25 December 1992, Hogwarts
With purposeful strides, Severus Snape traversed the empty corridors of Hogwarts. A foreboding aura surrounded him, casting a sense of terror akin to a haunting spectre. His black robe fluttered like a bat emerging from the depths of a tormented abyss, while his jaw remained tightly clenched. Known for his consistently unpleasant demeanour, the Potion Master rarely displayed a pleasant mood, as numerous Gryffindors could attest to over the past decade. However, on this specific evening, his thoughts were particularly morose and filled with sinister intent.
It all started with Longbottom because, in the end, it all came down to Dumbledore's precious boy who lived. Seriously, the headmaster really was obsessed with the boy to a point that honestly disturbed the potion master. Longbottom was constantly monitored, every single person who spoke with him was observed, and his performance in class and even in Quidditch practice was reported by the professors. Severus wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable with this new direction of leadership.
Ever since the boy stepped foot in the school, the entire castle turned into a madhouse. The Philosopher's Stone fiasco of the previous year, where one of the professors – whom Severus told the headmaster numerous times was either a death eater or was possessed – put two students in the hospital, one of which was one of his Slytherins, who actually wasn't stupid enough to follow Longbottom in his little suicide mission. At least this showed that his snakes had some semblance of self-preservation.
And now, the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and Dumbledore didn't say anything. They had all thought it was some kind of cruel prank made with a petrification obscure family spell that some pureblood supremacist learnt and decided to use to terrorize the muggleborn population into dropping out of Hogwarts. Considering that the first attack was on Filch, a rather commonly disliked person by the student body, and taking into account the timing, it wouldn't be likely that an actual mythical monster that was over a thousand years old would have the time to petrify the loathsome squib and disappear without anyone seeing anything.
Yet, now, with the aftermath of the Polyjuice incident, the Potion Professor knew that Dumbledore knew what was happening, that the students were in real danger, and didn't even tell the staff about the possible fact that the chamber was open. Well, Minerva didn't seem surprised, so he probably confided in her and Poppy Pomfrey, but Severus had a right to know that something in the school could seriously harm his charges.
The entire incident was infuriating. Sure, Longbottom and his annoying friends were punished severely. It was actually the first Hogwarts suspension in over a decade, and the press had a field day when it was leaked, but if Severus hadn't covered for them and destroyed the Polyjuice, chances are the ministry would have had to interfere, and the brats' punishments would have been far more severe.
As vindicating as seeing the brats that constantly demonized Severus in their minds, and always thought that he wanted to kill them, be finally punished somewhat fairly, the issue was that the fact the incident itself happened.
The Potion master knew how horrible it could be to be a Slytherin. The constant judgement from the other students, the suspicion that was always on the front of their minds in any conversation. Slytherins needed to be united, to project strength to survive, but they also needed to unwind, and their common room was a place for that. Dumbledore essentially giving his golden boy free access to the common room and bypassing the wards entirely was just over the line. Even Minerva was outraged, and it was her precious cubs that were the ones under fire.
Although, it was funny to see that golden boy look at the headmaster with more than a little suspicion, and by the end, the brat was pretty much accusing the headmaster of not dealing with the problem before. The man had skillfully changed the boy's mind, but that cemented the fact that one of his snakes had played the golden boy enough to make him doubt the man he considered to be his hero.
And it was Potter of all people who put a few ideas in Longbottom's head and indirectly forced the headmaster to reveal the similarity between what was happening and the attacks that happened fifty years ago. Of course, with a small application of Legilimency, and getting the full memory of the conversation with Potter, it didn't take long to figure out that the monster was a Basilisk. Sure, Severus wasn't a Magizoologist by any means, but he knew snakes and he knew poisons. It was a little-known fact that Basilisks could petrify people with their gaze, and the reveal of Longbottom being a Parselmouth and hearing voices during the attacks cemented this theory.
And that was baffling, Albus Dumbledore is letting children stay at a castle where a magical weapon of mass destruction probably still resided. Sure, the potion master could understand that the school could be closed permanently if it got out, but that did not justify the fact that it endangered the students. He had argued with the headmaster the moment he realized what the monster was, but the man chose to dismiss his warnings.
Which was why he was currently spending Christmas patrolling the castle and fruitlessly looking for any sign of the infamous Chamber of Secrets. It was probably a punishment for opposing the headmaster, whom he had barely seen since the incident. Dumbledore being away from the castle was a rising occurrence over the last school years, Dumbledore was too busy assisting Wizengamot and ICW meetings to deal with the mundane things requiring his presence inside the castle but refusing to hire more people to deal with the menial tasks. Minerva McGonagall was doing his paperwork, to take one example amongst many.
However, with the public mess Longbottom created, the man barely stayed in the castle more than a few hours at a time, trying to do his best to stop the Wizengamot from demanding to involve themselves in school matters. The Bulstrodes had quickly settled matters, seeing that it was a waste of everyone's time. However, the Crabbes and Goyles were milking it for all their worth, probably following Lucius' instructions. The longer they spent arguing, the more favours Dumbledore would have to complain to stop a formal enquiry in the school. It was funny, that Longbottom had done more damage to Dumbledore's influence in an hour, more than Lucius had ever done in over a decade.
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