were too vague and coming too fast for him to even try to begin interpreting.)
And of course, of course Draco Malfoy would buy his way onto the team. What else would the spoiled brat do? It wasn't like he could try out for the team like everyone else, that was probably too plebeian for him. They were just lucky Madam Hooch walked by when she did and broke up the fight before it began, or at least before Ron hexed Malfoy... that would not have ended well.
Of course, though, it wasn't lucky as her way of breaking up the argument involved kicking both teams off the pitch. So, the Gryffindor's still missed their practice time, and ended up getting woken up early for nothing. He'd heard Oliver mutter about seeing McGonagall about this. It was a good thing he still had the scroll, or she probably wouldn't have believed him. (Yes, he was still sore that she hadn't believed him about the Stone being in danger.)
He was actually kind of glad that practice was interrupted, he had originally been planning on finding a quiet spot, one that he could claim as his and use it to get away from the noise of the castle. He hadn't found a spot like that last year, even though he meant to, but now he was. Only, that plan was derailed fast when Lockhart started showing up everywhere. He'd lose him, and then he would just show up again. It was frustrating! So, he confined himself to the Tower for the morning. He'd would see how safe it was at lunch and decide dinner from there. Dimly, he wondered where Hermione was. He needed to ask her something about their Astronomy homework.
Severus was livid. He'd just been visited by Minerva, who kindly and politely informed him what happened earlier that morning between the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams. As polite as she'd been, he knew that she was very close to turning into her cat form and attacking.
And her claws hurt. He knew from experiance, there had been the one time when he accidentally stepped on her tail. And, it honestly had been an accident. He'd had a cauldron in his arms at that moment, and hadn't seen her there. She apologized later, but her claws were sharp. He still had the scars on his ankles. She never did tell him why she was just sitting there as a cat, either.
He was now waiting for his Snakes in his office. They all knew better than to pull some stupid stunt like this. He may not take points or punish publicly, but that didn't mean he didn't punish privately, and oh, did he punish.
When Minerva came to his office, he'd been expecting her usual complaints about his conduct towards her Lions, not for Wood to follow her, also fuming. He had most certainly not been expecting her to accuse her of such blatant favoritism that he would go so far as to sabotage the Lions practice time the way he had.
Naturally, he had no idea what she was talking about, and was quite surprised when Wood held out a scroll, apparently signed by him, over-riding the Gryffindors pitch time that morning. The problem was, he never signed anything for Marcus Flint. Much less permission to use the pitch during a time when it was booked by another team.
He'd known Wood had the pitch booked for the morning, he'd even gone down to check to make sure the captain didn't have his team on the pitch the entire time. He had been quite pleased to see that Wood had them in the locker room going over strategy and training plans, he'd chosen to ignore the fact that Wood was talking while the rest of the team tried to stay awake or just dozed. That was the captain's problem, he was the one who dragged his team out of their beds so early in the morning.
But still, where on earth did his team get the idea that they could just, unsuccessfully, forge his signature like that? Did they think he wouldn't find out about it? Were they stupid? They had to have known he would find out, and that they would not like the consequences. And if they were forging his signature, then how many of the other teachers signatures were they forging? And was the the only time, or was this just the first time they got caught at it? Were they not expecting the Lions to go to their Head of House, and for said Head of House to not come to him to find out what he was thinking pulling a stunt like the one he apparently pulled?
He thought they were Slytherins, supposed to be cunning, and sly, not... whatever this was! Because this was not Slytherin behavior! Rather, he thought this kind of thing, pulling such an obvious stunt like this and thinking they got away with it, was rather Gryffindorish.
When he heard a knock at the door, he looked up and snarled at them to come in. He was still holding the scroll giving the Slytherin team permission to kick the Gryffindor's off the pitch that morning. The scroll that he most certainly did NOT sign. While he did agree that Malfoy would need the training, the boy couldn't play half as well as Higgs could, his team could book the pitch just like everyone else, not try and kick other teams off during their practice time.
When they came in and lined up in front of his desk, he slowly stood up, and stood there watching them for a moment, he kept his face carefully blank, but he knew they could see the barely suppressed fury in his eyes and slow movements. It was when he moved slowly and deliberately that he was at his most dangerous. And, as Slytherins, they all knew it.
"'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on teh Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'" He read, then he looked up at them. "Funny, but I do not remember writing this, or even giving you verbal permission to use the pitch today. Especially seeing as how, the Gryffindor team only had the pitch for the morning, so you could have just as easily gone this afternoon instead of going and interrupting their practice, which all of them got up for exceptionally early instead of sleeping like I'm sure all of them wanted to." He said, his tone was almost casual. He could see the fear and apprehension on all of their faces.
Oh, yes. They knew they messed up, and they knew they were caught as soon as he lifted the parchment to read off it.
They all looked to Marcus Flint, their captain, to try and get them out of this mess. "Master Snape," Ah, addressing him by his official title as a Master of his field, his Snakes only did that when they were in trouble. "It was just the Gryffindors. We just wanted to make sure they knew their place."
A couple of the others nodded in agreement.
Severus narrowed his eyes. "That's your only defense? You forged a note, poorly, by the way, with a teacher's permission to do something to openly sabotage the other team, and your only defense is that it was just the Gryffindor's?" When they all nodded slowly, he spat, "I have half a mind to suspend all of you from the team and rebuild the team from scratch!" They all paled. Huh, that actually wasn't a bad idea... He'd see how the rest of this conversation went. Higgs just might get back on the team sooner than he expected.
"Not only was this behavior unbecoming of a Slytherin, it paints our House in an even worse light than before and justifies the bad treatment at the rest of the schools hands, but! There's also the fact that, if your willing to try and forge my signature thinking you won't be caught, then who knows what else you've done in the past and gotten away with because you 'had a note from a teacher'." He said the last part so coldly and mockingly, shivers ran down their spines. They had never seen him this angry with a student before. At least, not another Slytherin student.
"Now, do you want to, perhaps, revise your defense?" When none of them said anything, he narrowed his eyes. "Very well then. First, you will tell me, who wrote this note. And, later we will go to the staff room and we will speak with the other Heads of House about past notes written 'by a teacher'." He mocked again.
Everyone looked to Marcus Flint again, and he fidgeted, before he finally seemed to make up his mind about telling them. "It was Blaise Zabini. He's pretty good at forging signatures, this was the first time we did yours! I swear!" He said quickly. Now that was self-preservation instincts at its finest. As well as the back-stabbing Slytherins were often accused of.
"Very well then." Severus looked at them all for a moment, thinking up their punishment. He would not take points, he did not do that to his own house, the other teachers took enough, but... "All of you, are hereby suspended from the Quidditch team for the first term. I will conduct new trials in the next few days. You will bring the Nimbus 2001's to my office, they belong to the team, which you are not anymore. You will also serve detention, every night, for the next month. If you want to be back on the team at the start of next term, I will be holding new trials to see if you can earn your spot back. In order to get the chance of earning your spot back, your grades will be at a standard I deem acceptable." He said sternly. He saw Malfoy opening his mouth to protest, but he cut him off. "Am I clear? " He said softly. Malfoy's mouth shut with an audible click.
"Yes, sir." Came the subdued response.
"Good." With that, he wrote a quick note and called a House-Elf to deliver it to Blaise Zabini, the boy, if he had any brains at all, would meet them outside the Staff room, where the rest of the Heads of House would be as soon as he sent off his Patronus to tell them.
When they reached the Staff room, it was to find the other Heads and the Headmaster already there. "Ah, Severus, we were just discussing your Snakes." Minerva said, she seemed angry. He thought he got her to calm down, unless she didn't believe him when he said he would take care of it? That actually kind of hurt, he considered her to be one of his few friends after all. Sure, they had their disagreements regarding Quidditch, they were both highly competitive, but she usually trusted him to take care of something when he said he would.
He didn't let any of that show, though.
"I wanted all of you here, because this is a bigger problem than what was brought to me by Minerva earlier." He said slowly, he really did not want the Headmaster to be involved, the old man would do one of two things. 1) Pretend they were just being boys and didn't do anything wrong, therefore let them off with a warning, or 2) use his hatred and prejudice against the House of Snakes to try and get them suspended. Even though, in my opinion, Blaise Zabini is the only one who should be punished for writing and distributing forgery. The others were already being punished for trying to use that forgery to sabotage another team in a manner unbefitting of Slytherins.
When Zabini knocked, and Flint let him in at Severus instruction, he paled when he saw the five teachers. He paled even more when he saw the ex-team and the note he had written up just that morning to kick the Gryffindor's off the pitch was shoved in his face.
Then, his Head of House turned to the other teachers after pushing him to stand with his fellow Snakes. "Normally, I would handle this in-house, however, this is a serious problem that I feel it best for all the Heads to deal with. Mr. Zabini has been identified as the one who wrote this note for the former members of the Slytherin Quidditch team to use to kick the Gryffindor Quidditch team off the pitch this morning, despite the fact that if they were really there to practice, they could have waited until after lunch as the Gryffindor team only had the pitch for the morning." He said, and Minerva nodded, she seemed to be the only teacher who caught onto what he said about them being the former Slytherin team.
"So, this is a case of forgery? That's a serious problem. Who knows what they could have written up in the past to get out of trouble or do something else they shouldn't have..." Filius said thoughtfully, watching the boys. "How long has it been going on, boys?" He asked the students sternly.
Zabini was clearly trying to figure out something to say to get him out of trouble, but they were interrupted by Dumbledore. "Now, I'm sure the boys didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure this was just some harmless joke against the Gryffindor team. I'm sure they won't do it again." He said in his best, kind, grandfatherly voice. Unfortunately, they were Slytherins, and they saw right through it.
"Albus, this is serious. Who knows what else they've forged, from passes to be out after curfew, to notes from teachers excusing them for being late to their next lesson while they did who knows what, notes from Madam Pomfrey excusing them from classes... And now they are trying to sabotage another Quidditch team." Minerva said, annoyed.
"They have already been punished for this morning. For their unsportsmanlike conduct, and unSlytherin behavior, they have all been suspended from the team for the term, after the Yule holidays, they will have the chance to earn their spot back, provided they have behaved and kept their grades where I deem acceptable. However, this is to discuss Mr. Zabini's punishment, and to find out how many others are involved. Throughout the school." He said, making it clear that he doubted very much that this was a Slytherin only problem.
"Isn't suspension a little harsh, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, a disapproving frown on his face. Severus could see in his eyes, though, the glee the old man felt at the Snakes being punished so harshly.
"How I punish my Snakes is none of your concern, Albus, I wouldn't even be discussing any of this with you at all if I did not feel that the forgery is a school wide problem." Severus snarled. This was why he didn't want the old man involved. The Heads made it a point not to question or interfere with how another Head disciplined their students. Well, as long as the student didn't get injured, anyway. If another Head disciplined one of their students, not one of their own, then they could interfere and question. Albus Dumbledore, on the other hand, he liked to meddle. And he liked to question and, on some occasions, he liked to get his favorites out of being disciplined by overruling on their punishment.
He'd done it before, with James Potter and Sirius Black, after the Shrieking Shack incident. Minerva was in the process of suspending both boys, even though James hadn't been involved until he learned what Sirius had done and came to get him, Severus, out of there. From what he was told later, their bags had been packed for their two week suspension, they were in Minerva's office waiting for her to Floo their parents to come get them, when Dumbledore showed up and told them to go back to the Tower and get ready for bed. They weren't in any trouble, in fact, Severus had already 'promised' that he wouldn't tell anyone. So, no harm done.
It had been after James and Sirius sought him out during their sixth year, and apologized to him, explaining what really happened when they weren't punished, that their private truce started. It was too dangerous for them to publicly acknowledge it, Severus was getting in too deep with the Junior Death Eaters. Not to mention sharing a dorm with them. He'd faced enough problems with them for his friendship with Lily, even after they had their falling out.
He was brought out of his thoughts when Filius spoke up. "I, for one, agree with Severus's punishment of the boys, Albus. Now, what we need to do is figure out how long this has been going on, how many are involved, and what the punishment for the forgery should be." He said, with a frown in Dumbledore's direction. They all happened to agree with Severus when it came to Dumbledore sticking his nose in their House business.
"Agreed. Mr. Zabini, if you do not answer truthfully, you will be scrubbing bedpans under Filch's supervision for the next three months, am I clear?" Minerva said sternly. Zabini's eyes widened slightly before he managed to recover his Pureblood Slytherin mask, but he nodded his understanding along with a small, 'Yes, ma'am.'
"Good, how many students have asked you, or another student, to forge a note from a teacher." Pomona asked first.