You Slander My Mother

Prologue

Observe, stand close.

It had been a tedious and tiring day. As Severus Snape graded his sixth-year Potions essays, he irritably wondered at some of Hogwarts' greatest dunderheads. Potter, Weasley and Longbottom came into his mind.

Last year, Snape had celebrated what he thought was the last year with the three of them in his class. Neville had spectacularly failed his O.W.L while Potter and Weasley both received an Average. Even if they had wanted to, Snape never allowed anyone short of an Outstanding (Granger unfortunately did receive one) into his sixth year class.

However, that was not the case. By the blasted intervention of Dumbledore, imbeciles Potter and Weasley had been given another chance. "Because the two of them were so keen to be Aurors," Dumbledore had told him, "it would have seemed cruel to deprive them of their dreams, by refusing them the chance at Potions again."

Snape, however, did not think so. He did not believe that Weasley and Potter had dreams other than to undermine him, break rules, and be more idiotic than they already were. To be cruel was to be kind, he had told Dumbledore, and innocents lives would be lost if the Ministry relied on the Amazing Dunderauror Duo for safety. If he had his way, the only cauldrons Potter and Weasley ever got close to would be the ones they'd be scrubbing for detention.

But Dumbledore had disagreed, and furthermore, accused Snape of over-reacting. Now, Potter and Weasley, and not to forget Granger, were in his class and he could do nothing. He began to look forward for an offer from Cambridge University, Department of Alchemy, with enthusiasm.

However, Snape was not a man who moped around and bore grudges. No, he always acted on them. Today in class, after a total of forty-five points deducted from Gryffindor, he had used every opportunity to humiliate (and physically injure) Potter, Weasley and Granger. When Weasley had added lacewings before his potion boiled, his cauldron exploded, seriously scalding his nose. Snape, after remarking that Weasley's face now matched his hair, made him restart and complete the potion before seeing Pomfrey. For the next few days, Pomfrey would now be after his blood, but it was worth it. Besides, Snape always had some invisibility potion up his sleeve.

Still, despite the proceedings of the day, Snape was getting tired. It was approaching eleven o'clock and the circles on his eyes were growing darker. Merlin's stirring hand. Did Granger always have to write an essay at least four times longer than the required length? Did he care that the national Warlock seminar of 1876, when the ban of the draft of living death was placed, took place in Handorf, Germany? He was teaching them how to brew confusion, not sleeping, potions for Merlin's sake. Even Potter's had been easier to mark (Snape had deducted thirty points for the misspelling of alchemy).

Forty minutes later, the essays were all marked and arranged in alphabetical order on Snape's desk. For a moment, he paused and smirked, contemplating the prospect of publicly humiliating Granger and her ridiculously long essay in class the next day. Then, snuffing out the candles with his wand, he walked out of his office, shutting the door carefully with a locking charm. He walked down the cold and empty dungeon to his room, and soon went to sleep.

Thus, if any observers happened to be present, it would have seemed impossible to them that this overbearing hawk-nosed Professor was involved in a rumour concerning Mr. and Mrs. Potter. This rumour, now circulating around students, attributed Snape's deep dislike of Harry Potter to his unrequited love for Lily Evans.

This, of course, was absurdly preposterous. Severus Snape was a man who did not have time for romance in his life, past or present. He certainly hated Potter, but he hated many others too, and that did not mean he suffered unrequited love for their mothers as well.

Hermione and Ron were right, Harry thought. Rumours were only nasty lies, especially this one, which was both disgusting and insulting to his parents. Someone malicious from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw had probably spread it. (Harry knew it wasn't a Slytherin because they were now vowing to disembowel the person who dared to insinuate that their Most Noble and Worthy professor was involved with a muggle born.)

Anyway, it was could never be true. After all, it was Professor Snape they were talking about. Professor Snape was, well, Snape was just Snape.