by DrT - Sahits

"You must understand. . . ."
"No," Harry snapped. "He was thirty-one, I was eleven. Why was I expected to act like the adult?
Now he's thirty-four, and I may have the emotional age of twenty or so. Again, why am I expected
to act more responsibly than he does? Because he's from an abusive household? Well, so am I. I
will not start anything with him, but I will finish anything he starts, against me or against
Hermione."
"Harry, do not break the Life-debt between the two of you," Dumbledore warned.
"He held that debt right up until my seventeenth birthday, when he attack the Dursleys, hoping to
find me there, so he could torture me and serve me up to his Master," Harry said coldly. "He
tortured them to death. So, I advise you to warn your pet that I have learned Occlumency, and if he
presses too hard, he will not like the results. And remember, anything an Occlumens does to a
Legilimencer is legal. Anything. Even the Killing Curse isn't ruled out in some circumstances."
Harry stood, and his magical aura suddenly blossomed brightly around him. "I was slightly more
powerful than Tom Riddle, Headmaster, and he is slightly more powerful than you. I am even
stronger now. And on the subjects of Voldemort, Snape, and Pettigrew, I am as ruthless as Riddle
ever was, although I hope not in anyway as sadistic. Control your pet project, or else I will."
And with that, the magic died down and Harry escorted Hermione from the Headmaster's office,
and was followed by Remus.
"You were afraid of how powerful the boy would become," a fourteenth century headmaster
scolded. "You may have, at least in part, created what you were most afraid of."
"Nonsense," an icon representing Godric Gryffindor stated firmly. "Harry is a true paladin. He will
not stand for any injustice, and your Snape is a walking injustice. Reign the snake in, Dumbledore,
or else Snape will be treated as he deserves."
"I know that look on your face," a fifteenth century headmistress chided. "Do not move against the
child. Consider where he is from. Do you think he has revealed all the secrets you want kept that he
knows?"
"Harry Potter, by nature, is mostly Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," the Sorting Hat stated, "although his
mind is more than good enough for Ravenclaw. However, because of his life experiences with the
Dursleys, because of the manipulation you have put him through, he has the cunning of any
Slytherin when he takes the time to think about it. Even I could not read his mind at the distance he
was from me, but I am willing to bet that he indeed knows that he is the Senior Heir of Gryffindor,
and is now the rightful Magical Heir of Slytherin. He has more distant claims on the blood of
Hufflepuff and even Ravenclaw, so he if calls, Hogwarts herself will likely answer. Take care,
Albus Dumbledore. In any contest between yourself and young Potter, the castle itself may side
against you, stripping you of the right to be Headmaster."
Dumbledore frowned. He had not considered that.
"I could not read the detailed thoughts in his head, but I could read his heart," the Hat insisted.
"There are no black spots there, and most of the gray areas are ones that you yourself put into place.
Bow to the simple fact that Harry Potter is the Chosen One, and that you have made yourself largely
redundant. If you oppose him, if you try and force him to follow your lead, you will become
irrelevant. You have to reearn his trust, and then you may be able to offer him advice."
"That means, tighten the reins on your snake," Gryffindor stated again. "If you do not, there will be
little left of the man."
"But. . . ."
"How many people was the older Harry forced to kill?" Headmaster Dippet asked sadly. "If he
already killed Severus Snape in one life-time, do you believe he would hesitate to do so again?"