For 30 + advance chapter: patreon.com/Snowing_Melody
In the dimly lit, chaotic corridor, Professor McGonagall's sharp eyes quickly surveyed the panting Little Wizards and the aftermath of the attack. Despite the late hour, her face maintained its usual calm, serious expression, radiating an intense, commanding presence that instantly stabilized the situation.
Professor Flitwick, arriving just behind her, let out a squeak. His wide gaze fell upon the glaring, metallic words smeared on the stone wall: "Mudblood, you're next." He covered his mouth in absolute shock.
With the senior Professors now present, Filch didn't dare speak first. He merely stood off to the side, clutching his lantern, staring at everyone in the area with a look of surprise and deep uncertainty.
In no time, Professor McGonagall had quickly walked up to Mary, crouched down with surprising grace, and spoke in an exceptionally gentle, motherly tone:
"Miss Macdonald, how are you feeling?"
"Professor!" Seeing her Head of House, Mary's brave facade finally crumbled. Her voice trembling, she immediately threw herself forward, burying her face into Professor McGonagall's tartan robes.
Professor McGonagall was slightly taken aback by the sudden contact, but she quickly recovered, gently embracing the terrified Little Witch. She lightly patted Mary's back and reached out to stroke the top of her messy hair.
"Good girl, it's alright... you're safe now." A highly uncharacteristic, gentle smile appeared on Professor McGonagall's usually tightly pursed lips. With a subtle flick of her wrist, she seamlessly conjured a clean handkerchief and placed it firmly in Mary's trembling hand.
Immediately after, the Professor stood up and quickly resumed her strict, serious expression, her CEO-like efficiency returning: "Alright. Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black... I mean Sirius, and Mr. Lupin. You four will securely escort Mary directly to the hospital wing for a thorough medical check-up, and then you will return to your dormitories immediately. Is that understood?"
Lily, her face pale and full of concern, quickly walked over and tightly clasped her friend's hand.
"But... Professor!" Mary struggled slightly, finding her voice. "I don't need to go to the hospital wing, I... I'm fine now. I can tell you exactly what happened."
Saying this, Mary, having recovered some of her Gryffindor spirit, stood up straight with Lily's supportive arm around her waist.
"Mary," Professor McGonagall addressed her gently by her first name, "you were magically attacked and deeply frightened; it's absolutely best to let Madam Pomfrey physically check you over just to be entirely sure. Anything you need to report can be discussed tomorrow morning."
"Professor, I am alright." Mary pursed her lips stubbornly, raised the handkerchief to wipe her tear-stained face, and straightened her back, her posture mimicking Regulus's usual calm demeanor.
Everyone's gaze fell upon her in the quiet corridor.
"Good girl. If you're absolutely sure—" The deep approval in Professor McGonagall's eyes became even more apparent.
"I'm sure, Professor. Regulus already gave me a highly effective Revitalising Potion..." Mary immediately got straight to the point, her voice now almost entirely devoid of sobs. "Just now, I was coming back from the Magical Weaving Club, and someone actively ambushed me. It must have been a highly advanced Silent Spell... the cat was there too; it actively seemed to be trying to warn me..."
"Then another spell hit me; it was a flash of red light. I was violently tripped by a wire and physically couldn't dodge... but the little cat suddenly jumped up and actively blocked the lethal curse for me..."
Everyone present listened to Mary's vivid description utterly dumbfounded, especially Filch. His bulging, watery eyes were completely fixed on the shivering cat currently resting safely in Regulus's arms, his expression looking simultaneously angry and deeply sad.
Regulus simply walked forward, highly gracefully handed the little cat in his arms directly to Filch, and clearly, confidently added:
"Mr. Filch. Please rest assured, Mrs. Norris is completely alright!"
The squib took the little cat gently, a highly strange, yet incredibly grateful smile appearing on his usually bitter face.
"Later, the cat was violently knocked back by the kinetic impact of the spell... then Peeves appeared, Regulus quickly arrived, and then absolutely everyone else..."
Professor McGonagall's sharp gaze swept over the threatening writing on the wall again, examining it carefully, as if permanently engraving the specific handwriting firmly into her mind. Then, with a highly swift, powerful wave of her wand, the dark words on the wall and the transparent tripwire completely vanished without a trace.
Huh? Regulus blinked his grey eyes in pure shock. It mathematically seems Hogwarts legally didn't possess a basic, logical concept of formal on-site crime scene investigation and evidence preservation...
Although, calculatingly speaking, this time it was almost mathematically certain that Rabastan Lestrange was the one causing the trouble.
Did he mathematically need to actively develop and sell a multi-wavelength magical light source lamp to the Aurors?
"My sweet Merlin—" Professor Flitwick asked in surprise, breaking the silence. "Then exactly what on earth was that highly terrifying, deafening roaring sound just now? I honestly thought Peeves was up to highly destructive mischief again."
The HP syndicate members present all, completely by tactical chance, subtly touched the thick silver rings on their fingers.
"This..." Mary looked directly at Regulus. Seeing him give a highly subtle, approving nod, she confidently raised the hand wearing the silver ring for the Professors to see.
"This is a highly advanced, tactical alarm ring newly developed by Regulus and the alchemy group. Through spatial magic, if a person and their specific wand are violently separated by a certain physical distance, the ring will automatically, immediately sound a massive alarm to summon help."
"Ooh~" Before she finished speaking, Peeves surprisingly appeared again, floating through the ceiling with a large, battered megaphone. However, as soon as his chaotic eyes met Professor McGonagall's stern gaze, his little face fell in terror, and he immediately zipped backward directly into the solid stone wall.
"I... my vocal cords were magically paralyzed, so I couldn't make a sound after being hit by the initial spell. So, I highly simply threw my wand away down the corridor completely to deliberately trigger the alarm system... I honestly just mathematically didn't expect the physical sound to actually be so incredibly loud..."
Flawlessly executed! Regulus smiled slightly, and expressions of massive, undeniable admiration also actively appeared on the faces of the HP members. Gryffindors were truly excellent tactical field agents.
"May I see it, please?" Professor McGonagall asked, her tone deeply curious.
Mary nodded and then politely handed both her wand and the silver ring directly to Professor McGonagall for inspection.
The late-arriving Professor Slughorn finally appeared at the end of the corridor, heavily panting and actively wiping nervous sweat from his plump brow with a silk handkerchief.
Seeing the highly tense, massive scene before him, a look of obvious, deep shock appeared on his face. His calculating gaze strangely, intensely lingered directly on Regulus for several long seconds before he finally came back to his senses and cast a highly inquiring look towards the Witch who had the entire situation flawlessly under control in the corridor.
Professor McGonagall gave him a highly brief, professional nod in acknowledgement.
"Good. Very good," Professor McGonagall said highly approvingly, examining the ring's craftsmanship. "Mary, you handled that incredibly dangerous situation excellently."
More footsteps were heard echoing from the stairs, and Professor McGonagall quickly scanned the group, shifting back into Head of House mode:
"Go back and rest for now tonight. Mary, if you physically feel absolutely any discomfort whatsoever, you are to go to the hospital wing immediately. I highly trust your classmates will actively take good care of you." Professor McGonagall's stern gaze swept over the young Gryffindors; they all nodded repeatedly, fiercely promising to take excellent care of Mary.
"Also, absolutely do not publicly talk about exactly what happened tonight for now."
Regulus also nodded in agreement. Information control was key.
Then, she turned directly to Filch and instructed him concisely and forcefully: "Argus, you stay exactly here. If absolutely any students come investigating the noise, strictly tell them to return to their dormitories immediately."
Filch nodded hastily, clutching Mrs. Norris.
"Let me have the cat, please," Professor McGonagall smoothly extended her hand to Filch again, carefully taking the shivering animal and securely holding the cat in her arms, "Everything else can legally wait until tomorrow—"
She highly gently pushed up her square-rimmed glasses, her sharp gaze falling gently, directly on Regulus, revealing a highly slight, deeply approving smile.
Heh heh. Professor McGonagall truly, highly approved of his tactical preparation.
...
The freezing night was already quite deep. The Slytherin common room fire was currently burning brightly in the hearth. Many students were comfortably sitting together in twos and threes, either quietly chatting or flipping through heavy books doing homework, casting flickering, warm shadows on the damp stone walls.
After receiving James's urgent coded message through the Revealer Paper, Severus immediately rushed out of the boys' dormitory. However, as soon as he stepped completely into the common room, his physical path was immediately, violently blocked by a highly massive, Troll-like figure.
It was Mulciber, his dark gaze incredibly unfriendly.
"Snape, exactly where are you actively going so late in the night?" Rabastan Lestrange, standing comfortably directly behind Mulciber, asked slowly, his aristocratic tone currently carrying a completely colder, highly terrifying arrogance than usual.
Severus's heart rate suddenly, violently accelerated. His gamer instincts immediately sounded a massive tactical alarm. He subconsciously reached deep into his robes for his wand, but with so incredibly many highly observant pureblood eyes actively watching in the common room, he wasn't particularly worried about an open curse.
"Exactly what's it physically to you?" Severus's tone was incredibly cold, and his determined steps absolutely didn't stop.
"You filthy little half-blood brat, exactly what kind of arrogant attitude is that?" Mulciber roared irritably, suddenly, violently reaching entirely out and actively pushing Severus incredibly hard in the chest.
Caught entirely off guard by the physical assault, Severus violently stumbled backward and almost fell heavily to the stone floor. The entire bustling common room immediately, completely fell into a highly tense, suffocating silence, and absolutely all eyes violently focused completely on them.
"Hey! Mac! Severus! Absolutely don't do that—" Avery had completely also come entirely out of the dorm at some point. He highly quickly, nervously stepped directly entirely between them, actively, desperately trying completely to physically pull the highly aggressive two apart, "We're absolutely all Slytherin classmates here, let's simply talk things completely out properly..."
Mulciber, however, highly arrogantly completely ignored Avery, violently reached exactly out and highly unceremoniously, aggressively pushed him completely away into a chair, and violently lunged angrily directly at Severus again.
"Shut up, Alan! This is absolutely none of your filthy business!" Rabastan stared completely, highly coldly exactly at Avery, his tone lethal. "Absolutely don't legally forget exactly whose side you're currently on."
Avery pursed his pale lips, his face highly slightly pale with fear, but he mathematically still hesitated exactly before taking a highly nervous step forward, desperately trying completely to actively stop them.
Facing the highly aggressive, Troll-like Mulciber, Severus highly quickly, fluidly drew his wand, but his thin wrist was violently, completely clamped highly tightly exactly by Mulciber's massive hand, actively making him violently feel completely as if his fragile wrist bone was absolutely about completely to be physically crushed.
"Snape, exactly who on earth do you actively think you are?" Mulciber violently growled completely through clenched teeth, his thick face flushed dark red with anger, "Arrogantly hanging completely around directly with that Black Family brat every single day, do you highly arrogantly actively think you're completely something special too?"
"Let go of me!" Intense, blinding pain violently shot completely through Severus's clamped wrist, but he absolutely didn't utter a single sound of weakness, even violently letting completely out a highly mocking, arrogant sneer, "What – did I, exactly this filthy half-blood brat, somehow actively threaten your massive ego?"
Just exactly as Mulciber was highly aggressively completely about to actively apply vastly more physical force to the bone, he suddenly, violently released his massive hand entirely as if in deep physical pain – completely not far directly behind him, standing entirely in the dark corner, Jacob Frye was highly nonchalantly, completely smoothly adjusting his sharp suit sleeves, actively giving Severus exactly a highly barely perceptible, incredibly sharp wink.
Severus's cold heart immediately warmed. The syndicate had eyes everywhere.
"Is that absolutely, completely all you've physically got?" He highly quickly, actively shook his incredibly sore wrist and highly aggressively raised his wand completely again, pointing it at the larger boy's chest, "Absolutely only legally capable of brute Muggle force? Are you actually a Squib?"
Hearing this highly specific insult, Mulciber's thick face violently turned completely dark red and then entirely pale, having been highly precisely, psychologically provoked. He entirely also violently drew his wand.
Rabastan, meanwhile, comfortably sat completely on the side actively watching – entirely at Hogwarts, openly, violently bullying younger students was highly despised by absolutely everyone, so he definitely, mathematically wouldn't legally make a magical move here in front of witnesses.
"Logically looks completely like I actively need completely to teach you a highly painful lesson, to violently make you completely understand exactly where you stand in this house..." Mulciber hissed.
"You're completely my classmate. Exactly what I am, exactly what completely can you legally be to judge?" Severus shot back smoothly.
The highly tense two Slytherins violently confronted each other completely for exactly who logically knows exactly how highly long, but entirely neither absolutely dared completely to be exactly the absolute first completely to openly, actively violate strict school rules completely by actively casting a lethal spell—
"Stop! Stop it, absolutely all of you right now!" Finally, the highly arrogant Slytherin Prefect, Filius, violently rushed completely out of the dormitory and highly sternly shouted, "Exactly what on earth are you actively trying completely to do? Do you actually actively want me completely to physically take massive points entirely from my very own House?!"
After exactly a highly tense, freezing few seconds completely of massive stalemate, actively seeing Mulciber highly reluctantly, angrily put completely away his wand, Severus entirely also smoothly put completely away his wand, highly arrogantly glared exactly at Mulciber entirely without showing any physical weakness, and quickly turned completely to walk highly quickly, aggressively out of the freezing common room.
The exact, absolute moment he highly smoothly opened the heavy portrait hole, a highly piercing and incredibly mournful, deafening roar violently came completely directly from the corridor, violently making absolutely everyone in the room jump in shock.
This was actively their HP syndicate magic alarm!
Something massive had happened!
Severus's heart rate suddenly, violently accelerated. He highly quickly took completely off running exactly at his absolute fastest physical speed entirely towards exactly the highly deafening direction completely of the sound.
...
Why absolutely hadn't he logically started heavily exercising physically entirely earlier?! After violently climbing exactly several steep stone floors and highly aggressively running completely down exactly several long corridors, Severus physically felt exactly a highly burning sensation entirely in his lungs and his heavy breathing was physically struggling completely to entirely keep entirely up.
Sigh—he mathematically definitely highly had completely to obediently follow Regulus and highly actively exercise completely properly entirely from absolutely now entirely on.
Exactly as he violently ran, a highly familiar, incredibly handsome figure highly suddenly, smoothly completely appeared directly entirely around the dark corner completely of the corridor ahead, rapidly moving completely entirely towards exactly him completely at highly massive, impossible physical speed.
Huh?
Severus's dark eyes violently completely widened—
"Regulus?!"
"Severus!"