FIC: Attempting Temperance (PG)
Title: Attempting Temperance
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: Four
Characters: Severus Snape, Irma Pince
Author: goddess47
Rating: PG
Summary: "Headmaster. If you do not remove those miscreants from the Library, I'll… I'll…" Words had failed her. She stamped a foot and glared.
Irma Pince was fond of rules and formalities. Rules made life easier and formality let everyone know where they stood in their relationships.
But today her hair was awry, a hem had come undone on her skirt, and she had buttoned her blouse wrong. Severus knew a simple charm or two would fix all of that but she looked like she didn't have the energy to even try.
"Headmaster. If you do not remove those miscreants from the Library, I'll… I'll…" Words had failed her. She stamped a foot and glared.
Severus held on to his patience. It was his first week as Headmaster and he was still finding the right path between being a colleague and being (more-or-less) responsible for everything and everyone inside Hogwarts.
"Irma." Severus hoped the 'colleague' option would be the better course. "Take a breath, please. Then tell me what is wrong."
Although Severus already had his suspicions. But he had to make this work, somehow. He had no good answers and had to make the best of the bad options he did have.
Irma did take a breath. Then another. She closed her eyes to take a third breath, letting it out in a long whoosh.
"The Carrows."
Ah! Severus expected this. Unfortunately.
"What are they doing?" Severus asked patiently.
"They're in the Library, defacing books. Vanishing books. Doing Merlin only knows what else," she said, face ruddy with anger.
"I will speak to them," Severus replied. "I would think the contents of the Library would be protected against such things."
"Against students, yes. Not against faculty. The protections assume faculty know what they are doing." She hesitated. "Please do so as soon as possible," Irma begged.
Although I do not know what I can do. Severus did not say that aloud. "I will," he promised.
Irma glared again, turned and stomped out of the Headmaster's office.
Severus slumped back in the chair and rubbed his forehead.
"Oh, dear, this is not good," Armando Dippert said from his portrait.
Tell me something I do not already know! Severus kept quiet.
"Severus, my boy," Phineas Nigellus said, "appeal to their Slytherin side. That's your best chance."
Severus nodded. At least it was reasonable advice. He left the office and made his way to the library.
Amycus was sitting on a table, looking as lumpy as ever and doing his wheezy giggle as he watched Alecto flit about the stacks.
Severus watched for a moment as Alecto scanned a shelf and then plucked a book. She held it up. "Keep or go?" she asked.
"That is related to the sixth year Transfiguration class," Severus said. "If it goes, then the Slytherin students are less likely to pass their N.E.W.T.s in that subject."
Alecto frowned. "What fun is that? Who wants to take that stupid test?"
"Hey! I took it!" Amycus protested.
"Oh, right," she smiled. "Okay. It can stay." She slid it back onto the shelf.
"While I do understand that you have a… directive from the Dark Lord to ensure that students are taught the proper things, you may want to consider that he also considers the Library here as part of the value of the school," Severus said blandly. "You are doing harm to something the Dark Lord owns."
Amycus looked faintly confused as he parsed through the statement but Alecto immediately understood.
"But there are… traitorous books here!" she hissed.
"Make a list and send it to the Dark Lord," Severus shrugged. "But if you have destroyed something he remembers fondly from his own school days…" He let that trail off. "And he will be… disappointed if the Slytherin students do not do well on their exams."
"He can change the exams!" Alecto declared.
"He can," Severus agreed. "But he does not, yet, have the ability to do so. And, remember he can only change the exams the Ministry might offer. Some Slytherin students are from outside Britain and will need to take the International exams, which already are more difficult than the Ministry exams. Until he can change the Ministry exams, then we must prepare the students for the existing exams."
Alecto sighed as she climbed down the ladder she had been perched on. "You are no fun!"
Severus shrugged. "That is part of my position. I am not here to have fun. I am here to prepare children to serve the Dark Lord."
Amycus giggled but Alecto huffed. "Then… I'm bored! What is there to do?"
"Classes start next week, are your lessons prepared?" Severus asked. Always ask a question you already know the answer to.
"Prepare lessons?" Amycus asked. "Why would we do that?"
"You are preparing children to serve the Dark Lord," Severus repeated. "What will the Dark Lord think if you do not prepare them well?"
Amycus looked horrified.
"The Ministry provided books," Alecto pointed out. "We'll just use them!"
"And for practical lessons, what will you do?" Severus asked patiently. "The exams have both a paper test and a practical component, if you remember."
Alecto looked mulish for a moment, then sighed. "I guess we should think about something for the students to do."
"You can likely do book work for the first week or two," Severus thought it would be useful to give them some practical advice. "You can use that time to assess what the children do and do not know. But they will become bored at some point with purely book work. Dolores Umbridge discovered that, at a great loss, and she is still in St. Mungos."
That made Alecto thoughtful.
"You may want to ask the Dark Lord his opinion on detentions," Severus suggested. "While Slytherins rarely earn detentions, - " although they frequently deserve it - "if he is seeking to recruit students from other Houses to his side, you may want to be sure not to… dissuade a student who may be on the fence about their allegiance."
Amycus frowned.
Severus sighed. "If you treat a student who might be persuaded to follow the Dark Lord badly, they will choose not to follow him," Severus explained.
"Oh!" Amycus nodded. "But, what fun is that?"
"Which is why I suggest you ask the Dark Lord for guidance," Severus repeated. Although he suspected the Dark Lord would be annoyed by such requests. But it would hopefully slow the Carrows down in having 'fun' with the students.
His faint, best hope was that the Dark Lord would reply with something along the lines of follow whatever Snape decides but he knew the Carrows were at Hogwarts to watch him. So the best he could hope for was no specific answer, which would hopefully temper what the Carrows could do.
"You are not obligated to attend, but there is a staff meeting tomorrow morning," Severus informed them. "Again, if you are recruiting students, you may want to at least be civil with the other faculty."
"We'll think about it," Alecto replied with a sniff.
"Up to you," Severus replied easily.
"Come, Amycus, we'll do some lesson planning," Alecto said.
Amycus stood and followed her out of the Library.
Severus pretended not to hear the soft Thank you that came from deep inside the Library.