"You sat on my desks," Snape repeated.
Harry stared at the professor with his mouth gaping open.
"Are you serious?" Harry asked.
"You distracted students,"
Harry swallowed and shrugged lightly.
"You cheated on every test, potion, and scroll," Snape said his voice deepening with transparent disgust.
"No, I didn't!"
Snape ignored the cry and continued staring Harry down. Harry looked down and sighed.
"You have been disruptive, non-compliant, and rude in every class since the beginning of the year," Snape frowned heavily.
"But I got O's on every potion!" Harry exclaimed.
"Only because you already knew how to do the potions!" Snape countered angrily, showing his full emotions for the first time that day. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his rage before slowly continuing "you had twice as much time as every other student to learn the potions and twice as much time to complete the homework. You are lucky I don't fail you for the entire semester, however-"
"However," Dumbledore jumped in "we can not afford to waste all the effort that has gone into providing Caleb Scamander with the full education and all the paperwork that comes with it that we can."
Harry looked into his lap and twiddled his thumbs. Snape gave Dumbledore a sideways glance as the man continued to talk.
"You are both to remain as you were and no one will change how they acted- or reacted- before we had this conversation," Dumbledore said. "Harry you will keep your straight O levels. You may be dismissed."
The boy sighed softly and left the room. Snape watched the door click shut before turning towards the annoying twink-le in Dumbledore's eyes.
"Are you going to tell me why you are making him do this?" Snape asked rubbing his brow.
"You heard Harry," Dumbledore said softly, looking years older "there will always be people trying to attack him. If Harry should ever need to disappear-"
"You've created an alias right under their noses," Snape sighed softly.
"And no one will ever be able to prove it,"
"Because Caleb really did exist and there are thousands of witnesses to attest to it," Snape took a long draw from the whiskey in his glass and sighed. "You can't expect this to go on forever, his friends are smart they'll figure it out."
"They already have," Dumbledore sighed heavily "they just don't know that they know yet."
Snape nodded and stared up at the ceiling in thought. He could name at least one boy Harry was always around that was smart enough to figure it out. Hopefully, he wasn't stupid enough, though, to tell his father when he did.
