Usually Cornelius is all too happy to take Albus' advice on the many problems he's faced with. It's no secret which of them should be minister, nor which of them would win if Albus ever decided to run. The way things are now, Cornelius gets his power and prestige and his place in the history books and Albus gets to keep a hand in while keeping up his modest old man act. It's usually an excellent system.
And then there are days like these.
But that was fine. It wasn't the first time they'd disagreed, and Albus didn't even look particularly pleased that one of his precious students was turning out to be a good person. (Which Cornelius must remember to keep in mind for later. Most uncharacteristic.) The real problem in the room was Harry Potter.
Harry Potter. What a wonderful ally to have on side the boy would be. And so naive about the world as well! He had thought that he would be expelled for a little accidental magic! The boy-who-lived! It was going to be wonderful.
And then the boy decided to latch onto Sirius Black.
If only somebody had told him sooner that the criminal was hunting him down, that he wanted to finish what he'd started. If Potter had only known he wouldn't be so quick to forgive.
"Well Harry." Albus says kindly, startling Cornelius, who hadn't seen Potter arrive for his questioning. "Why don't you tell us about your day?"
"What, all of it?" Potter blurts out. "Like, breakfast and homework and stuff?"
"Just from when you saw Professor Lupin earlier, if you will. How was he behaving?"
"Weird." Potter says firmly. "He was all twitchy and nervous, and he was talking quicker than usual like he wanted us to hurry up. And then he took Scabbers – Pettigrew I mean. And well…" He shrugs.
"You assumed that it was your business – no, your right – to become involved and follow him." Snape sneers. "And Lupin let you."
"Now Severus," Albus intervenes, "You know Remus had no idea he was being followed."
"And it is my business!" Potter interrupts loudly. "Sirius is my family!"
"How touching." Distaste drips from Snape's words. Cornelius catches himself agreeing with him and forces himself to paste on an expression of pitying sympathy before Potter can catch it.