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Chapter 620: Snape's Heart Fluttering Moment (Third Update)
Chapter 620: Snape's Heart Fluttering Moment (Third Update)
Over the span of a decade, I traveled to most countries around the world, researching and crafting many advanced potions. I felt that my potion-making skills had reached a master-level.
So, I returned to the United States and opened my own potion shop on Magic Street—Foster's Apothecary.
Thanks to my exceptional potion-making techniques, the shop's business was always thriving, and it even gained a small reputation throughout the Magic community. As a result, I earned a considerable amount of Galleons.
Six more years passed, and I turned thirty-four. I began to grow weary of running a potion shop and yearned for a different kind of life. The reluctance I once had towards dating and marriage had also faded away.
That year, I read in the Magic newspaper about the Goblet of Fire being reactivated, Dumbledore's retirement as the headmaster of Hogwarts, and Professor Severus Snape's return to the position of headmaster.
Suddenly, I developed a strong interest in the historically renowned Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Just after Christmas, while I was reading the Magic newspaper delivered by an owl at my adoptive parents' home, I came across a job listing:
"Hogwarts is hiring a Potions class professor. Interested candidates may apply for an interview at the school after Christmas—Headmaster: Severus Snape!"
Upon seeing this job listing, a strong desire to apply for the position surged within me.
This desire was so intense that I sold my shop that very day and registered with the Ministry of Magic to use a Portkey to London.
After securing a room at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, I immediately sent my resume to the new headmaster of Hogwarts, Severus Snape, via an owl from the Diagon Alley Owl Post.
At eight o'clock that evening, an owl returned with a response from Headmaster Snape.
Snape was very pleased with my resume and invited me to Hogwarts the following morning. He would open the Floo Network connection from the Leaky Cauldron to the castle.
The message was clear: as long as the interview went well, I would become the next Potions professor at Hogwarts.
I was very satisfied with this outcome. I felt I had found the life I wanted to live.
Becoming a professor at the world's top Magic school and nurturing a large number of potion-making geniuses was far more fulfilling to me than earning Galleons from running a shop.
I was confident in my potion-making abilities, so I wasn't worried about the interview.
After spending the night in Diagon Alley, I eagerly used the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron the next morning to arrive at the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
December 27, 1994, the day after Christmas.
After breakfast, Snape arrived early at the headmaster's office.
Since taking on the role of headmaster at Hogwarts, the most pressing issue he faced was finally on the verge of being resolved.
It wasn't the highly anticipated Triwizard Tournament, where Jerry had already ensured everything was under control, leaving Snape with no concerns.
The most pressing issue was who would take over his position as Potions professor after he became headmaster.
As a top-tier master of potion-making, Snape was extremely selective about the person who would succeed him. To him, the process of making potions was an art.
And currently, over ninety percent of the witches who came for the interview based on his job posting were, in his eyes, absolute rubbish, not even worthy of succeeding him as the Potions professor at Hogwarts.
He felt that letting those people take on the role of Potions professor would be a disservice to students and a desecration of the great art of potion-making.
Dumbledore, however, had recommended someone to him—none other than the former Potions professor and former Head of Slytherin, the renowned potions master, Horace Slughorn.
However, Snape was not entirely satisfied with this well-known potions master.
It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with Slughorn's potions skills, but rather, the man was simply too old, and Snape knew that he had a bit of a vanity and a tendency to be swayed by power.
Of course, if he couldn't find a suitable candidate, he would indeed have to invite this retired potions master for the time being.
According to Dumbledore, as long as he mentioned that Slughorn could become the Potions teacher for Harry and Jerry, Slughorn would certainly agree to return to Hogwarts for a few years.
This would give Snape more time to find a truly suitable Potions professor.
Fortunately, just as he was about to set out to visit Slughorn in a few days, a new job application letter arrived by owl.
To his surprise, this time the witch applying was not from the British magical community but from the United States.
The witch's name was Lily Foster. The name Lily was the same as the person he deeply loved, but he didn't give it much thought; after all, there were too many Lilies in this world.
She was thirty-four years old, the same age as him, and had graduated from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She owned a potions shop called Foster's Apothecary on New York Magic Street.
He had heard of this potions shop; it seemed to be quite well-known in the American magical community.
Her resume listed several honors she had received in the field of potions in the American magical community. Snape felt that if everything was true, she indeed had the qualifications to become the Potions professor at Hogwarts.
So, he decided to meet her in person.
As a potions master, he could judge whether the other party had genuine talent with just a brief conversation.
At nine in the morning, a blue flame rose in the fireplace of the headmaster's office. Snape stood up, knowing that it was the witch who had come for the interview.
Sure enough, after the blue flames subsided, a lady wearing a berry-red coat and a witch's hat, carrying a suitcase, stepped out of the fireplace.
"Good morning, Ms. Foster!"
Snape stepped forward and extended his right hand, though his expression remained as expressionless as usual.
Lily, hearing the voice, slightly lifted her face, which was mostly covered by her witch's hat, revealing her beautiful green eyes. She then naturally shook Snape's right hand.
"Hello, Headmaster Snape!"
"Lily!"
However, as soon as she spoke, she saw Headmaster Snape, upon seeing her face, suddenly shout her name with great excitement, tears streaming down his face as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
This sudden turn of events left Lily completely stunned.
"What's going on?"
If it were anyone else, she would have immediately drawn her wand and cast a spell to send the person flying, but this was the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Moreover, the headmaster looked genuinely sad, with tears streaming down his face, and it didn't seem like he was trying to take advantage of her.
"Headmaster Snape, this isn't appropriate!"
Lily's face turned slightly red as she tried to push Snape away, but he was holding her too tightly, and she couldn't break free.
To be honest, being single for thirty-four years, this sudden embrace was a rather novel experience for Lily.
(End of Chapter)
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