Ignored Guidance

"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.

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."

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