Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 32 Principal
"A complete mess...too lenient...a complete disaster...I've had enough..."

Filch muttered under his breath as he walked, dragging James ahead with a disgruntled expression, clearly looking like he had suffered a great blow.

Snape, supporting Pandora, followed behind them.

When they arrived at the entrance of the school hospital, Ms. Pomfrey was already waiting there.

“Come in quickly,” she said. “Professor McGonagall told me you need treatment.”

After helping Ms. Pomfrey settle the three of them into their respective beds, Filch shuffled away.

Seeing the bandage on James's hand, Mrs. Pomfrey's eyes lit up: "Potter, your arm is bandaged well. Why didn't you treat it yourself first all those times before?"

“I did it,” Snape said. “I can’t set bones, this is all I can do.”

“Very good,” Ms. Pomfrey said approvingly, “At least we have a student who knows basic medical knowledge.”

But then she glared sternly at Snape: "It would be even better if you didn't keep hurting yourselves!"

Ms. Pomfrey was skilled and set James's bone in just one second.

Then she carefully examined Snape and Pandora, and finally determined that they were both fine.

However, Snape injured his tailbone when he fell, so he had to lie face down while she received treatment.

Only after his strong protests did Ms. Pomfrey agree to draw the curtains during treatment to prevent the other two from seeing her.

“Ms. Pomfrey, we’re all done here.” After the treatment, Snape looked up and asked, “Can we leave now?”

“No,” Ms. Pomfrey said firmly. “Professor McGonagall instructed that you should stay in the university hospital and not go anywhere.”

Seeing that Snape wanted to say something more, she immediately said, "If you're not going to listen, you might as well drink some sleeping pills. They can make you sleep soundly without dreams until tomorrow morning."

“No need,” Snape shook his head vigorously. “I’ll stay here.”

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Snape felt his head go numb and he was getting drowsy.

The ward was extremely quiet. His head was drooping, and everything around him became blurry. The ward light seemed to be blinking at him kindly through the curtains.

He felt his body sinking deeper and deeper into the warm feather mattress...

"We'll have to ask them."

"Can't we wait until tomorrow morning?"

"It will wake them up!"

Snape woke up and heard someone whispering outside the door.

The room was still dimly lit, and he figured it must still be nighttime, and he didn't think he'd slept for very long.

Ms. Pomfrey angrily pushed open the ward door and led Dumbledore in.

“We meet again,” Dumbledore said kindly, with a gentle smile on his face. “It has been quite a lively evening.”

“Professor,” Snape said, sitting up abruptly, “you’re back. How are you?”

"Don't rush, Severus. You, James, and Pandora, if you've rested enough, come to my office together."

Ignoring Ms. Pomfrey's silent protest, the group left the school hospital and proceeded to the principal's office.

The password for the stone monster at the office entrance hasn't changed yet; it's still "Lemon Ice Cream."

Snape and James were quite familiar with this place, but it was Pandora's first time there.

Curious, she looked around and walked to a portrait of an old headmaster pretending to be asleep. She imitated him, squinting one eye to peek; when she realized someone was watching her, she quickly closed her eyes. She even tried to touch Fawkes with her finger, forcing the phoenix to fly away from its perch. It circled around the room for a while before gracefully landing on Dumbledore's shoulder, gently preening its feathers.

“Sit down,” said Dumbledore. “Pandora, you go first. Their words are not so credible.”

“Yes, Headmaster.” Pandora still looked sleepy, struggling to open her drowsy eyes. “Severus and I went to a passageway on the fifth floor. We planned to—”

“—I’m planning to blow that place up,” Snape interjected. “I’ve asked Pandora for help.”

“Your turn is next, Severus,” Dumbledore said, giving Snape a stern look.

Pandora continued, "I discovered traces of ancient magic there, and later successfully removed them."

"But just as we were about to blow up the passage, the Infernal—just like Professor Glapland had shown us in class—crawled out of the stairwell."

"As we saw that there were more and more of them, we wanted to leave quickly. But when we opened the door, Mr. Potter was outside. He had Severus hanging upside down."

"It was almost too late, so I used a spell to hit my little bag, hoping it would destroy the passage. Then we took flight..."

"Is that so? Why did you blow up that secret passage?" Dumbledore asked Snape.

“Professor,” Snape said, “Murcy has been staying out of his dorm room at night this semester, and I followed him through a secret passage to Hogsmeade.”

"But I don't know what he's doing. So, I had a bold idea: why let him do what he wants? If he's going to do something bad through the secret passage, why not just destroy it?"

“Your idea is a bit too extreme, Severus,” Dumbledore said calmly. “You should go see your teacher. But speaking of which, how did you discover the way into the secret passage?”

“Sir!” James stood up, now fully awake, his face contorted with rage. “The Marauder’s Map! He used the Marauder’s Map to enter the secret passage!”

Clearly, James has completely abandoned any secrecy. But this is understandable; now that it's confirmed the Marauder's Map is in Snape's hands, even if the headmaster confiscates it, it's better than letting Snape keep it.

Snape was furious at James's self-destructive behavior.

Reluctantly, he took the parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took the parchment, looked at it from both sides, and said softly, "A blank parchment."

Then, he picked up the wand with his fingers, unfolded the parchment, and laid it flat on the table.

“Show your secret!” Dumbledore said, tapping the parchment with his wand.

No reaction at all.

Snape suddenly felt a surge of anticipation for what might happen next.

James looked a little nervous, his hands tightly clasped together in front of him.

"Reveal your true form!" Dumbledore slammed his hand on the map.

The paper was still blank.

Snape was secretly overjoyed, but he desperately tried not to laugh out loud.

"The Headmaster of this school, Albus Dumbledore, commands you to reveal the hidden information!" Dumbledore said, tapping the map with his wand.

As if an invisible hand were writing, the words appeared on the smooth surface of the map.

Large beads of sweat appeared on James's forehead.

　Thanks to Xigema for the monthly pass.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)