After Christmas, the weather at Hogwarts didn't improve at all, instead, it got even worse.
Heavy, pitch-black clouds filled the sky, constantly dumping snow. The snowflakes rose and fell with the wind while still in midair, and by the time they hit the ground, they had already clumped together into huge masses, looking just like giant balls of cotton.
Whether the weather was good or bad didn't really matter to the students. Those half-grown kids at Hogwarts didn't even know what cold was. No matter how freezing it got, they would still run outside, either to play Quidditch or have snowball fights.
Some young couples would even deliberately choose days like this to go for walks. They called it "romantic atmosphere."
The person who truly suffered because of the weather was Filch.
Because it had been snowing heavily for several days in a row, thick snow had piled up all over Hogwarts. In some places it was more than a meter deep, shorter students could step into it and disappear in the blink of an eye, which was extremely dangerous.
All of this had to be cleared by Filch.
At noon, just as Link and Emily walked out of the Great Hall, they saw Filch outside on the steps, shoveling snow by himself with a shovel on his shoulder.
The scene looked truly miserable.
Not only did Filch have to deal with snow and ice that had nearly frozen solid together on the ground, he also had to constantly guard against snowballs thrown by mischievous students nearby.
Link simply watched quietly, with no intention of going over to help.
Filch didn't need help.
He stubbornly believed that this was his duty, a kindness granted by Dumbledore. Running over to help him with magic would only make him feel like he was being mocked for being a Squib.
Shaking his head, Link said to Emily, "Let's go. We should head to Potions class."
Emily rolled her eyes at him and deliberately turned her head away.
"You should go find your know-it-all girl to attend class with you. I saw how happily you two were getting along last night!"
A jealous woman can be cute, but also terrifying.
Especially because this kind of jealousy doesn't fade on its own over time. What it actually consumes is the emotional bond built up in the past.
Once that little bit of bond is used up, the relationship is over.
This was something Link had understood since his previous life.
So without the slightest hesitation, and without caring that other students were watching, Link pulled Emily straight into his arms and gave her a firm k*ss.
And that wasn't all.
Right after that, Link pulled out a pair of emerald-inlaid earrings from his pocket, hung them on Emily's ears, and said, "Don't be angry anymore. You know I love you."
After this series of moves, Emily was completely stunned.
She lay in Link's arms, staring blankly at him, until she noticed more and more people gathering around to watch. When she realized that Link was about to k*ss her again since she hadn't reacted, she suddenly let out a startled cry, covered her face, and ran toward the Potions classroom.
Even when she was running away, Emily's back still looked beautiful in Link's eyes.
Especially the large emerald earrings, which swayed back and forth with her movements, dazzlingly bright.
Those earrings had been carefully selected by Krell from the Lestrange vault. The moment Link first saw them, he felt they suited Emily's temperament perfectly. Now that he saw them on her, it was exactly as he'd expected.
Link nodded in satisfaction. Seeing that the crowd around him still hadn't dispersed, he smugly raised an eyebrow at them.
He didn't care whether anyone was watching. Things between young couples were supposed to be beautiful, especially when it was a perfect match like him and Emily. The onlookers should be properly offering them their blessings.
Just as this thought crossed Link's mind, whistles and applause rose from the crowd.
Link focused his gaze and realized it was George and Fred.
The two of them were standing on tiptoe in the crowd, clapping and whistling while wiggling their eyebrows. No matter how you looked at it, they were utterly sleazy.
That instantly ruined the good mood Link had gained from admiring Emily's retreating figure. After flipping them off, he turned and left the Great Hall.
By the time Link arrived at the Potions classroom, the gloomy room was already packed with students.
Emily was sitting in their usual spot, constantly touching the earrings on her ears. Her head was swaying slightly back and forth, clearly in a good mood, so much so that she didn't even notice Link had walked up behind her.
It wasn't until Link sat down in the seat he always left open beside her and deliberately coughed twice that Emily shuddered, quickly pulled her hands back onto her lap, and deliberately turned her head away.
This only made the smile on Link's face grow brighter.
Ignoring the fact that they were in a classroom, he reached out and placed his hand over the back of Emily's hand.
The resistance he felt was so weak it was almost nonexistent. Without any effort, Link clasped her hand firmly in his.
Only then did Link notice that Emily's palm was drenched in nervous sweat.
Amused, Link glanced at Emily and saw that the ears adorned with emerald earrings had already taken on a soft pink hue.
BANG!
The classroom door was kicked open violently. Snape entered with a murderous aura and a blank expression, striding up to the podium. On the way, he casually smacked a Slytherin student on the head for whispering to the person next to him.
"Take out your textbooks. Class begins!"
Snape slammed the book onto the podium, officially starting the lesson.
Seeing this, Link slightly reined himself in, but he still refused to let go of Emily's hand. Even when Emily increased her struggling a bit, it was completely useless.
Snape's classes were actually quite boring, especially for Link, whose progress far exceeded that of his classmates.
Throughout the entire lesson, Snape treated both Link and Emily exactly the same as before, no questions, no attention.
As if what had happened in the Room of Requirement last night had all been nothing more than a dream.
This was also a form of cover.
After all, for someone as domineering as Snape, being grabbed by the collar and slammed against a wall by a student was something he found utterly unacceptable.
Link even suspected that after calming down, Snape might have been so angry that he didn't sleep at all that night.
Snape might choose to forget this incident, but Link remembered it very clearly.
It was the only truly honest conversation the two of them had had in quite some time.
That was extremely rare, considering both of them were masters of Occlumency and Legilimency. Concealment and deception had long since become second nature to them.
During that conversation, Link had subtly expressed his intentions to Snape through implication.
Snape, in turn, had clearly drawn a red line, Harry could not be touched.
What made Link uneasy, however, was Snape's final disclosure of information about Dumbledore and Voldemort.
Because Link realized that Snape seemed to think Link wanted to turn him from a double agent into a triple agent, using him to gather even more intelligence.
That conclusion was painful for Snape.
But it was also something Snape had brought upon himself.
Snape had always been a deeply conflicted person.
His painful past had filled his heart with sharp thorns, turning him into a hedgehog, instinctively rejecting kindness and refusing to accept anything new.
It was a sickness.
Link had no intention of explaining anything further to Snape.
Just as he had told Snape, he wanted Snape to live. That had nothing to do with Snape's own wishes, it was simply Link's will.
And Link believed he was fully capable of making that happen.
As for Snape's emotional issues, that was even simpler.
Link had always believed that Snape's obsession with Harry's mother was purely due to his lack of life experience.
If Snape's youthful regrets had occurred in a stable society, they would have faded long ago.
Generally speaking, there were only two ways such regrets ended.
First, Snape could have encountered new love later in life, allowing the old feelings to fade naturally.
Second, he would continue obsessing over Harry's mother, eventually becoming half-mad, doing something disgraceful, getting beaten senseless by famous rich kid James Potter and Sirius Black, and then being sent to Azkaban to die under Dementor torture.
The only problem was that Snape lived in chaotic times, and had joined the Death Eaters.
Surrounded by dark mist and clearly not a good person, Death Eaters scared off normal people long before romance could even be considered.
Later, after Voldemort fell, the hedgehog-like Snape technically became a successful, eligible bachelor, but he no longer had the desire to go out and mingle.
And thus, an extremely conflicted Snape was born.
Once everything settled down, Link planned to tie Snape up and drag him into the colorful world of Muggles to broaden his horizons.
The early stages of this treatment would probably be pretty brutal due to Snape's fierce resistance, but Link believed that once Snape got used to it, he would actually start enjoying it.
After all, human adaptability was far stronger than people thought.
———
When Potions class ended, Snape, completely unaware that Link had planned such an insane treatment plan for him, swept out dramatically, leaving behind students whose faces were filled with lingering fear.
This was basically normal for Snape's classes.
After all, no one could endure two straight hours of verbal abuse without looking traumatized.
But Link and Emily were exceptions.
The moment Snape left, Link held Emily's hand, chatting and laughing as they left the classroom as well.
Based on preliminary Legilimency observations, after two hours of intensive "comforting," the jealousy in Emily's heart had been completely replaced by shyness and joy.
Link thought this was fantastic news. After all, he intended to spend his life with Emily.
The two of them walked through the corridors and the Great Hall into the entrance hall, but instead of heading toward their respective common rooms, they walked outside the castle.
At first, Emily thought Link wanted to take her for a walk. She remained in her sweet, affectionate state, tightly holding Link's arm, smiling brightly.
But when she saw Newland and Sigefin waiting on the steps outside the castle, she immediately realized things weren't that simple.
Her expression quickly turned serious, and almost instantly she shifted from a girl immersed in love to an imposing noblewoman.
Newland and Sigefin had actually noticed Link and Emily the moment they entered the Great Hall.
But now, the two of them tacitly chose to forget what they had just seen and respectfully bowed to both Link and Emily.
Emily nodded expressionlessly at them, then leaned slightly toward Link and whispered, "What are you planning to do?"
"Going hunting in the Forbidden Forest, and taking care of some serious business along the way," Link said, raising an eyebrow.
"And your wording is wrong. Not 'you all,' but 'we.' You're coming too this time."
Emily frowned.
She had no interest at all in pointless killing like hunting, in fact, she found it deeply unpleasant.
Hunting ruined her posture and appearance, which was unacceptable for someone who always wanted to present her most perfect self in front of Link.
After a brief moment of thought, Emily shook her head.
"I'm not interested in that sort of thing. You go without me."
Link's expression instantly became strange. He stared at Emily for quite a while before smiling.
"Really don't want to go? I suggested you come specifically so you wouldn't get jealous again."
"Who's jealous? I just..."
Emily rolled her eyes and spoke urgently, but before she could finish, a familiar voice came from behind them.
"Link! Sorry, we're late. Ron and Harry got detention from Professor McGonagall over their Christmas homework."
It was Hermione.
She jogged over from the Great Hall, with Harry and Ron following behind her.
The two of them looked utterly dejected, hair a complete mess, it was obvious they had already been scolded by Hermione.
The moment Emily saw Hermione, she stopped mid-sentence and resumed her refined aristocratic posture.
She even deliberately lifted her head slightly so the emerald earrings Link had given her would sway, ensuring Hermione noticed them immediately.
In fact, this was completely unnecessary.
The gems were so large they were impossible to miss.
Sure enough, the smile on Hermione's face froze the instant she saw Emily.
Her brisk steps came to a sudden halt, almost causing her to crash into Harry and Ron behind her.
Harry and Ron instinctively opened their mouths to complain, but closed them again when they saw Hermione's expression.
Emily's side wasn't much better.
Newland and Sigefin wished they could melt into the stone steps beneath their feet, the tension in the air was overwhelming.
Just as the atmosphere between Emily and Hermione grew increasingly tense, Link stepped between them and said, "Alright, since everyone's here, let's go. Harry, you still remember the place, right?"
"Of course!" Harry replied quickly. "Hagrid left marks all along the way, I won't forget."
"Wait!" Emily frowned at Link. "What exactly are you planning to hunt? Why do you even need these people to guide you?"
Being referred to as "these people" clearly made Hermione unhappy.
Newland and Sigefin could hear her teeth grinding from a distance.
Emily ignored her completely and continued staring at Link.
Seeing this, Link shrugged, spread his hands, and said with a smile, "Giants."