Indifference Towards Difference || Harry Potter

2 | Severus Snape

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr

~~~

Severus Snape did not care if the old coot was the only thing keeping the Dark Lord at bay from Hogwarts, Dumbledore's untimely death was becoming a much greater possibility with each passing second.

"No, Albus. I will not do it," he snapped at the Headmaster, who simply smiled at him, sucking on a lemon drop.

"You must." The elder wizard said softly. "Only you can train him, equip him with the skills necessary to face this war, and win."

"Have you forgotten those near cataclysmic Occulemency lessons, Albus? The boy is lazy, arrogant, spoilt beyond belief—"

"You look at him and see only James. Yet he has Lily's heart."

"The only thing he has of Lily's are her eyes. And do not try that with me again, Albus." The younger wizard snarled.

"My apologies, Severus." Albus Dumbledore looked anything but apologetic. 

"Do your apologies extend to excusing me of this asinine task?"

"My dear boy—" The gentle tone only served to further fuel his anger.

"No, Albus. The boy detests me, almost as much as I do him. Any hope of some working relationship shattered when he put his nose where it didn't belong—into my Pensieve! If the Dark Lord doesn't get to him first, I probably will if I spend more than five minutes in that boy's company!"

"You would risk the war for your dislike of Harry?" For once, the old man's eyes glittered with something other than their quotidian kindness—frustration. "Harry is the only one capable of defeating Voldemort; you know that as well as I. You are the only one capable of teaching him all he needs to know; that you know also. Will you let the Wizarding World die under the control of Voldemort for a past grudge against a man Harry has never known?"

"And what about Draco? Narcissa has entrusted me with his care whilst she hides away in Paris to lick her wounds. Do you think Potter will tolerate my godson's presence? I'm certain Draco will protest quite loudly."

"You have always been able to control your students. Simply exercise that same manner over young Mr Malfoy."

Snape snarled again, lip curling in distaste and defeat. A few of his late father's more colourful profanities ran through his mind.

Damn the man.

"Very well, Albus." The Potions Master stood stiffly, eyes hardening as he acquiesced. "I will teach the boy. But do not expect us to get along."

As he strode towards the door, robes billowing in his fury, Dumbledore spoke again. "Be kind to him, Severus. Harry has just lost his godfather. You may not have cared for Sirius...but Harry most certainly did."

Severus Snape slammed his door a little louder than necessary, grousing over "stupid old men and their stupid old ways."

Albus Dumbledore sat back wearily in his chair. He was getting far too old for this, he thought, as he eyed his blackened, wrinkled hand sadly.

***

Severus Snape was not a happy man. He had planned for his summer break to be exactly that—a break. A break from the repulsive presences of those repulsive children. Peace in the solitude of Prince Manor—perhaps even Spinner's End if he felt like it. He'd opted for the Manor since the first signs of the Dark Lord's return, with that Potter brat's meddling and misadventure with the Philosopher's Stone.