Staff Meetings…or Methods of Torture
March passed and then came April; in April came the annual staff meetings. This year was no different and the main topic of this meeting was house favoritism, that and the side category of professors setting inappropriate examples for the students. The meeting was held midday on a Saturday, so that all teachers would be there in top form…which they were.
The professors were seated around the table divided by houses. At the head of the table sat Dumbledore and on his right sat McGonagall. Sitting beside her was Hagrid. On Dumbledore's left sat Snape. Next to him sat Professor Vector and the Ancient Ruins Professor, Alexander Vladimir, the Slytherins. Seated next to Hagrid were Flitwick, Sinistra and Madame Hooch. Across from the Ravenclaws were the Huffelpuffs, Sprout, Trewlaney, Gadget, and Madame Pomfry. And at the other end of the table was Fleur.
"Now our first order of business is to address an issue that one professor has addressed with me," Dumbledore said, "they are afraid that some of our professors may be setting a bad example for the students."
"Hell, Albus, are you tactfully trying to yell at Aurora and myself for her being pregnant?"
"Now, Severus, don't be hasty."
"Spit it out Albus."
"Some of our professors think that you have set an example that a promiscuous lifestyle is appropriate behavior."
"Promiscuous, there is nothing promiscuous about two adults being in a long-term monogamous relationship," Sinistra shouted, "the fact that Severus and I are in a relationship and will be starting a family, and that we love each other should not be seen as immoral and dirty."
"But you aren't getting married until after the twins are born are you?" Sprout asked.
"We haven't set a date yet, but I think that it will be after the children are born."
"Why?" the headmaster asked.
"We don't want people to think that Severus had to marry me, I'm not getting married pregnant and then the whole illusion of wearing white will not work. And by the way it OUR own damn lives!"
"Very well, I think that we should move on to the next order of business," the headmaster said preparing himself for the impending chaos. He was right, "the main issue that I am addressing this year is house bias."
The staff groaned collectively.
"Why do we need to bring this up?" Hooch moaned, "Nothing will change, until we rid ourselves of the stereotypes of each house."
"I don't see what is wrong with being considered smart?" the headmaster asked.
"Its not being smart that we have a problem with, it's the negative connotations that go with it." Sinistra answered.
"Yeah, not being taken serious in anything other than academics." Hooch added.
"Well you have to admit that your best efforts are with the academics."
"That is true, many of us do enjoy learning, but we are not hopeless geeks." Flitwick commented.
"I have to agree with the Ravenclaws," Vector said, "it really doesn't help Slytherin moral when the other houses keep assuming that all Slytherins are evil."
"Particularly the Gryffindors," Snape added, "the precious Gryffindors that can do no wrong."
"Now Severus, I do believe that you should not be talking about bias, you are by far the worst when it comes to favoring your own house," McGonagall stated.
"What are you on Minerva?" Trewlaney asked.
"Nothing, unlike you."
"I am only on things that aid my eye, I don't need to be insulted by you, but I fear that I won't be allowed to leave." She slurred.
"Minerva it's not secret that you have always favored your own house," Vladimir said
"Well…"
"Shut it," Hooch interrupted.
"Now calm down everyone. I think that we should deal with each house separately, starting with Severus and the Slytherins."
"Honestly Albus, I don't think that this is going to have any effect on the way I teach my students."
"Now, I really don't think that, that is fair, there is a lot of inner house animosity going on that has been present for many years," Sprout commented, "nothing will change it if some houses are treated better than others."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that everyone treats us Hufflepuffs like stupid cowards, which mind you we are not, have you ever seen a badger cornered?"
"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Trewlaney shouted as she slammed her empty cocktail glass on the table, "whoa I think I feel a vision coming on…guess not."
"Let me put this in a way that everyone can understand, an analogy," Sinistra started.
"Jus' like a Ravenclaw to talk down to the others."
"Stuff it Hagrid and let Aurora finish," Hooch snapped.
"As I was saying, the Hogwarts is like a family, with you, Albus as the father and the houses as your children. Gryffindor is the oldest and most beloved child…"
"Now Aurora."
"Albus please let me continue, Slytherin is the second oldest and always in trouble…"
"Hey that's not our fault."
"Vivian please," she told the arthmacy professor, "I agree that it is not always your fault and you are set up on occasion, but I am giving you a view of how the students see it, Hufflepuff is the baby of the family, the one who always is coddled along and comforted. And Ravenclaw is the one who is self-reliant and can make it own their own with out being worried about."
"I agree with Aurora."
"Thank you, Fillius."
"Just because we can doesn't mean we want to," Flitwick stated firmly.
"Can we get back to the matter at hand please," Albus pleaded with his staff, the finest wizarding minds in all of Britain.
"I thought that, that was the matter at hand?" Fleur asked slowly, " I have noticed that everyone here is biased towards their own house, even you Headmaster, and I do not think that this issue will be solved anytime soon."
The staff nodded in agreement. Then the worst possible topic came up; the special treatment of Harry Potter and the Gryffindors.
"Now Albus, we should address the way that you in particular treat Mr. Potter."
"Alexander…"
"Now Albus, you and I have been friends for years and you know I don't normally tell you how to do your job, but I think that you show a blatant favoritism towards Mr. Potter," Vladimir said twisting his long mustache around his fingers as he rose an eyebrow in a sign of challenge to the staff to refute him.
"What do you mean?"
"You let the Gryffindors get away with anything short of murder, including attempted murder."
"Severus."
"You do and you always have."
"This is not about that incident."
"Incident you call MY NEAR DEATH an incident!" Snape shouted; Dumbledore buried his head in his hands.
"You have to admit headmaster that Mr. Potter does get special treatment," Vector echoed to her colleague's earlier comments.
"What ever do you mean?" Minerva asked.
"Like you don't know?" Hooch commented, "Unless Gryffindors are really that stupid."
"The points that Mr. Potter gets for breaking the rules," Flitwick added.
" 'arry brakes the rules for the ultimate good, so he deserves the points he gets," Hagrid insisted pounded his giant fist on the table for emphasis.
"First of all he broke the rules and he should lose points because of it, otherwise you are setting a bad example for the other students," Gadget said.
"My thoughts exactly," Vector added, "The ends do not justify the means."
"See Albus, I'm not the only one who thought that," Snape sneered.
"It's like this Headmaster, Vector started, "everyone is this room is in agreement to the fact that Minister Fudge is the biggest moron in the entire wizarding world. Now no one wants him to stay minister, but that's not up to us. However we could make it up to us by taking matters into our own hands and ridding the world of that idiotic dunderhead. We could kill him, an offence punishable in Azkaban, but with Fudge's death we could finally have a decent Minister of Magic. But we would still be punished even though we were doing this for the 'greater good' of our world. The ends do not justify the means!"
"Leave it to a slytherin to think of that," Minerva snorted.
"Get over yourself McGonagall," Sinistra snapped, "I think that if Harry gets points then he should lose them for breaking the rules, it is not his job to save the world; he is a kid."
"Exactly," Sprout agreed, "I had an issue with the way you hand out the points, you wait until the last possible minute and then humiliate the other houses and that's not fair."
The meeting wasn't what the headmaster had expected. There was however a forged alliance of the other houses, it had been the most inner house cooperation that he had seen in years. Ever since they had the inner house exchange ten years back. The teachers had been united in there opposition of the project. Snape had naturally spearheaded it; he had no desire to partake in any event where he had to be a Gryffindor for a few weeks. He smiled to himself as his staff left all grumbling to themselves about one thing or another.