Author's Note: This is a section of an unpublished story that I wrote and then excised since it didn't fit. I tend to write with only one or two point of views. This would have been the only MacGonagall POV in the story. I had intended to post it at the end as an omake or side story, but I thought people might like to see it and so post it as a one-shot. The story it is taken from is tentatively entitled "Crazy Christmas." I'm not sure if or when I'll post it. If I can't take it past the set up it will go in Story Starts, but if I can it would get its own story.
Harry Potter and his friends were created by J.K. Rowling. This is fan fiction written for fun.
Background: The Weasley twins unleash a prank at the Tri-Wizard Yule Ball which has longer-lasting consequences than intended for Harry and his date Padma Patil. Malfoy ambushes Harry and his friends outside the hospital wing. Snape, who is lingering nearby, punishes Harry and his friends and lets Malfoy and his go unpunished despite Malfoy casting a Reductor Curse and Hermione only a Shield. Harry goes to MacGonagall to complain and is brushed off. He explodes in a rant and leaves.
Minerva MacGonagall frowned as the four students left her office. In the quiet of her mind, she would admit that Harry and Hermione were two of her favorites, despite the fact that Harry didn't apply himself to his studies as much as he could or should. The boy had a big heart despite his less than ideal circumstances at home. She just wished he weren't so impulsive.
She sighed as she thought about what to do about Severus Snape. Harry was right in that the man had gone too far. There had been numerous complaints in the past, but Albus never supported investigating them and if she tried to punish him based on evidence presented to herself or one of the other Heads of House, Severus always appealed to the board where Malfoy and his cronies always got him off. She had stopped trying years ago. She hadn't wanted to lie to her Lions about what she could do, but the lack of respect for her that had been evident in Harry's eyes had hurt.
She chuckled ruefully. Despite not looking much like her, other than the bright green eyes, that had been remarkably like being on the receiving end of one of Lily Evans's famous rants. That had never happened to her, but she had witnessed James Potter and Sirius Black receive more than one.
She drummed her fingers on her desk. Neville Longbottom was scared enough of Severus that a bogart took his form? That was disturbing and completely inappropriate. She resolved to do something about it. She needed to interview all of her prefects and then someone from each class of the lower years, including someone from outside Mister Potter's circle in fourth year. Luckily, much of the school, including most of the older students, was still here due to the Yule Ball.
XXXXXXX
Minerva stormed toward the Headmaster's Office. It had been all that she could do to keep her composure in front of the students, but now that they weren't there to witness her lapse of professionalism, her "Scottish" was up. Part of her anger was directed toward herself in never investigating her students' complaints in any depth prior to this. She could only imagine that this had been going on for all twelve years that Snape had been here—although the worst of it seemed to be directed toward Mister Potter—he was not the only victim.
She snarled the password at the gargoyle and stomped up the stairs.
"Albus!" she began angrily, only to pause when she realized that Poppy Pomfrey was already having a discussion with the Headmaster. She was somewhat shocked out of her anger by the sight of the school matron, who seldom left the Hospital Wing.
"Ah, excuse me, Poppy," she said. "I can have my discussion with the Headmaster at another time." Despite not wanting to air dirty laundry in front of the rest of the staff, she couldn't help but let some of her displeasure leak out.
"No, you should stay, Minerva," Poppy said. "This concerns one of your students."
The Headmaster looked like he was going to object, but decided not to as both women glared at him as Minerva conjured a chair so that she could sit beside Poppy.
"I was telling the Headmaster that Harry Potter returned to the Hospital Wing not long after he left it this morning and collapsed onto his bed and cried himself to sleep over the course of half an hour. I asked his friends about what had happened, but they declined to tell me. The other victim of the prank, Padma Patil seemed fine other than having a bit of worry for her fellow victim. It took me from then until now to clear out the other Miss Patil and especially Miss Granger and then get Pomona to come up and watch the Hospital Wing while I came to talk to you, Headmaster, but when I left, Mister Potter was still sleeping."
"I know what happened," Minerva growled. "A member of the staff engineered a confrontation between Mister Potter and some other students. Mister Potter was quite distraught when he came to see me about it, but based on past experiences, I was able to give him little reassurance and he left my office quite angry."
"Really, Minerva," Albus began. "No member of the staff…"
Minerva slammed her hand on the desk, shocking both Albus and Poppy. "Don't you give me your false reassurances, Albus. I have just spent the last hour and a half interviewing students of all years about the behavior of this staff member and I am ashamed to find out the extent of his malfeasance and the fact that it has not been investigated before despite numerous complaints."
"And these students were all Gryffindors?" the Headmaster asked.
"No, I interviewed several of the prefects from the other houses as well as Fourth Year Slytherins," she said.
Albus stroked his beard and then said, "I assume that this member of the staff is Severus?"
Minerva nodded curtly.
Poppy cleared her throat and said, "I only wanted to bring you my concern about Mister Potter. I need to return to the Hospital Wing. I'll let you know if there are any new developments concerning him or Miss Patil."
Albus and Minerva both nodded acknowledgement as Poppy quickly left the tense atmosphere of the Headmaster's Office.
Once Poppy had left, she resumed her harsh glare at Albus. "This goes beyond simple house rivalry and prejudice and can only be called bullying. I will not have a member of this staff bullying students! And even worse than his personal bullying is the fact that he encourages and aids in his students doing so as well. It would not surprise me if we had another Slytherin Dark Lord before Snape retires!"
Albus opened his mouth, but Minerva could tell that he was not taking her complaints seriously. She stood up, leaning over the desk and interrupted him before he could even start. "Albus, did you know that Mister Longbottom had a boggart appear as Snape last year?"
The headmaster frowned, stroking his beard. He finally said, "Remus did mention that, but I assumed it was just due to Severus's stern disposition."
Minerva sighed and sat down. "Albus, I want you to think about the fact that the thing that one of your students fears the most in the entire world is not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Dementors, or even the woman that tortured his parents into insanity, but one of your professors. A professor should be respected, of course, but to be the thing that his student fears the most in the entire world—completely unacceptable."
Albus's frown deepened and she described Harry's visit, his ultimatum, and then the findings from her interviews.
After she was done she said, "Albus, a little bias toward one's own house is probably unavoidable, although I do try to overcome it myself, but this blatant favoritism without even a cover of hiding it is detrimental to the students, the Slytherin most of all. It basically teaches them that there is no consequence for doing the wrong thing when he covers up all their misdeeds no matter what they've done. What Snape allows to happen in his class is even worse and I'm frankly surprised that no one has died of a potions accident in the dozen years he's been here."
She took a deep breath and continued, "His feud with Mister Potter is also completely inappropriate and will stop or he will not like the consequences. I had thought perhaps that Mister Potter had mouthed off to him as boys sometimes do, but this was not the case. Snape singled him out for abuse in the first class and has not let up since. From what I have heard from other students, this feud is almost completely one-sided. Snape hurls abuse at Mister Potter and encourages his students to do the same. When his students engineer confrontations with Mister Potter, Snape hands out one-sided punishments to Mister Potter and his friends no matter what has happened. Today's incident was not an isolated incident. Earlier this year Mister Malfoy picked a fight with Mister Potter which ended up with Mister Goyle and Miss Granger hexed. Instead of punishing both parties as he should have, Snape only punished Mister Potter and Mister Weasley and insulted Miss Granger by making fun of her teeth which had been hit by a tooth-elongating hex."
Albus stroked his beard. "Severus's circumstances require him to cultivate the more traditional families."
"Are Severus's circumstances more important than the students?" she asked archly.
Albus nodded gravely. "As distasteful as it is to admit it, I believe that Severus's connections to the more traditional families will help prevent what happened in the 1970's from happening again."
Minerva sighed. "Albus, you told the world that Snape had repented of his actions and yet he is visibly continuing to act as if he were a Death Eater. It makes you and those that follow you look like easily manipulated fools. I'm ashamed that I trusted you to make sure that Severus didn't step out of line. When I interviewed the Slytherin students, they all refused to say anthing at best and lied to my face at worst. All of them, Albus! Not a single student was willing to speak against Malfoy or Snape.
"What he does for you with the darker families in private in order to garner their confidence, I'll leave to you—although I hope your trust in him is not misplaced as it appears to be. What he does publicly at Hogwarts, however is another story. I will be speaking with Pomona and Filius and I hope that they will agree to help me audit all future punishments given by him and sitting in on his classes. Tell your man to moderate himself or I will do it for him. He is effectively on probation, starting now!"
"Shouldn't we at least hear from the man, Minerva, to give him a chance to defend himself?" Albus asked.
"Very well, Albus," she said. "Summon him."
The Headmaster used the floo to ask the Head of Slytherin to come to his office. Since only the Headmaster's floo could actually be used for personal transport, they had to wait for him to come by walking through the castle. Minerva stewed angrily while waiting.
When Severus Snape arrived at the Headmaster's Office, Albus promptly threw her to the wolves. "Severus, Minerva has a matter that she'd like to discuss with you."
Minerva glared at Albus who serenely popped a sherbet lemon in his mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Snape's mouth curling into a sneer. Her gaze snapped to the disagreeable man.
"Severus Snape, it has come to my attention that your conduct regarding the students is unacceptable," she said sternly.
"Potter telling tales again, is he?" he said disdainfully.
She arched an eyebrow. "I did not say Potter."
"It's obviously the little toe rag," he said. "The boy is as arrogant as his father. Always throwing his weight around…"
She slapped him.
Both men stared at her in disbelief.
"You will not carry on the feud you had with a dead man with a student!" she said. "It is completely unprofessional and not becoming of a Hogwarts professor!"
"Mister Potter did bring your conduct to my attention, but today was the first time," she told him.
Snape snorted in disbelief. "The first time? There's no way Potter has not…"
Minerva slammed her hand on the desk again to the shock of both men.
"Harry is not James Potter," she said, "and I will tell you not to confuse the two." She looked down her nose at the other professor and said, "But even at his worst, James Potter was not as arrogant as you, Severus Snape… Nor as big a bully."
Severus bared his teeth in anger.
"Minerva, that's enough," said Albus.
She turned to him, dismissed him, and turned to glare at Snape again. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that the dismissal hurt her longtime friend, but she didn't care at the moment. His inattention to the goings on in the school had hurt the students.
Albus cleared his throat and said, "Perhaps you can find out Severus's side of what happened this morning, Minerva."
"Did you or did you not tell Draco Malfoy about Mister Potter's current condition?" she asked.
"I did not," he told her with a sneer.
"Why was Mister Malfoy waiting outside the Hospital Wing?" she asked.
He shrugged noncommittally.
"Did you indicate that Mister Malfoy should go to the Hospital Wing?" she asked.
"I only told some of the Fourth-Year students that two of their year mates were still suffering from that deplorableprank," he said with a sneer.
Minerva rolled her eyes. It skirted the letter of the rules while completely violating the spirit of them.
"Why were you waiting outside the Hospital Wing for Mister Potter to emerge," she asked.
"I was not waiting for Potter, I was simply monitoring my Slytherins for their protection as the majority of the school is against them."
She scoffed. "And why did you punish Mister Potter and Miss Padma Patil when they were not at fault?"
"Potter not at fault?" he scoffed in return. "The only reason the two didn't act was because they did not have wands."
"Why did you not punish Mister Malfoy for using the Reductor Hex against Mister Potter?" she asked.
"Mister Malfoy was provoked and Potter was not in any actual danger," he said.
"That does not excuse the escalation from words to spells!" she exclaimed.
His face remaining in its default sneer. She stared at him until he said, "The board will support my disciplinary decisions."
"This will never see the board," she said. "Until you make a public apology to Mister Potter, Gryffindor will not attend your class…" She inserted as much disdain into the word as she could. "…and no one outside Slytherin will attend detentions with you. I will be extending the proposal to Filius and Pomona as well. I'm not sure what Filius will do, but I'm sure Pomona will jump at the idea. She's been after Albus and me to rein you in for years. After your apology, your behavior will be monitored to make sure there is no backsliding."
He stared at her, his face empty of its customary sneer. "You can't ask this of me. It would undermine me with my house."
She sneered at him. "You should have thought about that before you decided to abuse a generation of students and teach little Slytherins to grow up to be Dark Lords and their followers in-training. Is it no wonder that none of the non-Death-Eater traditionalists will oppose Malfoy and his cronies in the Wizengamot? You have trained a generation of them to stay silent or to join in. You have not convinced me that you have actually changed from your Death Eater days, even if I were to believe that you are working against your old master."
Snape glanced at Albus and said, "I need to be close to the darker families in order to prevent the Dark Lord from rising again."
"And you would sacrifice a generation to do so?" she asked archly.
"I would sacrifice everything to prevent it," he said stoically.
"Everything is not on the table," she said, standing up.
"Albus…" Snape said.
"I will not be moved on this, Albus," she said, moving toward the door. "You can blame me for Severus not being able to terrorize the school anymore if you want, but personally, I think it time that you publicly appear to look after the students yourself."
She walked out the door and shut it behind her, feeling the most Gryffindorish she had felt since she graduated.