In the afternoon, warm sunlight slanted across the corridors of Hogwarts Castle.
Pandora, steps light and lively, led Snape toward her laboratory.
All along the way, colored patches of light filtered through stained-glass windows, shifting across the stone floor.
She needed to make some preparations in her lab before going to inspect that unusual protective magic.
"Pandora, what kind of experiments do you usually do?"
"Recently, I've been studying a very special subject,combining spells with plants. Casting certain spells on plants sometimes produces astonishing effects.
"For example, if you cast 'Stupefying Whirlwind' on mistletoe, its blossoms will release a mesmerizing fragrance. That scent draws people to approach unconsciously, and after breathing it in for a while, they fall into a coma and drift into a warm, pleasant dream.
"Last time, I missed several days of classes that way. Fortunately, no one came looking for me, and when I returned, it was as though nothing had happened."
"..."
Snape, hearing this, had no idea what to say.
A strange feeling welled up inside him: part of him found her antics oddly endearing, while another part pitied her.
"What is 'Stupefying Whirlwind'?" he asked softly.
"That's a spell I invented. I combined Stupefy with Tergeo, and it became 'Stupe-Tergeo.'"
They chatted like this as they climbed, and before they realized it, they had reached the eighth floor of the castle.
Looking up, Snape saw the tapestry of the giant troll dancing in a tutu.
He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: So Hogwarts' ancient secret places are this lively now?
"Wait here a moment." Pandora glanced about, then told Snape.
She paced up and down the corridor in small steps, muttering under her breath: "I want to do experiments, I want to do experiments..."
In no time at all, Snape once again saw that smooth door materializing in the white wall.
He stepped forward first, pulling it open and holding it so Pandora could enter with him.
It was a circular room, smaller than the place where he had hidden something last time.
Several large round tables filled the room, covered with oddly shaped glass vessels and papers. Near the windowed wall grew more than a dozen colorful plants.
"Isn't it amazing?" she said. "That the castle actually has a lab like this, and I'm the only one who uses it."
"Yes, it's amazing," Snape agreed, unwilling to spoil her enthusiasm.
As his eyes roamed around the room, he suddenly realized the papers on the table were copies of newspapers.
"Why do you have the Daily Prophet here?"
"I use them to wrap dragon dung." Pandora answered casually as she arranged some glassware.
"Fair enough," Snape's lips twitched, then he asked, "By the way, how did you find this place?"
"They wouldn't let me experiment in the dormitory, said it was too dangerous," Pandora explained. "So I tried looking for empty classrooms. But the professors didn't really want me to use those either, so I kept having to change places. One time Peeves even smashed materials I had been saving for ages.
"Of course, once I found this place, everything was fine. No one disturbs me here anymore."
She picked up a glimmering crystal orb and said to Snape: "Look, this is a Resonance Crystal of Revelation. Tap it with a wand, and you can see invisible things around you,like Doxies, for instance.
"But be careful. If you use it too long, your brain slows down more and more, until it feels like it's solidifying..."
Pandora excitedly showed off her laboratory. Much of what she demonstrated went beyond Snape's imagination,he had no idea how she had managed to create such things.
"All right, time to prepare for the special blasting."
She strained to lift a plain-looking small bag from the floor. From inside, she pulled out sets of bottles, jars, and a brass balance scale. Soon, in a haze of smoke, she began her preparations.
"Pandora, did you make that little bag yourself?"
Snape had noticed the bag's clearly abnormal capacity, which reminded him of the magical space artifact Hermione would someday prepare for the trio during their wandering years.
"What?" Pandora looked up but kept her hands busy. "Oh, you mean this? Yes, I used the Extension Charm. Without it, moving my lab from place to place would have been miserable."
"Well, um, would it be too much trouble to make me something similar?"
Snape picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet from the table, asking thick-skinned. Suddenly, he felt the room's temperature had risen a little.
"Sure," Pandora answered quickly, without much hesitation. "But this spell is really tricky. It took me many attempts just to make this bag. I don't know when I'll be able to make another one for you."
"That's fine, no rush," Snape said cheerfully. "Whenever you have time."
Then, leaning against the wall, he unfolded the newspaper, not disturbing her work any further.
It was an April edition, with nothing noteworthy reported.
Ministry updates and gossip filled nearly every page, the entire paper devoid of magical theory,proof that its writers had none in their heads.
After reading it, Snape judged that the Daily Prophet was hardly a first-rate newspaper, but at least it served its purpose wrapping dragon dung.
Then, on a small corner of the last page, a phrase caught his eye,"Muggle Prime Minister."
"The Minister for Magic Meets with New Muggle Prime Minister"
"Recently, Minister for Magic Harold Minchum held a friendly and in-depth meeting with the new Muggle Prime Minister James Hacker... the two sides conducted extensive discussions on many issues of mutual concern... during the meeting, both sides particularly emphasized the importance of harmony between wizard and Muggle... we firmly believe that the difficulties of the moment are only temporary, and that with joint efforts, a new world of harmony and prosperity..."
"Wait... James Hacker..."
Snape, about to put the paper aside, snatched it back and stared hard at the common English name,same as Potter's,and at the accompanying photograph.
"James... Jim... Jim Hacker..."
"Bloody hell!" His grip tightened, and with a tearing sound, he ripped the page in half.
The Prime Minister's half-face still grinned stiffly up from the torn sheet.
"What's wrong, Severus?" Pandora asked.
"Nothing, nothing." Snape folded the torn page and tucked it into his pocket. "This truly is a strange world..."
"Yes, I think so too," Pandora replied, still absorbed in mixing her colorful reagents without lifting her head.
Many years later, Snape still clearly remembered this autumn afternoon in 1976, in the Room of Requirement, Pandora tinkering with her experimental devices, and he beside her leafing through the Daily Prophet.
Not a worry in his mind, not even the faintest shadow on his heart.
In all the years to come, hurrying from place to place, he would seldom know rest, and never again would there be such an afternoon.