A Plotting Weasley

WARNNGS:
Follows all 7 books… mostly.
People not dead:
-Fred Weasley
-Severus Snape
-Sirius Black
-Remus Lupin (Never got together with Tonks)


A Plotting Weasley

It seemed so simple. Return to Hogwarts and find Slytherins' Quidditch strategy so Gryffindor can win the cup. It was James’ idea. Really. Although Ron did nothing to discourage the boy. Nor Ginny.

Harry sighed. How he got into this mess he didn’t know, but he was pretty sure that Ginny and Hermione were behind it all. The two had been trying to set him up with different people since the divorce. Harry had let it slip to Ron that he didn’t want to date women, that Ginny as the only female for him. Ron, of course, told everyone he could think of. It was a real laugh for everyone involved. Except for Harry. He didn’t think he’d ever get over his sixteen-year-old son giving him a Gay Wizard magazine. James could be a real kidder sometimes. Remus swore that James was the reincarnation of his grandfather. Sometimes, Harry thought Remus was right. James would give Harry this… knowing look, one that made Harry look away in guilt.

Funny, that. His own son, just seventeen now, could make Harry feel guiltier then his own wife. Ex-Wife. Harry had a similar feeling about Lily. She took after Ginny more, but she was so much like her grandmother, Sirius would say. From everything Harry had been told about his mother, he could see how much she had in common with Ginny. That was one of the reasons Harry had questioned their marriage. Ron said he had mother issues. But, no matter. Things had worked out. Ginny was now happy with Dean, a new baby on the way, and Harry… Harry was on his way to get the Slytherin playbook so his oldest son could beat them at Quidditch…

Lovely.

Harry stopped outside the school gates. It had been a long time since he had seen the school. Too long. He smiled as he felt the overwhelming sense that he was finally home.

Harry knew his son just wanted to beat the youngest Malfoy, Scorpius, but he wondered what Albus had to say about that. Poor kid had the biggest crush on him.

Harry laughed as he walked up the front steps and into the school. That boy wore his heart on his sleeve, he did. Just like his mother. Harry remembered when Al had first hinted at his crush on the blond boy. He had brought home a picture of them. Harry had been shocked at how much the two had looked liked him and Draco Malfoy. Had they ever smiled in the others’ company. But the picture had been so cute. Disturbing, but cute.

While Harry had gotten over his general mistrust of everything Slytherin, he no longer hated his old rival.

But Harry had more important things on his mind. Like getting the Slytherin playbook. Or finding this new professor Hermione kept hinting may be his type.

Maybe… Or not, considering she found Ron attractive. Harry hoped this new professor wasn’t a redhead.

Harry paused outside the Headmaster’s office. Snape’s office. He sighed as he gave the password, a slight grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Lemon Drops.”

It was only fitting that Snape keep up Dumbledore’s tradition of having the password named after a sweet. It was… nice.

Not that Snape was nice, Harry thought as he started up the staircase. Snape would never let himself be known as nice!

That man just wouldn’t deal well with people hugging him.

“Well, well. Mr. Potter. And here I had thought you had already passed your NEWTs.”

“Hello, Professor Snape.” Harry grinned as he sat down.

“Why are you here, Mr. Potter? I have already informed your wife-”

“Ex-Wife, sir.”

“- that James will not be permitted to continue Transfiguration, no matter how much he wants to. Not only are his grades below that of a fifth year, he has abused his rights by intentionally causing harm to a classmate.”

“Yes, sir. I am aware of his punishment and I completely agree with you sir.”

“Then why are you here, Mr. Potter?”

“Well.” Harry blushed, feeling like a student once again. “Hermione told me that you were going to let Ginny stay here a night to see how James acted. But, she will be due any day now and she asked me to come for her.”

Snape glared. “I see.”

Harry gulped, noticing how deep Snape’s voice was. It gave him chills. From the memory of being yelled at by said voice as a student, of course. Nothing odd about getting chills from a deep, dark, sensuous voice. Angry voice. From a deep, dark, angry voice. Such a raw voice.

Harry coughed, gasping in air as he chocked on that last thought. “Right. Maybe not the night, but I thought I could just walk around, see the Castle and talk to James about his pranks.”

Snape lifted his chin. “His pranks? Mr. Potter, he turned another classmate into a mouse and tried to feed her to her own cat.”

Harry put his hands in his hair. “Ginny didn’t tell me that part.”

“Tell me, Mr. Potter, what can you do about that?”

“I would say that he’s only allowed to use his wand during class, but he’s seventeen now, and he needs his wand to complete most of his homework, so I can’t do that.”

“One thing your father didn’t have, was self-control. James lacks that as well. I have no doubt that many students have wanted to hex the person sitting next to them in class, but they held back. If the Slytherins can last an entire class without hexing the Hufflepuffs, it’s clear that a Gryffindor should be able to do the same with a Ravenclaw.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But this issue is not about classroom behavior.”

“It’s not?”

“No, Mr. Potter, it’s not. Your son has injured the Chaser from all the other House’s Quidditch teams. It seems that he is determined to win, no matter the cost. If I didn’t know him to be your son, I would say he was a Slytherin. He has even gone so far as to have one of his teammates steal the playbook for each house. All, but Slytherin.”

Harry blushed. “Is that so?”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Potter. The only friend he has that has connections to Slytherin would be your other son, Albus. But he refused to, saying that it was unfair to the other teams. He came to tell me as soon as he could get away.”

“That’s good then.”

Snape smirked at Harry, holding his gaze. “Albus seemed to think that James may resort to sending in someone from outside to get the playbook for him. Albus thought that would be the only reason James would turn his girlfriend into a mouse. Shocking, isn’t it, Mr. Potter, what a child will come up with?”

Harry shifted in his seat, turning his eyes away from the dark ones looking into his. “I don’t know why James would think someone would help him, I mean, it is just Quidditch.”

“Strangely,” Snape continued, ignoring Harry’s comment. “I thought the one to come would be Mr. Weasley. After all, he was very enthusiastic about the game while in school. You, on the other hand, were a complete surprise. I fear I misjudged you, Mr. Potter. A feat, I assure you, does not happen often. I had believed you to have grown out of your boyish ways and have left all this nonsense behind.”

“Right, can I meet the staff?”

“Do you think me stupid, Mr. Potter?”

“What? No! Of course not, Professor.”

“Then why do you insist on speaking to me as if I were a child?”

Harry looked down, fiddling with his fingers. “It was Ginny’s idea. And James’.”

“So you came here because your wife tol-”

“Ex-Wife, sir.”

“Indeed.” Snape said, arching his eyebrow. “Mr. Potter, tell me, why did you really some here today? Was it just for the playbook? Or was it something else?”

“The… just the playbook, sir.”

“Then could you explain to me why your ex-wife deemed it necessary to send me notice not to let you around any of the staff? Or why she requested that I not tell you that we have no knew staff?”

Harry blushed. “Right. I’ll just be going now.” He stood up, looked at Snape one last time before he turned and left.

Really now, of all the things to set him up for! They just had to go and make him look like an idiot…

Not that it took much.

(A/N: I do plan on updating this, to at least 3 chapters, but I’m not sure how to start the next set up. If you have any ideas about what you would like to see next, I’ll be happy to consider it. Thanks for reading!)