"Your expression tells me, you probably don't want to wake up now—"
William pulled out a chair and sat down, placing Mrs. Loris back on his lap. He sighed, "So, do I need to start from the beginning and tell you again? Or can you pinpoint when you stopped understanding?"
"…I understand."
Snape's voice was extremely dry. He raised his hand, his black long hair covering his face was brushed back.
"Oh, wonderful—want to share your thoughts?"
"Can I refuse?"
"Well, this is indeed a multiple-choice question, Severus, but I'm sorry, you can't choose E among ABCD."
"…So, you call this cooperation?"
Snape's voice had a faint sense of powerlessness, as it seemed to scrape out from deep in his throat. Until this moment, he felt his brain still buzzing, what is 'The Legend of the Rebirth of the Young Dark Lord: I Am Gryffindor'?
He must still be dreaming, right?
The whole thing was absurd like a lousy play, but what William described was so reasonable that it was hard not to doubt. He couldn't help but frown, "You let that guy stay in the same house with Harry?" That little brat from the Potter family, who just got out of danger… Snape squinted his eyes, contemplating if he could perish together with William.
"More than that, they spent half the summer together—"
William nodded, "The two little fellows get along well, probably because in their past lives, they were 'life and death buddies', huh?"
"…"
What a hellish joke… Snape's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
He had to admit, the joke hit his funny bone.
"Of course, Severus."
William leaned back against the chair, gently brushing Mrs. Loris's fur with his fingertips. The gray big cat produced a pleasant purring sound from its throat, "Rest assured, that little fellow is just a blank slate, under Dumbledore's watch, it's hard for him to turn into that noseless freak's mannerism again—"
"…"
"So now the crucial thing is, that guy is hard to kill, most likely not completely dead—"
William continued as he was quite articulate, "Cooperation is undoubtedly for mutual benefit, you also understand Voldemort's danger, not to mention he seems to have climbed the ranks—I still need a sufficiently keen scout, you're well-suited—"
William's face showed a teasing smile, "It's much better than watching history repeat itself and only being able to do humble… remedial work, right?"
"Remedial work", William had to admit he skillfully struck a nerve. The words were like a poisoned dagger, piercing precisely into Snape's most bitter memory—
The man's face instantly turned pale, his jawline tense as if it could cut through steel, "You used this reason last time." Snape's voice grew hoarse, almost speaking through gritted teeth—had anyone else spoken these words, even if it were Dumbledore, Snape would have torn their mouth apart without hesitation.
But now…
To confront William? That would not be courage, just pure foolishness leading to suicide, Snape clenched his teeth, tasting a bit of blood.
"…What should I do?"
After a while, Snape finally squeezed out this sentence through his teeth.
"Very simple."
William nodded approvingly, continuously rubbing beneath Mrs. Loris's chin with his right hand, "Very simple—firstly, continue teaching as usual, help me keep an eye on someone—"
"Who? That blank slate?"
"No, Draco Malfoy—that kid wants to dance on the edge of a blade, if anything happens other than an accident, you need to pull him back."
William thought for a moment, pulling out three 'life-saving hairs' from the back of his head…
…
Time moves back to the present.
Having finished breakfast, Snape still sat in place without moving, his gaze focused on the Gryffindor Long Table at a boy with soft black short hair—the boy's figure was evidently smaller than his peers, Snape knew this was because the boy was only eight years old.
He was eating some Yorkshire pudding with a spoon in small bites while conversing calmly with his nearby companion.
But what left Snape most bewildered—
Was the smile in those pitch-black eyes.
Voldemort smiling—this sounded more like a creepy suspense action movie.
However, at this moment, Tom seemed to sense something, lightly lifted his head.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, Snape's heart seemed to miss a beat.
…
Meanwhile, along the cold coastline of the North Sea.
Waves surged, and the dark seawater like Ryoko's big stomach, limitless in depth—the tides crazily battered the coastal cliffs, the cold biting sea breeze carried a salty fishy scent, continuously emitting a spine-chilling wailing sound, as if countless vengeful spirits screamed in everyone's ears.
This was the coastline near Azkaban Prison, the Ministry of Magic's charm made this area completely disappear from Muggle maps. At this moment, the Ministry of Magic's specially constructed ironclad ships were like floating coffins, treading through heavy mists, painstakingly heading towards the prison entrance below the cliff.
The atmosphere was extremely tense.
Lucius Malfoy wore a coarse gray prison uniform, his once sophisticated attire symbolizing power and wealth had long been stripped away.
His platinum blond long hair that was once meticulously groomed now… remained meticulously groomed, though his lips were a bit purple from the cold, and his body uncontrollably trembled slightly.
Yet the man still maintained his pure-blood pride, unwavering.
Specially constructed magic handcuffs not only bound his hands but also completely sealed the operation of magic power. Ever since Grindelwald escaped in front of a squad of Aurors, various countries have increasingly tightened their requirements for transferring criminals, especially Lucius Malfoy, a senior evil Death Eater.
Now, the man was flimsier than a weak Muggle, the cold and biting sea wind and the swaying ship constantly tormented his already tightly wound nerves.
But deep inside, the reverence for the Dark Lord had reached a maddened state, even giving him a feverish feeling despite being accompanied by a grim face.
"…Do we really need to make such a fuss?"
Nymphadora Tonks, sporting a haze blue short haircut, mumbled at the tall Auror standing beside her in the corner of the ship's cabin, "And where did these people come from? I haven't seen them in the Ministry of Magic." The 'people' she referred to were other Wizards also standing in the cabin—
She glanced around, finding that aside from Kingsley beside her, there wasn't a single familiar face among the Aurors.
"Fudge needs to prove his usefulness, and not let everything related to Voldemort be resolved by a Hogwarts professor—"
Kingsley straightforwardly explained to Tonks.
"Ah~ Professor Richard—I remember him…"