"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began.
He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word, Snape certainly was melodramatic.
"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death. If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
More silence followed this little speech as Snape glanced around at the students to make sure they were thoroughly under his sway. Since the students were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, they were already geared up to pay attention as hard work, and studying were what there houses admired most. The speech made Harry wonder if Snape used it for every new class as it was exactly the same as the one used in canon for the Slytherin/Griffindor class.
"Potter!" yelled Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Of course, thanks to all the fanfiction he had read where this scene was rather prevalent, Harry knew that the answer was a sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death. But it would be boring if he just answered normally. He hated Snape's character and planned to destroy him for all the Snarry and Snamione trash that littered the internet. Then again, he was probably just another pawn manipulated by Dumbledore.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut. Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter? Fame clearly isn't everything."
"Yes, clearly, it isn't. I was told Hogwarts employed the best teachers, but you single me out knowing full well that I had only known about the magical world for a month. Do you think potions was high on my list of things to learn after I was informed that I had been kidnapped when my parents were betrayed by those claiming to love them and then murdered? I didn't even know their names or what they looked like, and you thought I would be spending my time memorising potion ingredients?
Also, if I learnt everything before the first class, then what is even the point in coming here? Newsflash you dunderhead, I have come here to learn. So how about you leave whatever crawled up your arse at home, and do the job you are being paid for! I expected better from a professor at the world's premier magic school, you are even worse than the ghost teacher!" Responded Harry with as much vitriol as he could pack into his scathing riposte.
Snape was obviously not expecting such a reply to his mocking, and even his usually emotionless face now had a dumbfounded look on it. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were openly gaping at Harry in stunned disbelief that he would so blatantly insult the Professor with a reputation for harsh punishments.
"Fif-fifty points from Gryffindor!" Snape managed to stutter out in either rage or shame, something that was out of character in canon.
Professor Snape was cold as ice and was always portrayed as unflappable or emotionless while he carried out his tasks as a spy for both Dumbledore and Voldemort. He was also supposedly a master at Occlumency and hid his emotions behind cynical, malicious, and sarcastic remarks.
In his lonely childhood, he was insecure and vulnerable, so his first-ever friend in Lily Evans became more of an obsession than love. Maybe the rather blunt reminder that he played a part in her death had shocked him enough to confuse Harry for James Potter, and his insecurities manifested destroying his emotional control. This could also explain his mistake in taking points from Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw.
Whatever it was, Harry planned to capitalise on it to destroy the bitter man verbally before later using Skeeter to ruin his career as a potion master at Hogwarts. By publicly announcing his Death Eater membership and listing the statistics of those failing potions, there was bound to be a public outcry. Particularly since every non-Slytherin student in the last ten years hated him. After Snape became the potions teacher, very few students ever made it to N.E.W.T level potions, and if they did, they were mostly Slytherin.
Since this was a requirement to join the Aurors or St Mungo's, it cut down recruitment immensely and mostly filled it with Slytherin students. Of course, this could have been under Dumbledore's instructions since he had singlehandedly done more damaged to the wizarding world's proficiency than anyone else by reducing the subjects taught at Hogwarts. Filling the teaching positions with incompetent Professors also didn't help.
"Take as many points from Gryffindor as you like, my house is Ravenclaw. Are you under some misconception that I am James Potter? I was told both my parents were in Gryffindor, is that why you singled me out and mocked me? Were you a Death Eater that hated my parents and are now taking it out on me? Show me your arm you greasy little b*tch, I demand you prove you are not a follower of the Dark Lord!"
Harry decided to go all in. He had initially planned to only give Snape a bit of a tongue-lashing if he mocked him, but experiencing the pettiness firsthand made him decide that he did not want to put up with years of sneering and snide comments. Besides, there was no reason to keep Snape around since Voldemort's main soul piece had been dealt with, his usefulness had run out. So f*ck him, f*ck him to the moon!
Snape looked similar to a deer surprised by the headlights of a truck and was about to become roadkill. Snape really should have predicted this outcome after his remark at the Sorting Ceremony was rebuffed, and Harry stood up to the Headmaster. But his pettiness had got the better of him, and he just couldn't let go of his hatred of James Potter. To take it out on an innocent child was why Harry was annoyed at all the people that loved Snape.
They forget that there was no reason for his vendetta against Harry Potter other than his own dislike of the child because his dad was shagging Lily and he bullied Snape in school. That's it. Canon Harry Potter was a shy child because he had been abused for ten years and raised like a slave. For Snape, that could read minds and also experienced a terrible childhood, he would have realised this immediately. Especially with how much he had stared at Harry the first night at Hogwarts.
"OUT! GET OUT YOU BRAT!" Yelled Snape, he had lost all sense of decorum with the disrespect Harry had shown him.
His pride could not tolerate such insolence from a Potter child, and by the clenching of his hands, Harry expected the potions master to physically attack him. He had long since retrieved his wand from his wrist holster and held it under his desk just in case.
"You want me to get out? Sure, after you show me your arm and apologise, you Death Eater coward!"
Snape was visibly restraining himself as he started to hyperventilate, and his veins started popping out in his rage. He was literally shaking with anger, something that Harry had thought was an exaggeration when he had heard it used. Snape clenched his jaw so hard that his teeth could be heard grinding in the completely silent classroom, and the gaze he fixed Harry with, promised eternal hostility and retribution.
But in the end, Harry was disappointed. Snape chose the only option available to him other than assaulting the Boy-Who-Lived or continuing to teach in humiliation. He left. His robes billowed around him as he furiously stormed out of the room, probably on his way to the Headmaster's office to report the incident. Harry couldn't care less, all his earlier thoughts of not forcing a direct confrontation with Dumbledore entirely forgotten.
At heart, he was a keyboard warrior that had been given ultimate power overnight, and his ego had inflated to match it. There was no way he was going to take sh*t from someone as retarded as Snape, the man who was responsible for his own ruin. Voldemort had tried to spare Lily because Snape had asked him too, there was no way he didn't know that his actions had sold out James and her child, sentencing them to death.
The students still had their mouths open in disbelief and stared at Harry as if he was an alien. They were only eleven-year-olds and had never seen one of their peers stand up to an ad*lt, particularly for these studious children used to doing what they were told. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were never shown to be breaking the rules or losing points, and yet today they had seen Harry Potter make Snape lose his sh*t! Their world view had just been destroyed, and they didn't know if Harry Potter was a hero or a corrupted reprobate.
"I guess we just self study? He seemed to expect us to already know everything by heart anyway." Harry said in the face of all his speechless classmates gawking at him.