Chapter 111: Trust and Betrayal
Yet people like Minerva didn't realize it at all. He had begun talking with Irma, otherwise known as Madam Pince, the Librarian, when he'd shadow Harry to the library after his classes. That is, when he wasn't keeping Ms. Granger from bothering the boy. As soon as that girl saw him in the Library she'd try to make a beeline straight to him. Either he or Madam Pince would divert her long enough for his Slytherins to surround the boy.
She'd glare at Potter but go about her business as Severus knew she didn't have a great deal of time these days for the Library haunting she was known for. It always seemed to spurt a few new rumors about how Harry was becoming a true Slytherin though. As if that was a bad thing. But the children didn't seem to care this year. The non-Slytherin children knew the Slytherin children were surrounding Potter whenever they could and not necessarily because he either asked them to or wished them to do so. So the rumors lacked the necessary nasty innuendos and died a short death.
Harry always went to the Library at the end of the class day. As normal Severus had his Slytherins scheduled for the library at the same time so he could watch over Potter while he watched over his children. In doing so, he gave himself a valid and acceptable reason for being there that even Albus couldn't argue with. This year, he was happier about that than he ever had been before.
Not that Albus was actually watching over the school and it's occupants this year as he normally did. Out of the almost eight weeks school had been in session this year, Albus was out of the Castle more than he was in it. And no one could really say what he was doing. All Minerva claimed to know was that Albus said it was personal business. Severus was surprised to discover he really didn't care either.
Albus not being here micro-managing things meant this situation was being allowed to develop as it should and would therefore hopefully accomplish something good for all the children. Not just those at the center of it. Nor did there seem to be any danger lurking around the corner to threaten the students as they tried to learn. For the first time in five years Hogwarts seemed to be the safe place of higher learning it was supposed to be.
Naturally, he decided to use the Library time to discover what kind of things the boy knew or was studying when he spent his time in the library. Since he'd decided to try and gain the trust of Potter, he needed to know as much as he could discover about him from those who knew already. And Madam Pince seemed to be his main source of learning material not related to his Hogwarts classes.
He'd already talked to Hagrid about the ingredient gathering he did for the boy when he'd told him why he'd been selected as the detention monitor for Ms. Weasely. He'd even spoken to Mr. Filch when he'd explained his selection as the monitor for Mr. Weasely. Talking to either man hadn't done much more good than trying to talk with the house-elves had. They'd been surprisingly closed-mouthed about the boy and why they considered him their personal friend. Why Hagrid at least was willing to spend hours of his time gathering ingredients for Harry's own use and not the school storeroom.
So he wasn't all that surprised to discover Madam Pince was guarded about talking about the child with him. Slowly, he had found she had come to see the boy for who he truly was and not who he was supposed to be a couple of years back. Just as Mr. Filch had. And she'd been helping him whenever and wherever she could ever since. He was one of the few children in the Castle she actually looked forward to seeing come into her domain.
And Severus was surprised to discover Hermione Granger had never, but never, been on that very short list of welcome personages for the Madam. Mainly because the arrogant girl tried to bully her over how she ran her Library.
First she'd tried convincing her into removing some books from the shelves she claimed spouted too much wrong or just conflicting information and then into letting her have free access to the restricted section so she could read the books contained there. She was only a first year at the time and had no business in that section of the library. So naturally it hadn't worked.
A few times when she'd gotten the proper permission to be in that section of the Library during subsequent years, the damn girl tried to take books from there and place them on the regular shelves, claiming they had no business being in the Restricted section at all as there was nothing dangerous about them or the information they contained. She'd decided in all her wisdom the books were nothing more than fantasy fiction books and so were no threat to any rational student.
If that wasn't bad enough, she'd also tried to remove books from the regular shelves and place them into the restricted section, claiming they contained information that was too dangerous for her school mates to read. As if she was in any manner experienced enough to make such a judgment call! Not even the fact she'd read the books herself and was able to walk away from it without using anything she'd read within them should have told her the books were no such thing.
And then there was the organization issues. Hermione Granger didn't like the way Madam Pince categorized her books. She'd insisted it all needed to be reorganized according to the Dewy Decimal system the muggles used as that system made so much more sense and made it far easier to locate books on a particular subject.
And with the Dewy Decimal system a card catalogue could be made that would allow the students to easily locate whatever books they were interested in without having to disturb the librarian. Which said all that needed to be said about why the girl was denigrating the current system. With a card catalogue Ms. Granger figured she could get into and out of the Restricted Section far easier and much more often. No, Irma Pince did not like Hermione Granger. At all.
Like him, Irma knew Harry had no one else who saw him for himself as he truly was. But unlike him, she knew it included the other world where he spent his summers as well. It was she who had pointed out the absence of his bird this year. "Not surprising really since Albus did try to kill the bird last year." Which surprised Severus since he wasn't aware anyone really knew Albus had meant for Harry to lose something or someone precious to him in that second event. Of course Albus had believed it would be Ms. Granger Harry would lose. But when Krum had succeeded in rescuing her, Albus had immediately latched onto Hedwig as his victim of choice.
Like him, Irma knew the situation had been allowed for far too long for it to ever really change all that much. With all the games Albus played manipulating the boy in an effort to gain a hold over him, the teenager had been bluntly told whomever he did choose to care for had a very short life expectancy as they would find themselves the next target of the supposedly lightest wizard since Merlin. And that was only if the other person out to hurt him didn't get to said person first. Either way, anyone Potter chose to get close to could expect to find themselves fighting for their very life quickly after it became known Potter cared for them.
"You know, Severus, even if Minerva does manage to get them to realize the removal of those marks is in their hands and they do what's necessary to remove them, Harry will never accept them as his friends again. He knows he can't trust them now and once someone proves untrustworthy to a child like him, they'll never overcome that judgement. He gave them the chance to choose him over the Headmaster. They didn't take it. Now they have to live with the consequences of their choice."
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