Severus narrowed his eyes in disgust. Even now she was still trying to paint the boy as something less than noble. Coldly, he said, "Mr. Potter may be a lot of things, Minerva, but he isn't evil and never once has he ever done anything that even came close to showing him to be evil. He's spent every single year here trying to save lives. Often by risking his own to do so. Those two girls you're so very fond of are prime examples of that. And it's far more than I can say for you. Hasn't his yearly trips to the infirmary proven that much at least to you?"
"He saved their lives. He defeated whatever peril was in the castle or on the grounds each year. In his second year, he fought and defeated a monster we couldn't even find in a room we also couldn't find. How did you thank him for that? You blamed him for not doing it sooner. Because we did lose a student that year. You claimed it was his fault Colin Creevey died because clearly, as he did find and kill the beast at the end of the year, he could have done so at any time. Therefore, Mr. Creevey's demise was his fault. We know differently though, don't we? We know it wasn't him turning that monster loose on the school, don't we? It was that redheaded girl you're so fond of who did that, wasn't it? She was the one flirting with danger all that year, wasn't she? Killing animals and petrifying students. Keeping secrets that was putting the school in grave danger. Yet you feel sorry for her. Claimed it wasn't her fault because she didn't know the book was bad. She certainly should have realized waking up covered in blood was bad though, shouldn't she? Yet she never said a word to anyone about it, did she? Kept it a secret, didn't she."
"I can see not realizing a talking diary was a bad thing. Merlin knows we have enough sentient objects here in the school to make any child not question that. But she was waking up covered in blood and feathers. Having black-outs where she couldn't say what she'd been doing for hours on end. She certainly should've known that wasn't normal for eleven year old children, Minerva. Yet you've never questioned why she didn't seek help. You've never once said she did wrong in hiding that information from us. The whole incident could have been resolved much sooner if she had done as she should've and all you've ever done is make excuses for her while glaring at Mr. Potter and blaming him for not resolving it sooner."
Minerva was squirming in her seat as she'd never even thought about the second year fiasco like that. And she had blamed Mr. Potter for the death of her young lion. Because she had assumed if he could find and defeat the monster at the end of the year then he could certainly have done so before young Colin had died. Even though intellectually she knew Ms. Weasely had been setting the monster loose at the urging of the soul embedded in the diary she was using, subconsciously she still blamed Mr. Potter for everything it had done.
Severus gave her a few seconds to absorb what he said before continuing to air his long held grievances with her. "What's more, he's succeeded in his efforts without the slightest bit of help from you or any of us who call ourselves responsible for every student in this Castle. Except for the incident with the werewolf, not one of us has ever been there for him. Been there to listen to him so that he would feel he could trust us to do what needed to be done when it needed to be done. Or even been there to just treat him as fairly as we do the rest of the student body. And do you know how he reacted to me being there at that time? He clutched onto my robes and refused to let go. As if I'd disappear and leave him to face the raving monster on his own if he did. He wanted adult help and guidance. But We Were Never There." His words made not only Minerva wince but several of the other teachers as well. All of them were guilty of that particular failing and they knew it. Just because Minerva was his Head of House didn't absolve them of having a responsibility to be there for the student body of which Mr. Potter was certainly a part.
"The lives of our students have been saved but we didn't save them, Minerva. He did. A student here just like them. A student we should've been protecting. And weren't. And how did we repay him for his actions? We punished him. We showed our gratitude by sending him back to his relatives early without so much as a thank-you. As soon as he was conscious enough to rise from his sickbed, Albus would portkey him back to his relatives each year. Sometimes that was before the conclusion of the end of the year exams and not a single one of us protested that action."
"Or a grade report," added Filius quietly to Pomona who was once again his seat mate. She blinked at him puzzled as to what he was talking about. "It occurred to me he has always been sent back to the muggles by a portkey from either the infirmary or Albus' office days before we hand the children their final grades. Severus is right. In some years, he hasn't even gotten to take all of the end of the year exams before Albus sends him back to the muggles. So he has never actually gotten his end-of-the-year results. And none of us ever said a word about it." She gaped at him blinking in shock.
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