No one added anything to that, knowing how it must have taken Snape real courage to admit it to them.
Dumbledore sighed. "Sadly, I have take partial responsibility that you have found yourself in such an unenviable situation. I had been too optimistic you could fill both positions easily. Thankfully, I'm fully confident that my attempt to get Horace to return will be successful... No, that does not mean I am going to replace you, since I know Horace will want non-monetary compensation for doing so."
That caused everyone to get interested, Snape most of all. "Please explain, Headmaster."
"I know Horace, he will not want to teach all years as the price for his return. Therefore, what I know he will accept, is, that for again leading House Slytherin and become Potions Master, you, Severus, will teach the NEWT classes to lessen his workload. That however also means you have to accept students with an E in their OWL."
Snape needed a moment to think about it. While he disliked lowering his standards, he knew that E-students from Slughorn should still be good. Also, the possibility that he would only have to teach the two oldest years was very tempting, as it meant goodbye to snot-nosed brats who needed an explanation for everything. He knew Slughorn wouldn't be able to resist having available more time to spin his net of favors.
"That would be... acceptable," he finally said.
"Good, and I will approach Horace soon. However, there still is the matter of Defense classes," Dumbledore reminded everyone. "Sadly, as I had to find out after some help from the Department of Mysteries, that position is indeed cursed and I have a good guess that it was by Voldemort himself."
There were some gasps and some of those present paled. Others grimaced, mainly Snape who disliked hearing the name for different reasons. The Headmaster was not happy with this reaction, though he had expected it. His Deputy was the only one not affected, and that was because she had heard it often enough from him to get desensitized to it.
McGonagall found it a bit embarrassing that adult people reacted like that, especially since that had been her reaction as well for a long time. "Honestly..."
"Nevertheless, it means that since the curse is interwoven into the magic of Hogwarts itself, they were unable to remove it. Please note however, that only the position of the Defense professor was cursed, not the subject itself. And no, abolishing that position will only ensure that the curse latches onto the next equivalent at the school."
He left unsaid that there were only two ways for the curse to be lifted: either Voldemort truly dies, or Voldemort removes it himself. That the curse was still active was yet another piece of the puzzle that Voldemort was not truly dead and all the evidence he'd collected up to this point was painting a rather dire picture.
"This is problematic. The quality of the subject has fallen greatly and the professors are becoming worse as well," Professor Vector thought aloud, remembering the fate of the various Defense professors.
That also was an open secret. Defense against the Dark Arts had become a joke in recent years due to the constant accidents or other unfortunate fates its professors suffered near the end of the year causing everyone competent to avoid applying for the position. By now the Headmaster had to resort to rather questionable candidates to keep the position filled. The other magical schools had made it clear they didn't take Defense at Hogwarts seriously.
"Sadly, the best we can do for the Defense position is to offer one-year-only contracts that end a week before the actual end of the school year. Perhaps that will satisfy the curse. It doesn't solve the quality problem, however, so we have to come up with ways that the students do the needed work on their own. However, the Headmaster has one solution to at least ensure our students leave with a good enough grasp of the subject," McGonagall explained.
"Oh yes, I do. Severus, this solution needs you agreement. My plan is, that the Defense professor only teaches the first four years, and then you take over for the final three years. It will not be official, and nominally the Defense professor is in charge, but practically you will have all the freedom to fix the damage done," the Headmaster told Snape.
Snape couldn't believe it. That was the job he had always wanted, and now there was such a simple solution for him to get it. Even better, he would not have to deal with little brats! However, he was careful. "Headmaster, I know there has to be a catch."
Dumbledore knew, Snape would ask that. "Yes, like with Potions, you have to accept E-students for NEWT classes. We can't allow ourselves to create a bottleneck after all the damage done."
While that hurt his high expectations, he could live with it. He then did the math. "I accept! However, without being a Head of House and having a significantly lighter class schedule, what am I supposed to do with so much time on my hands?"
"Oh, I'm sure you can find something. Perhaps you can finally do the potions experiments you never had time for? Maybe write a book to codify your knowledge for recognition?" the Headmaster suggested.
That made Snape remember something. "Can I be excused?"
"Of course, Severus. The details are nothing we can't relay to you later on," the Headmaster dismissed him.
Making his way to his normal Potions classroom, Snape was deep in thoughts. I can't believe I forgot about it. Good that the Headmaster mentioned writing books.
Entering the empty classroom, Snape walked to the corner cupboard. Opening it, he was confronted with a whole stack of Potions books. However, he knew it had be be there, he did remember putting it in there as per custom. Digging through the stack of books, he became more nervous with each book that he put aside. However, after outright vanishing a book someone had barfed on, he finally saw the item he was looking for.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to read more?
The next 60+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
📫 polls to shape the story
🎁 Exclusive content for Patreon
🔥 Bonus adult -- themed pictures & scenes you won't find anywhere else(adult only 🤫)
Don't fall behind -- others are already ahead! 👀
👉 Patreon.com/c/Nixerion(please search this link on Google Chrome)