(That evening)
Collapsing on his bed, thinking damn that was a good party, he had to give the first-year Puffs credit; they knew how to make someone feel welcome, even if they were an outsider to the group. He really had to re-examine the concept of the Puffs, since he had fallen into the trap of seeing them as a house of losers, with some exceptions, but after spending time with them, he could see they had far more positive traits.
They were just overshadowed by the rest of the houses. After all, you had his own house winning academic achievements most of the time, while Slytherin and Gryffindor were in a constant state of rivalry, bordering on a state of war considering how vicious their pranks got, especially when you had individuals encouraging such competition.
This included the head of Slytherin himself, and characters such as Ron, Neville, the twins, and Malfoy. No wonder the Puffs were overlooked and disregarded; they simply were just trying to get along and not cause trouble.
Not causing trouble just became the expected norm by the staff and students, and it wasn't rewarded as a whole. After all, why reward a house for behaving when they do it automatically without need for encouragement? When other houses needed encouragement, i.e., the carrot and stick approach.
This was disappointing really, but couldn't be changed easily without a whole top-down process. Making his own mental note on the issue, to give Puffs more credit, he moved them up in his own mental house ranking system, to above Gryffindor for the time being, but under Slytherin.
He doubted he could ever be anything more than friends, or associates, or maybe allies with them, simply due to the differences in values and morals between them. Slipping into his codex, he began to rearrange the memories, updating his analysis of people and their values, and just doing the needed upkeep for the day to ensure his mind stayed clear and sharp.
Things were looking up. Everything was going as he planned, no setbacks of any sort, but how long would that last? Feeling a renewed sense of energy, he decided to get some archery practice in since he wouldn't be falling asleep for a while, and it was far better to do something productive.
Pushing himself off his bed and quickly changing into something more suitable for training, he headed out onto the range. The bow he was using was a rather simple short bow, nothing fancy, just a training tool. In time, as his skills developed and his physical power grew, he would be able to handle more powerful bows, but for the moment, he had to start at the bottom.
Drawing the bowstring back, he looked down the line of sight onto the target no more than 75 feet away, close by archery standards, but almost double the length of most wizard duels. Releasing the arrow, hearing the spring of the bowstring as the energy was unleashed, just to see the arrow impact maybe an inch above the bullseye zone.
Repeating the process, readjusting his aim, taking into account the wind speed and other factors such as decreasing levels of light, he unleashed his second arrow, just to see it land in the gold zone, but not bullseye. Like most skills, to get that instinctual understanding, where one did not have to think, you could just act on impulse required time and training.
Slowly he slipped into a world of his own.
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Gringotts bank meeting room 5 (Friday)
'It's funny really, how much time I've been spending at the bank, they should give me a discount,' Harry thought... but that wasn't likely to happen, unless the Goblins saw a means to achieve a bigger profit by doing so. Besides, it was only a temporary solution until he had his own meeting place, and was strong enough to physically protect himself against an adult wizard or two. Until then he would have to rely on the hired muscle of the goblin guards.
Oh well, there was nothing he could do until he could get a proxy he trusted to act on his behalf. Hopefully, his soon-to-be-free godfather would be capable of looking after his interests, and being his representative, since he found a lot of people just dismissed him due to his age.
It would be interesting seeing what was going to happen. He had no doubt the headmaster would turn up, even if it was just for a chance to question him again. Several minutes passed, making Harry wonder if they were ever going to turn up.
Looking to his side he could see Bloodmoon was getting increasingly annoyed at their lateness. Not that he could blame him; it was rudeness, and very much a power play unfolding. Of course, he expected an excuse or reason which they would be forced to accept, such as emergency ministry business, so there was nothing they could do but wait.
So they started discussing little things just to pass the time.
About twenty minutes later, they heard a knock on the door before it opened, revealing several Hogwarts staff members: Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape, but no Headmaster, which was surprising since the man had been trying to find him all summer.
"Sorry for our lateness, emergency business came up in the Ministry preventing the Headmaster from attending, which led to him sending me in his place to handle the situation for him," Professor McGonagall explained, before taking a seat at the table, followed by the other staff members.
"Professors, you have seen the evidence to support my case. I do not wish to cause trouble, but I find Severus Snape's behaviour towards me over the last year unacceptable, hence the reason we're gathered here today," Harry stated seriously.
"Indeed," stated the Deputy Headmistress, looking rather stern.
"Now I understand that my father, as well as his friends, did bully Professor Snape with their pranking during their youth. But he is dead, and frankly it is time to move on because it is childish. I've heard you multiple times comparing me to my father, but I have no memories of him, only know bits and pieces about him from what others have told me. I don't even have a picture of the man.
All I know is that I look like him, because everyone has said I look like my father, but he is dead. So this feud can either be ended today like civilised people, or I take this to the papers and the Ministry, and you will probably end up with a cell next to my traitorous godfather," he spat, keeping up the impression that he believed his godfather had betrayed his parents.
"I've already got several allies who are more than willing to make the case on my behalf, so not even the Headmaster acting as my guardian and proxy will be able to drop the case," he said sternly and emotionlessly, making it clear that he had planned ahead.
Looking around seriously, seeing he still had their attention he continued, "Now, in this hand I have the terms I offered at the end of the last school year." Holding out an official scroll, "I'll list the terms in case you have forgotten. First, Severus Snape does not use any form of mind arts on me again, unless I willingly grant permission. Second, I don't have to attend any classes led by the professor and that I will self-study the material instead.
Finally, any points reductions or detentions have to be approved by either my head of house," gesturing to the Charms master, "or by one of the other heads of house," waving his hand towards the two women. "Then, for the next six years we can try to ignore each other," Harry said seriously while looking at Snape, picking up no emotions with his empathy.
"Or," he said, dragging out the word as he revealed another scroll, imagining this was the feeling the Roman ambassador had when addressing Carthage's rulers at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when demanding the arrest of Hannibal, before saying "War." This got a look of surprise from the two women at his words, along with a classic sneer from the Potions Master.
"This is a lawsuit from the House of Potter, against one Severus Snape on the charges of illegal use of mind arts on a minor, let alone on the heir to an Ancient and Noble Household. Verbal abuse and abuse of power and position, and finally slander against the Potter name," he ended, with a cold glare at the Potions Master.
"Your choice: peace and settlement," holding out the document, "or war in the courts, where we both know the odds are in my favour, even if you have the Chief Warlock and Lucius Malfoy in your corner."
"So it's your choice," holding out a scroll in each hand, looking at the staff, waiting for them to get their wits together, since he had thrown them with his little bit of drama. Bloodmoon himself looked on emotionlessly, but one could see a hint of amusement in his eyes at his antics.
"How do I know you aren't bluffing, you arrogant brat," the Potions Master demanded, finally speaking for the first time while the rest of the staff seemed to just look at the man, wondering what in hell he was doing.
"You don't, but do you think I would waste my time here and my account managers if I wasn't serious? Or pay for this meeting room, as well as two dozen goblin guards, if I wasn't serious? I could easily ruin you." This got him a sneer at his statement, which he ignored, privately hoping the man would do as Rita did and pull his wand on him so the goblins could have him.
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