Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 153 Unexpected Destruction

Snape's hand, holding the wand, froze in mid-air. He felt a chill run down his spine, as if his very soul had been examined, but his body remained unharmed.

McGonagall, Professor Flitwick… everyone in the restaurant felt the terrifying cold the instant the flames passed through their bodies.

The panicked screams stopped abruptly, replaced by hesitant, gasping breaths.

However, the brief moment of relief was quickly shattered by sounds coming from deep within the ship's hold. Perhaps from the lower storage compartments or the temporary prisoner-holding area, came a series of piercing, distorted screams.

The sound, filled with indescribable pain and despair, pierced through the decks and echoed clearly in the now quiet restaurant.

The group, who had just recovered from the hallucinatory flames, turned pale with fright at the eerie voice and looked down at the floor beneath their feet in terror.

Mundungus was jolted awake, and his wobbly chair tumbled backward, landing awkwardly on the ground.

"Merlin's tattered socks!" he cursed under his breath, scrambling to his feet. With a trembling hand, he fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a grimy black pipe, which he stuffed into his mouth without a second glance. His other hand trembled as he reached for his wand to light it.

But before he could even point his wand at the pipe, he met Grindelwald's casually sweeping gaze. The pipe fell with a "thud" from his pale lips onto the cold floor, rolled twice, and came to a stop. He stood there, petrified.

Fortunately, the piercing screams did not last long.

Just seconds later, the sound vanished silently, as if its throat had been snapped. Only something deep inside the cabin seemed to be burning softly with crackling sounds.

"Professor McGonagall!" Hagrid exclaimed in shock. "That's where the captured Death Eaters are being held!"

“That’s not all…” Professor McGonagall’s face turned extremely grim. She had only thought of the students, faculty, and members of the Order of the Phoenix, completely forgetting the prisoners who had been disarmed, bound, and imprisoned in the lower decks.

“There are several other places…” She and the Order of the Phoenix, still gripping their wands tightly, their faces drained of color, cried out in a trembling voice, “Stoj Podmore, he’s still down there too…”

Grindelwald ignored the panic of the crowd and Professor McGonagall's words. A faint smile remained on his face.

Grindelwald twirled his wand gracefully: like a receding tide, the cold blue flames surged back from all directions at an astonishing speed, flooding back into the restaurant.

They were more refined and ferocious than when they left, their color had deepened to a dark black, and their form had condensed from an overwhelming sea of ​​fire into a lifelike, powerful blue fire dragon.

"Are you talking about him?" Grindelwald's voice finally rang out.

Only then did everyone notice that the indigo dragon's claws, gleaming with a cold light, were gripping a limp human figure. The person's eyes were closed, and their face was pale, but their chest was still rising and falling slightly, clearly indicating they were not dead. It was none other than Stogwie Podmore, a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Stoj!" Professor McGonagall and several members of the Order of the Phoenix were overjoyed, almost unable to believe their eyes. They had just been immersed in the grief and anger of losing their companion, but Grindelwald had brought him back unharmed.

"So many people in the restaurant, and you can all be considered our own? That's impressive," Grindelwald said softly. "However," his gaze swept over Professor McGonagall and the others, "not only did you leave the enemy alive, but you didn't even notice that there were people hiding on the ship? And you even locked your own people with those scum?"

“I think he might be under the Imperius Curse,” Professor McGonagall explained, her voice tinged with relief. “It was Stodgi who threw smoke bombs and created chaos in the corridor earlier; we thought he was a traitor.”

“The Imperius Curse?” Grindelwald scoffed. “You should probably teach him how to defend against such a third-rate trick.” He waved his wand again, and the fire dragon claw that was gripping Stoj loosened its grip, causing Stoj’s body to fall to the ground.

Professor McGonagall immediately rushed forward, carefully caught him, and checked his condition.

Grindelwald seemed to have achieved his goal and was preparing to reabsorb the circling blue dragon. However, the moment he gave the order, a sudden change occurred.

Instead of obeying the command, the dragon suddenly circled in the air. Its head, burning with cold blue flames, turned towards Snape, its empty yet determined eyes locking onto him.

It let out a silent roar, opened its massive jaws filled with fangs, brandished its sharp, fiery claws, and pounced on Snape.

"Severus!"

Another gasp of surprise erupted.

Lily and the others closest to Snape didn't hesitate for a moment; several red Stunning Charms instantly shot towards Grindelwald. Pandora reacted even faster, reaching for her waist and hurling a tightly closed, biting cabbage directly at Grindelwald.

Faced with the incoming spell and the dangerous plant, Grindelwald merely frowned slightly. He drew a semicircle in front of him with his wand. An invisible barrier instantly appeared, and the Stunning Spell vanished upon impact.

At the same time, he swiftly reached out with his other hand and caught the biting cabbage that flew towards him.

The cabbage struggled violently in his hand, its leaves suddenly opening to reveal sharp, serrated teeth, and it bit down hard on the sleeve of his robe.

At the same time, the blue fire dragon pounced on Snape, and the icy flames instantly engulfed him completely.

As before, Snape's body was not set on fire.

But the instant he was enveloped by the blue flames, his expression changed drastically. He felt the inside of his robe, where Riddle's diary was hidden, suddenly become unusually hot.

A terrible, prolonged scream, piercing everyone's eardrums and filled with venom and despair, erupted from Snape's chest. The sound was so sharp it seemed to tear the soul apart.

The sudden scream made everyone stop what they were doing and turn to look at Snape, who was enveloped in blue flames.

Even the biting cabbage that was clinging tightly to Grindelwald's sleeve seemed to be stunned by the pain contained in the scream. It released its sharp teeth, fell to the ground with a thud, and its leaves quickly closed up.

Immediately afterwards, thick, black liquid began to seep wildly from the fabric of Snape's robes. It spread and flowed rapidly, meandering down his black robes and dripping onto the wooden deck of the dining room with a chilling sound.

As the ink flowed out, the fire-breathing dragon enveloping Snape seemed to have completed its mission, and flapped its enormous wings made of flames with satisfaction.

Its cold dragon eyes swept over the ever-expanding black stain on the ground one last time, then transformed into a streak of light and disappeared back into the tip of Grindelwald's wand. Snape stood amidst the chaos, his robes stained in large patches, a small pool of ink emitting a faint black aura at his feet.

"Oh no," only one thought crossed his mind, "Tom's diary has been destroyed... This is too unexpected..." He instinctively reached into his robe to see what had become of the diary.

“Leave it there,” Grindelwald said, his voice unusually stern, stopping him. He looked at the strange pool of ink at Snape’s feet, cleaned up the mess, and then asked, “Severus, you carry this kind of thing with you everywhere?” He clearly recognized what the ink and the screams from the Fiendfire meant.

“Uh…” Snape felt the shocked, confused, and even slightly fearful looks from those around him, and chose to explain in as understated a tone as possible, “It was just a small dark magic item. Used for personal research.”

He had no choice but to accept the fact that the diary had been destroyed, and sighed inwardly, "Oh well, this is the third one, I'll just consider it an early destruction."

Grindelwald said nothing more. He gently tapped the plant on the ground, the one that had bitten his sleeve, with the tip of his wand, and the cabbage floated up, flying steadily to Pandora's side.

Pandora blushed slightly, silently took back her "weapon," and carefully put it back into her robe.

“Keep it safe, little girl.” Grindelwald looked at her, his tone softening somewhat. “It’s wrong to litter; it’s not good if you hit one of your own people.”

After speaking, he calmly put away his wand, looked at everyone, and his gentle smile returned to his face.

"Alright, everyone. The troublesome problem has been resolved." He cleared his throat and said calmly, "Now, shouldn't dinner begin?"

He even leisurely glanced at the magic clock in the corner of the restaurant, then turned his gaze to the group of house-elves still huddled against the wall, trembling with fear, and added in a reassuring tone: "Oh, by the way, don't worry, it's very clean down there, it won't add any extra work for you."

You can imagine the atmosphere at dinner.

The house-elves served up roast chicken, stew, and other dishes that smelled incredibly tempting, but in this oppressive atmosphere, most people found them tasteless. Even the sound of knives and forks clattering against plates seemed particularly jarring.

The students kept their heads down, their eyes shifting between the food and their teachers. Eileen looked at Snape with concern, while Professor Flitwick anxiously poked at a potato; only Mundungus, seemingly unfazed by the shock, buried his head and wolfed down his food, making loud chewing noises.

At the faculty table, Grindelwald seemed detached from the situation. He ate his meal with elegant manners and meticulous movements.

Seeing his nonchalant demeanor, Snape finally couldn't help but turn his head and lower his voice to Grindelwald beside him, saying, "Mr. Grindelwald, that thing, I still had a use for it, and now it's gone."

Grindelwald slowly swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and then looked at Snape, his greyish-white eyes filled with inquiry:

"What use is that thing to you? If you want to know how to make it, you can just ask me."

Snape shook his head, lowering his voice even further: "It's Nagini, the Blood Curse on her. The shattered soul contained in that diary can serve as a unique source of absorption."

Upon hearing this, a genuine look of surprise flashed in Grindelwald's eyes. He put down his knife and fork and stared at Snape for a few seconds.

"Using Horcruxes to absorb curses from souls?" he said in a low voice, his tone tinged with admiration. "Your idea is unique and bold, but," he added, "it's also very dangerous. That's no reason for you to carry such an extremely dangerous item with you. If you're not careful, you could be turned against and controlled by it."

Snape remained silent, offering no rebuttal. This was also a concern he had always had, which was why he had deliberately slowed down Nagini's treatment.

“So,” Grindelwald didn’t delve into the topic, but instead asked, “how exactly did your headmaster end up like this?” He gestured with his chin toward the medical room.

“We don’t know all the specific details either,” Snape said. “He left the school alone to look for Riddle’s kind of thing. We suspect that he may have accidentally walked into a trap set by Riddle, or rather, into Riddle’s territory.”

"And as you can see," he said, shrugging. "If it weren't for the house-elves leading us to him, Professor Dumbledore might never have seen you again."

“Ha,” Grindelwald sneered, “The great Albus Dumbledore, caught in a trap by a junior? For a few pieces of junk? He’s really going backward as he gets older.”

“Yes, Mr. Green,” Snape said after a few seconds of silence, a hint of a sigh and confusion in his voice, “I think Professor Dumbledore might not be looking for more than just destroying those objects. He might be searching for the legendary Resurrection Stone, which is also one of the evil artifacts created by Riddle.”

“I don’t understand either. What use does he have for that resurrection stone?” He shook his head, his tone puzzled. “Even a child knows that magic cannot bring the dead back to life. Forcibly reversing life and death will only bring distortion and disaster. He should understand this better than anyone else.”

When Snape uttered the words "Resurrection Stone," Grindelwald's hand, which was cutting food on his plate, paused slightly.

The mocking expression on his face vanished instantly. He didn't reply immediately, nor did he look at Snape.

Grindelwald simply put down his knife and fork, picked up a napkin, and carefully wiped his mouth and fingers with meticulous movements.

The restaurant remained quiet, with only the faint sounds of students eating.

After a long while, Grindelwald finally raised his eyes again.

"Regarding the curse on that little snake," he said, turning to Snape instead of commenting on Dumbledore's actions, his voice returning to its previous calm, "it will be difficult to remove, but I'll try to find a way."

Then, he glanced at the students in the dining hall and suggested to Snape, “After all this turmoil, the ship needs stability. I suggest you say something to them after dinner.”

"Whether it's to reassure people or boost morale, we can't let them tremble with fear tonight, can we? They need direction, even if it's just a vague promise."

Snape followed Grindelwald's gaze and saw the weariness, lingering fear, and confusion in the students' eyes, as well as their awkward attempts to comfort their companion.

“I know,” he nodded. “It’s time to tell everyone.”

　Thank you to 千年风雨任平生, 空岛酱, 大风~歌, 猪也是飞, 盗书的大虫, and 书友20200530193810648 for the monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)