CH 47

Harry turned back with full glare at Snape and said in voice only slightly lower than his original bark, "Accepted!"

Snape immediately spun on his heel and stormed off out of the Hall.

Harry was about to sit down when Dumbledore said, "Now, Harry..."

"What is it, Headmaster?"

"Was that really necessary, Harry?" Dumbledore asked in a disappointed-grandfatherly voice with a similar expression affixed to his face.

"Yes, Headmaster, it clearly was! If you had done your duties as Headmaster properly, and not been remiss in counselling your staff on what was considered proper behaviour and decorum when dealing with the student body, then it probably would not have been necessary," barked Harry. "As it is, you can rest assured that both Lord Greengrass and Regent Potter will be formally notified of what occurred here this morning. I daresay they will have their own words to add to this matter!

"Now. Will that be all, Headmaster? I am attempting to spend time with my betrothed before classes, and my breakfast is getting cold."

Dumbledore gave a brief nod before he, too, left the Hall. However, his departure was a little more dignified.

As soon as he was gone, Harry plonked himself back down on the bench and said in a normal voice, "Now, where were we?" Noises of students talking to each other over what happened rose in volume quite quickly. Daphne just looked at him, leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek, and sat back with a grin. "Damn, Potter! You really know how to impress a girl."

"And I didn't even have to point out that school rules do not forbid students from sitting at the tables of other Houses. Dumbledore did it for me," said Harry. "Hopefully, enough people heard it for Snape not to be able to snarl at students about it ever again. Which, of course, was the whole point of the exercise. Win win!"

Both girls giggled while Harry turned back to his breakfast.

A few minutes later, Harry was approached by Professor Flitwick, who dropped a copy of Harry's class schedule on the table before him. He also heard the Professor whisper to him, "That was a nice bit of theatre, Mister Potter. Very well done." "Thank you, Professor," replied Harry with the same level of whisper. "I apologise that it was necessary."

Harry felt his first class in Transfiguration was a bit of a waste of time. He'd already practiced transfiguring objects while he was living at The Leaky Cauldron and studying the texts. So he alternated his attention between transfiguring a match into a needle and back again, and writing up the short letter about what had occurred at breakfast he was sending Cygnus, together with a copy of his memory of the event.

He made sure not to mentally call Hedwig to collect the letter and memory phial until he was sitting in the Great Hall again, enjoying morning tea. He wanted as many people as possible aware he was sending a letter, and let them assume it was the written formal complaint. There were many eyes watching as the large snowy owl glided down from the rafters to softly alight in front of him with a minimal of wing movement. As Harry attached the note and phial to the owl, it stood almost stock still in front of him with it's leg cocked forward. Hedwig was playing up to the audience, and loving every moment of it.

"Show off!" Harry whispered to her with a grin.

She softly hooted in reply with her muted bark that he now knew to be laughter.

Packages properly secure, Harry placed his arm for Hedwig to mount. He then aided her in regaining flight by gently lofting her upwards. She soon disappeared back up and out the owl windows at the peak of the Great Hall ceiling. After morning tea was a free period so, instead of sitting around and doing nothing, he decided to attend a class for History of Magic. It took him only a few minutes to realise the ghost teaching the class was practically reciting whole passages out of the text book on the subject. He simply drew forth a clean sheet of parchment and proceeded to write a letter to Gran letting her know the gist of what happened at breakfast, and that he'd sent a copy of the memory of the event to Cygnus. He'd let them work out how to share the memory between them if Gran wanted to see it.

While Harry was sitting in History of Magic class, Severus Snape had stormed into the Headmaster's Office.

"Thank you for coming, Severus," twinkled the old man. "I wanted to discuss with you..." "That arrogant little brat embarrassed me in front of the entire school!" the Potions Master yelled, interrupting.

With an angry glare back, Dumbledore said, "You embarrassed yourself, Severus!"

Hesitating a moment, Dumbledore said, "When we reviewed together your memory of the events of the sorting, it was youwho indicated the boy was wearing a male betrothal ring on the ring finger of his left hand similar to what James wore when he was first betrothed to Lily. It was you who indicated a very similar ring on the same finger of Miss Greengrass when you noticed how focussed she was on the boy. And, it was you who suggested they were possibly betrothed.

"Granted, it is indeed surprising Harry is aware of the laws surrounding betrothals, or that there are special dispensations when either party is an Heir. I fathom Lord Greengrass has been educating the boy. However, you are just as aware of the laws and yet you decided, in your anger towards all things Potter, to interfere in what was clearly a time for them to get to know one another."

"The boy should not have been aware of..." the Professor tried again.

"Enough!" snapped Dumbledore, slamming the palm of his left hand down onto the flat surface of his desk. "It does not matter whether or not Harry was aware of the laws. You were, and yet you still chose to interfere!"

The Potions Master just glared back with his lips pressed together in a firm line.

"I am going to have to do a great deal of politicking and calling in of favours to try and get you out of this mess, Severus," said the stern Headmaster. "As you are no doubt aware, because Harry is a minor, Lord Greengrass can overturn Harry's acceptance of your apology. I've also just been made rudelyaware, that Harry has filed Regency papers to have Augusta Longbottom become his Regent. So, she too, can overturn the apology.

"As of this moment, either of those two aged warriors have it within their grasp to legally declare blood feud on you and kill you."

Startled, Snape said, "I..."

"So, you'll forgive me," said the Headmaster interrupting right back in a low but angry voice, "if I have no tolerance for one of your churlish rants, this morning.

"I was about to put in motion efforts to have Harry's magical guardianship and regency returned to me. However, after your little snit, this morning, I have to abandon those plans! Instead, I now need to direct all my attention and resources towards saving your life. If I am miraculously lucky, I may even be able to save you your job! At this moment, I cannot see how I'm going to accomplish that."

Snape motioned to, yet again, speak but was cut off before he could utter a sound.

"You are to ensure you review all school rules and procedures before the end of the day," said Dumbledore. "From this moment forth, you are to issue and dock points rigidly within the rules and with complete fairness. Your bias against Gryffindor House is at an end. Your favouritism of Slytherin House is at an end. Your verbal abuse of the students is at an end. And you will comport yourself as a professional educator at all times. Do I make myself clear?"

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