The Weight of Life Debts

However, both those bratty girls did owe Potter such a debt. And Severus knew it. They were not covered by the contract as the staff was any more than Potter was. The question for him was whether or not Harry was aware of what that fact meant for him. He knew Potter knew the girls owed him a debt. But he wasn't sure if Potter knew what it meant.

Though if he had discovered enough information to call for judgement against the trio, it'd be pretty stupid to assume he wasn't also well aware of what the life debt the girls owed to him meant.

He'd have to question him and direct him to books that could tell him what to do to resolve them if he wasn't already knowledgeable on the subject. An unresolved debt could ruin a life and he knew without asking Potter didn't want those girls in his life any more.

And no matter how much Albus might like to negate those debts, no outside force could interfere in the matter. Magic decided who owed that debt. Not man. The girls owed Potter their lives whether they liked it or not and that was all there was to it.

Albus could try all he wanted to make Potter turn the debts over to him or just forget about them altogether. But it wouldn't work. Because the girls had been saved from certain death by Potter. Not Albus. And magic had already established the connection between them. Had done so the instant Potter saved each girl.

But Severus knew for a fact Minerva didn't know of the incurred debts. And while the proud Scottish woman might have acknowledged Potter's right to call on magic for the judgement that now branded the Trio, that by no means said she felt he should've done so.

She still felt he should've gone to a teacher before dealing with them himself. But all the same she knew he was within his rights, since the spell had worked and magic itself had judged the three. But that didn't mean she'd ever admit they deserved what he'd done to them.

Not until something else occurred to show her it was no more than they'd rightfully earned and they'd never be the people she wanted them to be.

For that reason, even if she did know of the incurred life debts, she'd go out of her way to ensure Potter didn't find out about them, provided he didn't already know which she'd never believe he did.

She fully believed he was ignorant and incapable of learning things Ms. Granger didn't spell out in simple words for him. Mainly, but not completely, because that's what Ms. Granger and Albus had told her. And that was while fully believing he was using his scar connection to the current Dark Lord to learn Dark Magic.

The woman was impossible to get through to. Still, he'd cut her some slack. After all, four years of forming opinions based on what others told you couldn't be overcome in a few short weeks. Nonetheless, he planned to do his best to insure she never learned of the life debts the girls owed Potter. Or of the fact he was aware of said debts.

Regardless of what the Triad had done to Potter over the years, they were still her favored lions and she didn't like to admit they weren't the noble and staunch children she believed them to be.

As far as Severus was concerned, the point was proven by the fact that he knew she was now holding weekly meetings with the three to try and help them deal with their situation when she'd never done so for Harry or any other student in her tower that had been having difficulties. In fact, she still wasn't doing it for the entirety of her tower. Only those three. And Severus knew there were others having difficulty in Gryffindor Tower.

If she had, that Creevey boy might still be alive and his brother wouldn't be so difficult to deal with now. Soon after Denis Creevey had arrived at Hogwarts, Severus had noticed a pattern in the child's behavior.

He reacted very negatively to anyone who even hinted at negativity when mentioning his brother, Colin. He haunted the hall where Colin had died and researched the matter thoroughly trying to discover how and why his brother had died. He even made sure to linger in the area so as to talk to Colin daily. Just because Colin was here and capable of interacting with the living to a certain extent.

Because everyone believed Potter to be in some measure responsible for Colin's demise Denis had always hated Potter. Nothing Colin could say would stop Denis from hating Potter. Because the living blamed Potter for Colin's death. Like Myrtle, Colin had no clear memory of how he'd died.

Just that he'd been following someone with long red hair and had looked into a pair of large yellow eyes. And there were rumors Denis had waylaid Potter more than a time or two taking out his frustrations upon Potter simply because of those rumors.

He was a troubled boy and she should've been meeting with him on a regular basis to try and help him deal with his loss. But she wasn't. She never had.

But, because it was her personal favorite and Albus' toadies, she was now meeting at least weekly with Dumbledore's Triad. They'd always have her favor no matter what happened or who might prove themselves more worthy.

Severus had noticed she still hadn't done anything to even attempt to mend her fences with Potter. Even though she claimed to understand now he hadn't done any of the things she'd blamed him for over the years. And the things he did do, he'd not only been pushed into doing by her precious threesome, but he'd only done in order to save lives.

But that shouldn't have, and actually didn't, surprise him. He knew she still believed all the trouble between him and the Marauders was solely his own fault and that they hadn't meant him any lasting or true harm. Even when they'd set him up to have a face to face meeting with the werewolf, she'd blamed him.

They too, had been favorites of hers. In her eyes, this Potter was a severe disappointment as he wasn't the pure light wizard her memory told her both James and Lily had been during their lifetime. She'd never see him as being better than her chosen lions in anything.

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