"Of course. What can I do for you?"
"If I have something I want to talk to an adult about, can I come to you?"
"Sure, you can; but shouldn't you go to your head of house, first?"
"There's no use talking to her. She lied to me the first time I talked with her. If she can't even tell me the truth about small things, how can I trust her in the future when it's really important? In fact I've been thinking about asking to be moved to another house."
"Surely it isn't that bad. How did Minerva lie to you?"
"I asked her why Professor Snape hated me before he ever met me. She said he didn't. So did Hagrid, but I wasn't relying on him like I should be able to with my head of house."
"Are you sure she lied?"
"Positive. Professors Snape and Quirrell both hated me before we ever spoke. Professor Quirrell is also frightened of me for some reason; but he makes an effort to treat me like all of the other students, so I don't care about him."
"You don't care that someone hates you?"
"Well, I can't do anything about it; and he has the right to his own feelings. Since he is adult enough not to let them get in the way of his job, whether he hates me is his own business. If he wants to, he'll bring it up. Professor Snape, on the other hand, has been behaving in a way I believe is against the rules. When I asked Professor McGonagall, she ignored it. I could have dropped the matter, if she also didn't lie to cover it up."
"Hmm. I'll have to talk to the headmaster about this. I'll have an answer for you shortly."
At the next staff meeting, when asked about events over the last week, Professor Flitwick got their attention. "I recently had a student from a different house ask me if he could be resorted."
"IF there's bullying going on, why didn't he ask his own head of house?"
"He had no problems with his housemates. He had complaints against his head of house."
Snape sneered, "I haven't had any students from my house express any displeasure to me!"
"It wasn't a Slytherin who came to see me. It was a Gryffindor."
"What?"
"A student told me he approached you with a problem, which you ignored, and then you lied to him to cover up your lack of action. He knows you lied to him, and if what he told me is true, I agree with him. Did you tell Harry Potter that he was wrong when he said Severus hated him before they met?"
"I might have done."
"That is why Mr. Potter no longer trusts his head of house. Severus was making disparaging remarks about him to us before he even arrived, and was apparently unsuccessful in keeping his private hatred from his actions. Then you lied to him when asked about it, point blank. I'm shocked that two out of four heads of house can't behave properly around eleven year olds!"
"Filius, there's no need to make accusations..."
"Yes, there is! In addition to teaching them, we have a responsibility to raise and protect them. Now we have shown them that we condone immoral behavior. It is as if Severus decided to strike students, and his house head offered to help hold him down. If you can't convince me that this problem is going to be fixed, I'll take him under my wing, and help him write up his experiences; either for the board of governors, or the news paper. You two should be ashamed of yourselves, and if this is just brushed under the carpet, then I'm ashamed of the school!"
"What do you think we should do?"
"I really don't know. I wonder how deep the problem lies. There have been other complaints against Severus, which have been dismissed. There is also no way to know if other students feel that they can't rely on their heads of house to look after them. I can't see how you plan to regain students' confidences after having lost them; and I can't see how Severus can be expected to ignore his hatred of Mr. Potter now that Potter has actually done something against Severus, when he couldn't moderate himself beforehand."
"I'm sure it isn't as serious as all that."
"Shall we find out? I could ask the students at dinner to come to talk to me if they feel that they have been mistreated or lied to. Should I make a public announcement tonight, and compile a list to see how bad things have gotten?"
"Definitely not!"
"Then treat this problem with the seriousness it deserves!"
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(Posted Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:20)
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