Unknown to Minerva she wasn't the only adult at the Castle seeking to keep the trio away from Albus by any means necessary. So were some of the other teachers. All of whom had come to realize the trio hadn't yet come to understand no one could free them of their marks but themselves.
Flitwick, Sprout and Professor Babbling all took to waylaying the trio in the halls and making them assist them in some task or another whenever they saw them headed for Albus' office or saw Albus approaching the same hall the trio were in. Flitwick always had to make up a task for them to aide him with but Sprout never had that problem. With her in charge of the greenhouses there was always something she could put them to work doing. And Professor Babbling was working a new string of ancient runes she claimed to need translation help with. Ron and Ginny had tried to beg off that but she wouldn't let them and dragged them into her classroom along with Hermione who was the only one actually taking her class.
Even Madam Pomfrey and Professor Vector had misdirected them away from Albus a couple of times. Madam Pomfrey claimed to need them to help her in the infirmary where she supposedly needed some extra hands or strong backs. Though Professor Vector had only done so accidently because she actually did need a helping hand in her classroom at the time. She was in the process of breaking down cleaning and then reassembling some of the telescopes her students used to study the nighttime sky. In short, everyone was doing what they could to give the trio time to realize demanding punishment for Mr. Potter would get them nowhere and that they deserved the marks. Now all that needed to happen was for the Trio of Misfortune to get the message they, the teachers, were giving them.
Surprisingly, to many of the teachers, Minerva didn't run to Albus demanding he do something about Harry's marking of the Triad as soon as he returned to the Castle. She normally went to him with everything involving Harry just as fast as she could reach his office. But this time she didn't. In fact she seemed to be doing her utmost to keep the Triad away from Albus and him away from them. None of them knew why. They were just glad she hadn't and was.
Severus had expected to hear Harry had been called to the Headmaster's office within an hour of the Old Man's return to the Castle. He'd spent what little free time he had in areas where Potter was normally at, waiting for someone to appear with the expected summons so he could accompany the teen if it came. He even spent time doing his required brewing in Potter's rooms where true to his expectations he discovered one of the doors led to a well-appointed brewing lab. He had no intention of ever allowing the boy to face Albus alone again if he could prevent it. Because to his mind, if those three had been actively trying to stab the boy in the back, and succeeding at it, then Albus not only knew about it but condoned it and was more than likely helping them succeed at their backstabbing.
In fact, he'd heard the Triad mention that Albus set up the vaults for them. And not just during the Library Confrontation either. When confronted by their peers in the halls, they were still saying they had a right to the money from his vaults as Albus had set it up for them. That implied he knew exactly what the three were doing and more than likely had asked them to do it. Hell, Granger had all but said her instructions were from the old man directly.
Which meant, regardless of what he said and everyone believed, he didn't have the boy's best interest at heart. There just was no way the actions of the Trio of Misfortune could be in the boys' best interest. Just no way. Which put him, Severus, at loggerheads with the old man because of the vow he'd taken to protect Lily's child. He was honor bound to stop anyone who was actively trying to harm the boy. And that included one very pesky meddlesome Albus Dumbledore.
Nor was there anyone Severus could go to about the matter since he didn't trust Minerva to act in Harry's best interest against Albus. She'd made it perfectly clear over the last four years she didn't like Harry Potter and would only ever act to punish him for whatever offense another told her he gave them. Whether he actually had or not. She was entirely too much in thrall to Albus to ever be willing to concede that maybe he didn't have good motives towards someone. Child or adult. She might have been coming around to the idea that this time Potter was in the right in what had occurred but that didn't mean she liked it. Or that she believed he'd been in the right in the past. As far as Severus knew, she still believed what the Triad had told her in past years had been the truth.
And Potter had no other legal representative who could speak for him against Albus Dumbledore. Not that Potter knew he could legally turn to Severus for aid against the Headmaster. He didn't. Severus had never told him he was his Guardian/Protector here in the magical world.
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/Sonic_Spectre
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon