Reviews:

PurpleElement: Wonder if that happened in canon after the war

Selenity84: Not as disappointed as carnage

waytodawn0: You owe me ten sickles

Rebmul: Let's be honest, if Carnage was a 'good guy' then there would be a whole lot less reappearing villains.

Neotono: Honestly, you're right.

Chapter 61 -

"So how did you enjoy our date?" Harry asked as he and Fleur sat side by side in a carriage heading back towards Hogwarts. Harry had got himself a bag filled with snacks, a couple of school supplies and a few owl treats for Hedwig (he hoped that would satisfy her, though he wasn't really sure anymore since she had her own symbiote now). Meanwhile, Fleur was sitting next to him, looking quite pleased with the three bags full of chocolate treats resting at her feet. Harry half suspected that he could eliminate her from the tournament with a nice bribe of chocolate, heck if he gave Venom the rest then maybe he could sort out Diggory and Krum. Chocolate was the thing that made the world go around apparently.

"It was quite enjoyable," Fleur smiled at him. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Very much," Harry nodded. "So, are you open for a second date?"

"My, my, already wishing for a second date?" Fleur asked teasingly. "Well, I suppose I can fit you into my busy schedule," She said in a mock-haughty voice.

"How kind of you," Harry said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"Still, you'll have to wait until after the second task," Fleur told him apologetically. "I must prepare and train,"

"Fair enough," Harry said understandingly. "You worked out what your egg was?"

"I did," Fleur confirmed. "And I had told you that I'd give you a clue if I enjoyed my date, so, I'd suggest you put it in water."

"Put the egg in water?" Harry frowned.

"Put the egg in water," Fleur confirmed with a small nod. "That's all you're getting out of me," She added apologetically.

"Thanks, it would've probably taken me a while to work that out," Harry said appreciatively. "My current plan was just to toss it at someone and see if it breaks," He admitted with no shame, earning a giggle from Fleur.

"You English men are so simple-minded," She scoffed. "All of you are the same,"

"Hey, no we're not,"

"Yes, you are," She smirked. "Most of you are only ever thinking about one thing,"

"Quidditch?"

It wasn't long before the pair arrived back at Hogwarts along with the other students, Harry had helped Fleur out of the carriage before levitating their bags so they followed behind the couple as they walked. The two had barely made it a few meters from the carriage when a familiar voice interrupted.

"Potter!" Severus Snape snarled as he stormed up to the couple. "Where were you in Hogsmeade?!" He demanded, stopping in front of them.

"I don't really see how that's any of your business," Harry said, staring at the man with an unimpressed look.

"May we help you, Professor Virgin?" Fleur asked in a polite voice. Harry and Snape's gaze snapped towards her, Snape looked as furious as ever while Harry's lips curled up as he firmly held back a laugh.

"What...did you just call me?" Snape asked, slow and angry.

"Professor Virgin," Fleur repeated, adopting a confused look and tone of voice. "Is that not your name?" She asked, perfectly innocent while a few people in the crowd snickered.

"No, it is not!" Snape glared at her.

"But that boy said that was what you were called," Fleur frowned.

"What boy?!" Demanded Snape.

"The little blonde boy in Harry's year," Fleur answered, still speaking in her innocent voice. "The one in the green uniform. I heard him before the ball, saying that the potion teacher is a virgin. Is that not some English name?"

'Okay, I definitely like her now,' Venom told Harry. Snape glowered at Fleur before snapping his attention back to Harry.

"Where were you in Hogsmeade?" Snape repeated angrily.

"What's it to you?" Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "We have a very good thing going where we ignored each other's existence, let's not ruin that now."

"Draco Malfoy was attacked along with his friends," Snape sneered at him. "In Hogsmeade,"

"Congrats to him, what do you want me to do about it?" Harry said in a bored voice.

"Are you implying that Harry attacked the little blonde boy?" Fleur asked with disbelief.

"I know you and Mr Malfoy don't like each other," Snape told Harry, ignoring Fleur. "If I find out that you're responsible for his condition then I will personally make sure you have a one-way ticket to Azkaban!"

"With how easy you can get out, I'm sure I wouldn't be there for more than a day," Harry snorted. "Yeah, I don't like Malfoy, but unlike everyone's favourite potions master, I do not waste my time with infantile grudges because my time is actually valuable and I have better things to do,"

"Harry was with me the whole time," Fleur cut in when she saw Snape open his mouth. "We did not see this 'Dirco Milboy' at all,"

"Draco Malfoy," Snape corrected her with a glare.

"Him either," Fleur nodded, causing Harry to smile.

'The girl is an acceptable replacement for Tonks,' Venom decided. 'Though let's get Tonks as well,'

"I don't see what the big fuss is about anyway," Harry spoke up. "So Draco ran his mouth and probably got hexed or whatever, how's that any different from normal?"

"Mr Malfoy was not simply hexed!" Snape snapped at him. "He is in St Mungo's hospital as we speak!"

"What happened? Hurt his throat calling for Daddy?" Harry drawled. "Like I said, I - unlike you - have better things to do with my time than waste it on pointless grudges. Now, in case it wasn't really obvious to you, you're interrupting my date. Excuse us," Harry tried to walk past Snape only for the man to grab him harshly by the arm.

"If I find even the slightest bit of evidence that you were involved then I will make sure that you are punished," Snape growled.

'Let me kill him, let me kill him, let me kill him,' Venom chanted.

"You've got just about three seconds to get your hand off me before I make what I did to that dragon look kind," Harry warned him, staring him dead in the eye. "Three,"

"Don't think for a moment that you can..."

"Two,"

"Potter!"

"One,"

"What is going on here?!" A voice interrupted as Professor McGonagall arrived on the scene.

"Snape's being mean to me," Harry called in a childish voice, gesturing to the man who was still grabbing his arm.

"Unhand him at once, Professor Snape," Professor McGonagall ordered, pulling out her wand. Snape glared at Harry before releasing him.

"I wonder just how many complaints you can take before Professor Dumbledore has no choice but to cast you out," Harry said thoughtfully. "Let's add one more to the mix and see," He added before turning to Professor McGonagall. "I'd like to lodge an official complaint against Professor Snape, he bloody interrupted my date,"

"I too would like to make a complaint," Fleur spoke up. "He interrupted my date as well," She added with a small pout. "I was enjoying myself."

Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts and arguably the greatest wizard of the modern day, let out a very deep sigh as he rubbed his eyes, having just read over the latest report that Professor McGonagall had just given him. Apparently Severus and Harry had just had another confrontation with each other and now Harry was filing a complaint against Severus along with the Beauxbaton champion, Miss Delacour. If that wasn't bad enough then there were also dozens of witnesses to confirm Harry's side of the story.

At times he honestly felt that keeping Snape around wasn't worth the hassle. Despite what many believed, he was not blind when it came to Snape. He knew exactly how the man behaved in class, he knew that the man - as intelligent as he was in many aspects of life - was a manchild whose ego was only matched by very few. Still, despite everything, Snape was an incredibly useful asset for Dumbledore, which was honestly why the man had not just tossed him out on his arse by now. The fact that this happened right now made things far worse as he was already dealing with one big disaster in the form of Draco Malfoy.

The Malfoy heir had been attacked in Hogsmeade, the village wasn't under Dumbledore's authority, nor did he have any official ruling power over it, it still didn't stop people from demanding answers from him. Lucius Malfoy, a man as Slytherin as they come, hadn't hesitated in using his own son's attack to try and claim Dumbledore to be incompetent and should therefore not be ruling Hogwarts, Dumbledore could almost respect the man's initiative. Unfortunately for him, it hadn't worked as everyone did concede that he couldn't exactly be held responsible for something that happened outside of his authority. Not to mention the fact that all signed permission slips for Hogsmeade stated clearly that Hogwarts and its staff would not be held responsible for anything that may or may not happen during the student's Hogsmeade trips.

Still, it was worrisome that a student had been attacked, even an unpleasant one like Draco. If one student was attacked then it meant that the others could also be attacked. If this continued then he'd have to end up cancelling Hogsmeade trips until whatever or whoever was responsible had been caught.

Draco Malfoy was currently in St Mungos Wizard Hospital, Dumbledore was sure that Madam Pomfrey could have probably handled Mr Malfoys injuries, but for an injury such as this, it had been decided that it would be better to send Malfoy to the hospital. The bones in both of his legs had been shattered, his hair had been pulled out and his tongue had been cut off. The boy looked a step away from death and likely would have been if not for the miracle that is magic. Dumbledore hadn't really had the chance to discover what or who had attacked Mr Malfoy as the boy had been immediately rushed to hospital. All of that, along with the stresses of running a school and an international wizarding tournament, made Dumbledore really unhappy when Severus decided to dump a whole new workload on his lap.

Speaking of Severus, the man was sat across from him, snarling and muttering under his breath like a man who thought the whole world had wronged him, which Severus probably did.

"Is there much point in trying to point out what exactly you have done wrong?" Dumbledore wondered, mostly to himself.

"The boy is responsible for what happened to Mr Malfoy," Snape said firmly. "I'm sure of it,"

"So sure, are you?" Dumbledore asked, placing his arms on his desk, interlocking his fingers together as he leaned forward and gave Snape a curious look. "Well, I'm all ears, Severus, please tell me what miraculous and irrefutable proof you have that Mr Potter was involved in this attack?"

"Is there much point?" Snape asked sourly. "You seem to have already made up your mind regarding the boy's guilt,"

"You speak as if young Harry wasn't the first name that jumped to your mind when you discovered that young Draco had been attacked," Dumbledore said, a hair's breadth from rolling his eyes. "Both of us are aware that Draco Malfoy has made many enemies in this school. Everyone from first years muggle-borns to some of your own Slytherins have grudges against the boy."

"Not many of them have the power or ability to take out that many students whilst also seriously injuring Malfoy to such a degree and get away without a scratch!" Snape countered. "You saw what Potter did to the dragon!"

"I am also capable of similar levels of damage, as are you," Dumbledore replied calmly.

"Damn it, Dumbledore! You know full well that everything in this school is connected to that blasted boy! The philosopher stone, the chamber, that swine, Black, and now he's entered into the bloody Triwizard tournament!"

"I suppose it was also he who was responsible for the house-elves mixing up pepper with salt that one time?" Dumbledore asked lightly.

"Fine," Snape sneered at him. "Make your jokes, I know that Potter was at least partly responsible and I will prove it,"

"No, you will not," Dumbledore said firmly. "Right now, I am giving you two options, fix up or get out."

"What?!" Snape stared at him like he had never seen him before.

"If needs be then I will have to recruit a new spy, it would be hard work but not impossible," Dumbledore said to himself thoughtfully.

"You can't just replace me!" Snape said, standing up and slamming his hands on Dumbledore's desk. "After all the things I've done for you! After all the sacrifices I've made for you, I-"

"I too have done many things for you, Severus," Dumbledore cut in. "Case in point, you are currently living in a cosy portion of Hogwarts castle with a more than decent salary instead of Azkaban prison's special guest room."

"I-"

"Or if you need a more recent example then how about me keeping you out of prison again? How about the dozens of complaints that I've brushed aside in favour of you? How about the many valuable favours I've lost helping you? All of these things I have lost simply because you are incapable of letting go of a childhood grudge. Every day my enemies are chipping away at my reputation because of the amount of things I've had to do for you, and with every chip I lose more and more influence and power. Valuable influence and power. You joined me in the first place because the woman you loved had been put in danger, the fact that you were the one who put her in danger has seemingly not taught you that you're not half as smart as you seem to believe." He added, causing Snape to look like he had been slapped hard. "I've received reports of your grudge against Mr Potter ever since his first potions class, Severus, trust that I and the whole of the bloody wizarding world are aware of how you treat the boy."

"He didn't come prepared for my class," Snape protested indignantly.

"He was a first-year student,"

"Granger had known all the answers,"

"And you've called her a 'know-it-all' on several occasions," Dumbledore pointed out. "Besides, we can both agree that she is not a normal student. The students come to class to learn, that is your job. If you wanted him to know this information before his first class then you should have made him and the rest of the students aware beforehand so that they would check their books and learn. I'm telling you right now, Severus, I've had enough. It's bad enough that everyone knows that one of my staff is holding a grudge against a student, especially when that student is the boy who lived, and it's even worse when everyone knows that he has refused to take lessons with one of my staff and instead hired someone outside of my employees. I am putting out fire after fire, dealing with the tournament, Malfoy and who knows what will come next. I will not have you make things worse because you cannot end a grudge that started before the boy was even born."

"If you say so, Headmaster," Snape said through gritted teeth before standing up and storming out of the room.

Dumbledore let out a deep sigh, that man was a lot of hard work. Despite what he told Snape, he would not be replacing him any time soon, a good spy was hard to find, especially one who had the ability to stand against Voldemort's prowess in the mind arts. That's not to mention how valuable the man was as a potions master, Snape was the youngest ever potions master for a reason, the man could probably make several complicated potions in his sleep. All of that, along with Snape's skill with a wand, made him far too valuable to get rid of. However, that didn't stop him from wishing the man would fix up.