However, discipline is something Mr. Snape can only control for one-quarter of the students at Hogwarts. He is, however, responsible for all the students' instruction in potions. On the day before the young Malfoy's disappearance was reported, there was an accident in a fourth-years' class, sending seven students to the hospital wing. It appeared to be a case of contaminated ingredients. Once again, discipline was found to be lacking.
"He's far too lenient on the students," Mr. Flint, another member of the Board of Governers, stated. "My son earned an Outstanding in his seventh-year class assignments, but in the actual Potions NEWT, he received a failing grade."
Needless to say, with Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Flint, and several other members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors calling for a review of Mr. Snape's teaching abilities, there could very well be a new Potions Master in the halls of Hogwarts soon.
There was a quiet murmur as the students who had a subscription to the paper passed their copies around. It quickly grew to a cheer that encompassed three of the four tables in the Great Hall. Snape was absolutely livid. He turned to Dumbledore for help. The headmaster appeared just as surprised at the news as he did. This being the weekend, of course, not all of the students were at breakfast at the same time, and nothing he said would be able to stop the rumours from spreading anyways.
By midday, everyone in the castle had practically considered Snape gone. A few students had earned themselves detentions when they simply called Snape "Snape" thinking he'd already been sacked. Just when Harry thought the news wouldn't be centered around him for once, he was caught by a gaggle of girls who were all reading Witch Weekly. They rushed up to Hermione and asked, "So, you're actually okay with an open relationship?"
"What was that? Let me see." Hermione snatched a copy of the gossip rag from one of the girls. "Harry Potter, Ladykiller? Oh, no, not another Skeeter article again... Valentine's... Hogsmeade... Jewellery shop... Fleur again? Ugh," she read aloud.
Harry went silent as Hermione read, his eyes shifting nervously as she continued. "Stole the glory from Cedric, stole his girlfriend as well? That's ridiculous. Multiple partners are often a sign of a megalomaniac, dark lord... this entire article's rubbish. I can't believe this. She's done it again. Harry, I promise I'll look for her the next time there's a press event. And I won't let any silly dogs distract me."
"And, for the record, Hermione is my one and only girlfriend," Harry stated firmly to the girls. "And Fleur was in Hogsmeade buying some jewellery for her date with Cedric on Valentine's. There's only one jewellery shop in Hogsmeade so it's not a huge coincidence that we bumped into each other there."
As the rumours led to more and more chaos around Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione once again retreated to one of the few places in Hogwarts that remained quiet, and did some research in the library. An hour later, Neville and Luna joined them, greatly speeding up the process.
"So, I take it you had a hand in Snape's... 'professional assessment,' Harry?" Neville asked.
"I may have convinced someone to help us out," Harry said. "It seems that he's been able to get away with a lot in the past decade because he had friends in high places. They're probably not his friends any more."
"I just hope the replacement will be better," Hermione told them.
"I don't think any teacher could be worse than Snape," Harry opined. "At least in Binns' class you can sleep through it and still know what he talked about."
"If you enjoy it so much, why didn't you get rid of Snape every time?" Luna asked.
"What do you mean, 'every time,' Luna?" Hermione asked as Harry was left speechlessly staring at their blonde friend.
"Well, this is the only time you've had Snape sacked, right? Oh! They've never paid attention to what I said before!" Luna bounced gleefully on her chair.
"Who's listening to you? What are you talking about?"
"Hmm... maybe they're not listening to me," Luna said.
"What on Earth is she talking about?" Neville asked.
Ignoring everyone else, she jumped gleefully on her chair again. "Oh, they are listening to you two! Sorry, Neville, they don't seem to care about you nearly as much, but I still do." Luna patted Nevile on his shoulder.
"Uh, thanks?"
"Um... what should I tell them?" Luna was talking to thin air again. "They're saying something about going to the house is a waste of time, even with the big red one... nope, that's all they want to say for now."
"Luna, who are you talking to?" Hermione asked.
"You, of course."
"No, I mean... who was telling you about the house? What house?" Hermione asked.
"The blibbering humdingers," she told them, as if they should have already known.
"What house are they talking about? Why is it a waste of time?" Harry asked, beginning to believe that her odd ramblings were the result of some kind of power.
"I'm not sure, they didn't say. It wasn't very interesting to them anyways. They don't like short stories."
"Luna..." Harry said, rubbing his temples. "So you're telling us to avoid a house in the future... is that it? It's kind of vague."
"Oh no, they said it happened months ago. It's not like I'm a seer or anything. I just like listening to the other creatures because they talk about much more interesting things than shampoo or star alignments."
.
.
.
🎉Subscribe and get access to all PDFs🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/madarasama125🎉