Harry potter and the Time of retirement
Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Chapter 6
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking" began Snape. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but the class caught every word, in fact seemed even entranced in a way - he had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stop death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
For an introductory speech this was actually quite good, thought Harry nodding to himself. While nowhere near Snape's level, he had to learn much more than the textbooks curricula during his job – especially healing and protective brews, poisons and poisoned weapons and so on – and he was aware on how potion making was one of the most versatile arts, able to prepare the brewer to everything given the time, skills and information on what to expect.
Learning it was paramount for school children... which only made Snape's deficiencies as a professor more problematic. Having a teacher that made little less than giving you assignments and calling you out of your mistakes was barely better than self-learning through books; whhat he himself had been forced to do ultimately, he thought with a bit of resentment.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
'I really don't need this' thought Harry, still mantaining an even face on the outside. "I don't know, sir".
"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything" he said while sneering. 'Seems like he is enjoying himself', thought Harry with a renewed appreciation for his old gripe with the man in front of him, back to life after almost a century. 'Sure, put the 11yo you helped make an orphan in his place' he thought bitterly.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
In the class, 4 or 5 hands rose up – all from Ravenclaws. This picked Harry's interest; it was true that even some muggle children knew there were stones inside a goat's stomach, but did they really knew already it was a bezoar? Were Ravenclaws so studious, or had he been that bad of a student in his youth? 'Maybe both', he conceded with some amusement.
"Can't answer, Potter? Can't even admit your ignorance? Are you starting to realize you should have opened the book before coming?" said Snape, irritated at being clearly ignored in front of the class.
"As that was not indicated in our school supply list or class schedule... No, sir" said Harry, re-focusing his attention on him.
"Arrogance will take you nowhere, Potter. Your well-undeserved fame will grant you nothing, especially not in my class. And, take one point out of Hufflepuff for your laziness" said Snape, scowling at him and moving on.
Harry was quite tempted to answer back, but showed nothing of it on the outside. A classroom was not the right place to challenge a professor; beside, he had enough dirt on the man to shame him, if he wanted to. All he needed was a credible reason on why he knew what he did.
Class went on normally after that: everyone teamed up with someone else and they started to prepare one of the simplest potions, following Snape's instructions on the board and a few examples he gave, at least, on how to cut ingredients and how to mix them. Ravenclaws were an even number, and Harry remained as the odd one out of his 9-peers class.
Shrugging, he just moved his desk next to those of Hannah and Susan - "Be silent, Potter!" - and started brewing today's potion, one of the easiest. The girls, perphaps due to fear of their professor, ignored him but he did not mind that as it gave him an excuse to fall into his thoughts and focus on the potion itself. It was the brewer's magic that turned otherwise mundane ingredients into a potion so, as long as he stuck to the instructions and kept his focus, nothing could go wrong.
The potion itself might have been simple, but the lack of familiarity with it still helped Harry contain his boredom and, after little more than one hour, it was ready – with large advance on everyone else. Snape, that had not hesitated to criticize his non existing faults during brewing, had no comment to offer about this feat – but something to say about Harry's satisfied smile that appeared on his face when he looked up to the potion master's face.
"Luck will not be enough in coming classes, Potter. To be so satisfied in completing such an easy potion is certainly what I expect you to do, though."
At this Harry just rolled his eyes, and started to clean his work area. 'So childish', he thought.
"I don't know... his instructions were clear to follow, after all" said Megan, while tapping her wand on the barrel acting as door to Hufflepuff's common room. Once open, everyone followed her inside.
"Yes. I will admit he is not a nice guy, but..." added uncertainly Sally-Anne.
"I can't understand why you are all defending him. I didn't say he is a bad teacher, even though he didn't seem good either. I said he is an idiot" complained Ernie while sitting down in one of the set of couches placed around a small table. Girls on one side and boys to the other, but all of them sat down, Harry included. Around them, there were students from the other years talking between themselves or studying, but no one paid them any heed. Only a couple heads turned and smiled, once they recognized the object of the first-year's anger.
"Yeah. Who the hell does he think he is, to call us dunderheads? Has he checked his head, lately?" said Zacharias, with his eyes narrowed down.
"I thought you wanted a more strict teacher, Zacharias. You know, someone more prestigious?" said Justin, in a taunting tone. "Well, here you go."
Zacharias moved his hostile stare to him, but said nothing. Looking between the two, Wayne spoke uncaring: "Can't we all just agree he is a jerk that can teach well?"
"If he can, Wayne. If" said Ernie, clearly showing that he did not believe Snape able to teach, at all.
"Potter, you are silent. Again. What is your opinion on the guy?" said Zacharias, turning his stare over him. Before Harry could even answer, though, Hannah spoke for him:
"Poor Harry, the way he confronted you in the beginning was awful. What's wrong with Snape?"
"Beside, he kept coming back to our table to annoy us. I swear it seemed like he had a thing for you. Stupid bat-like monster" added Susan, fiercely.
"Yes, he seemed specifically angry with me. Hopefully, it was just only because of my fame and not for more serious reasons" said Harry, with an imperceptible predatory gleam in his eyes.
"What reasons could he have? You were not raised by wizards, you said, so you can't have met him already. Right?" said Justin, almost threatening him to deny that point.
"Right. It's just... no, I am sure it is a coincidence. At least, I hope so. God, I certainly do" added Harry with a fake, but convincing shutter of disgust.
"Wait, what are you hiding there Potter? Have you already met Snape?" said Zacharias. When Harry did not answer, all the heads turned towards him.
"Come on, Harry, spit it out!" said happily Ernie. All the girls were now giving him their full attention, and even Justin and Hopkins were obviously listening. Noticing a pair of the heads around them turning towards the group, Harry started to speak.
"Mind you, it could be a coincidence. I mean it" he said, placing his open hands in front of him to push the point across. "But... well, my aunt told me a couple stories of my mom's childhood, you know? And there was this kid, 'a creepy looking boy named Severus' she said, that lived nearby them and had the hugest crush on my mom before she told him to fu – to leave her alone. Apparently, he went to Hogwarts with her, too. But I am sure it wasn't Snape... right?" ended Harry in an unsure tone, while looking around himself secretly hoping for reactions. He was not disappointed.
"Wow. Just wow" was Zacharias comment.
Sally-Anne and Hannah started chatting between themselves, with an expression split between pure joy and fake disgust.
On their side, Megan seemed stunned... only to add, with a bit of hesitation that "Severus is not a common name... and it is Snape's name"
Justin was just immobile, mouth slightly open like he wanted to say something but did not know what; next to him, Wayne said nothing nor did he seem shocked at all. It could have been his inexpressive face, though.
Finally, Ernie started laughing – hard, while Susan almost shouted with delight "Snape had a crush on your MOM?"
"Wait, what?" said a older looking girl behind Susan, with two shocked looking friends right next to her. More people started turning towards the sudden commotion.
The following ten minutes were a flurry of questions, that Harry enjoyed immensely – while trying to appear as the voice of reason. After the whole story was extracted from him the older students started talking between themselves, with the girls the most chatty while from the boy it could be heard, once in a while, some very forward and mean-spirited jokes about Snape that made all of his classmates blush.
Meanwhile, Harry relaxed against his couch while reading his potions textbook, or at least pretending to. What he did was childish, borderline cruel and unneeded – and he was enjoying it more than he was willing to admit. With smug satisfaction he noted how short of interrogating his aunt, which was quite unlikely for a whole set of reasons 'especially how no one cared about my home life' he thought with a bit of irritation; anyway, short of that no one could think he was anything less than a naive kid just retelling an old story which, added bonus, was also completely true.
Being antisocial, greasy looking, friendless, strict... all these traits were a joke waiting to be invented if one could plausibly pin an unrequited love on Snape. 'And the more he will lash out at me, the more he will make an ass of himself' thought Harry, who could no longer hide a smug smile. The satisfaction of a job well done; if only he had a glass of firewhiskey to celebrate with. It felt quite appropriate.
The rest of the evening was quieter: after a couple hours of gossiping, general chatter and dealing with their first homework dinner time arrived and they all moved to the Great Hall. Almost all of the Hufflepuffs turned once or twice during dinner towards the professor's table, but even some students from the other houses did too – often followed by their friends sitting next to them. Harry resisted the temptation, knowing that acting low profile was seriously needed for the possible backlash, and just focused on his dinner.
Making an effort, he chatted with his peers about today's assignments and tomorrow's classes trying not to be annoyed by the wave of insecurity coming from them. With Justin, even though the boy still seemed a bit crossed with him, he talked about extra-curricula activities: the boy could not understand how there were almost no clubs, sports team or television to watch and complained that he was not going to spend all evenings from now on just doing homework and gossiping like girls. He actually had a point, thought Harry, which had no intention whatsoever to join Quidditch again, nor felt any interest towards clubs like the Gobstone club.
Sure, his original intentions were to mind his own business and get out of the castle every time he felt like to, but he could see why his classmates would get bored fast by staying inside. Maybe he could suggest them to start some new clubs, like his old dueling one. Or maybe not – if they were not active enough to propose something to the teachers themselves, then they deserved it. Not that he would tell that so bluntly to anyone.
Once dinner was over they all moved back to their common rooms, stopping there to waste time before sleep. The girls were still chatting, while Ernie and Zacharias started a game of chess with the other 2 boys watching and commenting over their heads. Harry just sat nearby, reading his textbook for Transfiguration (a class to be started the day after) in search of details he forgot about it after so many years. As a branch of magic required to Aurors he was overall familiar with it but, beside human transfiguration or duelling applications, he never actually got the hang of other complex feats of its magic as he always botched the details of any challenging transfiguration or conjuration he attempted. He liked to think it was due to the lack of necessity and therefore training into it, but it was not like he had better to do at the moment, so he might as well give it a chance.
And so he kept reading barely answering the few random questions that were sent his way from older house mates and refusing to answer more salacious comments made by some of them, as he was already bored by their insistence over Snape's latest revelation. Sure, it had been hilarious, but did they really expect him to suddenly come up with more details? Of course, he could – and he considered the option too, actually – but only if Snape did not learn the meaning of Karma. 'Silly kids, learn some patience' he thought. The year had barely started after all.