But for Severus - he grinned as he made his way down to his own chambers - the best part was there was absolutely nothing Albus could do about it. His Slytherins had all received his message loud and clear to immediately compose a letter to their parents informing them of the ritual punishments they'd witnessed today in the library and to spare no details in the telling.
He had no doubt many of the witnessing Ravenclaws were doing exactly the same thing right now. Being in a class right now or not, the Ravenclaws who had witnessed the Showdown would be composing letters home one way or another.
Severus knew he only got the chance to spread word of today's happenings because Dumbledore was out of the Castle right now. What he was doing was anyone's guess as, of course, Albus hadn't seen fit to inform any of the staff what his plans for the day were or where he could be reached should a situation arise here. Oh well. His loss. As the saying went. He was tempted to start whistling he was so happy. Too bad he really couldn't whistle at all.
And by the time Albus returned and learned of the confrontation, the owls would already have flown free with their missives. Word would have gone out and there would be no way to recall it. But he was determined the old man wouldn't be able to cover this up or put such a spin on it people would hate Potter over it like they did so many of the other games Dumbledore had enacted here in the Castle.
Harry Potter had finally had enough of the old man's games and manipulations and had taken a stand. Slytherin house would support that stand even if they didn't like the boy personally. Which a lot of them didn't. But they were his peers and even they knew the Triad deserved what he did to them.
Most of the parents, who'd be contacted by his students and the Ravenclaws, held important positions either in the Ministry or on the school board and all of them would, if they didn't already know it, immediately look up the legality of Mr. Potter's actions.
They'd be ready for any play Albus tried to make to force Mr. Potter to recant his position and remove the runes. Not that he could. As Potter had told the Triad, only they could remove the marks that were made with their own magic, formed by the guilt in their own minds and hearts and held in place as a monitor of their future choices and actions by their own innate magic.
Slytherin, for the most part, had changed their attitude on Harry James Potter after coming to actually see the boy for who he was all during that fiasco last year.
Draco had been right when he'd told his year mates Potter had given up and was no longer caring what they or anyone else thought of him and his actions. But in coming to acknowledge that, his Slytherins had seen Potter truly wasn't any different from them.
The only difference between them was it wasn't his parent or family member playing with his life, heart and mind. It was their Headmaster. Because his family had already been taken away from him. By the Headmaster and his games.
Hearing Potter today name the Headmaster as nothing more than a Gang Leader having a turf war with his rival Gang Leader should help them come around to Potter's side even more. Not to mention the open disrespect the boy had shown with all those inventive nicknames he'd given the man. But that, Severus knew, would take time. A lot of time.
Because they'd been raised to believe Potter was their enemy simply because their parents followed the Dark Lord who'd sworn himself against the boy. And Potter wasn't any more likely to follow the Dark Lord than he would Albus. Severus knew that without even having to ask the boy.
If Potter wouldn't forgive the Triad for their offenses against him there was no way he'd forgive the Dark Lord. After all the Dark Lord had killed his parents while attempting to kill him. And he was still attempting to kill Potter. And failing. Severus smirked.
Nor could Albus claim it was Dark Magic as there were far too many witnesses who could tell him point blank no one was hurt at all in the marking. Not even the Triad had felt any pain in the marking of their persons. Itching was not the same as pain regardless of what Granger might think. Nor was it a blood ritual as no blood had flowed from any of the people present at the time to power the casting. Not even in the formation of the runes now marring their faces, had any blood flowed. Therefore, it was in no way a blood ritual.
And since everyone had seen the color of Harry's magic while he cast the spell, everyone could tell him the magic had been extremely light in orientation.
Almost everyone had witnessed Ginerva Weasely's magic rising up to meet Harry's as the spell was cast over her. Not to mention everyone had seen Fawkes fly in and sit upon Potter's shoulder and even the youngest children knew a phoenix would never stay near anything dark. For that matter from the feel of the magic that swelled up in the room during that girl's marking it seemed as if Fawkes was actually aiding Potter in marking her.
Nor had Fawkes flown away after she was marked. The Phoenix had stayed to watch the marking of the boy as well. if nothing else Fawkes presence during two of the markings said it was anything but dark magic.
It was, beyond any doubt, Light Magic though come to think about it, that girls' own magic had definitely not been all that light at all. That surprised him now that he was thinking about it. He had always assumed the Weasely clan had very light natured cores but Ginerva Weasely's magic while not exactly dark couldn't be called light either.
Royal purple. Not lilac or violet. But purple. Vibrant. Impossible to miss or mistake for any other color. Her brother's magic had been too weak to read though from what he'd seen of it, it looked to be rusty red which for a light wizard really wasn't all that good. Not dark precisely. But not really all that light either. Hers however had been easy to see and read. Not that it really mattered her brother had lighter magic than she did.
That Betrayers Rune on his forehead pretty much said no one would ever trust him again. Granger's really hadn't surprised him all that much. Hers was a dark greyish blue. Which meant she wasn't half the light orientated witch she pretended to be.
Or that Minerva claimed she was. But then Severus had always thought Granger was a dark witch in the making. One who could rival Morgana LeFay if she got the right kind of training. Because she certainly had the brain and the drive to become one.
He was almost smiling as he went through the remainder of his day. He'd discovered two witches with dark magic hiding in the light pretending they were Light witches. Maybe he should tell the Dark Lord about them the next time the man was on a tear and hurting him just because things weren't going his way. He was always on the lookout for up and coming dark witches to marry his young dark wizards. It'd certainly distract the monster.
...
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