Minerva's Remorse

And while that may have been true, it wasn't why Minerva hadn't gone to him about the confrontation between Potter and the Triad. Severus, when he went to dinner in the Great Hall, was relieved to notice that once again the Headmaster seemed to be stuck in his office. Or at least he wasn't attending the evening meal. That meant he could question Minerva without the Old Man's interference.

So that evening at dinner, he asked Minerva about why she had yet to inform the Headmaster of relevant matters. She admitted, with a heavy sigh, that although she still didn't like it and felt Mr. Potter should have talked to someone about the situation before he went ahead and invoked the spell, she'd read the book Madam Pince had given her about it. She now realized there was no one he could have gone to because she, the person he should have gone to first, most likely wouldn't have heard a word he was trying to tell her.

And if she wouldn't have listened to him, no one else would've either. It was quite the admission for her to make and Severus inclined his head in acknowledgment as did Filius and Pomona who had heard her as well. Like her Triad, Minerva didn't like to admit her mistakes. Unlike them she would when she had to; when she was confronted about them. But she didn't like to.

"Furthermore," she told him, "the Book made it clear the removal of the mark is in the hands of the triad. Only they can decide if and when it's ever removed. Or if it grows or shrinks in size and complexity. And given what the marks are rumored to be over, I'm being forced to admit anyone he might have gone to about it, would've shut him down without hearing a word he said. He didn't turned to an adult for advice or help because there literally wasn't one available who'd actually listen to him and help him."

Her voice was full of remorse but Severus couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her as it was her job to always listen to and support her students. Even when she personally didn't like them or feel they were right in what they were wanting to discuss with her or get her help on. It was her duty to be available to them. All of them. She never had been with Potter and he knew it. She'd very clearly failed Potter. Over and over again. So many times even the boy himself knew he couldn't go to her for assistance.

"Reading the book told me the casting of the spell wouldn't have worked had Mr. Potter hadn't had the right to call for their judgement to begin with. The book made it clear it's a course of last resort for the person employing it. Something to be tried when all other avenues have failed," she had quietly admitted. "Because only a person truly wronged by the person the spell is cast upon can call for it and only the crime(s) admitted to by the accused against the accuser will Magic render judgement for. And if the person being judged doesn't feel they are guilty of said crimes, the spell will backlash upon the caller. It didn't backfire. That means they are guilty, Severus."

"Much as I don't like it, they are guilty and he had a right to do as he did. So until I can get them to admit they deserve their marks, I'm not going to be going to Albus or willingly stepping aside to let them go to him on their own. Albus' interference at this point will only hinder their recovery. And they can still recover and go on to lead happy productive lives. The book also made that clear."

To her further shame, the book had made it very clear the victim was always judged by their own magic and not by magic of another. And with Magic itself as the arbiter, it wasn't in any manner dark magic.

That was why she'd overridden the copyright protection on the booklet and made many a copy of that particular bit of information to make it available to the student body. If she hadn't known of the law and punishment, it was a guarantee none of the students knew about it either. And the students needed to know the trio were judged by their own innate magic. Not Harry's.

He looked at her consideringly for a few minutes before he finally spoke. "I told you he didn't do any dark magic but you didn't believe me, did you?"

She looked down at her plate but shook her head. "To my shame, no, I didn't. I apologize for doubting your word. I never even considered it could've been judgmental magic, Severus. We don't teach that branch of magic here so there was no reason to believe a student raised outside of our world and away from any other magical people, who's spent every summer since coming here living in those same conditions, would have any knowledge of that magic."

"He's only a part of our world for a little more than eight months each year and that's only the last four years. Plus, Albus has done everything he can to make sure what exposure he has to our world, is limited to this Castle and nowhere else. He even has Molly Weasely doing his school shopping each year as he doesn't want Mr. Potter in Diagon Alley before school begins. And you know Mr. Potter has never gone down to Hogsmeade with the other students. He doesn't have a signed permission slip to do so."

"So how was I supposed to realize he discovered Judgmental Magic? I still don't know how or where he learned it. The Twin Terrors said they found the spell for him and did the research on it. But still he had to have practiced it before he used it against them. And I just don't see when he had the time. I mean, it's not like he could have learned it at home over the summers."

"His relatives hate magic and wouldn't know a magical spell if it reached out and bit them on the arse. So I could only think it was either Light Magic, which I know of no spell which would leave all three of them disfigured in such a fashion, or Dark Magic, which you have to admit he does have access to learning no matter how much we'd like to deny it."

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