The next morning, Albert groaned tiredly when he was woken up roughly by the patronus message from Snape who asked him to go to his own office as soon as possible. This made him think it was an urgent matter, so Albert ran directly from his comfortable bed to his office without even thinking about his appearance.
When he arrived there, he saw his potion master fellow standing in front of his door with the entire Gryffindor quidditch team behind, looking at Snape maliciously.
"What happened again?" Albert sighed tiredly.
"They made a mess again, of course," Snape said snidely. "Instigating a brawl in the quidditch field that sent at least three Slytherin students to the infirmary with broken bones. Since I saw they had detention with you the other days, why not give it back to you?"
"Seriously, Severus?" He groaned. "You call me this early just to do that? I thought it was something urgent, goddamnit! I haven't even washed my face!"
Hearing him cursing like that, the seven Gryffindor quidditch players were taken aback, yet snickered by the chaotic appearance of their usually proper professor. He was still wearing his set of pajamas with his hair so messy and thick eyebags hanging on his face. Snape who finally noticed his appearance snorted amusedly, something that shocked all the students who saw that.
"Well, did you say before that you like to have a walk in the morning? You can thank me for waking you up."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you damn bastard," Albert grumbled. "Now, shoo! If you want me to handle them, go away! I will do it after some proper care for myself."
"Very well."
With a dramatic flick of the robe, the younger potion master left them alone, walking away through the dark corridor to go back to his dark, cold, office in the dungeon. After Snape disappeared from their eyesight, Albert turned his eyes to the seven students in front of them, glaring at their sheepish look.
"Wait a moment, I will be back in a few minutes. Don't make a bigger mess, okay? And Mister Wood, watch them for me."
"Yes, Professor!" The captain and the oldest player of the team nodded seriously.
"Good. Wait here and don't go anywhere!"
It took Albert about five minutes to take a cold shower, change his robe, tidy up his messy hair, and clean up his room before he was satisfied, admiring his more presentable look in front of the mirror. When he arrived back though, he was greeted by the laughter from the twins and the stiffened giggles from the girls.
"You look so charming today, Professor!" One of the twins said playfully.
"Yeah, like you are going on a date!" The other one continued.
"Where are you going, if I may ask?"
"Oh, I know! You are going to give us detention!"
Albert rolled his eyes when the twins high-fived each other, bursting out laughter with the uncontrollable giggles from the girls in the background. Hell, even Oliver and Harry who were still nervous couldn't help but smile when they saw the twins' antic, didn't feel they were going to detention at all.
"Severus, you bastard." Albert cursed under his breath. "Now my reputation as a serious professor is tarnished because of you!"
"Don't worry, Professor! You are still our handsome Professor here!" Katie said with a lot of effort, each word seemed to be interrupted by her own laughter. "Speaking of Professor Snape, that was the first time I saw him show different expressions other than grumps and grunts! Even though it was a sarcastic one, it still caught me off guard!"
"Despite what you think about him, Severus is not that bad." Albert smiled when he saw all the seven students in front of them rolling their eyes in disbelief. "Seriously, even though he looks cold and gloomy like that, inwardly, he is just an awkward guy. The twins had already seen that when you both sneaked here, right? How did he act around Miss Lovegood?"
"Well, if you put it that way…"
"No, Forge! You cannot think of him that way!"
"You are right, Gred! He is the snake's daddy! He will never be good for us lions!"
Albert rolled his eyes at the outrageous nickname for his colleague. "Aren't you a bit too comfortable around me? To be brave enough to talk about the other professor… Now, let's see, who will be the one willing to explain what kind of mess that brings you all here."
Feeling the air around them suddenly get heavier as Albert's magical power leaked a bit in the air, those seven students trembled, sweats rolled down as if they had never felt such a pressure that threatened to destroy their bodies.
"W-W-Wait a second, Professor! I-It is not our fault!" One of the twins cried.
"Y-Yeah! It is those snake bastards' fault!" The others added.
"Oh?" Albert raised his eyebrows, intrigued. The pressure suddenly disappeared from the air, letting all of them breathe freely again.
"Professor, you evil." Alicia panted heavily, cold sweats still featured on her face. "It is the first time I have ever felt such an intense magic."
"Me too," Angelina said weakly, his face was pale. "For a second, I thought I was going to die here!"
Seeing their miserable states, Albert accio'ed his trunk and pulled out the pepper-up potions for them to consume. He was still grumbling though, complaining, "Honestly, I would understand if it was Mister Potter or even Miss Bell who couldn't withstand my magical pressure. But for you, Messrs Weasleys, Miss Johnson, Miss Spinnet, and Mister Wood, what the hell did you learn from your DADA Class? This should be taught during your third year, right? I mean, what I just radiated was the pressure equivalent of the normal adult wizard, so if you were frozen only by that, what would happen if you met stronger adults?"
"You learn how to withstand something like that in school?" Oliver who was the fastest to recover asked, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Of course, it is!" Albert threw both his hands up into the air helplessly. "The first year is taught how to run, the second year is how to dodge, the third year is how to withstand the pressure, and only after the fourth year, you would learn a lot about spells, jinxes, curses, more dark creatures. Isn't that the normal curriculum?"
All the seven students in front of him looked at each other for a second before looking at Albert strangely as if they came from different schools.
"Maybe it is all because of the subpar professors we got that changed every year." Alicia finally grumbled, unhappy. Out of the seven, she was the most studious one, so of course she would be bothered when Albert told her she wasn't taught the way it should be.
"Hmm… The annual change of the DADA professor had been happening since I was a student too, so that shouldn't be a problem." Albert pondered. "Well, that is interesting to investigate, but back to the topic, what problem did you cause to the Slytherin team? Mister Potter, please explain." He said the last part while shooting a glare at the Twins who wanted to defend themselves immediately.
Harry who was asked to explain was taken aback, not ready to answer. Honestly, this was the first time someone asked him to explain whenever he was about to be punished, and he didn't know what to say. Should he lie and defend his friend or should he tell the truth and suffer the detention together? What if the Quidditch team hated him and didn't want him anymore?
The moment he saw his professor waiting for him patiently while looking at him with eyes full of trust though, Harry decided to ignore the pleading gesture from the twins and told the professor the truth.
"We threw the punch first, Professor," Harry admitted. "The Slytherin team provoked us by having Professor Snape overrule our booking time for the pitch, preventing us from doing our morning practice. The fact that Malfoy kept flaunting the five Nimbus 2001 brooms that his father bought for their team didn't make it better."
"So, like all the common stereotypes of the Gryffindor students, one of you lost control of your emotion and decided to throw the punch first?" Albert sighed.
"Yes." The seven members of the Gryffindor team bowed their heads, ashamed.
"Well, thank you for your honesty, Mister Potter. For that, I will cut your detention time for just one week." Albert snorted when he saw the twins and surprisingly Oliver groaned at the same time. "You should thank me though, because instigating a fight is usually worth up to three weeks, and you don't have to worry about your quidditch practice or study time, Mister Wood, because I would hold the detention only after dinner and you all would review your potion material and made a half-foot long summary for me at the end of every session. Isn't that good?"
Imagining the prospect of having to read and do schoolwork even during the detention was enough to make the twins and even the girls look at him in horror.
"Are you serious, Professor?" Oliver asked weakly, thinking that the punishment was too harsh.
"What? Do you think it is too little? How about a one-foot-long paper?" Albert teased playfully.
"No, Professor Shafiq, no! Half foot long article is enough!" The twins shook their heads rapidly, their faces got paler in every second. They stared at their professor in fear, and no innocent expression from him would make them believe that he was as kind as he portrayed himself to be.
"Good, because instead of scrubbing some useless trophies that would never see the light again or something similar, it would be better if I could force you to study more so that your grade would be good enough at the end of the year." Albert chuckled. "Speaking of which, I forgot to ask, why did you throw the punch first earlier? I mean, what kind of provocation does the Slytherin team say to get under your skin?" He asked curiously.
Hearing that, the six of them scowled furiously while Harry, even though there was rage in his face, it was still mixed with confusion.
"Malfoy said something insulting toward Hermione, and even I don't know what that means, based on the other's reaction, I know it was bad."
"Oh?" Albert raised his eyebrows, having a feeling what kind of words were thrown. "Is it 'mudblood'?"
"Yeah." Harry nodded.
"Then punching him in the face is still too easy for him." Albert snorted, especially when he saw all of the seven students in front of him had their jaws dropped. "Oh, no need to overreact. I am a professor, not a saint. I can tolerate some prank or retaliation as long as the other side deserves it and I am the only one who witnessed it, just like I told the twins. And you might not know about this, but even though Snape always protects his snakes, when they are in their nest, he would punish anyone who made a mistake outside far worse than any other professors did."
"Really?" Alicia asked skeptically.
"Yeah! That is the basic rule of the snake house. All of the problems inside would be solved inside, and everyone should be united against the others outside."
"Hmm.. That's a new information for us.." One of the twins, George hummed.
"Well, if that is so, can you just ignore this mistake and let us go?" Fred added with a hopeful tone.
Unfortunately, Albert snorted, rejecting that idea immediately. "As if I would do that. If you got caught punching someone and starting a brawl, of course, you would get punished. Remember, if you want to do something outrageous, don't get caught."
"Yes, Professor Shafiq." Both twins finally sighed in resignation.
"Well, you can go back to your dorm now. We will start your detention from tonight. Oh, and Mister Potter, can you ask Miss Granger to come here this afternoon? And if you can, you might as well accompany her too."
"Sure, professor." Harry nodded. Inwardly though, he was confused about what kind of business his professor had with his best friend. 'If it was about that mudblood word, he wouldn't ask me to come too.'
Seeing the confusion on Harry's face, Albert patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, it is not something bad or more detention. And no, Messrs. Weasley, no sneaking around this time. Ladies, you would be responsible for them." He added the last part while glaring at the twins.
"Aaw…" One of the ginger-haired boys whined childishly. However, they shuddered when receiving the malicious smile from the girls. "U-Uuh… Girls? Is everything okay?"
"Y-Yeah, ladies? W-Why are you looking at us like that?" The other gingers also had a similar stutter.
"Well, since Professor Shafiq asked us to be responsible for you two, of course, we will have to do our best here. Right, Ladies?" Angelina asked.
"Yeah." Katie nodded sweetly, too sweet to the twins' liking.
"Don't worry, Gred, Forge, you will be in great care today."
Seeing the malicious smiles from the girls, the twins' faces turned pale instantly, screams of pain could be heard even from outside.
"NOOOOOO!!"
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"Don't worry, Hermione. Professor Shafiq is a cool bloke." Harry tried to reassure his friend.
"I know, but why would he want to meet me?! Is there anything wrong with my schoolwork?" Hermione panicked dramatically. "I know there is something wrong with the last essay! I shouldn't let that Greengrass bitch write the conclusion!"
Harry snorted, always finding how funny it was the girl who was always proper and chided him for cursing would have such a loose mouth when she faced Daphne Greengrass, the girl who to Harry and Ron's surprise managed to get under Hermione's skin.
"Didn't I tell you he would probably want to talk about Malfoy's derogatory nickname earlier?" Harry reminded.
"Oh, yeah, that…"
Harry winced, cursing himself when he saw the girl had a downcast expression. This was the first time he saw Hermione was so under the weather, and he couldn't blame her after listening to Alicia's explanation. The term 'mudblood' should have never existed at all, let alone be used in an educational environment like Hogwarts.
"Have you two been waiting for long?"
When they were still in their thought, a voice woke them up, and when those two turned around, they fidgeted in nervousness as they saw Albert was there with the headmaster.
"P-P-Professor Shafiq! H-Headmaster D-Dumbledore!" Hermione squealed in shock. "W-What are you doing here?!"
Albert stared at her for a second before chuckling amusedly. "Well, Miss Granger, for one, this is my office, so of course I would be here even if I don't have anything to do." Hermione had her cheeks blushed red, cursing her stupidity especially when she heard Dumbledore also chuckle at her. "As for why the headmaster is here, I told him what I wanted to do and just like an old man who likes to gossip, he jumped to join the fun immediately."
"Thank you for stating the old man part, Professor Shafiq." Dumbledore smiled wryly.
"You're welcome." Albert smiled as if he didn't do anything wrong.
Listening to their conversation, Harry and Hermione had their jaws dropped. For them, Albus Dumbledore was the almighty figure, the strong and caring headmaster. To hear someone teasing him like that and it was none other than Albert who they shared the same respect too and they both laughed at their own banter was mindboggling. They forgot that those two were also human and had a normal relationship with the other people too.
"Well, thank you for waiting patiently. Let's come in."
The moment Albert opened the door, the familiar sweet fragrance from treacle tart usually served in the dining hall hit Harry's nostril, arousing the feeling his stomach seemed to forget for the entire afternoon. He was surprised though, since this didn't happen earlier when he came with the entire Gryffindor team for the detention.
"Ah, is your scentscape? It is such a long time since I ran out of my stock." Dumbledore sighed, reminiscing the past.
"Yeah, it has been a long time since I made one that I thought I would forget a bit about the recipe, but it turned out that thing was still inside my head." Albert also had a similar smile. "So, what do you both smell?"
Hearing the question, Harry was taken aback. "Eh, it is not a treacle tart smell?"
"What do you mean, Harry? It is an old library smell!" Hermione refused.
It took them a second to realize they both smelled two different things, which put them in awe. Seeing their astonished look, Albert chuckled before explaining, "I use the potion product called scentscape, a liquid that turned into a gas the moment it was left in the open air. It is something similar to perfume that would allow you to smell your favorite thing in the world. Amazing, right?"
"Yeah, this is wonderful!" Hermione's eyes shone brightly. "Why have I never heard about this before?!"
"Because Albert decided not to sell the patent outside, so only he knows the recipe." Dumbledore smiled. At the awe gazes from Harry and Hermione, he decided to reveal Albert's identity. "Yes, as you expected, this is the product created by your professor when he was doing his mastery. It was fifteen years ago, I guess?"
"Sixteen if you count this year," Albert replied with the same smile.
"I remember how it drives poor Horace batty when you refused the astronomical amount of money some families offer to you."
"Oh, yeah. Poor him."
Albert and Dumbledore continued the topic for a while, but Hermione had already lost her focus, just looking at the young professor in awe. Even though she had been searching a lot about Professor Shafiq -she would never admit that-, he had never known the professor was also an inventor. The high impression that she thought would be impossible to go up seemed to destroy the ceiling into a new high, putting him at the level just slightly below Dumbledore in her opinion.
"Anyway, Miss Granger." Albert's voice woke her up from her fangirling state.
"Y-Yes, Professor!" She squealed, then blushed in embarrassment at the high pitch she just produced, especially when Harry also laughed at her.
"Don't be too nervous. Here is the tea I have prepared for you. You too, Mister Potter." Albert accio'ed a set of cups and kettle and poured the tea for his guest. "Oh, and I am happy to deliver the news that mister Malfoy is punished by Professor Snape to scrub all the tools used by his students for a full month. I guess it should be a lesson he shouldn't forget."
Harry and Hermione beamed while Dumbledore was confused. "Why did he get punished?" It seemed the headmaster was a bit out of touch here, but it was understandable since the accident happened just this morning.
"Well, Mister Malfoy, in his wisdom decided to insult Miss Granger with the 'M' word, and you know how Severus hates that," Albert replied.
"Oh, this kind of case again?" Dumbledore sighed, sadness waved his face. "Is that why you decided to tell them about her?"
"Yeah."
Harry and Hermione who heard the conversation were intrigued. It seemed there was some story about Snape and the mudblood in the past that made the word sensitive for the professor, and they were also curious about who was the 'her' that their professor wanted to tell them?
"So, you are curious, eh?" Albert chuckled at the impatient look from his two students. "It wasn't an exciting story, honestly. It is about a girl whose personality was as fiery as her bright red hair, whose cleverness and cunningness could outsmart even the best Ravenclaw and Slytherin students out there, whose kindness made any Hufflepuff students ashamed of themselves, whose bravery would frighten even the best warrior of the Gryffindor house. She was the perfect embodiment of the ideal student for Hogwarts."
"Oh?" The poetic introduction from Albert caught Harry and Hermione's fullest attention now.
"Yeah. I didn't know her too much since she was three years younger than me and from the Gryffindor house, but I like to think our relationship was okay. We still exchanged letters a lot even after I graduated."
"Really?" Dumbledore was surprised.
"Yeah. I mean, she was my junior, right? She did a mastery charm under Professor Flitwick's guidance, so we talked a lot about it."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot she did that." Dumbledore smiled softly.
"Anyway, I met her the first time when I was in my fifth year, she was in his second. I was patrolling as a prefect at that time and noticed she was surrounded by a bunch of Slytherin students, eight if I am not wrong, saying some nasty stuff and calling her that 'M' word."
"That's so mean!" Hermione gasped. "Why did they do that?" Somehow, she forgot that she had just suffered from the same thing earlier.
"You have to understand, Miss Granger, that the tension between the pureblood students and the muggleborn students was high in the early 70s." Dumbledore smiled sadly. "There were a lot of incidents that led the muggleborn students to get injured and sent to the infirmary, something that even us professors had a hard time to control it."
Harry and Hermione shared horrific expressions, not expecting something so terrible to happen in Hogwarts just twenty years ago.
"Well, back to the girl, I was ready to jump in and intervened whenever spells were ready to fly." Albert continued. "Do you know what she did, though?"
Hermione shook her head impatiently, her breathing quickened with anticipation.
"She pulled out her hairpin and cut off her arms, letting it bleed to the ground." Hermione gasped when she heard that. "Yeah, the girl let herself bleed and asked, 'Does it look like a mud for you?', then she proceeded to grab one of the Slytherin students' hand and did the same and asked, 'If my blood was made of mud, do you think your purer blood look the same?'. Poor those Slytherin students, she never saw that coming."
"Oh, I remember that incident. It was the first time one of them saw blood that much and fainted on the spot." Dumbledore chuckled richly.
"So, she did that to prove that they had the same blood no matter from what kind of family they were born?" Hermione concluded, her eyes sparkling brightly.
"Yeah. Long story short, in the end, she proved to be better than the other pureblood students, graduated as the best students of her generation and continued her education by taking a mastery of charm under Professor Flitwick and potion under Professor Slughorn, the old potion master here. She was so smart that some people even called her the brightest witch of the century, and you, Miss Granger, remind me a lot of her when she was at your age."
"Really?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Oh, now that you say it, I can kinda see that." Dumbledore mused. "The resemblance is uncanny. If only Miss Granger had red hair, I would expect them to have some sort of relationship."
Hermione beamed, proud that there was another point she could relate to the girl in the story. Even though Harry had already seen his friend fangirling Lockhart and Albert a few times, this was the most intense reaction she had. He couldn't blame her though, as he also felt the girl in the story was amazing. And since there were a lot of similarities between the girl and Hermione, he felt his best friend somehow put the girl as her role model for now.
"So, who is that girl?"
Albert and Dumbledore looked at each other for once before they both turned their head to Harry, putting an uneasy feeling toward the boy-who-lived. After a while, Albert finally said with a soft tone, "The girl we are talking about is Lily Evans, and she changed her name after she got married and was known as Lily Potter, the mother of your best friend here."
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Author note
I make a site for anyone who want to support me. If you are willing to help, you will also be able to read this story up to chapter 20. If you are interested, you can visit patre0n/BlankNotes04. Please, support this work too! I hope that you are satisfied with this story! Thank you!