The man had practically spat out that last sentence. After all this time, the potion master was still bitter about the Marauders' pranks on him. He had a point, of course, but he also tended to escalate things more by using dangerous curses to defend himself.
Minerva ignored his last comment and simply nodded, "I will ensure that punishments are more severe for upper years getting involved. That should calm things down, or at least deescalate slightly. The Twins will behave themselves if I threaten to take away their experiments."
Dumbledore let out a bright smile, "Good, now, with that done, does anyone has anything to add before we begin speaking about the students," he waited for a few seconds while everyone stayed silent and continued, "very well. As is tradition, let's start with the first years. I believe Miss Abbot is first. Pomona, you are her head of house, what do you think?"
What continued was a brief description of each student. It wasn't anything too interesting. Just saying if the first years are homesick, or if they have difficulties with any subject, or if they tended to be in any kind of trouble.
Truth be told, the transfiguration professor noticed that Albus tended to pay attention when the student was the son or daughter of a death eater, of a member of the order of the Phoenix, or of people with promising talent.
For example, Albus perked up at the mention of Hermione Granger, whose professors sang praises at her – other than Severus, of course, who called her an insufferable know-it-all. But the headmaster dismissed Anthony Goldstein entirely since he was an average student.
He actually straightened up when Longbottom's name was announced and looked very thoughtful by the end. As expected, Severus ranted about the boy and his attitude – which is ironic considering his own godson was as much of a brat as the boy who lived, if not more. But what was so surprising to everyone was how normal he was. Oh, he was a good student, talented in charms especially, and a herbology prodigy according to Pomona, but he was just above average in his schooling. He wasn't Merlin reborn, or the second Albus Dumbledore, just a normal spoilt boy who had lost his parents and was hailed as a hero for it.
Everything went well until Albus finished with the Patil twins and took a look at the students' sheet, "Now, Harry Potter. What do you think of him so far?"
Oh, Harry Potter, the son of two of her favourite Gryffindors. His parents were extremely loyal, very talented, and even members of the Order of the Phoenix, having fought and survive the dark lord many times. His sorting was as much a surprise for Minerva as it was for Severus and Albus. They froze in shock when the hat yelled out 'SLYTHERIN' a month ago, having expected him to end up in the same house as his parents.
Still, the boy was the picture of the perfect student. He was respectful, diligent, and didn't break the rules, and now that she thought about it, he was never involved in any of the incidents between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Minerva was the first one to speak up, "The boy is a prodigy, Albus. In all my years of teaching, I have never seen anyone grasp the intricacies of Transfiguration quite like him. And he's had no other tutelage, I can tell, but the way he experiments with magic, it's breathtaking."
Filius concurred, "It's the same with me. He is blowing past his peers at a ridiculous rate."
The others repeated the same in other words and for some reason, Albus looked slightly pale. He looked directly at Severus who spoke up, "The boy is adequate in Potions."
It looked more like he was forcing the words out of his mouth, wanting to do nothing but praise the son of the man he considered to be his rival.
Still, a stilted silence followed as everyone simply gaped at him. Even Albus had raised his eyebrows. Severus rarely ever praised any student, even his own. For all his favouritism, he was still one of the best potion masters in the nation and his standards were very high.
The headmaster still looked very shocked, "And what about his attitude?"
"He likes being alone but is often seen in the company of Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracy Davis. He rarely interacts with any other, except for Draco Malfoy when the latter tries to intimidate him or recruit him. Longbottom seems to try the same, but the boy seems uninterested in the rivalry altogether. His friends tend to be following his lead." Severus elaborated.
"This is very concerning. It's not good to have such a promising young man isolate himself and forget to live. For all that Hogwarts is a school of magic, it's also a place to nurture interactions between peers. Try to partner him with Hermione Granger during the practical sessions. If a friendship blossomed, it could be the first step of inter-house communication. Young Harry's friends will follow his lead, after all." Albus proposed.
It wasn't really an opinion, more of an order. Severus sneered by nodding his acceptance. Minerva knew what Albus was doing, obviously trying to stop any pureblood propaganda from affecting the boy. He wasn't exactly wrong to do so. Slytherin students can be very persuasive, and pureblood supremacy still reigned supreme in this house.
In the end, Minerva didn't protest. She owed it to James and Lily to make sure that their son would grow up to be a good man. And Miss Granger did seem very lonely in Gryffindor since she was the only one that refused to join in on the fighting, disapproving of such behaviour.
"Well, that's enough about Mr Potter. Do keep an eye on him though. A gifted student mustn't be left to his own devices if he gets too bored."
A few professors chuckled and they continued to the next student. Still, Minerva was still unnerved by the odd gleam in Albus' eyes as he was thinking about young Harry. Still, a couple of students later, she forgot entirely about it, dismissing it to be a trick of the light. After all, Albus Dumbledore couldn't possibly be scheming about students as young as young Harry, could he?
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