The Goblin turned to Sirius. "Lord Black, I believe that young Lord Slytherin should come up with us, just in case there's another blood ward."
Sirius didn't look happy. "If he comes, you'll protect him with your life. Is that clear?"
The Goblin didn't seem fazed. "Of course, Lord Black. Gringotts takes good care of it major accounts holders."
"And I go with you too," Sirius insisted. The Goblin just shrugged.
It was a weird group that mounted the stairs. It was led by Bill Weasley – the tall, handsome redhead, followed by the Goblin Parselmouth and then Sirius, who was walking in front of Harry. Hermione was walking at Harry's side, never letting go of his hand. They were followed by another wizard and a Goblin – the rest of curse breakers.
Harry looked down before leaving the staircase, noticing another group of Goblins who seemed to get something prepared near the snake's carcass. Even from up there, it still looked enormous.
There didn't seem to be any other obstacles, once they reached the top of the stairs. They went into the short tunnel that opened into a large, roundish room that was evidently carved into the rock at the foundations of the castle. Judging by the multitude of rodent skeletons there, this was where the Basilisk had spent most of its time. There was another tunnel on the opposite wall, one that was probably intended for the snake to move through, but it was much too small for the large snake to fit. 'I could easily go there,' Sliky commented in Harry's mind.
There were two doors at the sides of the tunnels. None of them seemed to have any magical protection. Bill opened the one on his right. He found a storage room with Potions ingredients and some remains of foods. Although all seemed to have been protected under stasis charms, these have faded many generation ago and the remains were not usable.
The door on the left proved more interesting. It opened into a suite that had a large study/library, a potions lab with equipment that seemed to be as old as the school, a small kitchen/dining room that seemed suitable for a single person only and a bedroom with a large canopy bed, also suitable for a single person only.
As instructed, nobody touched anything. Bill checked some of the contents in each room and shook his head as if he was disappointed. "What kind of person protects everything with lethal curses? Even the bed has a curse to kill anybody who lies down on it. That's simply crazy!"
That was more than enough for Sirius. He urged the children out of the suite and back to the main chamber. He let them spend a few more minutes watching the preparations for rendering the Basilisk into usable ingredients and then urged them back to the main castle.
"What are you going to do about those books?" Hermione asked. "They don't seem to use any known alphabet."
"I don't yet know. Once all curses are removed, I'll see what should be done," Sirius told her.
"I think they use Parseltongue. I could read all the titles I wanted to, and the Goblin Parselmouth seemed to also understand them," Harry commented.
Sirius looked surprised and then smiled. "In that case, I'll save them all for you to decide. We may consider having some of them translated, though, so others may also benefit."
Harry smiled. "Of course. I wouldn't want to make Hermione angry at me."
This was easier said then done. Sirius asked the Goblin Parselmouth to translate some of the books and also brought a few for Harry, after having them checked free of any curses or other dangers. Harry had no problem reading the books, but when trying to translate them he seemed to bump into a very difficult obstacle. "While the theory part poses no translation problems, none of the spells can be properly translated and only a Parselmouth can even pronounce them correctly. I can translate the meaning, but then it's just some words, not a spell."
Hermione couldn't accept this. She tried using the translations, trying variations on Harry's wording and phrasing, to no avail. She even tried reproducing the hissing sounds of the original spells. It only made Harry chuckle. "It's mostly just hisses. When you manage to produce something intelligible, it's not even close to what the spell is."
It took Hermione more than a day to come to terms with the fact that Parsel magic could not be made available to her.
Sirius didn't like it either. He consulted with the Goblin Parselmouth, considering him more experienced. Unfortunately, he got practically the same answers.
This didn't mean that the books were all worthless for others. Many of them had other subjects, like Potions, plants, animals, silent casting, wandless casting and more, all perfectly translatable and very useful.
One of the books was discussing sex magic. Harry blushed when he saw it and put it aside. He didn't feel ready to tackle that subject. Maybe during sixth or seventh year...
\/\/\/
While the work on the Chamber of Secrets was continuing, Harry returned to the idea of replacing the unworthy teachers. "Whom should we try to remove first, Binns or Snape?" he asked Hermione.
She had no doubt about that. "Snape. He explains nothing and doesn't even mind the safety instructions. As an accomplished Potions Master, he should care at least to give some basic instructions before brewing. Then he's as unprofessional and unfair to students as can be, deducting points and giving detentions for ridiculous reasons. We need another teacher, if we want to succeed at Potions.
"As for Binns, he, at least, is not harmful. We can learn all we need from the books. He rarely even notices any of the students and never takes points off nor assigns detentions. We can leave him last."
Harry agreed wholeheartedly with her. That evening he talked with Oliver Wood and they divided the work just as before, although the older boy was quite sceptical about their success this time. It only took a few days for Harry to find that Oliver had reasons for doubt.
A house elf gave Harry a note during dinner. "Please come to my office after dinner. Also note that I'm recently enjoying Chocolate Frogs very much." The note was signed by Dumbledore.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Hermione asked him.
"No. I suspect that he wants to speak to me about my recent campaign against Snape. No need to get you involved."
Hermione wasn't really convinced, but let the subject drop. Harry finished his meal and was soon sitting in front of the headmaster, who wasn't smiling this time.
"I demand that you immediately stop your campaign to remove Professor Snape," the headmaster said with no preamble.
"Why? Do you want your students to learn Potions or not? If you want them to learn, then you must find someone to teach, since Snape doesn't teach anything," Harry insisted.
"That's Professor Snape!" the headmaster admonished him.
"A professor is one who teaches, like Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick. Snape doesn't teach, so he doesn't deserve this honorific."
Albus sighed. For many years, few had dared to contradict him, and no student ever did. He wasn't sure how to handle this. He tried a different approach. "Harry, Professor Snape needs to keep his position for the Greater Good."
Harry shrugged. "I don't know what you call The Greater Good. Aren't you supposed to care for your students above all? As headmaster, I believe your role is to make sure to give the best education to your students and make sure they are safe. Shouldn't this be your main concern?"
Albus felt uncomfortable. The brat was right, really. This should have been his main concern, yet he needed Snape under his control. "There are considerations that you're not aware of," he said. It didn't sound convincing even to him.
"So, those considerations come first? If so, I may need to ask my guardians to petition for a better headmaster." Harry could see a flicker of shock in the old man's eyes. He felt sure that nobody had ever challenged the headmaster's position at school. He pressed forward. "I've been told that you're the greatest wizard alive and very knowledgeable in most fields. I really appreciate this. Still, that doesn't make one a good headmaster, unless one also acts as a headmaster should."
Albus felt offended. "Of course I have my students at the highest priority. I've only taken Professor Snape after learning that he achieved his Potions Mastery in record time. He's one of the best living potions masters, and the youngest." He didn't need to mention that these were not his main concerns at the time.
"I'm glad that you had this considered, but have you checked his credentials as a teacher? His knowledge in Potions is irrelevant for his position as a teacher, unless he's able and willing to pass it to his students, which he's not." Harry kept his offensive.
"I still must keep him at Hogwarts," Dumbledore insisted.
"Then let him brew all kinds of potions for the hospital wing. Let him even sell some and divide the profit with the school. Don't let him teach or assign detentions or handle points. He can't do it right."
Albus knew that Severus wasn't a good teacher. He'd had a lot of complaints every year since Snape became a Hogwarts teacher. He had dismissed them all. Should he have paid them more attention? Yet Snape was important for his plans for the Greater Good, the plans that Harry Potter was making more and more irrelevant. Could he afford to let Snape go? Wouldn't the younger man revert to his dark side? On the other hand, could he let that man continue to ruin the Potions teaching? Since Snape started teaching, there were fewer Potions NEWTs students and many dropped that subject before graduation. He should have done something about that. He shouldn't have waited so long without acting.
Albus was not one to defend a losing cause. He sighed as he spoke again, "I'll see if I can make Snape change. If he won't, I'll have to replace him. Is there any other professor you intend me to sack?" He couldn't keep a bit of sarcasm out of his voice, although he wasn't sure whom it was directed at.
Harry didn't hesitate. "Professor Binns. His lectures are as dead as he is. Everybody falls asleep during the first few minutes. Well, Hermione usually manages to stay awake, just barely. Besides, he doesn't teach anything that happened during the last two centuries. I believe we need a live teacher who can also teach us about what happened shortly before we reached school and not only centuries ago."
Albus wasn't sure he could afford hiring a new professor. Well, maybe he needed to raise the tuition and stop all the "progressive tuition " that actually meant that old pureblood families paid much less than others. It would be difficult to pass that at the board, though. He sighed as he understood the implication of what he was required to do. Well, he knew for quite a few years that he needed to do these changes, but somehow didn't get to do them. He could no longer postpone them.
"Will you withdraw your petition now?" he asked Harry.
The boy shrugged. "I'm not sure I can do much about it now, after all the students wrote home, but I believe the parents' concerned letters may only help you achieve these goals, if you really want to."
Dumbledore nodded in defeat. This child, who looked so innocent and un-presuming, was moving the school in the direction he should have moved it long ago. It would have been much better if the headmaster had been the initiator, but now…
"It may take some time to find a new History professor, and quite longer to find a Potions one. I only hope I can make Professor Snape act more professionally during this time."
Harry nodded understandingly. "If not, you should sack him immediately, I believe. We learn from the books anyhow, since he teaches nothing."
Albus sighed. "I'll do what I can. Now, if you don't mind, you've given me quite a lot of work."
\/\/\/
It took a week before Binns was replaced by a young woman who had mastery in History of Magic, along with muggle mastery in Modern History. She also looked quite nice, and Harry considered it a bonus, since his other teachers were not much to look at.
Snape didn't change his methods, despite being reprimanded a few times. Two weeks after Harry's conversation with the headmaster, Dumbledore announced that "Professor Snape has found a better paying job and is leaving today. I hope his replacement will arrive early next week."
Indeed, Monday evening, just before dinner, another new teacher arrived. Unlike the other new professor, this one was a really old man. Judging by the surprised expression on Sirius's face when he first noticed him at the staff table, Harry felt sure that Sirius had met the man before.
It became even clearer when Dumbledore made the announcement. "I'd like to welcome back Professor Horace Slughorn. He retired about ten years ago and has now agreed to resume teaching and to shoulder the Slytherin head of house role."
A few students clapped. Surprisingly, Sirius clapped quite enthusiastically. He later explained to Harry. "Professor Slughorn used to teach when I attended Hogwarts. He was a really good teacher and he liked to get close to promising students. Your mother used to be one of his favourites. He used to hold a monthly party where he invited those students he liked. He called it 'The Slug Club.' I'm sure he'll invite you to join."
Despite Sirius's words, Harry reserved his judgment. He first wanted to attend a few Potions lessons and see how they went before he could say anything about the new teacher.
He had his chance a few days later. Slughorn started by having a roll call. He seemed to pause shortly at Harry's name, but not too long. With the presence of all students verified, he moved to the lesson proper. "It has been pointed to me that most of you have not been taught the basics of the security measures one needs to observe when brewing. Can anybody tell me what hazards we need to protect against?"
It was a very informative lesson, one long overdue. When they finally started brewing (only a simple potion that could fit in the remaining time,) even Neville managed to brew a good quality potion. Hermione's was perfect, of course, and so was Harry's.