The office of the head of Slytherin House and the professor of Potions at Hogwarts School of Magic is located underground, perhaps because of the constant dampness and darkness over the years, the air is always filled with an indistinguishable musty smell. In addition to various magical potion ingredients used for different kinds of plants and animals, it is difficult for anyone to fall in love with the smell here.
Ah-choo--
Standing outside the office door, Amortest sneezed from the smell that seeped through the crack in the door, rubbing his nose and muttering dissatisfaction with a grumble. Without knocking, he directly lifted the protective spell from the office with a spell.
The gloomy, greenish light emanated from the open doorway, coming from a pile of herbal liquids bubbling with animal and plant specimens on the wall. Professor Snape turned his head, giving Amortest a look without any expression.
"I still prefer the way you acted when you were a student at Hogwarts, Amortast; much more polite than you are now..."
"That was because of necessity, Professor --" Amortast calmly placed his wand back into his sleeve, "Actually, I don't particularly like formalities."
Snape snorted coldly and continued grinding the lion spine in the pot on the table into powder.
It seems Professor Snape is indeed in a bad mood. Amortast chuckled and walked past him, entering the small storage compartment for potions with practiced ease, curiously eyeing the various valuable potion ingredients.
"Um, are they new stocks?"
Gazing at the full potion ingredients, Amortast curiously pulled out a small glass bottle from the middle and inspected it under the dim light.
"Wow, Salamandra pouch herb! Look at the perfect condition; it must be from the original source, not some ill-mannered wizards from Algiers breeding it in their bathtubs. This one is not cheap!"
"Put that down, Amortast. That's for the seventh-grade students who are preparing for the NEWTS exam."
Snape didn't turn his head and said coldly.
Alright...
With a flick of his lip, Amortast put the glass bottle back far away and looked around carelessly before turning to leave. Over there, Professor Snape had already finished handling the materials for the lesson and was washing his hands in the pool.
"What about that woman?"
When Snape returned to the table, he found Amortast had somehow found a bottle of vitality tonic and had gulped it down in a few swallows, now smacking his lips with obvious satisfaction.
Witnessing this scene, Professor Snape's thin lips twitched, and after taking a deep breath, he suppressed the urge to send someone away and suddenly asked an abrupt question.
"I know many women, Professor --" Amortast said, raising an eyebrow, "Which one are you referring to?"
"The one who brought you to fame, briefly overshadowing our esteemed headmaster," Snape said without acknowledging Amortast's joke, his tone cool and composed.
"According to the newspaper, that woman is a black witch from Albania, and you tried to send her to prison but failed. In recent years, it's more difficult to find the truth from her than from the mouth of any criminal who escaped Azkaban."
Amortast took a few seconds to realize who "the criminal's son" from Azkaban was referring to, and he chuckled a few times before answering the question, but instead, he asked:
"Did you not go to ask Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"Dumbledore said she knew nothing," Snape looked at Amortast's face with a sharp gaze, "He told me only you can answer this question."
"Some of what the Daily Prophet has reported about us comes from me. I did indeed attempt to capture her, and she did escape from me, but it didn't happen in Albania. And as for what grievances we have with each other, that's just a little private secret of mine, Professor --"
The only reason Professor Snape was interested in Vitória Cleonara was confirmed by his next words, which also validated Amortast's guess.
"Does that woman serve the Dark Lord?" Snape continued to ask.
"Why would anyone have such a suspicion?" Amortast pursed his lips and looked into Snape's eyes with an inquiring gaze, but the emotions hidden behind those dark eyes remained shrouded in mist, making it difficult to discern their true nature.
"Did Headmaster Dumbledore reveal anything to you?"
Amortast had originally thought that Headmaster Dumbledore had told Snape something, but that evening, Vitória had appeared in Harry's compartment first and loudly tried to take Harry away. This led Snape Professor to suspect something. However, from Snape's reaction when he heard his question, his unconsciously shrinking of his sleeves, it seems that this was not the case.
"Was the mark activated that night?"
Amortast glanced at Professor Snape's arm, then looked away and continued to ask.
Professor Snape's body stiffened for a moment, and he tried to avoid the question subconsciously, not sure why. He was slightly resistant to discussing the black mark on his arm in front of Amortast, but in the end, he overcame this obstacle. With a very faint arc of his head, he nodded weakly, and his tone became dark and serious.
"Just as I had Apparated home that night, the mark on my arm had a violent reaction for the first time in years. I thought the Dark Lord was hiding in my house--"
Recalling that moment of palpitations, Snape's breathing rhythm unconsciously rippled. He stared at Amortast's calm face and said,
After checking every corner of my house and finding no flaws, I immediately rushed to Hogwarts to report to Dumbledore. But Millicent told me that Dumbledore had just received an invitation from the Minister of Magic. It wasn't until the next day that I learned about what had happened that night from the newspaper."
Professor Snape turned ashen.
"Professor Dumbledore didn't want to say much, but the Daily Prophet basically reported on the duel between you and that woman, and also, the duel between you and the witch who was your final opponent..."
Snape's fist hidden in his sleeve was tightly clenched, and he had pursed his lips tightly, as if his breath had frozen.
"I understand him, Amortast. He wouldn't risk it with such an ineffective attack. What's he up to!"
Sirius Black, Remus, and Professor Snape are all elite members of the British magical community, but just a whiff of the wind caused their minds to be unbalanced one by one. It can be imagined how much hardship they endured under Voldemort.
Dumbledore doesn't want to talk to Snape either, I suspect he's seen that they need some time to ease their minds.
"The witch I duelled on the field is a new recruit of the Dark Lord. I'm not sure why they teamed up, but it definitely wasn't because of the Dark Lord's charm. That night, the masked wizard who first appeared on the pitch was just an idiot looking to cause chaos, while Cleonara. She wanted to kidnap Harry--"
Snape's face paled subtly. This news was something he hadn't known before.
"--From some evidence, it can be inferred that the kidnapping of Harry during the Quidditch final was not carried out by the Dark Lord himself, and he risked appearing in public view to save his newly recruited and valuable assistant from my grasp--"
When Amortast left the basement, Snape was still in a daze. He probably had already guessed that the Dark Lord was preparing to return to the crowd at any cost, which forced him to confront his past that he had been avoiding for over a decade.
As evening fell, the drizzle became relentless, and after midnight, it rampaged once more. The howling winds and surging waves made Hogwarts seem like it was falling into a abyss, and outside, it was so dark that nothing could be seen.
Dumbledore had changed into his pyjamas and was sitting in a chair behind his desk reading, aside from him, the portraits of the previous headmasters on the walls and the fox perched on a golden branch had already fallen asleep.
Dumbledore seemed to have expected Amortast's arrival, but when Amortast threw a pile of materials on his desk, there was a hint of weariness on the old man's face. And when Amortast spoke his first sentence, Headmaster Dumbledore's expression turned from weariness to confusion.
"Have you ever considered making Hogwarts independent, Headmaster Dumbledore?"
(Chapter completed)
