The Lotus closed the door of the carriage, and Harry still covered the place where he had just been kissed by Lotus, stunned to look at the golden wand crosswise in the form of a cross on the door, for a long time, he still didn't snap out of it.
"Hmph!"
"What's wrong?"
Suddenly, Harry heard a sharp "Humph!" from Hermione, who was angry, and turned his head, looking at her in confusion.
"Endless taste?"
Hermione looked pouty, giving the carriage a fierce stare with a sarcastic tone.
"If you miss her so much, why don't you knock on the door and ask if she's willing to give a kiss on your cheek as well!"
"Oh..."
Harry blushed after getting back to his senses and was full of grievances. It wasn't something he asked for, not to mention that Lotus suddenly came with that quick move who could react.
"Are we supposed to see Professor Brian again?"
Harry thought thoughtfully, "The girls' hearts are truly strange." But he didn't continue the topic rationally. Now that his relationship with Ron was in a stalemate, he cherished his friendship with Hermione even more, so he awkwardly changed the subject.
"Why?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.
"We should go back and inform Professor Brian that we've completed the task," Harry said as if it were only natural, "and Lotus told us to pass on our gratitude to Professor Brian for us."
Before he could finish, Harry knew he was in trouble. He was annoyed with himself for mentioning Lotus again. Although he didn't know where Lotus had upset Hermione, Hermione dropped a "hopeless" in a low voice after running angrily to the castle.
For Harry, the journey back was more difficult than coming, because an angry Hermione refused to walk side by side with him, and he had to support the Invisibility Cloak for both of them. So, it was a difficult run, following Hermione with his hands awkwardly outstretched to hold the cloak, stumbling forward.
However, when they entered the castle and walked into the illuminated rooms, Harry accidentally stepped on a small puddle and suddenly lost his balance, letting out a loud scream as he fell forward, landing on top of Hermione who had also fallen to the ground.
"Who's there?"
Before they could even make a scream, a cold, stern voice suddenly came from behind the angular corner of the castle's lobby, on the left side. Harry and Hermione instinctively curled up into balls, covering themselves completely with the Invisibility Cloak. Then, they each covered their mouths tightly to make no sound.
Professor Brian had already said that if they were caught by other professors or prefects, he would not come to their rescue!
"Who is eavesdropping there!"
Suddenly, the angular building behind them suddenly shone with a lactose light, illuminating a stern face. However, before they saw this face, Harry and Hermione had already confirmed who was hiding there through their voices. The voice belonged to one of the teachers at Hogwarts, whom Harry hated the most.
Severus Snape!
Seeing Snape with his wand pointing forward, looking alert, Harry and Hermione exchanged a terrified glance. Though the wet grass and mud on the ground were cold and piercing, they dared not make a sound, instead shrinking their bodies even smaller.
"Don't try to deceive me, I've already seen you!"
Snape approached cautiously, raising his wand to make a sweeping gesture, trying to figure out who had made the sound.
Harry saw through Snape's bluff. Indeed, his Invisibility Cloak was not perfect, and he had indeed encountered someone who could see through the disguise. But fortunately, Snape did not have that ability.
"Don't look for it, Severus--"
At this moment, another voice in the dark nearly scared Harry and Hermione to jump up.
It was the headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkarov!
His silver fur coat shone brilliantly under the firelight in the entrance hall, but his expression was one of impatience.
"Maybe it's just a fox that accidentally broke its leg when running out of the woods--"
Karkarov walked up to Snape and said from behind him.
Harry saw a clear twitch of Snape's mouth. He walked around the lawn, looking for something that had caused the noise, but perhaps because Harry had been in a bad mood today, he finally turned his luck. Snape never came over to them, otherwise, he would have seen their footprints on the lawn.
"Don't waste time, Severus. What are you calling me here for?"
Karkarov said again in an impatient tone.
Hermione blinked her eyes, realizing from Karkarov's words that it was Snape who had invited him first, and then the two of them would meet here. But how could these two people be related? And how could Snape Professor, the headmaster of Durmstrang, address his surname to Karkarov?
At that moment, Hermione's face changed slightly. She suddenly realized a possibility--Remus told her earlier that the headmaster of Durmstrang was a Death Eater, and there had been some bad rumors about Professor Snape himself.
Unable to find any clues, Snape seemed resigned. He extinguished the light from his wand and straightened up to face Karkarov.
"I have something to ask you, Igor. As a former friend, I hope you can tell me the truth. You know that lies cannot stand in front of me."
"What do you want to know?"
Harry perked up his ears, trying to overcome the howling wind sounds. He was equally curious about this question. However, when he truly heard what Snape asked, he was so surprised that his heart even paused for a moment. He looked at Hermione and found that she looked equally startled.
"Hermione Granger, the silly little girl who was chosen as the second champion of Hogwarts, Igor, is this really your doing?"
Harry was too curious to know the answer, he couldn't help but lift his head, taking a look at Karkarov who was facing them with the dim firelight. However, what he saw was a face with sheer mockery on it.
"Is this a joke, Severus?"
Karkarov opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated manner,
"Are you questioning me? This is absurd! I put the name of that little brat into the Fire Cup, why would I do that, to add competition for myself?"
Snape remained unmoved. His eyes were sharp and piercing.
"Don't you think, when we discussed this that night, the arguments of Professor Brian and Moody were quite interesting?"
It could be seen that Karkarov had thoroughly considered the predictions of Professor Brian and Moody. He didn't think Snape's question was out of place, but he still passionately defended himself.
"That's just absurd, Severus! It's too absurd!"
Karkarov was so angry that he walked back and forth in front of Snape, and then suddenly stopped, glaring at Snape in anger.
"You actually think I would do..."
It seems that Karkarov realized that his reputation might not be the best, so he interrupted the original explanation and changed to a different one,
"I was with my students all night, Severus. They can vouch for me!"
"Are you sure you found time to leave and wander around the castle?" Snape said coldly. "On a whim?"
Harry had never felt Snape to be this hard-nosed before, even though Snape was facing away from him, Harry could still feel the sharp eyes Snape had at that moment. He was pressing him step by step, trying to break through his psychological defense. But at the same time, a hint of confusion also emerged in Harry's heart.
From these questions, it was evident that Snape was not the culprit who had persecuted Hermione. But why did he insist on investigating this matter? Was it a command from Professor Brian or Headmaster Dumbledore? Because they knew that Snape and Karkarov had once served under Voldemort and had a special relationship, so they ordered him to ask about it?
Karkarov was so angry that he almost laughed.
"Is it really that you have lost your former keenness because of the comfortable life at Hogwarts, Severus? What should I do? Just walk into the entrance hall and throw in a name I've never seen before?"
"You, of course, won't dare to do this in front of your face, Igor--"
Snape took a step forward, his gaze locked on Karkarov's eyes, and the cold, piercing light in his own eyes made Karkarov instinctively flinch.
"There's a wonderful coincidence. That very night when you and the people from Borgin and Botts arrived at Hogwarts, some things were stolen from my storage room. Powder of Unicorns, skin of African Tree Snakes. Do you know what they're used for, Igor? Of course, it does take some time to make them, but there are always ways to speed things up if you plan ahead."
(The End of This Chapter)
