Chapter 2 – Just Say No to Bullying

What if Harry was shocked at Snape's behavior in his first Potions class and wasn't willing to just sit back and take it?

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Harry left his first Potions lesson barely keeping his temper under control, although his hands were clenched into fists with the effort. How dare that man act so badly? No teacher in his primary would have been permitted to treat students like that! The other Gryffindors had warned the First Years that Snape hated their House and favored his Slytherins, but Harry never believed the man could be so publicly nasty and blatantly unfair. Even Hermione Granger, a student that seemed to revere all the other staff members, appeared shocked at how offensively the professor behaved towards the Gryffindor students.

After years of keeping quiet about his relatives' awful treatment and the teachers that ignored Dudley's bullying, Harry had finally had enough. "I'm paying for this school out of the money left me by my parents," he thought as he stalked through the stone hallway. "I would rather be thrashed with Uncle Vernon's belt than pay money to be insulted and bullied."

The raven-haired boy waited impatiently for Professor McGonagall's office hours. As Percy Weasley had pointed out on their first day of classes, she was not only their Head of House, but she was the Deputy Headmistress as well. If that was like a principal in his Muggle school, then the other teachers reported to her.

Harry knocked politely on the door frame to McGonagall's office when her office hours began. The stern Scotswoman was sitting rigidly straight in her chair behind her desk, her quill posed over what appeared to be a student essay. She turned her head and looked at Harry, but only the very slightest rise of an eyebrow indicated her surprise in seeing him.

"Come in, Mr. Potter," she said. She tapped the quill against the inkwell and then laid it down. She waved him to a straight-backed wooden chair in front of her desk. "What brings you to see me?"

Harry took a deep breath and looked down at his hands tightly clasped in his lap. He had never done this before. He had never complained about an adult, and based on his observations, most adults appeared to discount complaints from children. However, he was going to try to trust an adult this time. "You said that our House was like our family," he began. He peeked up at her through his bangs and saw her incline her head to him.

"You're the Head of our House, so are you like the head of the family then," he asked hesitantly.

Professor McGonagall's eyebrow raised briefly, but she responded simply, "You could say that, Mr. Potter." She waited somewhat impatiently for the shy young boy to get to the point.

He looked back at his hands and gripped them together more tightly. "Well, I have a problem, ma'am," he said cautiously. "Someone is bullying the students in our House, calling us names as well as insulting our families." He peeked up at the severe-looking woman again and noticed that her mouth had tightened. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Did you report it to a prefect, Mr. Potter," she asked.

Harry twisted his hands together and then forced himself to keep them still. "Well, that wouldn't help, Professor. You see, it's Professor Snape."

As he watched her from under his bangs, he was disappointed to see her face close off entirely and her lips and jaw tightened.

He hurriedly added, "He kept asking me questions that I couldn't answer, and then later blamed me when Neville Longbottom had an accident. I wasn't even working with Neville, but he said I was trying to make myself look better by not stopping Neville's accident. He…"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter," his Head of House interrupted his explanation. "But each professor has the liberty to teach their class as they see fit. Potions are very volatile, and the professor must be even stricter to prevent injuries."

"But he wasn't being strict to prevent an accident," Harry tried to clarify.

"Be that as it may, you must learn to work with all types of people with varying temperaments in this life. You cannot always have them adjust to you; you must learn to adjust to others as well."

"But Professor," Harry tried again.

"That will be all, Mr. Potter," she said severely. She picked up the quill and dipped it in the inkwell, and returned to correcting the essay on her desk.

Harry stood up and slowly walked to the door with slumped shoulders. He turned around and stared at her, only to have her look up and curtly motion him away.

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Harry sat in the Gryffindor common room next to Ron Weasley and fumed with barely controlled rage as well as near crippling disappointment. One staff member viciously bullied some students and unfairly rewarded other students. His Head of House refused to even listen to the problem. Should he bring it to the Headmaster? Was that the right course of action? He barely noticed that Ron Weasley was sitting beside him muttering about "greasy gits", knowing how upset Harry was.

"What is the problem, Harrikins," asked one of the Weasley twins, squeezing between the two younger boys. Harry thought it was Fred, but wasn't sure.

"I'm not sure glaring at the fireplace will cause it to burst into flames before your Sixth Year," added his identical twin, George, sitting on Harry's other side.

"It's Snape," their younger brother replied. Harry just nodded curtly, still angry about both staff members.

"Oh, Snape," shuddered George.

"He's enough to give you nightmares," agreed Fred.

"It's not right!" exclaimed Harry. "Why are we paying to be abused? Why does anyone put up with it?" A few members of the House drifted over as they realized the hated Potions Master was under discussion and wanted to contribute their two knuts.

"What do you think we can do," asked Oliver Wood, the burly Quidditch Captain. "Snape's been the Potions professor for ten years and has been Head of Slytherin just as long. He favors the Snakes and treats everyone else like dirt. If there was anything anyone could do, don't you think it would have been done before?"

Harry looked at the students around him. "How many of you complained about him?"

Second Year Katie Bell replied, "I tried to talk to McGonagall about him, but she shooed me away. I even tried the Headmaster, but he basically just patted me on my head and sent me away with a lemon drop."

Harry thought hard as complaints about the Potions Master flowed over him. An idea occurred to him, and a smirk curled his lips.

"What are you thinking about, mate," asked Ron, curious about the devilish look on his friend's face; one he saw frequently on his twin brothers.

"It's easy for McGonagall or Dumbledore to ignore one or two people," Harry said slowly. The other students looked at him, now noticing the same mischievous look that Ron had. "But could they ignore twenty, thirty or even forty complaints that all arrived at once?"

"What do you mean," asked Oliver.

"I'm thinking that we all write up complaints, real complaints, about specific situations that have occurred in Potions. The insults to students, their parents, and their heritage. Anything that is inappropriate for a professor to say towards a student."

Fred and George immediately caught on. "How can anyone ignore page after page of documented evidence," one twin exclaimed.

"And we copy it to the Board of Governors," added the other twin with a broad smile.

Pavarti Patil was listening to the discussion from a nearby chair. "I could ask my sister in Ravenclaw whether they've had bad experiences."

Several students looked at her and then smiled broadly as the same idea occurred to them. "I have friends in Hufflepuff," Angelina Johnson said. She looked at her friend, Alicia Spinnet. "Don't you have friends in Ravenclaw too?"

"I do," nodded the teenager.

"So everyone talks to their dorm mates tonight and to their friends in other Houses over the next week," said Fred, picking up the leadership of the effort. "We collect accounts of what really happens in Potions, the nasty comments, the tricks that Slytherins play that Snape ignores, the points taken from Gryffindor when Slytherins are doing the same thing and how all of the problems are ignored, all of it."

"I don't know that I would tell Percy," added George. "He would probably tell McGonagall immediately, and the effort would be squashed."

"What if the Headmaster and the Board of Governors still ignore everything," asked Oliver. "Snape will take it out of our hides."

Everyone was quiet, thinking about how much worse Snape could get until a quiet voice mumbled something.

"What was that, Neville," asked Harry, looking at his shy and pudgy dorm mate.

Neville Longbottom gulped as everyone turned to look at him. "I…I said we could…send it to the Prophet," stammered the timid boy. "They would…you know…probably publish or…write a story…or something…" his voice trailed off.

"You're brilliant, Neville!" exclaimed Harry. The other boy smiled shyly at the compliment. "We should do that!"

"Well, we should first give the Headmaster and Board a chance to respond, but if they don't, we send it on with the message that they ignored everything," suggested Oliver.

"Brilliant strategy," said Ron. The young First Year was already becoming known for being a brutal chess player and he could appreciate the tactics. It was like a series of moves in a chess game.

The next hour was spent identifying who would speak to who in the other Houses, and how to keep it quiet before they were done.

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Once they heard about it, the Sixth and Seventh Years from each House took over the "Get Something Done about Snape" effort, also adding in complaints about a few other questionable staff members. It was Head Boy Robert Hillard from Ravenclaw who presented over 240 complaints from three Houses to Headmaster Dumbledore, copied to the Board of Governors. He reported back to the Houses that the Headmaster had agreed to review the complaints and take appropriate action.

Over the next few weeks it became apparent that Dumbledore had mentioned the complaints to Snape, but that discussion had the opposite reaction from what was desired. All Houses lost large numbers of points from Professor Snape, both in and outside of his Potions classroom. Snape was vicious with his comments during classes, and even harsher when he ran into students in the hallways. One month after no communication from the Headmaster or from the Board of Governors and the loss of hundreds of points, a copy of the packet of complaints was sent to the Daily Prophet as well as all of their parents, along with an explanation of what happened after the complaints were lodged.

"It's going to be tomorrow," Oliver Wood told students in the Gryffindor common room two weeks later. "The Prophet contacted both the Head Boy and Girl who gave the paper written comments about how bad it is, and how the staff and Board just ignores the lack of real teaching and the unprofessionalism." As a muggleborn with experience in primary school, Head boy Robert Hillard, was appalled at how unprofessional Snape was and made sure it wouldn't be ignored any longer.

Minerva McGonagall sat at the Staff table and looked out at the students the following morning. "Does it look as if the students are eagerly anticipating something," asked Filius Flitwick, Ravenclaw Head of House and the Charms teacher.

"They do seem to be waiting for something," the Transfiguration professor agreed. "There might be a prank in the making," she added, looking at the Weasley twins who seemed to be twitching in impatience. "It's a pity Albus isn't here this morning."

"I'll let the rest of the staff know to check their food," responded the diminutive instructor. He turned to his right to give a warning to Pomona Sprout.

To the staff's surprise, no pranks seemed to start as the breakfast progressed. However, the excitement seemed to reach a feverish pitch as the Hall was inundated with the morning owls, coming to deliver mail. Students seemed to forego their mail and instead clustered around those that had received the newspaper, the Daily Prophet.

Minerva gave one knut to the owl that delivered her own paper and unrolled it. Her eyes widened as she took in the large headline.

Investigation Demanded into Hogwarts Dropping Standards

Parents around Great Britain are demanding an investigation into the poor quality of education being offered to students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Long proclaimed to be the premier school in the world, the reality appears to be far different.

The Daily Prophet has learned that hundreds of students compiled and presented complaints to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and the school's Board of Governors.Weeks later, not a single student had been contacted for clarification and the abuse, yes abuse dear readers, of our students entrusted to the Hogwarts staff escalated.

The complaints received were from all seven years of current Hogwarts students in three of four Houses.In an effort to be fair and balanced, this reporter also interviewed dozens of graduates to see if they could corroborate the reports.The complaints included that students hadn't learned anything about the History of the Wizarding world, because Cuthbert Binns, the ghost teaching the class, only speaks about Goblin rebellions year after year.Several students also asked who received the ghost's salary, as they had paid for a History professor in their tuition.Has Hogwarts been defrauding parents for years?Parents have a right to know!

Besides History, Divination was also questioned, as the teacher, one Sybil Trelawney, chooses one student every year, and spends the remainder of the year forecasting their death.What is more shocking is that the other staff members are aware of her predilection for targeting one student to terrify and did nothing about it.

Argus Filch, the school Caretaker also had his share of complaints.Many students, both current and graduated, revealed that he has said he wished he could "flog the obnoxious little brats" for their detentions.Why were parents paying hard-earned galleons for a staff member with such a hatred of children?

Other complaints were about the poor quality of brooms upon which our children and heirs are taught, brooms so old that our children's lives are in danger every time they take to the air.

However, all of that pales to insignificance when compared to the grievances regarding Potions Master Severus Snape.Hundreds of complaints described in detail how he bullied his students, calling them offensive names, belittling their heritage and humiliating them before the other students.Very frequent mention was also made regarding his blatant bias towards Slytherin House, of which he is the Head. "Professor Snape frequent gives ten points 'for being on time' to Slytherins and takes ten points 'for breathing too loudly' from other Houses.The skewing of points means that Slytherin House has won the Hogwarts "House Cup" for years, making the award a laughingstock among the other Houses.

"Slytherins have been seen throwing items into the cauldrons of other students, causing toxic fumes and even explosions, but Snape does nothing except take points from the victims," was a common complaint among both present and past students.Are we risking our children's lives by having them take Potions at Hogwarts?

What is more appalling, is that our students have had to pay even more galleons to hire private tutors to have any chance of passing their Potions NEWTs, since Snape's teaching method is to put a recipe on the board and then insult the students if they failed to brew it properly. "It's well known among the pureblood Houses that students have to hire private tutors during the summer to make up for the poor potions education at Hogwarts," one graduated student revealed.

Investigation has proven that since Severus Snape took over as the Potions professor from Horace Slughorn in 1982, the number of students who passed their NEWTs without additional tutoring has dropped by 68%, directly impacting the addition of healers, aurors, and potion makers.

"We've gone to our Head of House, to the Deputy Headmistress, to Headmaster Dumbledore and even to the Board of Governors," stated a student leader. "We were told that there is nothing that can be done about an adult bully insulting students in his class.We know that Severus Snape is a marked Death Eater," revealed the student. "The copies of the Daily Prophet after the defeat of You-Know-Who showed that Headmaster Dumbledore said Snape was a spy, so he was released.If he was a spy, then why is he acting like a Death Eater to non-Slytherins?"A very good question that deserves an answer.

This reporter demands to know why Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has allowed the quality of education to drop so dramatically.We need an immediate investigation into the qualifications of the Hogwarts staff and the alleged abuse our children and heirs have suffered at their hands.

Students were gleefully reading the article aloud to everyone around them and it was evident that they not only strongly supported the article, but knew about it in advance. Minerva recalled that Albus had mentioned receiving complaints, but the Headmaster had said they were only children letting off some steam.

She nearly blushed when she remembered that Harry Potter had come to her after his first Potions class and that she had sent him away. She vividly remembered his look of disillusionment when he left her office after she disregarded his complaints about their Potions Master. When had she become so complaisant that she allowed the students under her care to be bullied and humiliated by a staff member?

"How dare they!" exclaimed Severus Snape. "I'll show those brats bias! They will be cleaning caustic cauldrons until they graduate," he threatened with a hateful sneer.

"You will do no such thing," Minerva responded severely. "Are you trying to be suspended or terminated? This wasn't just a few complaints, Severus, the Prophet reported hundreds. Hundreds! If I hear that you have acted out in class as a result of this, I will bring charges before the Board of Governors myself!" Snape merely narrowed his eyes and glared at her.

"If I find out a single Ravenclaw is mistreated in your class, Severus, you will face my wand," Filius stated firmly. "I trust you remember what happened the last time we dueled?"

"And insult a single Hufflepuff, and you'll never see another ingredient from my greenhouses, added Pomona. "That's a promise.

The man growled, stood and left the room, his robes billowing behind him.

Minerva raised her eyes to look at Harry Potter. He looked up from the article when he felt her gaze and simply looked at her frostily before he turned his back to her. She realized that she had failed her students severely by disregarding their justified concerns. She wondered if she would ever win their trust back.

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