Chapter 8: The Potions Master
When dinner was over, they went back to the living room.
"Where's Kreacher?" Sirius asked.
"I saw him earlier" Moody said. "He's frozen in time."
"Good" Sirius said.
Hermione opened her mouth, but Ron beat her to it.
"Who's reading next?" Ron asked.
"I believe I will" McGonagall said before picking up the book.
She opened the book and read. "The Potions Master."
"Snape gets a chapter all to himself!?" Sirius gasped horrified.
Snape winced as he recalled Harry's first Potions class. One of the teachers, if not all, was going to chew him out.
"UGH!" Harry groaned at the mention of his fame.
"That certainly explains why so many students were late." Sprout chuckled "Even the seventh years."
"it's hard enough without people starring" Remus confirmed.
McGonagall stopped reading and glared at the Marauders knowingly.
"Minnie!" Sirius gasped dramatically "How could you accuse innocent little us?"
"Since when were you ever innocent?" Snape challenged.
"I remember when he got that damned cat" Sirius muttered to Harry "Thing stalked me. I ended up having to go to a passage and transform to scare her away."
"I don't know." Sirius spoke up smirking at Remus. "The four of us were pretty well versed."
"I think all six of you are equal" Harry said with a wink in Fred and George's direction to tell them that a certain map was involved.
Fred and George exchanged an excited look that Remus and Sirius once had the map. They wondered if the two older men knew just who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were or if the mystery was still waiting to be solved.
The twins made a mental note that if it was the latter, set the 'Golden Trio' on the case.
All the students, past and present, nodded.
"Dumpy?" Sprout asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry" Harry apologized.
"Don't apologize for the truth" Flitwick told Harry with a very rare glint of mischief in his eyes.
"I'll remember that, Sir" Harry said thinking of all the descriptions of Snape he had used.
"There's been one class everyone paid attention to" Ron admitted. "When Hermione asked about the Chamber the next year."
"I bet if he got around to my story that would wake up a few people" Harry pointed out.
"I had looked up briefly at the name and thought I saw James again!" Flitwick defended as the adults laughed.
"One day I will make good my threat" she said to Snape as if warning him to get a better grip on his snakes.
"The last person to do what you did Miss. Granger, was James Potter" she explained before going back to reading.
"I think I preferred that over Lockhart's method of reenacting with me always playing the creature" Harry muttered.
"Why is that?" Sirius asked his godson.
"Took you until Friday?" Sirius asked his godson.
"Not everyone sneaks out under invisibility cloaks to get a better lay of the castle after hours Sirius" Remus reminded his friend.
The heads of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw all gave Snape a look.
"At least you had Hagrid" Sirius sighed longingly wishing he had been there for Harry.
"Could have fooled us" the twins chorused as McGonagall rose her eyebrows at the next sentence.
"That's more like it" the twins said.
Snape suddenly realized he was GROSSLY outnumbered. Luckily, Dumbledore was on his side, though a part of him wondered for how much longer.
"Was that necessary Severus?" Sprout asked as Dumbledore frowned.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and were OBVIOUSLY struggling not to smirk at the realization that they might get to watch Snape get chewed out.
McGonagall trailed off before gripping the page and reading the rest in a tight voice.
"It was a good speech" Flitwick told the Slytherin Head. "But it could have been better without that last sentence."
Snape stayed perfectly still and quiet. Especially since Molly looked ready to pounce him. Of course, so did Sirius, but Harry, who had moved between him and Remus was gripping their arms as if holding them back.
"What does fame have to do with Draught of the Living Dead?" Ginny asked. "And I only know that because Hermione told me before I had potions as she wasn't really on speaking terms with those two at the time and she was worried he might do it to my class."
"Why weren't you on speaking terms?" Sirius asked Hermione.
"Later" Harry said.
"Did those tips help?" Hermione asked.
"Nope. He gave that same speech and then we got to work on the potion" Ginny said causing everyone to glare at Snape.
"Is that even IN One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?" Sprout asked thinking back.
"I don't know, but I DO know that beazors were studied in fourth year. Not first" Remus said growling at Snape a bit.
Harry was actually starting to feel a bit sorry for Snape as Dumbledore was giving Snape the same look he had given Harry after the car incident in second year.
"Okay. That's a TRICK Question! How could you expect him to know that if he didn't know the other two!?" Ginny shouted, her Weasley temper flaring.
"Hermione knows" Charlie decided to play with fire to see if Snape was in too deep.
"Well, that's Hermione. NOT Harry!" Ginny snapped.
Arthur, upon seeing Harry with his hands full trying to keep his Marauder guardians from killing Snape, stood up and gently forced his daughter back down.
In the room, everyone who knew Lily Evans (minus Snape) was also laughing.
"Lily's cheek" Remus told Harry.
Sprout opened her mouth to say something, but Dumbledore held up his hand.
"I believe that after this chapter, the professors will have a conference." Dumbledore said before motioning McGonagall to continue.
"Only a point?" Molly asked. "I thought with your reputation, you would have taken 10."
"I realized that after the matter" Snape said. "But the shock of Lily's cheek coming from a James Potter clone shocked me. It had seemed like Potter was channeling his mother at the moment."
Harry frowned. It seemed as if Snape had known Lily a bit more than if they had JUST been neighbors.
"Okay." Remus said unable to hold it in much longer. "I KNOW when I taught, I favored Harry, but even I didn't go THAT far. I just allowed friendly conversation and private lessons. I didn't put him on a pedestal. And don't give us that Draco's your godson Severus. Harry's my nephew in all but blood."
"Remus." Dumbledore said calmly to tell the werewolf that the matter WILL be discussed.
"That was uncalled for" McGonagall told Severus.
It was only from a look from Dumbledore that there was no explosion. Though the Golden Trio recognized that everyone else in the room wanted to.
Molly turned her glare from Snape to the twins
"And you're teaching why?" Tonks asked.
Charlie beamed.
Harry decided to break the tension that the Potions lesson had put them in.
"Yes. Hogwarts. Yes." He answered the three questions.
"It's getting late" Molly said. "How about we turn in for the night and pick this up in the morning?"
