Snakes at Hogwarts

Late at night, a special visitor arrived outside the principal's office on the eighth floor of the castle.

Wearing a black robe, which swayed as he walked, he quickly walked to the door of the principal's office, leaving a series of clicks in the empty and quiet corridor on the eighth floor.

The burning torch outside the stone wall of the Headmaster's Office illuminated the visitor's face, it was Snape.

"Password."

"Sizzling honey candy," Snape said gloomily.

Ignoring the gargoyle statue guarding the door of the principal's office, Snape entered the open stone door on his own. He quickly walked up the spiral staircase, and then opened the door with a bang. Dumbledore was sitting in the large The principal stood behind the desk and looked at him with interest.

"It's good to see you no longer wearing the hood, Severus."

"However, it would be great if you could knock on the door and take care of me, an elderly man." Dumbledore spread his hands, a pair of bright blue eyes shining behind his half-moon glasses. Generate light.

"You rarely come over so late. What happened?"

"Something happened tonight, and I feel the need to report it to you." Snape's face became increasingly gloomy, like the sky before a storm.

"Why don't you sit down and talk, Severus. I think you must be exhausted." Dumbledore gestured with his eyes to Snape to sit on the chair opposite the Headmaster's desk.

"What happened?" He asked with interest after Snape sat down.

"About ten minutes ago, several Slytherin students sneaked out of the dormitory. The student you asked me to pay attention to, Andros Lobach, was also among this group of people."

It seemed that Andros and the others did not know that they had alerted Snape when they slipped out of the lounge. This was the second time that he had discovered Andros' night walks.

Andros still knew nothing about this. As a skilled former dark wizard, Snape really had too many means to ensure that he would not be discovered by Andros and the others.

"Our students are always so energetic, don't you think so, Severus?" Dumbledore waved his hand gently, and the exquisite silverware placed on the table emitted circles of silver-white smoke.

The mist rose above the table, entwined, intertwined and transformed into vivid little animals, jumping happily on the table.

This made Snape's face grow darker.

"I have no interest in watching you play these tricks to fool children, and in my opinion, the reason why these guys are so energetic is purely because the homework assigned by the professor is too simple and pitiful." He looked towards Dumbledore's thin, waxy face was frighteningly cold.

"No offense intended, please forgive me for an old man having a little unknown hobby."

Dumbledore waved his hand gently, and the small animals that were still flapping immediately turned into clouds of mist again, and returned to the silverware that was still spinning.

This is undoubtedly a very clever alchemical product. It may have a more subtle use, but it was just used as a toy for fun by Dumbledore.

"They are only 11 years old, Severus. It is the age when they are curious about everything. It is completely understandable that they are energetic. Do you remember what you were like when you were 11 years old? Time flies so fast," Dumbledore said with emotion.

However, after noticing Snape's ugly expression, he wisely ended the topic. Obviously, the man sitting opposite him did not want to recall his childhood.

"Please go on, what happened next and where they went," he asked.

"I followed them all the way to the trophy display room on the fourth floor, and then witnessed a ridiculous duel between Draco Malfoy, Potter, and Ron Weasley." Snape's description was fairly objective. , and did not unabashedly take sides.

"Forget about the duel, it's just a fight between children. You don't have to be so nervous."

"Who's going to say this? Do you think I would care about the childish and ridiculous dueling tricks of these stupid guys who can't even cast spells well?"

"After that, they met Filch who was on night watch. In order to avoid Filch's pursuit, these guys fled all the way, and finally escaped into the room on the fourth floor that contained the thing."

"You mean, they entered the corridor on the far right of the fourth floor, right?"

Feeling Snape's gaze, Dumbledore stared at him calmly, his blue eyes cleverly hidden behind a pair of half-moon glasses, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"I guess, if there's nothing wrong with my ability to express myself, that's what I meant."

Snape looked directly into Dumbledore's eyes.

As an excellent Occlumency master, he has sufficient confidence in himself. Unless he forcibly breaks through the mental barrier in his mind with magic, no one can peek into his consciousness.

Even the greatest wizard of the age, Albus Dumbledore, was like this.

This is one of the reasons why he was able to survive in Voldemort's camp as a double agent.

You know, this is a magical world, not an Infernal Affairs Hong Kong movie world where police and gangsters send spies to each other.

Whether he is an undercover agent or not, and whether he has any alien intentions, can be known with a simple Legilimency.

It is not easy to deceive the clever Voldemort.

The great thing about Snape is that he can construct false memories in his mind to fool Voldemort's Legilimency thought check.

This requires thinking of superb means and extraordinary talent.

...

"You don't seem nervous at all"

There was a brief silence in the principal's room. After looking at each other for a long time, Snape couldn't help but ask.

"Hagrid trained the three-headed dog very well. I checked it myself, so I didn't worry about it hurting the children. They would only be shocked at most.

I have to say, Hagrid is really good at these magical creatures. I have been thinking about letting him take over the post of Professor of Care of Magical Creatures after old Kettleburn leaves. What do you think about this, Severus? "

He actually wanted to change the subject

"Don't change the subject, Dumbledore." Snape's hooked nose was almost crooked with anger. Dumbledore's rambling way of talking made him feel that Occlumency was unable to control his anger.

"What I'm saying is that by now the energetic guys must have figured out there's something great hidden there."

"With their curiosity enough to kill themselves, they will definitely try their best to find out what kind of secrets it contains."

There was a hint of worry in Snape's ever-changing tone.

"So what, don't be nervous, Severus, they can't even get past the first level. The three-headed dog owned by Hagrid is enough to keep them out."

"What's more, there are still levels arranged by the professors. You also arranged one, didn't you? They have no chance to touch the innermost things, Severus."

"That's the best. I just don't want them to be involved in this."

After taking a look at the portrait of the principal pretending to sleep behind Dumbledore, Snape finally said nothing more on this issue.

"Do you think that person will be fooled? What if we have arranged it for so long, but he is indifferent to it." Snape changed the topic.

"Believe me, Tom doesn't think he can withstand the temptation of the Philosopher's Stone. I think he has already started to act now. Everything is just as we planned. He will pounce there and then find that it is just a carefully packaged stone." trap."

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Dumbledore cut off the topic abruptly.

"Tell me about that kid, Andros Lobacher, what do you think of him?"

"What aspect are you referring to?"

"All, you know, Severus, this may be the first time I have such a great interest in a student." Dumbledore winked mischievously.

"Minerva told me that Lobach has considerable talent in the art of transfiguration."

"Humph, it's just a little clever." Snape curled his lips contemptuously.

"What does he do every day?" Dumbledore asked.

"You know, I can't pay attention to him around the clock, and I can't put so much thought on a first-year brat." After Dumbledore nodded in agreement, Snape continued.

"However, according to my observations during the limited time I was there, Lobach's life schedule seems to be quite regular. In his spare time, he is either reading in the library or finding an empty classroom to practice magic. He rarely does anything else. .”

"To be honest, I have never seen a young wizard work so hard at his age. It's as if something is urging him to work hard to become stronger all the time." Snape frowned, Andros showed He doesn't look like a little wizard who just turned 11 years old.

"Yes, yes, this may be because Mr. Lobach has a past that is difficult to forget, which makes him so precocious." Dumbledore squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and then continued to ask.

"How does he get along with other people?"

"The Slytherins in the same grade basically recognize him. In addition to having deep friendships with several Slytherins, he also seems to have a close relationship with a little Muggle girl in Ravenclaw."

Snape rolled his eyes, wondering if he was remembering something. His face had always maintained that emotionless paralysis, making it impossible to detect any information from his face.

"Hey, don't those Slytherins know about his relationship with that Muggle girl?"

"I don't know about that, I'm like, maybe they're not focusing on that."

"It's really interesting. Tell me about other things. What else do you know?"

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