Time's child 3
Should have posted this a month ago... no real rush I guess.
~*~*~*~
There would be a scandal but that was only to be expected when the heirs to two of society’s most prominent families were suspended from Hogwarts. Personally, Severus thought the headmaster had been too lenient but, to be honest, he was surprised at this much. He was, after all, a Slytherin and they were Gryffindor. Now that he’d actually had the opportunity to think about it, he would have expected no more than that the two be slapped on the wrist in private and then the entire incident would be swept under the rug. Instead, he was at the top of the astronomy tower, the same place Potter and Black had intended to all but cripple him, watching as both were escorted away from the school in shame.
It was surprisingly satisfying, for all that he believed Azkaban would have been too good for them.
Only Potter’s parents were a part of the grim procession that silently made its way towards Hogsmeade. Rumour had it that Black had been disowned by his own family, although Severus was fairly sure that wasn’t the blow the Blacks had intended as their spawn had reportedly already sought shelter with the Potters. Not that it mattered to Severus, he was simply pleased to have the wretches gone.
Six months without either Potter or Black. Severus wondered if what he was feeling was happiness.
“So now you’re free of them, Snape, does it feel good?” The voice of Dumbledore’s son sounded from behind him. Severus spun, startled and stared at the solemn face of his surprising new companion.
“Dumbledore!”
Dumbledore smiled wanly as he stepped up to stand beside Severus at the parapets so that he could look down. “I don’t think I need to ask you what you’re doing here, do I, Severus Snape?”
The both stared down at the departing figures and Severus didn’t bother to answer the obvious. For him, the question was what the headmaster’s son was doing here. They were both silent for the next few minutes, watching as the Potters and Black disappeared and then Dumbledore turned to stare at Severus.
“So, I’ll ask again, does it feel good to be free of them?”
Severus sneered at him. “You think I set them up for this? You think that I deliberately provoked them into treating me like that just to get them suspended? You’re as deluded as the rest of the Gryffindors!”
“Hardly,” Dumbledore responded mildly. “What happened was their own fault and now they must bear the consequences. I simply wish to know if those consequences are pleasing to you.”
Severus stared at him suspiciously, sure there was a trap laying in wait for him. “Why are you here, Dumbledore?”
The other teen smiled sadly again and looked out at the horizon, rubbing the palm of his left hand. He wore a fingerless mitt on his left hand, Severus noticed, but nothing on his right. Aside from the previous night, when Severus understandably had other things on his mind, this was the first time he’d had the opportunity to examine Harrison Dumbledore up close and he was both surprised and disappointed by what he found.
He was neither handsome nor ugly and, except for the vivid green eyes, his features could only be described as ordinary. Dumbledore might have been small and sickly but he was no child and not weak magically either, evidence of that being the ease with which he’d dealt with Black and Potter. Severus would not have been surprised if he was younger than the other, which would explain why Dumbledore was at Hogwarts but not actually attending any classes. It was possible that Dumbledore had already completed his education which might lend substance to the rumours that he was only here to recuperate from torture. Not that Severus believed them anyway, but there was the disturbing scar on the other’s forehead, it was pale and old and Dumbledore’s messy black hair fell in such a way to conceal it but it caught the eye anyway.
“Did you know,” Dumbledore began, interrupting Severus’ scrutiny, “That muggles don’t just teach dates and events in their history classes, or they won’t always, but they explore cause and consequence as well.”
Severus looked at the other blankly, not understanding what he was talking about.
“They have a saying,” Dumbledore continued, “Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
“What has that got to do with anything?” Severus snapped impatiently.
“Did you know that around one hundred years ago there was a young man by the name of Manfred Rook? He was a pure blooded wizard but his family could only trace their lineage back three generations, they were hardly highly regarded and he was actually quite poor. The wizarding world being what it is, it was difficult for him to better his situation, lacking contacts, fortune and name as he did, and he had not the knowledge to make his way in the muggle world. He could not gain respect here and he could not gain respect there…”
“Is there a point to this?” Severus demanded.
“So he decided fear would do instead,” Dumbledore finished, unhurriedly. “He is known in history as Lord Grindlewald.”
Severus blinked. He had not been told that about Grindlewald’s past by Binns.
“Around fifty years ago there was a boy named Tom Riddle. His mother’s family disowned her because she loved a muggle and her husband abandoned her because she was a witch. She died in childbirth and her son was raised in a muggle orphanage. He attended Hogwarts in time and was sorted into Slytherin.”
“But he was a halfblood…” Severus started to argue.
Harry looked at him piercingly. “Do you really think the hat cared about that? Do you really believe that, even now, all of your housemates are purebloods? Slytherins learn camouflage very early on, Severus Snape, you know that.”
Severus did. “And Riddle?”
“Ah, Tom, well he was an orphan in the muggle world, probably a bastard one at that, and a mudblood in the wizarding world.”
Severus was surprised at the derogatory term coming from Dumbledore but understood why it was used and was even beginning to predict where this story was heading.
“Both societies scorned him and no one likes to be looked to be looked down upon. So he decided to teach everyone respect and, well, it’s very easy to confuse respect with fear.”
“Lord Voldemort,” Severus stated.
Dumbledore nodded, his face no longer bearing even a hint of a smile. “Yes, Voldemort.”
Severus stared at him. “And the point of your little history lesson?”
“Dark lords don’t just appear from nowhere, Severus Snape, they are created.” Dumbledore’s face was very pale and his green eyes stared blindly into the distance. “We create them…”
Severus blinked, uncertain of how to respond to such a statement. “Your point?” he repeated eventually.
Dumbledore met Severus gaze and Severus had to force himself not to retreat from the piercing regard. “Everything has consequences, Severus Snape.” He continued to stare into Severus’ eyes, searching for something Severus couldn’t name, for another endless moment and then he shook himself and looked away. “I’ll leave you in peace now, Snape. Good day.”
Harry Dumbledore definitely seemed to be his father’s son, even though there was no physical resemblance to speak of. Severus watched as he turned, his robes fluttering around him, and then disappeared down the stairs. “What the hell was that about?” he asked himself after staring at the exit for a few seconds.
~*~*~*~
The almost one-sided conversation he’d had with Snape stayed in Harry’s mind for the rest of the day and well into the next. He was still considering it when he sat down to a semi-private lunch with his father, and a handful of the rest of the staff. The remainder, of course, had dined in the Great Hall with the students but, for obvious reasons, Albus had wanted something quieter that day. Minerva, Pythagora, Filius and Poppy were all present, representing the staff that Albus was closest to. Coincidentally or not, three of the four also happened to have taken Harry under their respective wings, appointing themselves as Harry’s defacto aunts and uncle by dint of their relationship with Albus, while Poppy seemed to think that he needed a mother figure. Of course, the company present was hardly one to simply allow him to remain lost in thought, accustomed as they’d all become in the early weeks of his arrival to try and minimise his brooding.
“What’s on your mind, young Harry?” Filius questioned curiously no more than two minutes after seating himself at the table in Albus private dining room.
Harry only absently realised that he was being addressed, still too distracted, which then drew more interest from the rest. Albus, himself, clutched at the distraction eagerly.
“Yes, my boy, what are you contemplating in that busy mind of yours?”
His adoptive father’s voice gaining his attention in a way no others could, Harry blinked and found himself the focus of five inquisitive gazes. The subject matter that he was currently obsessing over hardly seemed worthy of such interest, in Harry’s opinion but he decided to take advantage of their notice while he had it. He may as well sound them out on something else that he’d been considering since his conversation with Snape.
“A few things,” he started, “For one, are you all handling this okay? It seems to have hit you all hard, especially you, Da.”
It touched on subjects that the others would have preferred to avoid but Albus answered Harry honestly and frankly, regardless. “I feel as though I have failed, Harry.”
Harry was not surprised. “Da…”
“Albus!” Filius and Poppy both exclaimed reprovingly.
Neither approved of Albus’ self-reproach but then neither of them had been particularly invested in either Sirius or James. Minerva, Harry saw, understood perfectly what his father was referring to but the two delinquents had been hers to shepherd. Pythagora, on the other hand, might feel no resentment towards either Albus or Minerva, but she definitely held them responsible for a large measure of what had happened. If things had been handled less deftly, a rift could have been created between the Slytherin head of house and the headmaster that could have destroyed their friendship. Perhaps that explained the division between Minerva and Snape in Harry’s time or perhaps it was just Snape’s personality that kept Minerva at a distance.
“I knew their antics were growing out of hand,” Albus admitted candidly, “But I did nothing to reign them in. If anything, I encouraged them, believing it to be no more than youthful high spirits in the wake of Tom’s defeat…”
“Their actions were not due to youthful high spirits, Albus,” Pythagora remarked sharply, “It was maliciousness, pure and simple.”
Albus nodded. “I know, my friend, I know. It’s something I should have seem coming for it was obvious that their misbehaviour was escalating.”
“One does not like to consider that children, one’s students no less, are capable of such cruelty,” Minerva commented, her eyes introspective. She was probably reviewing all of the warning signs that she had missed or ignored because the culprits were so young and castigating herself for it.
“And could you have known?” Harry asked of them, knowing the answer but wanting them to make his argument for him.
Albus looked at him wanly. “Because I have seen it before. I have taught for over fifty years, my boy, and I have seen all manner of child pass through these walls. I know the signs and I should have seen them this time.”
Harry nodded slightly. “You know cause and consequence. You know that unacceptable behaviours should be discouraged and you know why that is so. Those boys did not.”
“I do not believe that for an instant, Harold,” Pythagora disagreed astringently, “They knew the possible consequences very well, they just believed that they did not apply to them.”
“Or that they would not be caught in the act,” Poppy added heatedly.
Harry cocked his head at them curiously. “Do you honestly think that they realise that their actions could have been the straw on the proverbial camel’s back? Could they even imagine that Severus Snape might have one day become a dark wizard as a direct result of their actions and crimes against him?”
Pythagora frowned at him. “Severus go dark? Are you not letting the current anti-Slytherin sentiments influence you?”
Harry shook his head. “Don’t be insulting, Ma’am. I am no longer a child to accept hearsay unquestionably. You, however, must allow that Slytherin house is an environment that, especially recently, predisposes many of its inhabitants to the darker sides of magic.”
“Because of unthinking prejudice and persecution! James Potter and Sirius Black were hardly alone in their harassment, they were merely the worst offenders!”
“Nonetheless,” Harry insisted, “The trend is there.”
Pythagora opened her mouth to argue further but was forestalled by Filius. “How would you suggest we prevent such a trend then, Harry? We cannot tell the students what to think.”
“No,” Harry readily agreed, “But we can make them question things. True, many of the students arrive here with their notions on how things should be already firmly in place and anything that isn’t is cemented soon after. Pure bloods come knowing they’re superior to half or muggle blooded. Everyone who knows anything of Hogwarts knows Ravenclaws are bookworms, Gryffindors are rash, Hufflepuffs are plodders and Slytherins are dark. Gryffindors thing Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard who ever lived…” Harry saw his father wince slightly, whether in renewed self-recrimination for his supposed failure or simply in mortification, he did not know. “While Slytherins know that he’s a crackpot who’s running the school down…”
“Harry!”
Harry rolled his eyes at Minerva. “I’m making examples, Minerva, no more. None of that is what I believe, personally.”
“It’s all a load of codswallop,” Poppy declared in no uncertain terms. “Blood supremacy is nonsense, the house stereotypes are grossly overgeneralised and, no offence Albus, while you are a superb headmaster, you are not the greatest wizard that ever lived.”
Albus smiled, his humour returning. “Do go on, Poppy, I believe my ego can handle the blows.”
She huffed. “I don’t need to say anything that I haven’t already said and I’ll set anyone who believes any of that rot straight!”
“You’d never have time to see to your hospital wing,” Pythagora commented, “Fools are in a never ending supply but your time is not.” Poppy huffed again but did not dispute it.
“That’s where I think Hogwarts falls short of its responsibilities,” Harry said, drawing everyone’s full attention back to him.
“Excuse me?”
“Harry?"
“Well I say!”
“What?!”
Harry hurriedly tried to placate them. These were all witches and wizards who had graduated from Hogwarts and then returned to dedicate their professional lives to it. It was worth more than his life was worth to criticise her. “Don’t get me wrong, the magical education offered here is among the best but we hardly do the best by the students in other areas!”
“Hogwarts is a school for magic!” Minerva argued, “Teaching the students magic is the point of being here!”
“But is witchcraft and wizardry just magic though?” Harry demanded in return. “You must remember that life isn’t all about magic. We are responsible for shaping individuals as they change from children into adults and then we release them into the world. We’re hardly preparing them for what real life in that world is going to be like!” He gestured wildly, almost thumping his covered hand on the table by accident. “I mean think about it. They know magic but do any of them know simple budgeting? What about how to get along in the muggle world?”
“We do offer a comprehensive course in muggle studies, Harry,” his father reproved mildly but, for some unknown reason, his eyes were starting to twinkle again.
Harry ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. “As an elective,” he qualified scornfully, “Where the professor focuses on the flashier and attention grabbing topics to keep his students interested. It’s hardly what I’d call comprehensive. Considering that more than nine tenths of this planet is inhabited by muggles, you’d think we’d put a little more emphasis on that particular elective. At the very least, first and second years should all have compulsory classes in the subject to give them a thorough grounding that they may choose or not to continue to explore. Added to that, seventh years should be given a course on the muggle world because it is possible that, within months, they might need to get by on their own there.”
They were all looking at him thoughtfully. “You’ve thought about that a bit, Harry, haven’t you?”
Harry paused, startled. Most of that had been spur of the moment reasoning but it was something that he’d subconsciously noticing for years. It had just taken a shock to his system to make him realise it. Nor was that all he’d been thinking about in regards to the way Hogwarts was run, he realised.
“That’s not all I’ve been thinking about,” he told them. “For example, Poppy should be running sex education classes for all students in the upper years at the very least… probably going right down to the second years.”
Poppy was caught flat footed and the other adults looked just as stunned. “You want me to…”
“Teach kids about sex,” Harry finished seriously. He was tempted to through some humour in as the situation lent itself to any number of jokes but he did want to be taken seriously.
“That’s preposterous!” Minerva scolded, outraged, “We can hardly go encouraging children to-”
Albus was frowning at Harry thoughtfully. “Now now, Minerva,” he soothed, “I hardly think that’s what Harry’s suggesting.”
“Of course not!” Harry snorted, “I mean teach the younger kids about puberty so you can be sure ahead of time that they know what to expect. Be matter of fact about it so that they won’t be ashamed of their bodies. And do it while they’re still young so that you know that they do know and that what they know is correct. Trust me, separating myth from fact is very important.”
Filius peered at him in interest. “You sound like you know from experience, Harry.”
Harry shrugged ruefully. “My best friend’s older brothers educated us both.” Fred and George certainly had been an education, one that had left him even more confused that he had been previously. The Dursleys hadn’t bothered to help, unless you counted the magazines that had gradually started appearing in Dudley’s rooms as he got older.
“Albus!” Poppy rebuked, “How could you have let him down like that?”
Albus looked so completely taken aback that Harry had to restrain a laugh. Parenthood was still new to the old wizard, after all. “Don’t blame him, Poppy, remember my mother’s relatives are the ones that raised me. Technically they should have seen to it. I speak from experience when I say that having someone tell me the simple unadorned facts would have much appreciated.” Harry noticed the flash of anger in Albus’ eyes, probably because of the reference to his less than satisfactory childhood which had they still had not gone into in any detail.
“Your situation is hardly typical though, Harold,” Pythagora commented, “Most parents are responsible enough to explain such things to their children.”
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh? Do they give those talks in time? Do they even go through safe sex, STDs and contraceptives? Merlin, do they even know it properly themselves? As the resident authority in health, these are all things that Poppy should be allowed to see to!” He looked at them earnestly. “What about family planning? A lot of the kids here will be married with kids within a year or so after graduating, what have we done to prepare them for that?”
Albus’ eyes were twinkling again and Harry stopped to stare at him strangely. The others, underneath their slightly singed sensibilities, were all looking at Harry with various levels of amusement. “What?” Harry asked, slightly paranoid.
Albus stroked his beard. “And, in this education revolution, where will you be in this, my Harry?”
Pythagora snorted, “Where else, I think the ‘we’ gives it away rather damningly. He’s your son through and through, Albus.”
Poppy and Filius nodded and Minerva concluded, “He’ll be teaching, of course.”
Harry felt his cheeks heating at being found out so easily.
Albus chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder proudly. “So, my boy, which poor professor is going to find you competing for his job?”
Harry was not really surprised at the thought that, if all went well, he would effectively be stealing a job from someone else. This was not a spur of the moment decision and, after all, he had been obsessing about cause and consequence for long enough that he was hardly going to forget to think about the possible effects of what he wanted.
He smiled slightly, with no sympathy for the member of the staff he did intend to render redundant, and leaned forward to rest his chin in his ungloved hand. “So,” he asked them, “What do I have to do to become the new history teacher here?”
~*~*~*~
Albus regarded his adopted son fondly in the wake of their departing guests. The young man was a marvel, truly a marvel. “So,” he started as the door swung shut behind Filius and his Harry turned to meet his eyes. “What exactly do you have planned for our poor curriculum?”
His child’s lips twitched impishly and Albus watched the expressive face with restrained pleasure. It was such a joy to see the young man so playful. “Da, would you agree that I’ve got a unique perspective on history?”
That was certainly one way of putting it and Albus nodded. “I think we can safely assume that,” he granted.
Harry smiled quickly and began to lead him back into the sitting room. “I think you’ll find that I know better than almost anyone else exactly what students will need in the future.”
“Hence your comments on muggle studies?” Albus quipped as he lowered himself into his comfortable lounge chair.
Harry rolled his eyes at him. “Da, that’s self evident and should have been done years ago. And vice versa, too, actually. While wizard-raised children should take muggle studies in first and second year, muggle born students should take a course on the wizarding world. You have no idea of the number of times I got into trouble because I had no idea of what on Earth the wizarding world was on about.”
Albus blinked. There sounded like there were some stories there and he must remember to coax them out of Harry at some point. He might have said something then, but Harry was pacing as he thought aloud.”
“I mean how are we ever going to promote tolerance between the muggle-born and the wizard-wizard born if neither ever learns about the other? Not to mention that neither group fully understands the opportunities available in both worlds. Of course, Hogwarts alumni really haven’t got many skills that are needed in the muggle world, which is another thing we should be seeing to. All students, whether they want to remain in the wizarding world or in the muggle world or in both should meet the standards of literacy and numeracy that muggles set. I mean potion making is not chemistry and arithmancy is not advanced mathematics, no matter how much they might have in common! And what about literacy? Understanding the written word is important! Muggles devote whole classes to understanding the different ways that ideas can be expressed in writing and we don’t even encourage students to read anything that doesn’t relate to their classes. What about fiction?
“And there’s another thing, magic is all very well for those that choose to express their creativity through that, but what about those who have a talent for music or art? We don’t do more than mention the possibility that the two can be mixed with magic and then they’re neglected! These kids are at the age when any talents in those directions should be spotted and nurtured! These are basic things that, I don’t care if they’re muggle or wizard, kids should be exposed to! We pick up smatterings of latin here in sheer self-defence but no other languages are even offered! That’s not really good enough!”
Harry began to rub at the palm of his left hand as he moved. “What about ethics and philosophy? I think it’s been demonstrated that some basic grounding there is necessary. Maybe there wouldn’t be a new dark lord along every fifty years or so if they all had some simple rules and courtesies drilled into them as children or maybe not. I don’t know but it should still be done.”
Albus reached out as Harry stalked past him and caught his son’s elbow. Harry stopped and looked down at him in surprise. He had evidently forgotten that he was not alone and that he had, for the past ten minutes, been haranguing the headmaster of the school about the school’s shortcomings. “Harry, there is not enough time in the world, for the students to learn everything we think they should learn before they graduate.”
Harry flinched and unconsciously held his covered hand protectively close to his chest. “I know,” he said in a whisper and then, louder, “But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. There should be ways to make the kids realise that these choices are available to them.”
“Harry…”
Harry dropped to his knees in front of Albus and looked up at him beseechingly. “We could encourage more after-hours clubs, the quidditch teams and duelling club is hardly enough. You could even use them as ways to reunify the houses!”
“These changes,” Albus said slowly, searching for words, “Are all something that should be considered but, practicality-wise, I’m not sure we could ever implement them. The board would have to approve them all and I can tell you now that they would fight them.”
Harry closed his eyes angrily and, when he opened them again Albus saw the bitter experience glittering in them. “Oh, I know that, Da. Not all of the trustees are on the board because they care about education, some just see it as a path to power. Others… let’s just say that they’re not much help at all. But, Da, if want to break that cycle of a new dark lord every half century, we’ve got to start somewhere.”
This meant a lot to Harry, Albus could see that clearly. It was not just because the boy who would have been his biological father had done something so reprehensible. Nor was it the scars that battling Tom Riddle had left upon the young man’s psyche. It was an adolescence that Harry had fought to survive sane culminating in a clear sight of what changes needed to be made to see that no other child went through the same thing and the opportunity to implement those changes.
If Albus were to look at Harry as the headmaster of Hogwarts and a potential employer, he had to admit Harry was a resource to be treasured. He was a young man who still remembered his own education clearly, had the ability to be objective about it and the intelligence and resourcefulness to create solutions to problems he found and then implement them. The fact that Harry also had a better idea of what education would be in the future was also an advantage that could not be forgotten. Albus was in a position no other headmaster had ever been in. He had access to practical knowledge of what his school would be like in twenty years and an opportunity to fix what didn’t work now.
“It will take years,” he reminded Harry.
His son shrugged. “We have years,” he reminded Albus back.
Albus nodded. “I do not agree with everything you have suggested out of hand.” Some of the young man’s suggestions were patently absurd. The idea of Poppy teaching the children about sex offended his sensibilities.
Harry smirked at him, his eyes showing clearly that he thought he knew what Albus was thinking of. He probably did, too. “I’d be surprised if you did,” he murmured wryly.
“Once you are employed, any changes you make, even just in your own classes, will have to be approved by me.”
Harry shrugged, his face showing calm resignation. “As a new teacher, I’d expect that. When you’re confident that I’m experienced enough to judge things better, I expect you to give me more freedom in the subject matter I’ll teach.”
“The broader changes you’ve suggested will require the support of the rest of the staff,” Albus warned, not really believing he needed to.
Harry proved that he hadn’t. “Of course. I pretty much started lobbying for that tonight. It’ll take about two years for me to get my accreditation. By then, I expect I’ll have those who were here with us, tonight, fully on our side, and be well on my way to convincing everyone else.”
Ah, Albus did adore this young man! He smiled fondly at Harry. “You’ve already thought of everything, haven’t you.”
Harry snorted at him. “I doubt it,” he retorted, “I expect you and I’ll be doing a lot of brainstorming in the future.” He blinked and his face filled with consternation. “I’m not trying to take over, Da! That’s not my intention at all!”
Albus laughed gently. “I never believed you were, my boy.”
“It’s just…” Harry looked down at his left hand. “Everyone expected me to be an auror, even I expected me to be one but, in fifth year, I remember teaching the DA and it was good.” He looked up and his green eyes were bright with memories, both good and bad. “Things got bad, soon after that, but, looking back, I got more satisfaction from helping Neville cast the patronus charm than I ever did defeating Voldemort’s schemes.”
“You’ve found your calling,” Albus agreed, wondering what the ‘DA’ was and, if Harry’s ability to teach advanced magic equalled his ability to do it, whether he shouldn’t guide his child towards another subject.
Harry smiled then, clearly and without regret. “Yeah, I have.”
Albus was terribly proud.