After the class ended, Ron stormed off angrily, the first one out the door. Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all remained behind again as the rest of the students all left at their own paces. Harry noticed that Professor McGonagall was still in the corner of the room she had retreated to earlier. When only the five students remained, she finally rose and walked out towards them. His four friends all had their back to the Professor, so Harry spoke up. "Why don't you guys all head out? I think Professor McGonagall would like to talk to me about the lesson."
Four heads whipped around at that pronouncement to find the Professor in question ten feet behind them, a rare smile twitching on her lips. "Indeed, I did wonder if I might have a word, Mr. Potter."
His friends all nodded their acceptance and bid Harry goodbye. He watched them all go and turned back towards his Professor as the door closed behind them.
"That must have been very difficult for you, standing up to Mr. Weasley like that," she offered. She drew her wand and conjured two stiff-backed wooden chairs. "Please, have a seat."
Harry shrugged and complied, taking the seat opposite her and studying his professor carefully.
"I must say, I think you handled the situation quite well. I'm not sure the paralyzing hexes were necessary, but they were nonetheless effective at quickly diffusing the situation before it could escalate any further," she told him honestly.
"Thank you," he replied. "It's frustrating that they won't even try. Don't get me wrong, not everyone is that bad, but there are only a few students who actually seem to accept Blaise and Daphne. Most just ignore them entirely, but then there are the more vocal few who adamantly oppose their presence. Ron is one of the most vocal." He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back out of his face.
"Mr. Weasley lives in a black and white world, Harry," she explained to him. "He lives in a world where all Slytherins are evil. This world is of his own making, of course, but for him it is very real. You have to remember that he grew up in this world and all of its prejudices. He may not have anything against muggles or muggle-borns like many pure bloods, but that is because his parents taught him that muggles were just as good as wizards and witches, just different. They never stressed that not all Slytherins are bad. In fact, they have probably unknowingly encouraged that perception at times. But I have to say that I'm surprised at how quick you were to accept Slytherins into your classes. I had expected you to put up a bit of a fight about it."
Harry shrugged. "I've never had a problem with Slytherins in general, just certain ones. If I hadn't met Draco Malfoy before the sorting ceremony, I'd probably be in Slytherin myself, so it would be a bit hypocritical of me to judge them all."
"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked, leaning forward in curiosity.
"Huh?" he asked. "Oh, right. The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I had to talk it out of it. After two meetings with Malfoy, he managed to put both Hagrid and Ron down, who happened to be the first two people to really be nice to me, so you can imagine that I wasn't all that impressed with his attitude. He wanted to see me and talk to me because I was famous. I could tell that right away. So when it got to the sorting, I wanted to be as far away from Malfoy as possible. Plus I had already been fed the stories from both Ron and Hagrid that Slytherin house was known for turning out dark wizards. But it was Malfoy that made me fight the hat so adamantly."
She smiled at that pronouncement and didn't even try to fight it. "I'll just have to remember to thank him for that next time I see him." Harry chuckled. After a moment she was stifling a giggle. Harry gazed at her sharply. He had never once seen her laugh before. It was somewhat unsettling but not unpleasant. It would take a little getting used to, seeing this human side to her. "Sorry," she said after regaining control. "I was just imagining Severus's reaction if he found out how close you were to ending up in his house."
Harry cracked a wide grin and chuckled at the thought. The greasy git probably wouldn't have known what to do. He would want to hate Harry and constantly belittle and take points from him, but he would also want to favor him because he was a member of his house, and Snape always favored Slytherins. Finally he said, "He wouldn't have known whether to hate me or to coddle me like he does the rest of his house." He clapped a hand over his mouth. "I shouldn't have said that."
"Nonsense," she said with a smile. "I must have yelled at him over a hundred times for doing just that, but he refuses to even acknowledge the fact that the does it. And Albus refuses to get involved in the matter, so we all just have to live with it."
"Mmhmm," Harry mumbled noncommittally.
"But back to the matter at hand," she said in her normal, serious tone. "I must say that I am impressed with how you handled both of your classes today. There were some members of staff who were hesitant to offer you the Assistant Professorship, and I am glad to see that their fears were entirely ungrounded, not that I expected any less from you."
"Thank you," he replied sheepishly, cheeks coloring slightly.
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