Severus, Godric and Tom put their wands away, and Severus explained to Hagrid, "I'm sorry for this, Hagrid, but we've placed a spell on you, which will prevent you from harming Harry in any way. The spell won't do you any harm, and since we cast it together, even Dumbledore won't be able to break it."
Hagrid sighed in apparent relief. "Thank you so much, Severus, Tom and Godric. I'm so glad that you believe me that I really don't want to hurt Harry."
"All right; now since I suspect that Minerva will be worried, I suggest that we return to the birthday party," Severus concluded the short meeting, and the four men headed back to the living room.
"Severus, where's Harry? Is something wrong?" Minerva asked worriedly, having noticed that Harry, Poppy and Tonks had not returned to the living room yet.
Her husband sighed and calmingly laid an arm around her shoulders. "It's all right, Minerva. However, Hagrid was under the Imperius curse and poisoned Harry once again. Fortunately, Harry only ate a small bite of the rock cakes that contained the poison, and as you know, I had the antidote ready, so that Poppy could administer it immediately. Tom, Godric, and I have put Hagrid under a spell, which will make it impossible for him to harm Harry again. Shall we go and look after Harry? I'm sure your guests will excuse you for a few minutes."
"Of course," Professor Sprout spoke up. "Minerva, the child needs you. We'll wait and proceed to the head of your cat cake."
"Cat nose," Rolanda Hooch agreed, "absolutely delicious."
"Well, I'd like to have a cat eye," Tom replied, while Minerva and Severus headed for the door.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
When they entered Harry's bedroom, Poppy and Tonks were sitting on the edge of his bed. Tonks was reading Harry's favourite story about two small dragons to the boy, while the child was resting his head on Poppy's lap.
"Mummy, Daddy," Harry blurted out, seeing his parents enter his room, and tears started to well in his eyes.
"How are you sweetie?" Minerva asked, while she bent down to gently stroke his cheeks.
"It's all right," Harry replied in a small voice, causing Poppy to explain, "It wasn't so bad this time, because he only ingested only a minuscule amount of the poison. Nevertheless, he had to throw up five or six times, his stomach is still a bit queasy, and he is running a slight fever. I recommend that you stay here tonight and let him rest tomorrow until he feels completely well, before you return to Hogwarts."
"Mummy," Harry spoke up hesitantly, "you can go back to your birthday party. Aunt Poppy and Professor Tonks promised to stay with me until everyone goes home. You don't have to worry; I'm fine."
Seeing that Minerva opened her mouth to contradict, Poppy beat her to it and suggested, "Minnie, since his stomach seems to have calmed down a bit, you can take him with you to the living room, where he can rest on the sofa. He'll go to sleep in a few minutes anyway."
"Do you want to come with us?" Minerva asked softly, and seeing that Harry gave his mother a small nod, Severus picked the child up and carried him downstairs, where all the teachers took turns sitting on the edge of the sofa and talked with him, until he drifted off to sleep half an hour later.
When Harry woke up the following morning, he found himself in his parents' bed between Minerva and Severus. Since he was not completely well yet, the adults decided to spend the morning in their bedroom, where Harry slept throughout the day, while Minerva and Severus played chess next to him. Just before dinner, the small family returned to Hogwarts.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
"Severus, shall I Floo-call the minister concerning the wolvescure?" Minerva asked when they ate dinner in their quarters.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "I believe we need to speak with our son about the matter first, don't we?" he replied, questioningly.
Harry glanced from one to the other in confusion. "Harry, would you be willing to give drops of your blood, so that we could brew the wolvescure and sell it to the Ministry or to St. Mungo's in order to help others like Remus to be cured?" Severus enquired, giving his son an inquisitive look.
"Of course," Harry replied, simply.
Severus smirked. "And would you also be willing to help with the brewing?" he asked. "I expect that the ministry will want a large amount of the potion, so that we'll need to brew as many doses of it as possible."
"Of course, Dad, I just hope we can manage to cure all the werewolves," Harry agreed, smiling.
"All right, then I'm going to call the minister," Minerva said and stood up in determination.
"Hello Millicent," she greeted the minister. "I need to speak with you as soon as possible. My husband and my son found a cure for Lycanthropy."
"They've done what?! May I come over?" the minister asked in apparent excitement.
Minerva nodded, laughed and stepped back, so that her old childhood friend could step out of the fireplace. Severus quickly explained everything about the cure, and the minister listened intensely.
"That's absolutely brilliant," she finally spoke up. "And you're able to reproduce the potion?"
"Of course," Severus replied curtly.
"Minerva, may I call Healer O'Brien, the head healer of St. Mungo's?" the minister asked in apparent excitement. "We can adjourn to your office if you want. I believe that O'Brien should be in charge of taking care of the matter."
"Of course, Millicent. In that case, I'd like to call our healer, Madam Pomfrey as well as Professor Lupin as well, since he is the first cured werewolf," Minerva replied, smiling.
Ten minutes later, the meeting was resumed in Minerva's office under the presence of the two healers. Severus once again explained everything, and Poppy confirmed that Remus was indeed cured from Lycanthropy.
"How many doses can you brew for us each month?" O'Brien asked with apparent interest.
"That depends on my normal workload and on Harry's condition," Severus replied, pensively. "However, I believe that we can assure you of at least twenty doses each month."
"Very well," the healer replied. "Minister, I suggest that you approach all of the werewolves and always send twenty to us on a fixed date. If we have more doses, you can call those on the waiting list to come over earlier. We will administer the cure and keep the persons over the full moon in our werewolf cells in order to be sure that they're all cured. Of course I suggest that we administer the first doses to individuals that are at a health risk to transform again and to young children. I know for a fact that there are two individuals who will be in immediate danger when they transform during the next full moon. We also have one young child who was bitten at the last full moon. We could prevent her from even going through his first transformation," O'Brien added, pensively.
Everyone agreed with the healer's suggestion, and the minister sighed happily, before she turned to Severus and Harry. "Professor Snape and Harry, I'd like you to brew at least twenty doses each month. Considering that the normal Wolfsbane potion is sold for twenty-five Galleons the dose, the Ministry will pay you one thousand Galleons for each dose. In adddition, you will both receive the Order of Merlin first class. Would you be willing to brew the potion under these conditions?"
"Of course," Severus replied, and Harry nodded in complete amazement.
ちょっとしたアイディア
Over the next year, Harry and Severus used every spare moment that they had brewing the wolvescure potion and earned a lot of well-deserved money.
"We already received a million Galleons with the Order of Merlin," Harry said, incredulously. "Do we really need more money for the potion?"
Minerva laughed. "Be happy that you receive so much money. Even if you don't need it yourself, maybe in the future there will be something, which you want to support by donating some money, or..."
Harry interrupted her excitedly. "Oh, Mummy, I know something. You know when I asked you why other elves can't go to school like Teddy, even if they are free elves, you told me that they don't have money to pay for the school fees. I could pay for them like you are paying for Teddy."
"That's a good idea, Harry; however, I suggest that you wait and let Teddy at least finish his first year at Hogwarts to see if he'll be able to get along as well as in the primary school. I believe that he will, but I think it would be better to wait," his mother advised him, smiling fondly at her son.
"All right, Mummy," Harry agreed, making a mental note to bring the matter up again in two years.
約一年後のこと
On his eleventh birthday, Harry was finally allowed to throw a huge party for all his classmates at McGonagall Manor. Harry and his friends had a lot of fun and became very excited at the thought that most of them would soon be first year students at the Hogwarts main school. During the next few weeks, Harry barely spoke about anything else, although he was still busy helping his father to brew the wolvescure potion.
However, on the day before the much awaited beginning of the school year, something happened that drew all the attention away from the school.
When Severus looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet in his hands on this morning of August 31, he noticed a huge picture of Dumbledore right along with an extraordinary headline.
'Albus Dumbledore dies choking on a lemon drop – Ministry enquires'
'According to reliable sources, the previous headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was found dead in his manor, where he obviously choked on a lemon drop. The ministry suspects that it was not an accident due to the fact that his house elves were obliviated, so that it appears that there must have been at least one visitor, who actually caused the one hundred and fifty year old man choke. Read the complete article on pages four and five.'
"Minerva!" Severus shouted very uncharacteristically, causing Harry to hurry towards their small kitchen to see what was wrong, knowing that his father normally did not shout if not at some stupid dunderheads during classes, mostly Gryffindor students.
"What's wrong?" Minerva asked in exasperation, still pulling her hair up as she hurried towards her husband and son.
"Look at this," Severus replied, holding the newspaper out for Minerva and Harry to see.
"Dumbledore choked on a lemon drop?" Minerva asked incredulously. "Severus, you didn't have anything to do with that, do you?"
"Of course not," Severus replied, indignantly. "How do you expect me to get into Dumbledore Manor? I can tell you who could have been the culprits. There are only two persons except for our son, who would be able to enter the manor without showing themselves and causing suspicion."
When Minerva gave him an incomprehensive look, he continued, "I suspect Tom or Godric, because both of them are able to make themselves invisible in their Chameguise forms. They could even transform into the minister of magic to visit Dumbledore in his manor."
"Well, let's invite all of them to a demise party tonight and ask them," Minerva suggested. "I wanted to do that anyway, knowing that it's our last quiet evening for the next ten months."
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
Twelve hours later, all the Hogwarts teachers assembled in the McGonagall-Snape quarters for a small party before the beginning of the new school year.
"Are you looking forward to becoming a student?" Professor Flitwick asked Harry, smiling.
"Yes, of course," Harry cheered. "I'm just a bit anxious about the Sorting. I mean, I don't mind what house I'm sorted into, but I'm afraid that my friends will all be in different houses and that we won't be able to keep up our friendship because of that."
"Harry, your mother Lily and I were best friends, although she was in Gryffindor and I was in Slytherin," Severus reminded him in his soft silky voice, causing Harry to sigh in relief.
"Also, you have your own room here in our quarters, which will still be your home, and you may come here anytime, even together with your friends," Minerva added, calmingly.
"You're the best parents anyone could wish for," Harry replied, feeling extremely grateful towards his adoptive parents. He then asked hesitantly, "May I come home anytime and, for example, stay overnight if I want?"
Minerva sighed. "You may do that at any time, Harry. However, if you intend to stay at home overnight, you have to inform your head of house as well as at least one of your roommates, so that they won't worry about you."
"Okay," Harry happily agreed.
"Don't worry, Harry, you'd fit in all houses," Tom joined the conversation, "and I'm sure you'll have friends in all houses as well."
"Thanks Uncle Tom," Harry replied gratefully, feeling very much reassured.
"Oh, by the way," Minerva turned to Tom, "Do you and Godric know something about certain events at Dumbledore Manor yesterday?"
"Godric and I?" Tom asked, wearing a suspiciously innocent expression. Glancing around to confirm that nobody was looking or listening to them, he continued, "Well, one of the advantages of being a Chameguise is that you can transform into any possible living being, for example a house elf. It's no problem to enter any manor as a house elf."
"Ah, all right, and to obliviate certain other house elves who were present was not a problem either I suppose," Minerva replied dryly, causing Tom to give her a short nod.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
In the middle of the night, Severus noticed Harry scrambling into his and Minerva's bed, lying down in the middle.
'Harry, is everything all right?' he thought to his son, afraid that he might be sick or have some other problem.
'Yes Dad; it's just that I'm so incredibly excited,' Harry thought back. 'I can't sleep at all.'
'It's all right, Harry; you'll do fine wherever you're going to be sorted. I'm very proud of you, son.'
'Thanks Dad,' Harry replied happily and closed his eyes, still not feeling sleepy at all.
After two hours of watching his son tossing and turning, unconsciously kicking himself or Minerva with his feet, Severus silently summoned a tiny phial of a light sleeping draught and spelled it into his son's stomach, noticing with relief that Harry's breathing evened out within seconds.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
In the morning, Severus apparated Harry to London, so that he could take the Hogwarts Express to the school together with all the other students. Harry shared a compartment with all of his former classmates, who were going to be students from today onwards, Neville, Draco, Blaise, Susan, Terry, Mandy, and Seamus. They spent the travel huddled close together in order to fit into the compartment, but nevertheless enjoyed the train ride tremendously. Harry was saddened that Teddy had not been allowed to take the train, but at least he knew that his friend would be sorted tonight just like himself.
Harry smiled proudly at his mother, who greeted the first years and finally led them into the Great Hall for the Sorting. He watched impatiently as Susan was sorted into Hufflepuff, Terry and Mandy into Ravenclaw, Seamus into Gryffindor, Neville into Hufflepuff, and Draco into Slytherin, before his mother finally called out, "McGonagall-Snape, Harry."
Harry felt his stomach become queasy and hesitantly stepped over to Minerva, noticing his father think to him, 'Don't worry, Harry; everything will be all right.'
"I love you, son," Minerva told him while she motioned him to sit down and gently placed the Sorting Hat onto his head.