Snakes at Hogwarts

"Don't you know what happened in the Forbidden Forest?"

Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He didn't expect that there would be things in Hogwarts that Dumbledore didn't know about.

"Of course, Severus, you know I can't notice everything at once."

Seeing Snape's distrustful eyes, Dumbledore spread his hands innocently.

"I have been paying close attention to Voldemort's movements all night. I have to make sure that he does not have any bad thoughts because of the savior's sudden departure. This is one of the reasons why I entrusted you to protect them for me."

Upon hearing this answer, Snape snorted coldly, and then calmly told what he had observed.

"...I knew it was almost time when Lobach passed outside my office, and I followed him all the way to the foyer and watched him enter Filch's office."

Recalling Andros's childish revenge at the door of his office, the corners of Snape's mouth couldn't help but twitch a few times.

That little bastard!

"Harry and Ron arrived in the hall soon. Filch sent them to Hagrid, and then, under Hagrid's leadership, they entered the Forbidden Forest together. So far, everything has gone smoothly."

"But when they came to a fork in the road, that idiot Hagrid decided to split them into two teams!" Snape's tone gradually became angry. In his eyes, Hagrid's behavior was simply extremely stupid.

"Merlin knows what that stupid big guy with no brute strength was thinking at that time! How dare he let two students explore the Forbidden Forest alone."

Dumbledore was speechless. He calmly looked at Snape as if he was listening attentively, and then used his eyes to signal him to continue talking.

"It's impossible for me to split into two. There's no way. Of course I can only follow Harry's side! They met centaurs. Those guys who always like to look up at the sky are just as talkative as you."

"Centaurs always follow the guidance of fate. Did they say anything?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, those guys are always tight-lipped. They always regard the little things they find as extremely important." Snape let out a contemptuous snort.

Like most wizards, he believed that those proud centaurs were just proud and stubborn creatures, blindly pursuing the guidance of their destiny.

They attach so much importance to the little things they discovered, but they don't know that most wizards don't care at all about the so-called knowledge.

After all, humans are the masters of this world.

If centaurs are so brave, why do they want to live on the land provided by the Ministry of Magic?

How ridiculous.

"However, I noticed something was wrong with the way the two centaurs looked at Potter. They seemed to know something, but they just didn't want to say it."

"Centaurs have always been like this. Okay, Severus, please continue. We will talk about centaurs later."

"They hadn't even exchanged a few words when the popping sound of fireworks and dazzling red sparks came from the other side of the Forbidden Forest. I immediately knew that Lobach and Weasley were in trouble, so I hurried over. It turns out they encountered a giant monster."

"Troll?" Dumbledore narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, an adult giant monster. I never knew such a thing existed in the Forbidden Forest! Where did it come from?"

"Then how did they deal with it?" Dumbledore continued without answering Snape's question.

"How to deal with it? Do you think two first-year wizards can deal with a giant monster weighing nearly a ton? That coward Weasley probably ran away first. When I arrived, Lobach was the only one there. ."

"He is a bit smart and knows how to deal with the troll. He has been trying to use magic spells to interfere with the troll's progress, and finally used fluorescent flashes to temporarily blind the troll's eyes. However, he also exhausted his magic power and was able to hold on until Hagrid After arriving, he fainted quickly and should have been sent to the school hospital by now."

"A very wise approach. Even if I were at his age, I probably couldn't have done better." Dumbledore said with a look of appreciation.

"But, Dumbledore, if you just wanted to train Harry, why did you bring those two boys with you?" Snape asked, he didn't understand what Dumbledore's purpose was.

"They should have had nothing to do with this, with that prophecy."

"I know, but on Harry's growth path, he cannot be alone. He will need a few good partners who can help him." Dumbledore's tone was calm, as if he was telling a trivial matter.

"Ron Weasley is a good choice. From my observation, he does not have a bad intention. He will be a good friend and accompany Harry through the long dark moments in the future."

"Just that coward who only knows how to run away? To be honest, I don't think so. He didn't show even a little bit of Gryffindor's courage." When Dumbledore mentioned Ron, Snape dismissed him with disdain. Pout.

"I have never seen a Gryffindor hide behind Slytherin. In my eyes, there is no difference between him and Peter back then. They are both equally cowardly."

"Don't draw conclusions too early, Severus. They are still young and still have a lot of room for growth. I believe in Ron. I believe that one day, he will show the courage that Gryffindor admires."

Of course, Dumbledore would trust Ron very much. After all, the Weasley family is truly a loyal family.

Almost everyone from their family graduated from Gryffindor, and occasionally a few were sorted into Hufflepuff, but there was never a Slytherin.

Such origins are naturally trustworthy, not to mention that their ideas are very similar to Dumbledore's, and they do not hold a discriminatory attitude towards Muggles and Muggle wizards.

This is already extremely rare among purebloods.

Of course, this is also the reason why they are so marginalized and suppressed by the wizarding nobles.

However, the more pure-blood wizards suppress and exclude them, the more it proves that they can be trusted.

"What's more, we have misunderstood many things. It was the coward in your mouth who did not betray his friends until his death. But the person we thought had the most courage did something we never thought of."

"That's enough! Dumbledore! Stop talking about this!" Snape interrupted Dumbledore, his eyes filled with anger.

He naturally knew that Dumbledore was referring to Sirius, that despicable villain who deserved to go to hell.

It was him who leaked the secret to Voldemort, which ultimately led to Lily's death.

If his mission had not been completed, Snape really wanted to rush into Azkaban and give the already completely crazy guy a big bite from Avada full of hatred and anger.

At this time, they didn't know what happened between Sirius and Peter, so they made this judgment.

"They would never have thought that Dumbledore, who was kind, honest, and did not seek fame or fortune in the eyes of outsiders, would be such a powerful person behind his back." Snape, who had calmed down, couldn't help but sarcastically said.

It was only now that he felt that he had seen Dumbledore's true face behind that mask for the first time.

"No wonder your brother would give you that comment. He told me that you are one."

"I've always been who I am, and I've never changed." Dumbledore said coldly, interrupting Snape rudely for the first time.

"Severus, you have to understand that everything I do is never for personal gain. Since our purpose is the same, I don't think you care about the means I use."

He stared at Snape, a flash of anger flashed in his blue eyes, but that expression passed quickly, and in just a moment, Dumbledore returned to his original appearance.

Upon hearing this, Snape let out a noncommittal snort.

"What about Lobach?" he continued.

"Why do you care so much about him? Is he also in your plan?"

"No, on the contrary, that little boy was outside of my plans."

Dumbledore waved his hand, and the silverware on the desk began to rotate continuously, bringing up streams of silver-white smoke.

"He seemed to appear out of thin air, suddenly coming to Hogwarts from an orphanage. Do you know? After Voldemort's incident, any little wizard who came out of the orphanage was enough to attract my attention. .”

"Children who grew up in orphanages are likely to have learned the ways of the world at a very young age.

They know how to gain a person's trust and how to deceive others' sympathy.

Such people often do whatever it takes to achieve their goals because they have not experienced the warmth that this world brings. "

"Similarly, such people often develop greater ambitions after being exposed to magic, and eventually embark on a wrong path. This is something I cannot tolerate."

"So you let him enter the Forbidden Forest to test him?" Snape asked.

"Yes, this is indeed a test." Dumbledore nodded calmly.

"Judging from his current performance, I can only say that he is doing very well, which is far from what I imagined. He can cut off the back for a Gryffindor. In my opinion, this is quite a plus. ."

"Besides that, he also has real friends. In addition to the little Slytherin wizards, he still maintained a close relationship with a Muggle girl from Ravenclaw even after being sorted into Slytherin, a pure-blood supremacy. contact."

"This is very different from Voldemort, who never felt true friendship."

"Then why do you continue to test him?" Snape asked.

"I believe you can also feel that he has many secrets. To be honest, I am very curious about those secrets." Dumbledore blinked.

"Then why not just use Legilimency? It shouldn't be difficult for you to peek into the memory and make the other party unaware of it." Snape raised the corners of his mouth mockingly.

"No, of course I can't do that. In that case, what's the difference between me and Voldemort?" Dumbledore waved his hand.

"I can't do anything to achieve my goals. This is the biggest difference between me and Voldemort. Likewise, I hope you won't do the same." He warned seriously.

"Hmph! I have no interest in his secrets or those ridiculous memories in his mind."

................................................................. ..................................................

Naturally, Andros would not know about these conversations between Dumbledore and Snape.

He just felt that he had had a strange and long dream.

In his dream, he was traveling up a strange river.

It is said to be a river, but Andros can't see the shore at all. There are wide rivers on both sides of him, which makes this place not look like a river at all, but more like a large lake, or something. A wide and endless river.

But for some reason, he almost instinctively thought that he was in a river.

"What a weird thing!" Andros muttered softly, looking at everything around him curiously.

Then he was surprised to find that the water in this river was actually translucent pearly white!

This familiar color made Andros immediately think of the light on the ghosts in the castle.

The two are exactly the same.

Myself, am I dead?

Andros was startled by the sudden thought.

He lowered his head and wanted to check his body, but then, Andros was horrified to find that the strange river water was below him.

He couldn't even see his own body!

What's going on?

Where is my body?

Andros groped around randomly. This feeling was very strange. He could feel the presence of his body, but he could not intuitively see any signs of his body's presence through his eyes.

No!

Did he get his lunch so soon?

What a joke!

Shouldn't he be the first little wizard in history to die due to the release of fluorescent light?

Andros thought rather self-deprecatingly as he slowly flew toward the water below, as if he wanted to use the reflection on the water to see what he looked like now.

The river water that was constantly flowing forward created a few waves from time to time. Only then did Andros realize to his surprise that those waves were not water droplets.

Rather, it is a series of images that are constantly being projected.

That seems to be, memory?

Staring at the wave closest to him, Andros discovered that it was in a dense forest. Although it was dark all around, he recognized it at a glance. This was the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.

It was strange, how could I see the Forbidden Forest here?

Before Andros could think about it carefully, the camera changed again.

Along the familiar path, Andros once again saw the giant monster that had made him what he was now.

However, this time it seems different from before.

The originally ferocious and cruel monster now looked very dull. It hung its head and stood motionless. Even the big wooden stick in its hand that never left its body was casually thrown aside at this moment.

What's happening here?

Andros observed carefully and finally found a man standing on the edge of the low bushes in front of the giant monster. Compared with the obvious giant monster, the figure that almost blended into the woods was inconspicuous.

Judging from his body shape, he should be an adult wizard. He was wearing a large cloak and a hood on his head that completely covered his face.

He held a wand in his hand and was pointing something at the troll in front of him.

Although there was no sound, Andros had a rough guess.

Is he trying to control the troll?

But who would control a troll?

Wait a moment!

As if a bolt of lightning struck Andros's mind, he suddenly thought of a possibility.

This giant monster must not have been prepared by Quirrell!

In the first grade or even all the plots of the original work, he seems to be the only one who can have some connection with the troll.

Moreover, if he remembered correctly, Quirrell seemed quite proud to mention that he had great experience in dealing with trolls.

That troll might really have something to do with him!

The more Andros thought about it, the more likely it became.

It's almost Halloween now. Could it be that the giant monster that Ron and I bumped into by mistake was the one that Quirrell put into the castle during the Halloween dinner in the original book?

Yes, he must be prepared in advance, otherwise it would be impossible to go to the woods to look for the troll at that time.

He must have arranged the prepared trolls in the Forbidden Forest, but he didn't expect that he and Ron would accidentally discover them.

Andros kept thinking in his mind. He didn't notice that as time passed, his body was getting closer and closer to the strange river below.

When he finally came to his senses, the river water had reached his mouth.

"Woooooo~"

Although Andros struggled hard, it had no effect, and soon, the river water completely wiped his head.After a wave appeared, Andros could no longer be seen above the river.

....................................

Andros only felt that he was falling from a high altitude, falling continuously.

There was darkness all around him, with a few rays of light flashing from time to time, but they fell so fast that Andros couldn't see what they were.

What followed was a strong sense of suffocation and weightlessness.

....

"Hooah~hoah~hoo"

With the sound of violent breathing, Andros sat up suddenly, and the bright room revealed a pungent smell of disinfectant.

Not dead?

He lowered his head and groped with his hands frantically on his body. The solid touch of every part of his body made Andros sigh in relief.

He is not dead, nor is he missing any arms or legs.

Where is this?

Andros raised his head and found himself sitting on a bed, covered with a white quilt.

This place looked like a ward in a hospital. In addition to the pungent smell of disinfectant, Andros also found many single beds similar to the one under him. They were arranged in an orderly manner, and the bedding Folded very neatly.

This seems to be the school hospital?

Relying on his previous memories, Andros recalled it all at once.

He had been here twice, once to take Neville, who was covered in boils, for treatment and to skip Potions class, and another time because he fell off an out-of-control broomstick.

So, was he dreaming just now?

The memory of that weird dream faded like a tide, but there was no time for Andros to continue thinking.

"you're awake?"

A gentle female voice, revealing worry and care, came from the other end of the school hospital.