Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 115 Popcorn and the Escape Attempt (Bonus Chapter by Alliance Leader ccp_wu)

The straight-line distance from Dover to Calais is less than 50 kilometers, and it doesn't take long by ferry.

But this time, it was clearly the first time Draco had ever actually stayed on the sea.

Previously, when Lucius took his family on vacation, they would choose coastal beaches as their travel destinations, but they had never taken a Muggle boat.

When it comes to events that require leaving England to participate in, people usually use the Floo Network or Portkey directly, and even the opportunity to cross the sea on a flying broom is rare.

Draco was particularly bad at dealing with the technological products related to Muggles on the ferry, making him appear as clueless as Harry did yesterday when he listened to Draco talk about wizarding sports like Quidditch and Gobstone.

So Draco simply decided to ignore it and got back into the car alone.

Severus, having clearly noticed his bad mood, told Lupin to keep an eye on Harry and make sure he didn't fall into the sea while feeding the seagulls, before he followed him back to the car, carrying two buckets of popcorn.

"The store has a buy-one-get-one-free promotion, want to try it?"

Severus extended the invitation.

Draco said it in a childish, sulky voice.

"You should have given it to your good students! You're all in cahoots!"

“No one here is in cahoots with anyone else. You only know that Lupin is a werewolf, but you don’t know that when we were classmates at Hogwarts, he almost turned into a werewolf and killed me, but now we still get along well, don’t we?”

As Severus spoke, he shoved a bucket of popcorn into Draco's arms.

"Come and try it. You've definitely never had this kind of street food at home. I know Lucius, that brooding old man, better than anyone."

Draco reluctantly held the bucket of popcorn, and only when Severus wasn't looking at him did he quietly grab a popcorn and quickly stuff it into his mouth.

The aroma of corn, mixed with cream and sugar, exploded in his mouth; Draco had never tasted such a delicious snack before.

Lucius would never buy him Muggle snacks.

“You weren’t like this before,” Draco suddenly said from the back row. “When you visited my house at the beginning of this year, you were discussing with my dad how stupid the Gryffindor students were! Dad said it was because of the inherent flaws of the Muggle race, and you agreed, saying he was right!”

Severus reclined his chair back a bit to make himself more comfortable, and answered while eating popcorn.

"Some people will always live in a closed world that they think is all they know, but some of these people will eventually escape from it."

“That’s how I am, Draco. You’ll never discover the truth if you only ever listen to what others say. Only when you let go of your prejudices and egos and actively interact with people you used to look down on can you discover things you could never have discovered before.”

"So I made this change, stepped out of my comfort zone, and started to observe the world with my own eyes."

Draco quietly popped two more kernels of popcorn into his mouth, muttering dismissively.

"But I don't need to get to know those people at all! I can live perfectly well in my own world!"

“Of course you can live with that attitude,” Severus said calmly. “But when you’re ridiculed for being like a frog in a well, having no idea how big the sky is outside, you don’t have a better way to refute it than by deceiving yourself, do you?”

"Humph."

Draco chose not to speak, and this time he stuffed a handful of food into his mouth.

"Hey! I could smell it a long time ago! Why did you only buy two buckets, teacher!"

Harry, who had appeared out of nowhere, startled Draco.

He abruptly shoved the bucket of popcorn he was carrying into Harry's arms and said something indistinctly as he turned away.

"Here, take it all! I didn't eat a single bite!"

Harry took the bucket of popcorn and paused for a moment, watching the popcorn crumbs that had been sprayed onto the back of the front seat while Draco was speaking.

Severus also turned his head and exchanged a glance with Harry.

Harry asked, puzzled.

"What nonsense is he talking about?"

“He’s just shy,” Severus winked.

"Nonsense!" Draco shouted angrily.

Harry still didn't understand. He stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth, not understanding why he would be shy about eating popcorn.

Lupin returned at this time.

"Everyone else got back into the car. A Muggle administrator said we'd be on shore soon."

When Draco returned to the front row and Lupin took his seat, he also noticed the popcorn crumbs. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and lectured Harry, who was sitting next to him.

"It's best not to talk to people while you're eating, it's very unhygienic."

“It wasn’t me!” Harry said innocently.

"Hahahaha!" Severus burst into laughter.

Draco, who hadn't uttered a sound in the passenger seat, was already kneeling on the seat, burying his face deeply into the seat back.

Department of Magical Law Enforcement, British Ministry of Magic.

Kingsley and Robaz, who had barely rested these past few days and had been leading the search for Little Barty's group, pushed open the door and walked wearily into the office of the Chief of the Executive Division, which had changed hands.

Scrimgeour arrived early and sat on the sofa in front of the desk. The cup of black tea in front of him had long since gone cold, indicating that he had been there for quite some time.

Behind the desk sat a broad-shouldered witch with a square jaw and short, neat gray hair.

Amelia Susan Borns.

After Barty Crouch Sr.'s affair was exposed, the Ministry of Magic appointed the acting Director of the Department of Execution.

She has a very good reputation within the department; even new employees know that she is a witch known for her fairness and honesty.

After taking over the mess left by Barty Crouch Sr., she did not slack off at all. She immediately coordinated the organization of various agencies within the company and launched a full-scale manhunt for Barty Jr. and his group.

However, it is clear that the troubles she is facing right now are not just caused by Barty's group alone.

“They’ve all arrived, Rufus. Tell them what happened this morning,” Borns said in a somber voice. Kingsley and Robards both turned to Scrimgeour, clearly guessing that something serious had occurred again.

"It's news from Azkaban. Sirius Black has disappeared from his cell this morning."

Scrimgeour's voice was weary, and he looked distressed.

Kingsley and Robards were so shocked by the news that they were speechless for a long time. After a good ten seconds, Robards finally spoke.

"What do you mean by 'disappeared'?! There are Dementors around! Why would someone disappear?"

“The Dementors are only reporting that they can’t find him in the prison,” Scrimgeour said, his brow furrowed. “They’re still searching all over the island and the surrounding waters, and there’s been no news from them yet.”

"Has anyone landed on the island during this time?" Kingsley was already on the right track. He clearly understood that the so-called "disappearance" was just a pretext to cover up what was bound to cause a huge public outcry.

Sirius has most likely already successfully escaped from jail!
The task now is to figure out how he escaped from that prison.

“Only the day before yesterday, my men brought Fenrir Greyback to the island and imprisoned him in Azkaban.”

Robaz replied.

Kingsley displayed exceptional insight.

"Has anyone been sent to question Graybury again about what he said on his first day in Azkaban?"

"The moment I received this news from Rufus, I applied for a bottle of truth serum and had it taken over," said Borns.

This made Kingsley glance at her a few times; his new boss's boss, judging from this incident alone, lived up to her reputation within the department.

"So, did you gain anything?"

"The werewolf said that on the day he was first imprisoned in Azkaban, he told his fellow inmates what he had done and who had imprisoned him for. Snape's reformation angered the people in Azkaban."

“That includes Blake, of course, right?” Robards pressed.

“Someone heard him yelling,” Scrinker said. “He yelled, ‘He must have cheated.’”

"Is this referring to Severus?" Kingsley asked gravely.

Scrimgeour pulled out a stack of photos of various clues and evidence taken on Azkaban and placed them in front of Kingsley and Robards.

"It's obvious that it's Snape. Not only that, we also found a tattered copy of the Daily Prophet in his cell. It's a newspaper from seven days ago, which was accidentally brought in by the person who sent Greyback to prison the day before yesterday. The headline is about the Ministry of Magic applying to Wizengamot for the Order of Merlin for Snape and his companions, and it has photos of Snape and his group on it."

"The newspaper had a hole punched in it, right on Snape's head!"

“He used to be a loyal subordinate of the Dark Lord!” Burns said coldly. “He even betrayed his best friend to serve his master! And now, after learning about what Severus Snape has done recently, he is particularly angry.”

Robaz still didn't quite understand.

"Just because he's angry at Snape, he's planning to escape? That's a rather...unreasonable reason."

Kingsley said softly.

“They didn’t get along when they were at Hogwarts.”

The other three people all turned their attention to him.

Although the relationship between Severus and the other three men was not a secret, few people would specifically investigate it.

"Back then, Black probably hadn't become the Dark Lord's mole yet. In Gryffindor, he had an extreme aversion to Severus of Slytherin and, along with his friends, had opposed Severus many times. Their hatred had existed for a long time. Even after they finally acknowledged the same master, that hatred probably hadn't disappeared."

"You mean, he already had a grudge against Snape, and then, while in prison, he learned that Snape had completely betrayed the Dark Lord, so in a fit of rage, he chose to escape?" Scrimgeour said.

“That’s very likely,” Kingsley said definitively, looking at the half of the Daily Prophet in the photograph.

A moment of silence fell over the director's office.

The four of them were pondering this. They understood that if Black's escape was indeed for Severus's sake, then Severus's situation was clearly dire.

Barty Jr. and Black, who were on the run, both wished him dead!

"Gentlemen."

Bones suddenly spoke, causing the other three people present to turn and look at him.

"It's possible that Black's escape was due to his hatred for Snape, but I have some other information as well."

After she finished speaking, she took a letter out of the drawer and handed it to Scrinker.

Scrimgeour read through the entire letter, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. He then passed the letter on to Kingsley and Robards.

"The Aurors in France have discovered that this matter is related to a group of disgraced pure-blood families. They are conducting a further investigation, but because some people are involved, they sent us this letter to explain the situation."

After Kingsley and Robards finished reading the letter, they looked up at Burns.

"Do you think Blake's escape is related to what happened in France?"

“I’m not just suspicious of Black.” Burns looked at them. “It’s too coincidental that things have happened recently. There hasn’t been a single successful prison break in Azkaban in over two hundred years, but two have been reported recently.”

"Barty Crouch Jr. and Sirius Black, both former loyalists of the Dark Lord, both chose this moment to escape their prison. Barty escaped his father's Imperius Curse, and Black appears to have broken through the Dementors' blockade on his own."

"Given what just happened in France yesterday, a group of pure-blooded people with bad records are active, this doesn't seem like a coincidence."

“But what chance do they have of connecting with each other?” Scrinker asked incredulously.

“I only have suspicions about this.” Borns shook his head. “You need to communicate with the International Department of Magical Cooperation, and it would be best to exchange information with the Aurors in France. Once you find that these events are indeed connected, then apply to the Minister for a joint investigation!”

"We can't let our guard down with Snape either. Find him immediately and tell him that Black's escape is likely a revenge plot against him. It would be best to have someone placed near him."

Upon hearing this arrangement, Scrimgeour and Robards both turned to Kingsley, knowing that Kingsley and Severus had maintained a good relationship since the poisoning incident.

However, faced with their gazes, Kingsley could only innocently shrug.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea where he is now."

(End of this chapter)