Harry nodded his head thoughtfully before asking "But what about the potion? Is there any way for its quality to be examined? I think it would help my case if I could say with honesty that my work was any good.
Umbridge appeared to think for a moment, and then said "Leave two of the phials here with me, and I'll arrange for Madam Marchbanks to look them over as soon as possible. Take the other two to Madam Pomfrey and asked her what she thinks of them. She should have a decent level of potions knowledge to make a fair judgement."
"Okay, thanks." replied Harry, handing over two of the phials "Oh, and before I forget, I managed to write out the reports on the misbehaving Slytherins."
He set down the last two potion phials and swung his bag off of his shoulder to fish out the completed forms.
He pulled out all twelve forms and began counting them out "So these four are for you, these four are for the Wizarding Examinations Authority, these four are for the school, and these four, well I thought I'd keep a copy of each report for myself."
"A very astute move, Mr Potter," said Umbridge "It always pays to keep a copy for yourself as you never know when you might need it. I would recommend doing the same for any homework you are given, especially if it is for potions."
"Right," Harry agreed, making sure to store that piece of advice in his mind "Thanks for the tip. Now, I had really better get down to the Great Hall. I'm supposed to eat lunch at the Ravenclaw table. Gotta be seen to be mixing. It's the best way to learn what's going on."
"Oh, I quite agree," replied Umbridge "I'll make sure that these get to the appropriate persons." she added, referencing the forms.
Harry stored the last two potions phials safely away in his box of potions equipment, which had its own compartment in his school bag. Then he left the classroom and headed down to the Great Hall. How much lunch he could eat, and how much talking he could do with the Ravenclaws would depend entirely on how quickly Snape could have Dumbledore charging to his defence.
Down in the Great Hall, Harry quickly noted that Snape was absent, as were Dumbledore and McGonagall.
A good number of the students' eyes turned towards him as he headed over to the Ravenclaw table. Conversations came to a halt as he passed, and Harry was fairly certain that he knew what topic they were all discussing.
Padma beckoned him over and he gratefully sat himself down in the empty seat located between her and small girl with dirty-blonde hair who appeared to be a fourth year.
"Afternoon, all" Harry offered in greeting as he sat down. He was correct of course, as it was nearly a quarter to one.
"And here he is," said Terry Boot from the opposite side of the table, a wide grin on his face.
"The man of the hour," added Michael Corner, who was sitting next to him.
"Man of the century more like," corrected Anthony Goldstein.
"What?" asked Harry, bemusedly.
"Don't give us that, Potter," said Michael "You know exactly what we mean."
"Yeah," agreed Terry "You faced down the overgrown bat of Slytherin House not once but twice!"
"And in the same day!" added Anthony "If that doesn't make you the man of the century, I don't know what does."
"There was no face-off between me and Snape," replied Harry as he spooned a helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate "Well, not since the one at breakfast, anyway."
"So what happened?" asked Padma anxiously "Because everyone's saying that the two of you had a massive fight in your potions class earlier."
"There was no fight," said Harry "Snape was just being a complete jackass and refused to mark my work, so I walked out of the lesson."
"Doesn't that send the wrong message though?" asked Lisa Turpin from her seat on Padma's other side "I mean you are the Student Advisor, surely walking out of the classroom sets a bad example."
Harry shook his head and replied "Actually I think that I set a very good example. Snape was being extremely unreasonable in his actions, so rather than stand there arguing until I was blue in the face and gaining myself a month's worth of detentions, I simply walked away from the situation. Snape was the one acting out of line, and I took the best course of action available to me by walking out of there before things could get worse."
"Well, when you put it like that…" said Lisa, trailing off thoughtfully.
"Are you going to lodge a complaint against him?" asked Padma.
"Yup," replied Harry as he used a piece of bread to mop up some of the gravy on his plate.
Terry snorted and said "Good luck with that. Snape's had loads of complaints made against him but nothing ever happens."
"Which is why copies of my complaint are going to be heading to the Board of Governors and the Wizarding Examinations Authority," replied Harry "Just because Dumbledore won't hear a bad word said about Snape doesn't mean that others aren't prepared to listen."
"I'll keep that in mind," said Anthony.
"He picks on you lot as well?" asked Harry.
"Not quite so much as he does the Gryffindors," replied Lisa "But yeah, he does."
"Though mostly our complaints are about his overall teaching style," said Michael.
"Or lack thereof," said the small blonde-haired girl.
Harry looked at her, and saw that she had wide, slightly protuberant eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be radishes for earrings, and a necklace of corks from butter beer bottles.
"Harry, this is Luna Lovegood," said Padma, politely making the introduction "Luna this is, well, I suppose you already know…"
"Hello, Luna," said Harry politely, holding out his hand.
She didn't shake it. In fact, it was doubtful that she even noticed it as she was staring so intently at his face.
"It's good to see that the wrackspurts have left you Harry. Your head was full of them last year during the tournament."
"Erm… thanks?" said Harry, not really sure how to take that.
Anthony had to look down at his plate to keep from laughing, and Terry bit down on his lip. Michael however showed no such restraint and snorted loudly.
Padma kicked him hard under the table.
"Snape does leave a lot to be desired," said Harry in a desperate attempt to return the conversation to its former topic.
.....
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