But Severus was still talking to Minerva. "Not a one of us bothered to grade his class work fairly last year or even for most of the year before that. Hell, I don't think most of us were grading him fairly in his second year either. While I have my reasons for always seeing the less than desirable in him, I'm not his Head of House. Nor are any of his other teachers. But you are. And yet, I know for a fact, you're the only teacher who actually failed him in any of his classes. While the rest of us may have used the harshest grading methods we could on his work, none of us actually failed him. Because we knew he hadn't failed our class. I'll admit I didn't grade him fairly, but he still received at least an Acceptable from me. As he did from Filius, Pomona, Aurora and the rest of us. Well, Hagrid actually still gave him an O but that's more because Hagrid is incredibly loyal to those who are loyal to him. What grade did you give him, Minerva? You who are his Head of House and should've been supporting him, working with him to change his behavior and attitude. You, who should've been holding counseling sessions with him if his behavior, work ethic, assignments and attitude bothered you so greatly. What did you do for him? That's right. You bad-mouthed him and shunned him. You failed him from your class and did everything short of expelling him as a Gryffindor."
"Do not think I am unaware the Castle refused to allow you to expel him from Gryffindor House. You wanted him resorted into Slytherin House simply because that's the House of the 'Dark' wizards. Because he can speak the language of the snake. Because his scar shows signs of dark magic residue. But tell me, what else would it show when it was created by the use of a Killing Curse thrown at him in infancy? Did you really think it'd show light magic residue? The Sorting Hat was taunting me about how I was going to have to put my galleons where my mouth is when Mr. Potter became a Slytherin. And since when has a scar emanating dark magic residue ever meant the person bearing said scar is evil, Minerva?"
"But from where I'm standing, that's the worst part about this realization. He should've been resorted. Into my house. Because maybe then I'd have seen this coming and been able to stop it. Maybe we could've shown him another option for dealing with his tormentors. Chances are good we wouldn't have because those three definitely deserve their markings and it is the most fitting of punishment for them. But it's possible we would've. Because we Slytherins don't turn our noses up at our members just because we don't like something about them. Or think they aren't worthy of their parentage like you Gryffindors do. We may not like everyone in our house. But we don't cast them aside. Or say they aren't worthy of our house because they aren't like us. Or share our goals in life. Or come from a family we don't agree with. But I'm not his Head of House and so I didn't."
"You should've been doing everything you could to help him because you're his Head of House. You. Not me. Not Filius or Pomona. You. But you weren't. Were you? You still aren't. You cast him aside and did everything you could to distance yourself and your tower from him. What were you hoping? That he'd get such bad grades from the rest of us that Albus would have no choice but to expel him and thereby ruin any prospects he might have for a good future? Did you forget he's the Potter heir? You can't ruin his future for him by failing him out of school even if that was your goal. Any other school would snap him up before he even cleared the front gates. But way to solve a problem there, Minerva."
"But here's the one thing I want you to consider the next time you decide an eleven year old child is evil incarnate. What exactly makes a person choose to become a Dark Lord or Lady, Minerva? He was eleven years old when you decided he was evil incarnate because of that scar on his head. A scar he got as a one year old babe fighting off a Dark Lord intent on murdering him. What'll it be next time?"
She opened her mouth to hotly deny what he'd said about her trying to force Potter out of the school via failing grades and he cut her off. "Don't bother denying what your plan was last year. The grade you gave him in your class added to how you've consistently allowed your tower to isolate him for the last three years tells the tale all too clearly. Even when you found it was the Weasely girl who opened the Chamber, you still blamed him for it, didn't you? You forgave her. But him? Not even. You do realize she was possessed after a fashion, don't you? By the soul fragment in that book she was writing in all year? A soul fragment you know damn well was Tom Riddle and you know who he became as well as I do. You knew it at the time. A soul fragment she spent the entire school year listening to and trading secrets with. I'd say she was much more influenced by evil than Mr. Potter considering he's never gotten another child killed while doing the Dark Lord's bidding. She has." He paused to let that sink in and then continued to rip her to ribbons.
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