Chapter 754: The Shop and the Professor
Chapter 754: The Shop and the Professor
Almost everyone knew that the only real holidays at Hogwarts were Christmas and the end-of-year break. The so-called Easter holiday was just a two-week period to catch up on assignments that would normally take two months to complete.
Of course, this year was no exception, and the homework was not only abundant but also challenging.
On the first day of the break, the library was packed, and several important books were borrowed within an hour.
Later arrivals resorted to asking familiar friends or classmates from other houses to use the Replication Charm to make copies of the books they needed.
If one didn't know how to cast the Replication Charm or didn't have any friends in other houses who had managed to get to the library early, they had no choice but to wait.
"This is insane..." Ron grumbled as he hurriedly pulled his robe over his head in the Gryffindor common room. "I can't believe I'm getting up this early just to go to the library.
"On regular weekends, I don't usually get up until after nine, and it's not even 7:30 now!"
"Could you keep it down?" Harry said as he pulled on his own robe. "Hermione already made it very clear through the enchanted coins that the library is getting crowded, and all the seats are taken. If we don't hurry, she won't be able to save seats for us anymore.
"Unless you want to do your homework here in the common room?"
Hearing Harry's words, Ron instinctively sped up his movements.
With such difficult assignments, if he had to work on them alone, he wouldn't be able to finish them in two weeks, let alone two months.
The same went for Harry, so they had to go to the library. Only with Hermione's help did they have a chance of completing their work before the end of the break.
"It's crazy, everyone's gone mad, professors and students alike!" Ron muttered under his breath as he and Harry rushed out of the common room.
The corridor was deserted.
The two of them quickened their pace down the stairs.
"Harry, have you figured out how to deal with Slughorn yet?" Ron asked in between strides. "Has he invited you to any of his little dinners?"
"No," said Harry. "He hasn't invited me in a long time, but I hear McLaggen goes almost three times a week, and Hermione goes twice."
"Why don't you just go straight to him?" Ron suggested. "He likes you so much, he definitely wouldn't refuse."
"No, that would be too obvious," Harry shook his head. "I'm not interested in those dinners. I need to find a way to get that memory from Slughorn's mind about Voldemort, and if I just go straight to him, he'll definitely be on his guard."
"What are you going to do, then?"
"I don't know," Harry sighed. "But Hermione said last night that she'd think of a way to help me, but she didn't tell me what to do."
"I guess she's going to try to ask him for you," Ron mused after a moment's thought. "You said she goes to those dinners twice a week, so she'll definitely find an opportunity."
"I hope so," said Harry.
...
Perhaps it was the thought of Dumbledore's task, or perhaps he was too engrossed in the conversation, but Harry momentarily lost track of his surroundings and nearly collided with someone coming from the opposite direction.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Harry apologized instinctively.
He didn't get a good look at the other person, but he did catch a glimpse of a familiar black robe. The color and style were something he would never forget, even fifty years from now.
No way...
Harry's heart skipped a beat.
"Ah, Potter... Has no one ever taught you to pay attention to your surroundings when going up and down stairs?"
A cold, indifferent voice reached his ears.
"Or do you expect the entire castle to cater to you, hmm? After all, you are the... oh, what's that Muggle-born term... oh yes, 'saving grace'."
There was no mistaking it...
Harry looked up and met the gloomy face and greasy black hair of the person before him.
"Snape..." he blurted out.
"You will address me as 'Professor Snape', Potter!" Snape said coldly. "Failure to show respect to a professor, Gryffindor will lose ten points!
"Shouting in the corridors, another ten points will be deducted!"
"I wasn't shouting!" Harry protested, his voice rising.
"That's not for you to decide, Potter," Snape sneered at him. "Just because people call you the 'saving grace' doesn't mean you can flaunt the school rules and alter them at your whim."
"I'm not being self-important, and I don't want people calling me that!" Harry glared at Snape, his neck veins popping, his breath coming in angry gasps, his eyes turning red as if he were a bull about to charge.
"We were just having a normal conversation!" he said, his hand unconsciously gripping his wand in his pocket.
It seemed that if Snape dared to mock him again, he would strike out at him.
However, his intentions were all too clear.
"Are you thinking of attacking me, Potter?" Snape sneered. "Gryffindor will lose thirty points.
"To be honest, I really wish you would pull out your wand. That way, you can be sent home nicely. There's a train leaving in two hours, and if you're lucky, you'll be the only passenger."
Harry's face turned even redder, and he looked ready to explode at any moment.
Thankfully, Ron, who was standing next to him, was still clear-headed and managed to hold him back, preventing Harry from pulling out his wand.
Snape waited a moment longer, seeing that Harry wasn't going to make any move, and then shook his head in disappointment before walking past them.
"Damn it, I'm going to kill him!" Harry suddenly said through gritted teeth as Snape's figure disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
"I know, I feel the same way," Ron quickly said, trying to calm him down. "But Snape is a professor, you can't risk being expelled by attacking him, it's not worth it."
"Think about the task he gave you. Maybe Snape is doing this on purpose to get you kicked out of school."
Harry stopped in his tracks.
"Come on, Harry." Ron continued to pull him downstairs. "We both know what kind of person Snape is. You really don't need to take the risk of getting expelled just to oppose him."
"Ron, maybe you're right." Harry said.
"You've come to your senses?" Ron said happily. "Great, then let's hurry to the library. Hermione is still waiting for us."
"No." Harry shook his head and glanced upstairs. "You go to the library yourself. I have something to do."
"What?" Ron was taken aback. "Don't tell me you're still going to find Snape, you just said..."
"Ron." Harry interrupted him. "What I mean is, Snape may indeed be trying to get me expelled."
He lowered his voice and said, "Snape has always been on good terms with the Malfoys, but we all know that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, and Snape must be one too. Yet, he has gained Dumbledore's trust through some means."
"What do you want to do?" Ron asked. "And we've suspected this for a long time, but no professor is willing to listen to us, right?"
"That's because we don't have any evidence." Harry said seriously. "Once we find evidence, we can expose Snape's lies... Now is a good opportunity, since Snape came to the eighth floor."
"What, does that matter?" Ron didn't understand. "He's a professor, so it shouldn't be a problem wherever he goes."
"But we've never seen him on the eighth floor before." Harry said. "Also, Professor Dumbledore is not at school today, so he's definitely not going to his office."
"Do you mean that he has another purpose?" Ron realized.
"Exactly." Harry nodded. "So I must go and see. As long as Snape is up to something bad, I can expose him in front of all the professors!"
Perhaps it was because he had just been docked fifty points, but Harry's expression was very determined, and he turned and ran upstairs.
Ron hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and followed.
"Wait for me, Harry. It's too dangerous for you to be alone."
...
The two returned to the eighth floor and, as they stepped onto the corridor, they both slowed down for some unknown reason, as if they were thieves, tiptoeing quietly.
"Do you know where Snape went?" Ron asked.
"No." Harry said. "But the eighth floor is not that big. We can look for him slowly."
"Then how long will it take to find him!" Ron suddenly regretted it.
But since he was already there, he could only accompany Harry and continue to search for Snape room by room.
What they didn't expect was that after a full circle of the eighth floor, they still hadn't found Snape.
The persistent Harry decided to search again, this time quickening his pace and even boldly pushing open the doors of suspicious classrooms.
But he still couldn't find Snape.
"Strange, why not?" Harry scratched his head, his face full of confusion.
"Maybe he went to Professor McGonagall's office." Ron suggested tentatively.
"Impossible." Harry shook his head.
He was convinced that Snape was up to no good, so how could he go to Professor McGonagall's office? That would be walking into a trap.
"Or maybe it's the Room of Requirement." Ron glanced at the nearby wall, where a giant was dancing on a tapestry.
"Don't forget, the Room of Requirement is broken." Harry reminded him. "We've tried countless times these past few days, but we can't get inside."
"Yeah, so where did Snape go?"
The two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice someone striding angrily towards them from behind, until...
"Ouch!" Ron cried out in pain, turning to shout, "Who's pushing me... Hermione? What are you doing!"
"I should be the one saying that!" Hermione, still fuming, threw a small mirror at him again.
This time, Ron was prepared and dodged, and the mirror hit Harry on the head.
"What are you two doing? Why aren't you at the library yet!"
"We're looking for Snape." Ron immediately thought of something and asked, "Wait, how did you get back here?"
He shouldn't have said that, as Hermione became even angrier.
Of course, she had been kicked out. In order to save seats for the two of them, she had refused at least seven or eight people.
But the library was only so big, and the other spaces had already been occupied.
Then, an exasperated Madam Pince had also kicked her out, so that three more people could take their seats.
Thinking of this, Hermione was furious. She had sent them a message an hour ago, but they had dawdled for so long.
"I'm sorry." Harry quickly explained and recounted what had happened.
...
"So, you docked fifty points from Gryffindor?
'Then go talk to Professor McGonagall and see if she can add those points back,' Hermione said, turning and walking away, no longer wanting to deal with them.
But Harry, unbeknownst to him, was thinking about the very person who was just on the other side of the wall from him.
And half an hour ago, Snape had been standing right where Harry was now, pounding the wall hard with complex emotions.
...
In the Room of Requirement, Snape had taken a cursory glance around and returned to the entrance hall.
"Where's Connor?" he asked coldly, looking at Kyle.
"In the Runes classroom," Kyle replied. "It's the third classroom on the left on the second floor. If you don't have anything important, it's best not to disturb her."
Don't disturb Connor?
Snape felt like he was hearing something blasphemous and had to resist the urge to draw his wand. "Do you know what you're saying?"
"Of course, Professor," Kyle shrugged nonchalantly. "But what's the problem? Studying Runes requires focus, and sometimes if you're distracted for a moment, you might not understand the rest of the lesson. I hope you're not planning to cause trouble..."
Snape's expression froze.
"What?" Kyle held back a smile. "What do you think I meant, Professor?"
"Of course, that's what I meant as well," Snape took a deep breath, his strong facade covering his true thoughts.
"I warn you, stay away from her!"
"I can't do that." Kyle looked into Snape's eyes and said firmly, "Yes, you heard me right... It's impossible. I can't and you'd better not even think about it!"
Snape exploded with rage, and the good mood he had gotten from deducting fifty points from Gryffindor vanished instantly.
But soon he seemed to think of something and calmed down again.
"Then you'd better behave yourself." Snape gritted his teeth, his voice squeezing out from between clenched teeth, "If I see you doing anything excessive, you will definitely regret it. I mean what I say!"
"Rest assured." This time, Kyle agreed without hesitation.
There was no way he would let Snape see him.
Kyle immediately put on a standard fake smile and said obsequiously, "Then, Professor, if you want to see the Potions classroom, I'll take you there."
In the past few days, he had become very familiar with the place. He knew which classroom was for which subject.
And Snape didn't say anything more as he followed Kyle to the third floor.
During this process, neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.
Perhaps feeling a bit uncomfortable, when they reached the third floor, Kyle took the initiative to break the silence.
"Professor, have you ever thought of changing jobs?"
"What do you mean?" Snape narrowed his eyes.
"Don't get me wrong." Kyle stopped in front of a classroom door. "I mean, you could open a Potions shop or something. I have a shop in Diagon Alley that Sirius gave me."
"Oh? He's quite generous then." Snape said in a biting tone. "Thank you, but what are you trying to say?"
"Nothing much." Kyle shrugged. "It's just... well, if Dumbledore has any excessive demands, like asking you to do a dangerous task or something, you can actually refuse.
"Even if you can't be a professor anymore, you can still sell potions in Diagon Alley. My friends, the Weasley brothers, have a shop there, and to be honest, they're making quite a lot. At least they earn a lot more than a professor's salary."
"What are you implying?" Snape asked, his face taut, unsure of what Kyle was trying to say with these... bizarre words.
Unconsciously, Snape thought of a possibility, but quickly dismissed it.
Impossible... Dumbledore wouldn't reveal his identity to others, even if he had become senile. And even if he did, it wouldn't be a student.
He stared intently into Kyle's eyes, as if trying to find the answer there.
Unfortunately for him, Kyle wasn't Harry, and with the protection of Occlumency, Snape couldn't glean anything from his eyes.
Unconsciously, Snape reached into his robe pocket, where there was a small vial.
Veritaserum... He had brought it with him when he left today.
"Good, you don't know anything." Kyle smiled, not paying attention to Snape's actions.
He pointed to the door beside them. "This is the Potions classroom, but Professor, I must say that there's really nothing much to see here. You might be a bit disappointed."
Potions was perhaps the only subject that hadn't changed much. Aside from the different potions they had to brew, the rest of the process was almost identical to the present.
However, just as Kyle was about to leave, Snape stopped him.
"What do you know?" he asked in a low voice.
"I don't know anything." Kyle smiled. "It's just that the Death Eaters are quite rampant these days. If one day Dumbledore asks you to deal with them, you can come up with a reason to refuse... even if it's for Connor's sake."
Snape fell silent, deep in thought, and after a long while, he said softly, "A professor's task is to protect the students."
"I know." Kyle nodded. "I was just speaking off the cuff, Professor. You don't have to take it to heart."
(End of Chapter)
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