Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 26 Mandrake
Aibo stared blankly at the two of them, then ripped off his earmuffs.

"Hey--"

"—Thump, thump."

Fortunately, before he could offer his opinion, Professor Sprout tapped on the table, interrupting the buzzing discussion.

"Okay, when it's safe to remove the earmuffs, I'll give you two thumbs up. Now—put the earmuffs back on."

Snape raised an eyebrow at Abbott and immediately put on pink earmuffs. Instantly, all outside sounds were blocked out.

Professor Sprout rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a clump of grass, and pulled it up with all his might.

What was pulled out of the soil was not a grass root, but a very ugly baby with grass leaves growing on its head.

The mandrake's skin was light green with spots. The little guy was flapping its tentacles, clearly yelling and screaming.

Professor Sprout took a large flowerpot from under the table, stuffed the ugly doll in his hand into it, and buried it with damp, dark compost, leaving only the clump of leaves sticking out.

She patted the mud off her hands, gave them two thumbs up, and then took off her earmuffs.

“I don’t think any of you would want to miss Christmas and the time to be with your families,” she said calmly, “so please make sure you wear earmuffs while you’re working.”

“Oh, by the way, watch out for the poisonous tentacles; they’re growing fangs,” Professor Sprout added. “If anything unexpected happens, you don’t have to use the Silent Charm in my class. Your safety is obviously more important.”

"Besides, no one will hear your incantations today." She patted the leaves of a mandrake in front of her, causing it to retract its tentacles that had been quietly reaching out to her.

“Hello, my name is Patrick Abbott,” Abbott finally seized the opportunity to speak. “Would you like to join our group? To be honest, I think your style is a good fit for us…”

"They're all weirdos, aren't they?" Snape thought to himself. Abbott used to like reading quietly when he was alone, so why is he being so talkative now?

There wasn't much time left to talk. They put their earmuffs back on and focused on dealing with the mandrake.

This is by no means easy. Mandrakes don't like being pulled from the soil, but when they are exposed to the air, they don't want to go back to their roots.

They writhed, gritting their teeth and brandishing their poisonous tentacles, trying to break free from the wizards' restraints.

While dealing with the second mandrake, Snape was caught off guard and it grabbed Abbot from behind.

"Wingardim Leviosa!"

He quickly aimed his wand at the mandrake, trying to separate it from Abbot.

As a result, it gripped too tightly, pulling Abbo into the air as well.

Abbot flew up and down in the air, waving his limbs wildly and his mouth moving incessantly.

It looked just like another mature mandrake.

Upon seeing this, Pandora laughed so hard she could hardly breathe. She clutched her stomach, her body arching back and forth in pain.

Snape couldn't help but stop swinging his arms. Suddenly, a monstrous figure with a mouthful of sharp teeth appeared in his mind. Although he still felt a little guilty, at this moment, he thought he could eat three bowls of rice with this image in his mind.

"Ah, is my soul no longer as pure as it once was?" he thought.

Fortunately, the ugly little baby had limited strength. Before long, it couldn't hold on any longer, released its tentacles, and threw Abbot down.

Snape quickly pointed his wand at Abbott, preventing him from falling face down to the ground.

But now the mandrake was free. It sprinted through the silent screaming students, its tentacles touching the ground. Looking at Abbott, who was visibly angry and whose lips moved rapidly as if spring-loaded, Snape decided to keep his earmuffs on. He thought pink was quite nice; it really suited him.

The herbal medicine class ended in chaos.

The emerald embedded in the Great Hall niche, belonging to the Slytherin hourglass, was thus slightly sunken.

"Why are they avoiding you?" Pandora asked.

As they were walking through the hallway to lunch, several younger students saw Snape and hurriedly made way for them.

“Out of respect for me,” Snape said frankly, “it’s their heartfelt recognition of me.”

Aibo burst out laughing, then realized he was angry, so he immediately put on a serious face again.

"Next time someone calls you a weirdo, you can tell me, and I can help you earn the same respect."

“Oh… well…” Pandora shrugged. “It’s alright, I guess they just think I’m a little weird.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Snape said. “Pandora, come over here and have lunch with us.”

“But this is a Slytherin table.”

“Oh, this is a Hogwarts table.” Snape tugged at her sleeve. “Come here. I really don’t understand what the point of all this fighting is. Is there some kind of rule in the wizarding world that ‘the founder’s laws cannot be changed’? I’ll have to give the headmaster a good talking to about this when I get the chance.”

He glanced at the faculty dining table; the principal's seat was empty.

Snape thought about it carefully; he hadn't seen Dumbledore for several days. Ever since his late-night conversation with the headmaster, Dumbledore's seat had often been empty.

Did my words prompt Dumbledore to launch an investigation ahead of schedule?
Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it too much. I'll just try to subtly probe next time we meet.

After Snape ate three whole plates of food, Abbott seemed to finally calm down.

"Do you want to come with me to watch the Quidditch selection match this afternoon?" he asked Pandora. "We want to see what kind of brooms they're using."

“I won’t go,” she said. “I still have a few experiments to finish, so I need to hurry.”

After watching Pandora hop and skip up the stairs with her hands in her pockets, they left the castle and headed toward the Quidditch pitch.

Although neither of them was particularly interested in Quidditch, Abbott's father wrote to him last week, asking him to do some research on the school's broom market. Under Galleon's enticement and threats, Abbott immediately surrendered.

As he read the letter, he said to Snape, "No one will go against Galleon, including you. How about a 30/70 split?"

"Deal," Snape replied curtly.

When they took their seats in the stands, the selection process was already about halfway through. Half of the Slytherin students, from first to seventh year, were present.

The younger students were mostly nervously clutching a few tattered old brooms picked out from the school warehouse, while the sixth and seventh graders appeared tall, imposing, and intimidating.

“I remember the Quidditch team has a dedicated training room, right?” Snape asked.

“Yes, Severus, are you thinking about exercising again?” Abbott said. “Feel your belly; you’ve just gained weight recently.”

“So I’m going to consult a professional later,” Snape said, pointing to Monta, the captain of the Slytherin team.

　Thank you Xigema for the monthly pass!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)