Education in Europe
May 2028
Thirty Years of Peace in Education
On reflecting upon the educational developments in the three decades since the Battle of Hogwarts, it is necessary to take a harder look at the deep and serious love affair between the power couple that is Harry Potter and Severus Snape.
Potter, the man who saved us all, has a personality that is understated, unpretentious, and rumoured to be unstable. Snape, previously a Death Eater and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, has been reported as dangerous, temperamental and thorny.
As the readership will no doubt be aware, mere years after defeating Tom Riddle, in an act that stunned the world, the Chosen One married his soulmate and ex-Potions master. Harry Potter was instrumental in clearing Severus Snape's name following his assassination of Albus Dumbledore and resulting reign of terror over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The union was a move that has now garnered acceptance amongst the higher echelons of society.
"Their relationship is a mystery," said Marina Abbott, Senior Fellow in the Contemporary History Department at the Wizarding College of Glasgow, who co-authored a book on Potter, Snape and Riddle. Abbott told Witch Weekly in 2022 that their marriage has sparked research at the Department of Mysteries into the quality of life of those whose soulmates are born years after themselves. Blaise Zabini, an Unspeakable, said, "I cannot comment on the situation."
Potter and Snape's legacy, notably from their work with children, forges unlikely relationships between the pure-blooded Wizengamot and working parents of half-blood children. In this arena, Potter and Snape distance themselves from the contemporary beliefs of their peers and shake the foundations of modern Wizarding society.
Free of charge, Oaklands School is funded by a network of benefactors. These are rumoured to be Horace Slughorn, the Nimbus Racing Broom Company, the Malfoys, and income from Potter's Muggle property investment empire.
Jeremy Pomfrey, an ex-pupil of Oaklands School and son of a single working witch, fondly recalls his time at the school. "Harry and Sev are like my surrogate parents. They truly care about every child, we laughed a lot, and I learnt so much. I think it prepared me really well for Hogwarts and mixing with other children my own age."
"Their ethos is to create a learning space and foster a sense of family that they never had in their own childhoods," said Marjorie Stump, School Inspector at the British Ministry of Magic.
Oaklands was the first of its kind in Britain, though it follows a similar model to the Italian Institute for Extraordinary Children. "They simply wedded three things, taking the dearth of primary schooling in the magical under-elevens, the lack of literacy and numeracy skills, and the need for free and fun schooling," Abbott told the magazine. "Along with Molly Weasley and Martin Scamander, the four of them had the knowledge and wherewithal to teach topics such as Muggle tent construction, care of Puffskeins, as well as spelling, handwriting and arithmetic."
This couple has come a long way since Potter's 1981 temporary triumph over Tom Riddle and Snape's original trial for his atrocities as a Death Eater in the First Wizarding War. Whilst Potter and Snape have kept their affair out of the spotlight and decline all interview requests, their affection for each other cannot be denied. They've occasionally been seen hand-in-hand at the Top Box of Montrose Magpies matches, and, when their godson made the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, they never missed a game.
Attempts by Education in Europe to reach Potter or Snape were unsuccessful as of Monday.
"I believe everybody who's studied at Oaklands agrees on a personal level that Sev is a splendid fellow," Pomfrey comments. "He's very articulate, very sort of well-mannered and, obviously, very clever," he said, adding that no one he knows considers Snape "an Unforgivable user or a bad chap," even after the circumstances at Hogwarts.
"They're inseparable and can't take their hands off each other," Abbott commented. "They are clearly deeply in love. There's not been so much of a whisper of infidelity on either side, and it's not as though Mr Potter isn't adored by witches the world over. When news of his bonding to Mr Snape made the headlines, my daughter wept for a week."
"Someone will surely write a book about Harry and Severus one day, and I can tell you it will read like the very best work of Tilda Lovelace, only in this case it won't be fiction," Greta Catchlove, then Junior Patent Attorney at the Ludicrous Patents Office, told Witch Weekly in 2022.
Despite what is allegedly known about Harry Potter and Severus Snape, much remains an enigma.
"The final words of our book say, 'We'll never understand'," Abbott said.
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