HP: Embrace the Darkness

"Reasonable and reasonable, very reasonable, Uncle Joel. I remember that Asseth opened the floo network with the manor in the cellar. Now maybe the owner of the letter is here. No, I have to confirm."

Not only was she thinking of sending a letter to Snape, but also to avoid Joel who almost jumped to her waist, Susanna ran away from the study.

Before she could run two steps, she met Nina who came upstairs to report the news. When Nina saw her, she quickened her pace.

"Miss Susanna, below -"

Before Nina could finish speaking, Susanna waved her hand to interrupt her, "I know what you are going to say. I'll go down now and you go tell Uncle Joel."

After saying that, she ran away quickly, leaving Nina with only her disappearing back.

"S...Professor Snape, it's really you!"

Susanna cried with joy, jumped down the stairs from the second floor, flashed in front of Snape, and stuffed the letter into his hand, crying loudly while stuffing it.

"Okay, okay, finally the property is back to its original owner, and I can sleep well. Professor Snape, don't you know that I look at this pile of letters every day and can't sleep at all. I always feel like Arthur is standing with a knife. I want to chop me in front of my bed, and if you don’t come, I will stay up all night and die.”

Susanna spoke too fast, and her lung capacity was so good that she didn't need to ventilate at all. After the conversation, Snape and Dumbledore couldn't get a word in.

"Suzanne, what are you talking about?"

Aces's voice came from the stairs.

Susanna froze, and the fear of saying bad things and being caught emerged spontaneously.

But soon, she realized that the only one in the manor now was Joel, who had drunk Polyjuice Potion.

So... the fear became stronger, and she quickly stood still and acted as a silent statue.

Joel walked down the stairs, with the same gentle smile on his lips as Artes, and nodded slightly to Dumbledore and Snape below.

Dumbledore also greeted with a smile: "Professor Cavendish, it turns out you are at the manor. Looking at those letters, we thought..."

Before he could finish his words, Snape suddenly interrupted him, "You're not him, who are you?"

Joel's movement down the stairs was stuck because of Snape's words. He looked down suspiciously to see what was wrong with him, and then looked at Snape curiously.

"I am indeed not Asseth. Let me introduce myself. I am currently the butler of Cavendish Manor. You can call me Joel."

Joel nodded to the two of them in his own capacity.

"Mr. Snape, I know you." After greeting him, Joel narrowed his eyes meaningfully, "Can you tell me where the flaw is?"

Snape pursed his lips, not knowing how to explain Joel's question.

Joel's imitation was actually quite good, but the only thing wrong was the way he looked at him. The way Artes looked at him was always different from the way he looked at other people.

Fortunately, Joel had no intention of getting to the bottom of it.

Anyway, the protagonist of the speech is the Queen, so no one will focus on his mistakes, not to mention that other people probably don't know Asseth that well.

"It's hard to answer? Then let me change the question. What's the matter with the two of you suddenly coming to the manor?"

Joel pays more attention to the sense of ceremony in his heart, and he is a German who is famous for his rigor, so he does not like guests who visit hastily.

Now his attitude toward Dumbledore and Snape was the friendliest he could, and this was due to Snape's authority in the manor.

"Cough cough cough cough!"

Susanna coughed desperately to remind Joel not to be too indifferent. Snape might be another owner of the manor in the future. The situation was so tense now, and communication would be more awkward then.

"Do you want me to send you to learn etiquette again?" Joel warned in Ass's face.

Suzanne's coughing stopped abruptly.

She stopped too suddenly, and the breath she was about to cough out was stuck in her throat.

A few seconds later, she broke out into an earth-shattering cough, clutching her chest and unable to stop.

Joel: "..."

He couldn't bear to look away, and the seriousness on his face disappeared due to Susanna's interruption.

"I received a letter from Professor Cavendish, but the message in the letter was vague, so we came to find Professor Cavendish."

Seeing that Snape started to act dumb again when faced with this problem, Dumbledore took over the responsibility of explaining.

Joel's expression improved a lot when he heard that Dumbledore and the others were here about Artes' letter.

"If you come to see the young master, please come back. The young master is not in the manor."

The strange color in Dumbledore's eyes flashed away, and he changed his words without leaving any trace.

"Can I ask where he is? His appointment is this afternoon."

"When did you receive the letter?"

Joel looked at Dumbledore and asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"When did you receive it? About two days ago." Dumbledore thought for a while and replied.

Joel and Suzanne frowned at the same time.

"In fact, we received the last letter from Asseth two days ago." Susanna rarely put away her playful attitude, and her eyes became serious.

"The same goes for the letter that Professor Snape received. I forgot to mention that Artes asked me to deliver the letter, so I have Professor Snape's letter in my hand."

"The letter was not sent because I couldn't find the address. Artes had previously sealed up the information about...Professor Snape, so I couldn't see it. He didn't give me the address either, and the owl couldn't find it either."

"I opened the magic circle he left behind."

Snape's heart suddenly tightened, and his hand holding the letter unconsciously tightened.

"That's no wonder, but there's no need to worry."

Susanna glanced at Snape's hand and forced a reassuring smile on her face.

"We have alchemy equipment to monitor Artes' vital signs. He is still alive. Maybe he just can't find time to write a letter for the time being. After all, he..."

Susanna realized that she had said too much, and quickly covered her mouth with both hands, looking tremblingly at Joel, who was already glaring at her.

"Can you tell me...what he's doing?"

Dumbledore, who had been watching for a long time, trimmed his beard in surprise.

This was definitely the softest tone he had ever heard from Snape, but it turned out that the tone was not directed at him, but at Susanna.

It was also the first time for Susanna to receive such a gentle attitude from the Potions Master.

Her eyes widened in flattery, her eyes rolling, and she secretly determined to help Snape dig out the whereabouts of Artes even if it meant digging.

She must not let her down!

"Uncle Joel——"

Susanna drawled her voice, sat down with her knees folded obediently, and blinked at Joel.

Joel squinted at her.

"Don't beg me, I can't bear it. Let me remind you one more thing. Even if you don't beg, he still has the authority to know, and he can know more things than you. After all, you are really difficult to reassure people."

Suzanne rolled her eyes resentfully and quietly spoke up for the unfair treatment she received.