Harry spent the next two weeks working as an observer in the Potions Classroom. He quickly found that, while he didn't agree entirely with the abrupt way Snape treated his students, he understood why a certain amount of strictness was necessary. The students, for the most part, were impossibly immature, and foolish around volatile materials, as if they couldn't comprehend of something in a classroom being dangerous. The only thing that stood between them and permanent scarring, disfigurement, or death, was the stern attitude and quick reflexes of their professor.
In a class like Flitwick's, or Binns', it was easy to ignore the follies of your students when the worst that could happen was a botched tickling charm (there was always the exception, like Seamus, but those seemed few and far between). But in a Potions or Defense classroom? Work like that required a stern hand and keen eye.
It didn't take long for Harry to begin admiring the way Snape ran his classroom. Aside from the few stubborn kids (mostly Gryffindors), the students generally managed to stay on task under the watchful eye of the Potions Master. After two weeks of observing, both as Snape's assistant and as a student in his regular classes, the Wizarding Savior was starting to realize just how great a feat that was.
Snape was finishing out the Second Year class when the first real incident occurred. It was the last class on Friday afternoon, Double Potions with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They were working on their Shrinking Solution, and bottling them up, when an argument broke out between two of the Ravenclaws. Before Snape could get to them, one shoved the other, knocking over the potion the two had been bottling. The Potion spread quickly across the floor, and screams rang out as the other twelve year olds leapt out of the way. One Hufflepuff was too slow, and the potent solution swept over his shoe. His scream joined the others, but it was one of pain as his shoe constricted around his foot.
"Corley, take your Housemate to the infirmary," Snape commanded loudly over the screams. He cast a spell that banished the mess before there could be more victims and rounded on the two Ravenclaws as the two Hufflepuffs left the room. "What were you thinking?!"
Both children cowered before the towering menace of the Potions Master, the girl whimpering, and simultaneously tried to stammer out an explanation. Harry managed to make out that each was trying to lay the blame with the other. He'd have rolled his eyes if Snape wasn't scaring the two kids so badly. Even the other students had stilled for fear of drawing his ire.
"You reckless, idiotic, wastes of-"
"Professor!" Harry interrupted, jumping off his stool.
That burning gaze rounded on him, and despite the fear he felt, Harry stood firm behind his challenge. A silent war passed between them, and before any resolution was reached, Snape turned back to the cowering Ravenclaws. Harry didn't dare relax, knowing he would get what-for after the students were gone.
"You will both have detention with me every night of the weekend, starting tonight at 8 sharp. You will learn to treat my classroom with the respect it deserves." Black eyes glanced around at the other students. "Put your phials on my desk, class dismissed."
The usual mad scramble was forsaken in favor of an orderly, silent dismissal. Snape remained where he stood, staring Harry down with arms crossed firmly over his chest. Still eerily silent, the class filed out, several sympathetic glances shot in Harry's direction before finally the door shut behind the last Hufflepuff.
Still, Snape only glared at Harry, who remained frozen beside his stool. When he did speak, it was with a tone as cold as ice, the warmth Harry normally associated with them being alone utterly gone from him. His stance alone said that Harry would not escape this encounter unscathed.
"Potter-"
"I know," Harry interrupted quickly. "It was dumb, and foolish, and completely disrespectful, but I-I couldn't just let you belittle them like that."
A cool raised eyebrow, no words, no outward change beyond that lone slip of the mask.
"Look, Snape, I'm sorry, I really, really am. But…" Harry looked away, struggling to find the words. "The fact is, most of the time, the way you run your classroom seems to me to be almost flawless. You command respect, and attention, neither of which do any of the other professor's get from as many kids in this school as you do."
"Then why-" The voice remained hard.
"Because it's not right!" Harry looked back at the man with his own fire. "I can only hope that I will someday command the respect you do from my own students, should I choose to teach. But every time you insult or demean one of your students, you destroy that respect and replace it with fear and hatred, which does nothing but cause those children to make more mistakes."
Snape continued to stare back at him, silent, arms still crossed tensely over his chest.
"You're a brilliant teacher, Snape," Harry said, almost pleading now. "And I understand that even you can lose your temper sometimes, but when you do you're only masking the good you do with the fear of children. Believe me, by the time we reach fifth or sixth year, it stops being about fear. We either forget or willfully ignore any good you've done in favor of an unprecedented loathing to mask that fear."
The staring contest resumed for a long, heart-stopping moment. The Gryffindor was sure he was still seconds from being thrown bodily from the classroom, banished for good. Then, slowly, the arms uncrossed. He wasn't sure until the man spoke whether or not this was a good sign.
"I will take that under advisement," Snape said slowly, not looking away from Harry's green gaze.
Harry sighed in relief, his shoulders drooping.
"You're not off the hook."
The Wizarding Savior flinched and stared at the toes of his shoes. "I-I know."
"You are my assistant, and as such it is not within your purview to openly question my methods in front of my students, is that understood?"
"Yessir."
Another set of shoes appeared in Harry's line of sight, and a finger and thumb on his chin forced his eyes up to stare into that soft gaze.
"That said, you did well." Green eyes widened in surprise, making the Potions Master smirk. "You stood your ground, you didn't cower in front of the students. That's good. If you become a teacher, you will be so much the better because you won't allow your own feelings to cloud your judgement, and you won't allow someone else to rule your classroom."
Harry felt a sudden and brief urge to kiss the man standing less than a foot from him, and boy did he want to examine that. He felt a blush rise as the man thankfully moved away to banish the vials on his desk.
"You will return tonight, to help me with my grading while Kapley and Gord serve their detention, and afterwards you will accompany me on my rounds. During that time, we will discuss your growing role in my classroom." He turned back to Harry with a delicious smirk. "You said you had an interest in basic potions. We will see how far that carries into your ability to teach."
"Seriously?" The Gryffindor couldn't believe that being an impulsive idiot had once again led to good things. McGonagall was right, he was rife with dumb luck.
"You're still not off the hook." The man answered, earning him an earnest nod. "However, I think you have proven today that you are ready to take on more responsibility. I cannot give you a detention, as you really aren't acting in the parameters of a student, however I can assign you work. You will write at least six inches on how you would run your own classroom. I want it to be a comparative piece."
"But you said my notes were for my own use," Harry argued.
"And then you interrupted my classroom," Snape responded quickly, his smirk never faltering. "Although, I didn't say that you had to compare your method to mine. It's obvious you've been studying your other professors, even if it is only minor observations, and you are free to choose from one of them."
The Gryffindor chewed his lower lip as he thought, and the Potions Master said nothing in that time. Finally, Harry looked up into those black, unknowable pools. "Does it have to be teaching alone?"
"Explain."
Harry huffed a laugh and smoothed his fringe down over his scar. "Um, okay…like, you and McGonagall, and the way you behave towards your Houses. Professor McGonagall is as stiff and distant with us Gryffindors, even one-on-one, as she is with any other student. In contrast, you willfully and publicly favor your Slytherins." Snape frowned and opened his mouth to argue, but Harry stopped him. "Everyone knows it, there's really no point in denying it. The difference isn't just in how you behave towards your students, it's in how they react to it. We Gryffindors don't have a safety net, we don't have someone to tell us when we're doing right, only when we're doing wrong, and for whatever reason that causes us to act out even more. But Slytherins, while they have their moments of misbehavior, are still almost consistently perfect angels around you, with only a few exceptions. I think that's because they are seeking your approval, whereas we will never get any, no matter what we do. So, can I write about that? About how I would treat the students outside of the classroom as well, and how I feel that would impact my ability to guide them in ways outside of my subject? You said yourself that a large part of being a teacher is influencing your students' behaviors and view of the world at large."
The smirk returned in a quirk of thin, pale lips. "If you continue to use my words against me, Potter, I shall start to think you're mimicking me."
Harry grinned. "They say mimicry is the highest form of flattery." He wanted to smack himself as soon as the words left his mouth.
A raised eyebrow. "Indeed. In any case, you have my leave to write the essay as you see fit, so long as it is an examination of behavior, and how you would perform differently." Snape answered. "Give at least one example, be it an actual event or one you create yourself. Do not use your career discussion with your Head of House, as you've already been told how that conversation should have gone."
"Yes, Professor, and thanks. It'll be easier to get my six inches if I have to fit in all of that information, plus an example," Harry grinned slyly.
The expression on Snape's face transformed into a piercing, knowing gaze. "Sneaky, manipulative-you're dismissed, Mister Potter, before you con me into dropping the essay altogether."
Harry's grin widened. "Yessir." He turned back to his small table and quickly gathered his things, that dark, rumbling chuckle ringing in his ears as he left the room.