Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 33 Potion
"Moonface greeted Headmaster Dumbledore and pleaded with him not to meddle with his frighteningly long beard."

Dumbledore was stunned for a moment.

But the map doesn't end there. More text appears below.

"Mr. Fork agrees with Moonface's point of view, and would like to add: Headmaster Dumbledore is a pretentious old idiot."

Although the situation was so serious for James, Snape found it quite amusing, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.

There's more to come...

"Mr. Bigfoot is surprised to see such a wretched old man here. He should only be at Pighead Bar."

James closed his eyes in terror. When he opened them again, the map displayed the final words.

"Mr. Wormtail said goodnight to Headmaster Dumbledore and suggested that he go to Madam Pomfrey to fix his crooked nose."

Snape couldn't hold back any longer and chuckled softly. But James couldn't laugh at all.

Unexpectedly, Dumbledore also started laughing.

“That’s interesting,” he said gently. “A very apt assessment.”

"Is this map yours, James? Can you tell me how to use it?" Dumbledore asked, looking at James.

James pulled out his wand with trembling hands, his throat constricted as he said in a dry voice, "I solemnly swear that I do no good."

A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank parchment, with names marked on the moving black dots, clearly showing the location of everyone in Hogwarts.

"Specializing in helping magical pranksters?" Dumbledore said softly, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes. "It reminds me of what it's like to be young."

“However, I can’t leave this map to you,” he said, looking at the four small black dots in the upper left corner of the map. “Look, we’re all here.”

“'Moonface,' I think I know who that is. But why are you called 'Fork,' 'Bigfoot,' and 'Wormtail'?” Dumbledore asked.

James stammered, his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence: "I...I...no..."

“Oh, we’ll leave that for later,” Dumbledore said, pointing to two small black dots moving in their direction. “Professor McGonagall is coming; let’s wait a moment.”

A short while later, there was a knock on the door.

Mursab walked in dejectedly, covered in mud and dust, with some bloodstains on his face.

Professor McGonagall, wand in hand, followed closely behind him.

“Albus, I’ve brought him,” Professor McGonagall said wearily.

"Please sit down as well." Dumbledore waved his wand gently, conjuring up two more chairs.

“Alright, lift your head,” he said. “Murceiber, I think you must have a lot to tell us.”

But Mulce simply glared resentfully at Dumbledore and remained silent.

Dumbledore stared at Moorselber for a moment with his penetrating blue eyes.

Gradually, the gentle smile disappeared from his face, and the cheerful light in his eyes behind his glasses vanished.

Every wrinkle on that aged face seemed to carry a chilling rage. Dumbledore radiated an oppressive aura, as if he were burning with heat.

Moorselber seemed startled by this imposing aura; his body trembled slightly, and he instinctively tried to stand up and run away. But as soon as he got up, Dumbledore used magic to press him back into his chair.

Then, Dumbledore waved his wand, a flash of red light, and Mulce slumped into his chair, his head lolling back. “James, Pandora,” Dumbledore said, “you two go back to your quarters. Severus, you stay.”

"Minerva, could you please go find Horace and have him bring the potion over?"

Professor McGonagall immediately led James and Pandora away.

What medicine?
A sense of unease rose in Snape's heart: Dumbledore had knocked Moorselber unconscious and sent Professor McGonagall to find Slughorn. Was he going to use Veritaserum on him?
He recalled that the truth serum was less effective if the other person was awake or on guard; however, there was a certain probability that the truth serum would cause irreversible damage to a person's memory.

Wasn't Dumbledore supposed to do everything in his power to protect every student, even at the cost of his own life?
But then he immediately realized that Dumbledore's protection of Draco was actually using himself as bait to set a deadly trap for Voldemort.

Thinking about it this way, Snape felt a little more wary of Dumbledore.

Time passed in silence minute by minute.

Hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. Professor McGonagall had returned with Slughorn.

“Albus,” Slughorn exclaimed, beads of sweat forming on his bald head. He spotted Murseb lying unconscious in the chair and couldn’t help but exclaim, “My God, what happened to Murseb?”

“He’s only under a Stunning Curse,” Dumbledore said. “Horace, has the potion been brought?”

"Did he do it?" Slughorn looked at Dumbledore with a puzzled expression.

Seeing Dumbledore nod, he hesitated for a moment, but still handed Dumbledore a small bottle of clear liquid.

Dumbledore stood up, walked to Moorselber's side, gently pried open his mouth, poured in three drops of the potion, and then pointed his wand at his chest, saying, "Revive quickly!"

Mursab slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was vacant, his cheeks were slack, and he looked as if he had lost his soul.

Dumbledore squatted down in front of him, face to face.

"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Muller's eyelids twitched a few times.

"I can hear you," he whispered.

“I want you to tell us,” Dumbledore said slowly, “how you got to Hogsmeade? What did you do there?”

Muller took a deep breath, his voice trembling, and then began to speak in a flat, emotionless tone.

“My master learned from me that Dumbledore had been away from school frequently lately, and he told me about the secret passage next to the library so that I could go to Hogsmeade from there.”

"Following his instructions, I used the methods he taught me to turn the corpses in Hogsmeade Cemetery into indestructibles, and I intended to send them to the school through a secret passage..."

"The master said that this school has betrayed its history, tarnished its honor, and needs to be purified..."

Mursab's eyelids twitched a few more times.

"Tonight, I had just led the undead into the secret passage when I heard a loud rumble, and the passage collapsed..."

His voice was filled with terror.

"My wand fell during the tremor, and I can't find it. The infernal has gone out of control... I barely managed to escape from inside."

"They rushed out of the post office..."

(End of this chapter)