Chapter 268: A Stormy Night
Sean was taken away by an unexpected person.
When that figure clad in billowing black robes appeared, Harry and Ron felt as though they could already hear their House points being deducted.
"Sean said he was staying at school for a month and that a professor would come to take him back to Hogwarts, but who would have thought it would be Professor Snape..." Ron muttered, hiding in the shadows of a shop as he watched Snape stride toward them. "Harry, you were absolutely right not to submit a stay-at-school application."
Harry ducked his head.
Just as he didn't know why Snape had helped him deal with Quirrell, he also didn't know why Snape hated him so much. Snape's behavior seemed perpetually shrouded in mist.
"Do you think staying at school is that easy to arrange? Sean is the first student in a hundred years to be granted permission to stay over the summer!" Hermione, though surprised herself, couldn't help but glare at them for Ron's arrogant remark.
"Of course, he's the future Greatest—" Ron cut himself off by clapping a hand over his mouth.
"The what?" Hermione pressed immediately.
"No—nothing." Ron stammered.
Hermione's suspicious gaze lingered on his face for a moment before she huffed and turned away.
On the streets of Diagon Alley, the two professors faced each other as if performing a solemn handing-over ceremony.
"He is undergoing the Animagus transformation, Severus," Professor McGonagall said calmly.
"I am aware." Snape's voice was as low and silkily dangerous as ever.
"The steps until the storm..." McGonagall held out a slip of paper. Before she could finish, she was interrupted.
"I—will be responsible," Snape said, taking the slip. His tone sounded like a proclamation.
"In two weeks, or on a stormy night, I shall return." McGonagall spoke with deliberation. She felt a sudden pang of regret for agreeing to stay with Marcus for an extra two weeks. Though they hadn't spent much time together in years, the places that needed her seemed to extend beyond Hogwarts and the McGonagall Villa.
Sometimes, the meaning of "home" shifted with the people in it.
The sunset filled the sky. Even in a time when the Dark Lord remained in hiding, she noticed the world was becoming more beautiful.
"As for the Felix Felicis, you decide when to tell the boy yourself." Having said her piece, McGonagall turned and left without looking back.
Snape turned on his heel to leave as well, and Sean hurried to follow.
"Some idiots wouldn't recognize an opportunity even if it bit them. Wouldn't you agree, Sean Green?" Snape said darkly.
"Am I allowed to drink the Felix Felicis now?" a mature voice emitted from the brooch.
Snape looked down abruptly, staring coldly at the brooch.
"Heh—" Snape studied it for a moment, remaining silent.
"What did you see on the fourth floor...?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.
"Voldemort..." Sean quickly tapped the brooch.
Snape froze in place. His eyes erupted with suppressed fury, and his voice trembled slightly:
"Ah—our Mr. Sean Green always thinks his few simple and ridiculous tricks can achieve some world-shaking feat... He doesn't even hold the Dark Lord in his eyes..."
Snape's cold, mocking voice continued, "Very well. In honor of your courage, your detention will begin on September the first and continue until... September the first... No holidays, and..."
Sean stood still, silent, as Snape hadn't finished.
"Every year."
Sean was somewhat stunned. Stay at Hogwarts every year? Is there... such a good thing?
By the time they returned to Hogwarts, the sky was pitch black.
Snape's mood had plummeted to a new low. He could not imagine what would happen next. The Dark Lord was planning a comeback, and his brutal methods against those who hindered him were legendary. He had thought the young wizard was merely an organizer, but he hadn't expected him to have actually faced the Dark Lord.
"Tell me what you did—the entire process!" In the dungeons, Snape cast an anti-eavesdropping spell and spoke with freezing intensity.
Through the brooch, Sean gave a simple account of Professor Quirrell's abnormality and how they had stopped him. Fortunately, while the brooch couldn't hide the truth—because it would speak the thought process of hiding the truth—Sean could choose what to emphasize.
He minimized his own involvement as much as possible, mostly describing Quirrell's strange behavior, the cry for help, and Headmaster Dumbledore's expulsion of Voldemort.
"Who do you think you are?! Who do you think you provoked?! Laughably naive!" Snape was nearly roaring.
He felt a surge of lingering fear. The Dark Lord had entered Hogwarts attached to the back of Quirrell's head, and the ones who had stopped him were Green and the others, who had been caught up in it. And his reason was the utterly ridiculous desire to help Quirrell? All because of a recommendation letter?!
His trembling frame suddenly calmed. He looked down with a heavy gaze at the young wizard, who was barely two heads taller than the table.
Those green eyes were a rare spark of color in the gray and black dungeon. Snape was momentarily speechless. He... was too foolish. Fools like him never came to a good end.
"Get out—" he finally said.
As his voice fell, a rumble of thunder drifted from the distance, and a bolt of lightning tore through the night sky.
"Come back!" Snape barked. It was unclear what he was angry about.
The storm was coming. Through the cracks in the dungeon walls, the gloomy sky was visible.
Sean felt a second heartbeat, stronger than his original one. This indicated that the moment he had been waiting for had arrived.
At the moment lightning rent the sky, he needed to head immediately to the place where the crystal phial was buried. If he had performed all the previous steps correctly, he would find a single mouthful of blood-red potion inside.
"Where is it buried?" Snape asked sharply, as the storm broke with sudden violence.
"The paper, Professor..."
Snape, momentarily flustered, remembered the slip of paper. Given Minerva McGonagall's cautious nature, it would be a place he was very familiar with.
When he opened the slip, however, he saw a piercing name.
—Spinner's End.
He froze. During the summer holidays at Hogwarts, he rarely returned there. McGonagall would sometimes send owls to contact him, but that didn't mean he was willing to let people intrude.
"Follow me!"
He led Sean quickly out of the castle. This fool was different, after all.
The night was a chaos of wind and rain. The undulating hills were blurred, and Hogwarts was a sea of darkness. As they trekked, only Sean's silently lit wand provided a glimmer of light.
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