Charlus was at Hogwarts for the last time as part of the Potions Master committee. It was the second of January, and they were to decide on whether Snape would return to the level of Apprentice or retain his title as a Potions Master. The seven of them were meeting in Dumbledore's office this time, as the result directly affected the school and he and Professor McGonagall were sitting in. Charlus was the first of the non-Professors to arrive, finding Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape all waiting on them while Having a cup of tea. Charlus joined them and poured himself a cup after being sure to cast a few charms on everything to check there was nothing like a loyalty draft in there.
"Surely that's going too far," Dumbledore complained. "As if I would let someone spike the tea."
Charlus shrugged as he poured himself a cup. "This is a hearing deciding the fate of a Potions Master. He wouldn't be the first, nor would he have been the last, to try and use their skill as a brewer to solve the problem."
"Still, it's a little rude to think I would allow such a thing." Dumbledore didn't sound happy.
"Oh, can it Albus. You know full well that it's a legitimate concern. And you can hardly say Severus's attitude invokes trust in people," McGonagall said, shutting down the argument.
Soon, one by one Horace Slughorn, Tiberius Falter, Salem Matches, Dawn Lonshop, and Falon Jones arrived by floo and helped them to tea. Charlus was happy to see all bar one of them cast charms on the tea to check it was just tea. He even flashed Dumbledore a smile about it, which had the old man pouting.
After about ten minutes of catching up where they all talked about what they did for New Year's, Dumbledore stood and started talking about why they were there. Technically he was only supposed to be here as an observer, but as they were meeting in his office at the school he ran it wasn't unreasonable for him to say a few words. It was mostly waffle, with Dumbledore saying how much Snape had his complete trust, and tha. "I assure you that your point has been heard, and if and when you decide to vote to keep Severus as a Potions Master, I guarantee that your recommendations will be heard and Professor Snape will update his teaching where necessary."
Dumbledore would have continued, but Charlus stood up and cut him off. "Well, that's enough of that. Dumbledore, you have had years to get your Potions professor's teaching up to scratch, but you haven't done anything. You can't even say you knew nothing about it, as the number of students who get their N.E.W.T.s has erry obviously plummeted, and there are hundreds of complaints about his teaching on record. But you never changed anything then, and I don't think we can trust you to do better now. I don't need any more time. I cast my vote now, and I vote to return Snape's title to that of Apprentice."
"And I, of course, cast my vote to keep my status as a master brewer," Snape said, speaking for the first time. It was no surprise to anyone that Snape voted to keep his place.
Tiberius Falter stood up next."Well, there has been a lot of back and forth on this subject since Christmas, and I can't ignore that even with his lack of appropriate safety spells this brewer has the skills needed to stay being recognised as a grandmaster. So I vote that Potion Master Severus Snape keeps his status as a potion master."
Next was Dawn Lonshop. "As much as I can agree that Severus Snape has great talent at brewing, a master needs to be proficient with the whole field and Snape demonstrates a weakness in a fundamental practice of the art. I feel that a few years' review as an apprentice will help make him a far better potions master in the future. I vote that Severus Snape be returned to the rank of apprentice." She sat back down.
It was now two votes all. Charlus was feeling a little worried now. If he failed here, Harry would be in the crosshairs of Snape for the rest of his time in Hogwarts. And even if they decided to run, Harry was stuck here until at least the end of the tournament.
Next Falon Jones stood up. "I have to agree with Potions Masters Potter and Lonshop. In an evaluation that was only called because of the complete lack of safety protocols, Severus Snape demonstrated his brewing and failed to use the safety charms. That tells me that his bad habits are so ingrained that only time as an apprentice where his brewing can be monitored and corrected is likely to have any real effect. I vote that Severus Snape be returned to the rank of apprentice."
Charlus relaxed a little, it was now three-two and he only needed one more vote to win. It wasn't a win yet but it was also far from hopeless.
The only two left now were Potions Masters Salem Matches and Horace Slughorn, and Slughorn gestured for Matches to go first. Matches stood up. "I vote that Severus Snape is reduced in rank to that of apprentice, if for no other reason than it will remove him from his position at this school. I have seen what Hogwarts potions qualifications have done in the last fifteen years. Industries that require competent brewers are suffering because of this man." Matches sat back down
Charlus couldn't help the grin that spread over his face at the vote. Snape was now only Apprentice Snape. His reaction was understandably not as happy as Charlus's was. Snape snarled in anger and threw his teacup at the window of the headmaster's office, shattering both the fine china cup and causing the windowpane to crack into a spiderweb pattern.
"Well my vote seems pointless now" Slughorn spoke up as Dumbledore fixed the widow with a flick of his wand. "For the record, my vote was with the consensus to vote for apprentice status for apprentice Snape. However, we now have two more matters to discuss. First, who is this promising young apprentice to be apprenticed to?"
Tiberius Falter, the one who had voted for Snape to retain his potions master status, spoke up. "If I may, I would be happy to take you on as my apprentice. My work with St. Mungo's creating new treatments and antidotes would be a good place to utilise your skills while you finish up your apprenticeship."
Charlus was surprised by the offer and thought it was a brilliant idea. Snape was far too advanced for a traditional apprenticeship as he would just feel patronised and insulted. A work apprenticeship as a St. Mungo's research brewer, though, would be a good use of his talent and a good way for him to start working off the debt he owed to the medical community for the lack of Potions N.E.W.T. graduates for the past few years.
Snape quickly accepted the offer, so Slughorn quickly moved on to his second order of business. "Now, we need to select someone to fill the role of Hogwarts Potions professor until the school finds a permanent replacement or the school year ends. Now I have a candidate in mind who not only has years of experience as a Potions Grandmaster but is completely familiar with the situation here and knows exactly what is needed to bring the standards up. Best of all, he is currently without a current project so he has the time to do this."
This had Charlus interested, so he leaned in and asked "This man sounds perfect, who is he?" The other three Potions Grandmasters all turned to look at him, and after a few moments Charlus realised exactly where this was going. He also realised they had planned this before they had gotten here. Falter voted in Snape's favour and then offered to be his master in an apprenticeship tailored to his level of skill, and the rest all agreed to place Charlus as the Hogwarts Potions Professor. Before he could even think of objecting, the five Grandmasters all voted unanimously to make him the Professor, looking rather smug about it. Charlus couldn't even be mad. The tribunal had just given him the perfect opportunity to stay in the castle where he could keep a close eye on Harry.
The only people who didn't look happy were Snape and Dumbledore. Snape had just accepted becoming the apprentice of a man he now realised had tricked him into the position. While Snape could choose to end that apprenticeship, there would be consequences. For one, he would lose out on the opportunity to work at what was probably the best-funded Potions lab in the country where even the most restricted of Potions ingredients were readily available. Secondly, he wasn't sure he would be able to get another apprenticeship in Britain if he walked away from this one.
Dumbledore didn't like that the man he had been losing ground to since July was now going to be moving into the school. Sure, he could block it, but he would deprive students of a Potions education, a core subject. He would have to justify to the Ministry and to the governors his reasons for jeopardising an entire year's worth of O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. results, and the only justifications he had were personal. It wasn't like he could openly complain about Warlock Potter taking his guardianship of Harry; everyone considered the current state of affairs as exactly as it should be. The only silver lining that Dumbledore could see was that Charlus looked just as surprised by the move as he felt, which meant this wasn't part of some plan of Potter's so that he could get into the castle. And maybe if Potter was busy working at the school, then perhaps it would be easier to watch him and keep him too busy to keep interfering.
"Well," said Charlus after a few moments. "Looks like I need to go tell Harry about my new job. Albus, I will be back in two days once I set everything I need in order. I will expect the information I need to teach to be ready by then, and I will be needing a classroom with windows that open and good lighting. I will set everything else up myself." Charlus strode over to the fire, and with a flash of green he was gone.
"Well, he took that better than I thought he would," laughed Slughorn.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry and Hermione were just finished practising the silver javelin curse when Charlus got home from his trip to the school. They were able to cast the spell reliably by now, but as the spell made a physical object rather than a burst of energy it was taking them a bit longer to learn to aim the spell effectively. When Harry heard the chime that told them that someone had arrived by the floo, he rushed to the stairs, and when he saw his grandfather coming out of the floo room he quickly called out and asked, "What's the verdict? Has Snape been fired?"
Charlus just looked at Harry and smiled. Harry understood straight away and couldn't keep from pumping his fist in triumph as he chanted, "No more Snape. No more Snape."
Hermione came up behind Harry, and seeing her boyfriend acting like a kid she gave him a playful shove and told him, "Try acting your age. Uncle Charlus, you said the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers would appoint a Potions Master to teach the school until Dumbledore can find a replacement, do you know who they are appointing? Do you know them personally? Are they any good? What about teaching? Are they any good at that?" Her rapid-fire questions showed that Hermione was just as excited as Harry.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Charlus said, "Harry, go get Sirius. I want to tell you all and Hermione's parents the results, so we will all pop to London." Harry and Hermione were both a little disappointed not to have Hermione's questions answered, but nothing could keep the grin that learning Snape was gone off their faces.
Soon the four of them were Apparating to the little alley just around the corner from the Grangers, with Hermione pulling a key from her bag and letting them in. Her parents weren't home yet, but that wasn't uncommon as sometimes a patient's care took longer than expected, and the two elder Grangers would rather stay behind for an extra half an hour than leave some poor sod in pain. Hermione was playing hostess, making everyone a cup of tea and pulling out the good biscuits when they all heard the Grangers' car pull up outside the house. Harry quickly stopped pestering his grandfather to tell him more about what had happened and Hermione pulled out two more cups for her parents.
When the Grangers entered and saw they had guests, they quickly excused themselves to go change out of their work clothes, and when they returned the pot of tea Hermione had made was just ready for serving. "So, what happened with the assessment?" Emma asked, revealing to Harry and Hermione that either Charlus or Sirius was keeping the two muggles more up to date than they had guessed.
"Snape is probably packing up his things as we speak. He won't be making any more comments about Hermione any time soon. He has himself a nice backroom apprenticeship where he has little to no need to interact with the public. He could easily be there until Harry and Hermione have finished with school, and even then there is a good chance he will prefer to stay where he is now," Charlus explained.
Dan nodded to Charlus, a mix of satisfaction and gratitude on his face. "The only question now is will his replacement be any better."
"Well about that. The M.E.S.P. assessors, in their infinite wisdom, decided to appoint me to the job," Charlus told them, not able to keep the light sarcasm from his voice.
There was a chorus of support from everyone there. Harry and Hermione were especially excited, as they had experienced Charlus teaching them before, and they were looking forward not only to his far superior teaching but also to the lack of favouritism towards Slytherin. Without Snape there going out of his way to protect Slytherins from the consequences of their actions, the house of the green was about to have an abrupt dose of the real world. "Do you know who is going to be the new head of Slytherin?" Hermione asked.
"Only that it won't be me. I'm pretty sure it's in the Hogwarts bylaws that only a former student of the school who was a member of the House can be its head, and I was no Slytherin."
"What House were you in?" Harry asked, suddenly realising that he didn't know what House his grandfather was in. He knew his father was in Gryffindor, and thought that perhaps it was a family trait like the Weasleys all ending up in Gryffindor, but he had never asked before now.
"I was a Ravenclaw," Charlus said with a shrug. "The hat said I could have fit in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, and I had heard Ravenclaw had a private library so I decided to go there. As to who the head is, do you know which of the professors were Slytherins in their day?"
"Professor Vector has a small Slytherin badge in her classroom, it's not big but you can see it if you look for it, and I don't know what House Professor Sinistra was in. I think all the others were in different houses," Hermione said.
"How is Vector in class?" Harry asked, as Hermione was the one who took her class. "Does she play favourites?"
"Not along House lines. She loves students who excel in arithmancy though." Hermione said, sounding a little smug.
"I take it then that you are one of her favourites, kitten," Dan said, giving Hermione a look of fond exasperation.
Seeing that her daughter was a little embarrassed at her father using her old nickname in front of her boyfriend, Emma decided to pull the conversation back to the main topic. "I for one am just glad there is going to be someone we trust watching what's going on at the school. You may have gotten rid of one bad teacher, but I still don't trust that headmaster you have."
Charlus nodded as he said, "I'm working on dealing with the headmaster. I just want someone I trust in position to step into the role before I do anything."
That caught both Harry and Hermione by surprise. Sure, they were aware that Dumbledore had made a few decisions about the tournament recently that rubbed Charlus and Sirius the wrong way, but this was the first that they had heard that Hermione's parents were dissatisfied with the headmaster, and it was also the first they had heard about Charlus going after Dumbledore.
When they asked about why, Charlus had started going over everything Harry had told him about his time in the school, starting with sending Hagrid to inform Harry about being a wizard and finishing with Dumbledore's action trying to prevent Harry from being tutored for the tournament. Once he was finished he said, "What it all boils down to is that Dumbledore is not thinking like a headmaster. In that position, it's his responsibility to keep the students as safe as possible. For example, he never should have let the Philosopher's Stone on the grounds while he knew someone was trying to steal it. That puts the students between the stone and the would-be thief. And from what you have told me, he has made questionable decisions like that every year since you started there. Whatever his main goal is, it's not keeping the students safe, and as headmaster that should be his number one focus," Charlus explained. The two teens had to admit that Charlus had a point, they could see exactly why Charlus would want Dumbledore to move on.
-ϟϟϟ-
The rest of the Christmas holiday was uneventful. Charlus moved into the castle a few days before they went back, while Harry stayed in the manor with Sirius. The night before returning to the school, Harry went to Hermione's as she lived rather close to Kings' Cross and it was a lot easier for Harry to get a lift in with them. Hermione had tried to join him and cuddle up for the night again, but this time they were caught by her mum who had given the teens a lecture on trust and respect before sending Hermione to her room.
The train ride was relatively uneventful apart from the fact that Harry and Hermione had ended up in the role of pseudo-prefects, as nearly everyone else on the train was from the lower years. During the welcome back dinner, Dumbledore announced that Snape had left the school, leaving out that he had lost his Potions Mastery. Before Dumbledore could introduce the new Potions professor, there was a loud cheer from a few of the Gryffindors, and then two-thirds of the students started clapping and cheering, none louder than the practically ecstatic Gryffindors. Dumbledore actually had the audacity to look surprised at just how many of the students were happy that the former Professor Snape was gone. Either he was completely out of touch with the students, or he somehow felt that his constant repeating of the phrase 'Professor Snape has my complete trust'did more than annoy everyone who heard it.
Once everyone had settled down to listen again (courtesy of a cannon blast charm from the headmaster) he went on with what he was saying "Taking the role of the Head of Slytherin will be Professor Vector, our Arithmancy instructor. A few of our younger Slytherins may be unfamiliar with their new Head of House, as her subject is only offered to those third years and up, but rest assured she will be more than happy to help you with anything you may need. Potions lessons will now be covered by Professor Charlus Potter, who is temporarily on loan to the school from the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers to cover the hole left by Professor Snape."
There was polite applause from most of the school. Harry and his friends of course clapped and cheered loudly for him, whereas some people like Malfoy had obviously worked out the family connection between Harry and the new professor and refused to even clap.
The comments over, dinner was served and Ron had his first real opportunity to catch up with Harry and Hermione. "So what exactly happened with Snape?"
At the question from the redhead, all the other Gryffindors around them stopped talking to listen in. There was no point hiding any of it, so between them Harry and Hermione gave a full breakdown of what had happened. "And then Dumbledore sent Hermione and I home for the rest of the holiday. I suspect I'm about to get a note either right after dinner or with breakfast tomorrow telling me to go to the headmaster's office, where he is going to do everything short of expelling me." A lot of the Gryffindor students were happy that Snape was gone, but none were happier than Neville. Harry could understand that, Snape unfairly singled out Neville so much that the man who was supposed to be Neville's teacher and a trusted adult he could go to for help was the form of Neville's boggart.
In return, Ron told them all that he had done while Harry and Hermione were away and all the rumours that were going around about Harry and Snape's altercation, some of which were actually quite entertaining. One had Harry on his deathbed in St. Mungo's from some dark curse Snape had used on him, while another had it that he and Hermione were sitting in jail cells for attacking Snape with the Cruciatus curse. You would have thought that, compared to those rumours, the reality that Harry had broken Snape's nose for insulting Hermione would be a letdown. However, everyone around Harry seemed to be drinking in the story like it was the story of Beowulf or something.
During dinner, Ron also told them what he had been up to while they were gone. Someone had come up with the idea to have a chess tournament, and Ron had been helping to plan and organise it. "So far we have decided that it will start with thirty-two players, and the first two weeks will be like a regular tournament. Everyone will play two games and if you lose one you are out. After that we will be down to eight players and we'll go into a group where everyone will play a match against each of the other players. There will be a five Galleon entrance fee and the winner will get half of the total pool, which is eighty Galleons. The second-place player will get half of that, forty Galleons, third place will get twenty. That leaves twenty gallons for us to get a few blank chess sets, as we don't want anyone playing with experienced chessmen who can win the game on their own, and to have three trophies made." Ron explained, sounding surprisingly passionate about the tournament.
"That sounds interesting, are you inviting the other schools?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, we are hoping each school will put forward at least ten players, but if not then we think there is enough interest in Hogwarts to fill up any remaining spaces."
"Sounds cool." Harry nodded to his best mate. "You gonna enter?"
Ron's ears immediately turned red. "About that. You see I don't have five Galleons-"
Harry held up a hand cutting his friend off before he needed to ask. Ron loved chess and had a good chance of placing in the top three. "Ron, I already said you will have a cut of the gold from selling the basilisk, I don't mind letting you borrow a few Galleons from me, and then paying me back later when you win or when you get your gold from the sale of the basilisk parts." Harry knew that his red-haired friend wouldn't accept just being given the money.
A grin spread over his mate's face. "Thanks, Harry."
"Speaking of the basilisk, how is the sale coming along?" Hermione asked out of curiosity. "I would have thought ancient basilisk parts would sell really quickly."
"According to Gringotts, it's because a lot of basilisk stuff is heavily restricted. Places like St. Mungo's and certain potion brewing companies with the right licences can buy as much as they want, but they don't have unlimited funds to buy it and they don't actually need that much. So they are looking for legitimate buyers all around the world and shipping the parts to them, as well as telling anyone without the correct permits who wants to buy some to go to the Ministry and get them. When you consider the bureaucracy at the Ministry for licences and then the insane level of bureaucracy for shipping restricted materials, it's slowing everything down," Harry explained.
Soon dessert was finished and everyone started to make their way back towards their common room. Harry was about halfway back when a Gryffindor first year came running up to him and handed him a note, saying she was told to deliver it before running off.
Harry unfolded and read the note and sighed, "Just what I expected." He then handed Hermione the note as it was addressed to her as well before he turned to Ron. "Do you know where Grandfather Charlus's rooms are? The headmaster has summoned Hermione and me to his office and I want him to come with us."
"Yeah, I know the way, here." He turned back the way they had been coming from.