Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 204 The Truth
Dursley! Where's my hot cocoa?!

At breakfast the next day, Severus and Lupin stared wide-eyed at what they would never normally see.

Draco sat arrogantly at the dining table, giving Harry orders as if he were a master to a servant.

Harry, who had always been uncooperative with Draco and always clashed with his spoiled attitude, surprisingly poured Draco a cup of hot cocoa instead.

Although Harry's face was full of dissatisfaction, when Draco glanced at him sideways and questioned, "Is this how you serve your boss?" Harry pouted and said, "Take it or leave it," but in the end he still placed the hot cocoa in front of Draco.

Draco didn't seem to care about Harry's hypocritical attitude, since Harry's stance had already been made clear.

He began to enjoy his breakfast in a very pleasant mood, while Harry, with a sour face, also sat down at the table and began to eat.

"Are you playing some kind of role-playing game?" Lupin couldn't help but ask.

Harry was pouring milk into his bowl of cereal, and he sighed.

"I want to borrow the book you gave him from Draco, but he insists that I be his lapdog for two days before he'll agree."

Severus shrugged.

"That sounds like a pretty good deal."

"He wanted my wand in the first place!" Harry gripped his spoon and stirred the milk and cereal in his bowl vigorously, as if he were poking Draco's arrogant face with a stick.

“I was unwilling to give it to him, so he proposed this deal.”

"But you agreed, didn't you?" Draco still wore a smug smile as he sipped his hot cocoa with a refreshed expression. "As long as you agreed, then it's a fair trade."

Severus blinked at this.

"As long as you're not being forced, this is indeed a fair trade. Just be Draco's sidekick for a couple of days."

This silenced Lupin, who was about to tell Harry that he actually had another copy of "The Dark Creatures Guide".

Obviously, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to suggest giving Harry the same book as Draco at this point.

With Severus's approval, it was even more natural for Draco to get Harry involved.

After breakfast, Draco said he was going to sunbathe by the river and asked Harry to move the deck chair from the tent to the outside, and also to prepare a fruit platter and orange soda for him in the kitchen.

Harry, still with a sour face, did exactly as instructed.

Just before lunch, Cabunara found Severus.

"Did you bring that great French alchemist here?"

Severus certainly knew who he was talking about, and he did not deny it.

"That's right, he should have already contacted you and entered that underground ruin, right?"

“He has given us a lot of help, and even helped us identify who built that ruin,” Cabnara said. “I have already reported this to the Ministry of Magic. Mr. Williams asked me to come and find you, to tell you that he is studying the Fountain of Good Fortune mural in the underground ruins, and that he has found clues in it that can help you solve the puzzle. He asked you to wait for him for two more days.”

Upon hearing the news from Cabunara, Severus's face clearly showed a look of surprise and delight.

"That's wonderful! Please tell him when you get back that I'll be waiting for him here!"

Cabunara did not stay for lunch and left in a hurry.

After lunch, Severus and Lupin went to help Andrews examine the troll whose foot had been pierced by a piece of wood, leaving only Harry and Draco by the tent.

“We have a lot to do this afternoon,” Draco said in a strong voice.

Harry just squinted at him.

"What else do you want to do?"

Draco turned around and glared at him, clearly annoyed.

You should call me Young Master!

"Alright, Master Malfoy, what else would you like to do this afternoon?"

"How about building a treehouse in that tree?" Draco asked excitedly, pointing to a maple tree that was at least a hundred years old and not far from the tent.

Those were indeed very suitable trees, with thick trunks and branches that were spread out enough to give them ample space as a base.

But Harry was clearly reluctant. He knew what Draco was planning, and he knew he would have to do most of the work later on.

“We probably won’t be staying in this forest for much longer. It would be such a waste to start building a treehouse now, only to live there for a week or two.”

“Not a single bit of waste!” Draco said, shaking his head. “Besides, we don’t need to build something sturdy or complicated; a simple treehouse will suffice. Snape taught you a lot of magic, didn’t he? This shouldn’t be too difficult for you. We can also get Lulu; she’ll help us with the wood!”

Even so, Harry was still a little unwilling.

Until Draco put on airs.

"Don't forget, I'm your boss now, and you're my follower!"

Harry's face fell; at this moment, he even wanted to give up the deal. It wasn't worth working himself to the bone for this arrogant Malfoy just to read a book.

But when he thought about how he had already worked like a beast of burden for a whole night and morning, if he gave up now, wouldn't all his hard work have been for nothing?
So Harry gritted his teeth and stomped his foot.

"Row!"

Harry and Draco were busy that afternoon.

Although he said he was directing Harry to do the work, Draco didn't actually slack off at first; he did everything he was supposed to do.

The two spent half an hour finalizing a design together. They then took the design to Severus and his friends. Finally, Andrews, who was quite experienced in building treehouses, helped them with some minor modifications and gave them some advice before letting the two boys work on it themselves.

They opted for the bolt method, securing the support beams directly to the tree. Then Harry climbed the tree and used the Cutting Charm, which Severus had only taught him a few days prior, to clear away the branches that were hindering the construction of the treehouse.

Draco was finally able to rest. He moved his deck chair under the tree and, while drinking black tea (Severus thought he was drinking too much soda, so he locked up all the juice and soda), directed Harry to do his work.

“Cut that branch off too, Dali, cut it off for me.”

Wearing gardening gloves and waving his wand, Harry looked at the branch Draco was pointing to and said listlessly.

“This branch won’t affect the construction of the treehouse. Cutting it will only harm the tree for no reason.” “You still have the nerve to sympathize with a big tree! Don’t worry, Snape said he prepared a growth potion; this tree won’t be harmed! Cut it off right now!”

What do you need this branch for?

"It's perfect for using as a slingshot, isn't it? Hurry up, I'm ordering you to make it right now!"

Faced with Draco's unpredictable ideas, Harry could only reluctantly agree.

“It would be my pleasure to serve you, Master Malfoy.”

His performance pleased Draco.

"That's pretty much it."

Harry raised his wand again. He wasn't very skilled with the Cutting Charm. Even though he had improved a lot after using it all afternoon, he still couldn't cut off the forked branch that Draco wanted with just one spell.

Just as Harry was about to use the Cutting Charm on the branch that had already been cut in half again, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow in the grass not far away!
Harry paused for a moment, then focused intently on the patch of grass.

Draco, who was monitoring his work, noticed his apparent slacking off and complained angrily.

"What are you doing! If you don't work properly, you won't get dinner tonight!"

“There seems to be something in that haystack over there,” Harry said hesitantly.

Draco stood up with a suspicious look. He walked quickly to the patch of grass Harry had mentioned and poked around in it with a stick, but found nothing.

“You’re definitely making excuses to slack off!” he accused.

Harry didn't get anything from Draco, so he just shrugged.

"Okay, maybe I'm seeing things."

"From now on, I'm going to keep an eye on you. Your task today is to prune away all the unwanted branches!"

Harry then spent the entire afternoon working on the tree, finally managing to trim away all the excess branches before nightfall.

Harry was exhausted. He went back to his tent and immediately gulped down a large mouthful of water. Then, at dinner time, he had to prepare tableware for Draco, plus a bowl of spaghetti.

Just after dinner, Severus seemed to sense something. He kept staring at the window and even left the tent to search outside.

"What's wrong?" Lu Ping asked, puzzled.

Severus shook his head.

"It's nothing, it's just that while we were eating, we felt like someone was spying on us outside."

"That must be your imagination. We're in a troll camp right now. The trolls aren't asleep yet. If anyone really wants to sneak in, they'll have to avoid those trolls first."

Severus thought Lupin's words made sense and didn't think about it any further.

After dinner, Harry poured Draco a glass of milk and prepared his clothes and shoes for tomorrow before ending his day as a servant and returning to his own room.

He was truly exhausted. He had just finished washing up and lay down on the bed when he fell asleep almost immediately.

As night deepened, a large, jet-black dog silently entered Harry's room without him noticing.

Its pair of shiny black eyes looked fierce in the moonlight.

Pu Rongrong, who was sleeping on the cabinet, seemed to sense something. She opened her eyes groggily in her sleep, but could only vaguely see a dark figure quietly leaving the bedroom, as if it were a hallucination from not being fully awake.

It blinked, seemingly unconcerned, and then settled into a more comfortable position and continued sleeping.

The one who left Harry's room was none other than Sirius Black!
After stealing the letter with the location marked from Nicona, Blake eagerly found the troll camp in the forest.

He was very alert. When he saw Harry and Severus, although he was excited, he still restrained his impulse and hid in the shadows.

Even though he firmly believed in his heart that Lupin, Dumbledore, and Nicolas Flamel were all deceived by the illusion created by Severus.

But when it really came down to it, Black hesitated. He wondered if there was even the last sliver of a possibility that Nico was telling the truth: even if Severus didn't change for the better, could he at least be a little nicer to Harry out of consideration for his past relationship with Lily?

With this in mind, Black hid in the shadows and observed Harry's life for an entire afternoon.

Then, the uncontrollable rage made Blake want to rush out and bite that Malfoy bastard to death!

Everything written in the letter he saw at the Malfoys' house was true!

James's son, Harry Potter, has truly been completely tamed and turned into a slave by this Malfoy kid!

What did Harry do all afternoon?
He's working himself to the bone building a treehouse for the Malfoys!

Even a slight pause in the middle will result in threats that I won't be allowed to eat dinner!
In the evening, they even serve Malfoy tableware and rice, making him look more like a house-elf than a house-elf!
Finally, before he goes to sleep, I need to prepare his clothes and shoes!

Seeing this, Black almost couldn't hold back several times and rushed out to bite all those who were bullying James' son to death, and then take Harry away.

Severus almost discovered him outside.

But in the end, his reason prevailed over his impulse.

When Black was in a conscious state, he knew perfectly well that without his wand, he was no match for Severus, not to mention that Lupin, who was suspected of having completely betrayed him, was by his side!
To truly rescue Harry, we must wait for the right opportunity, an opportunity when Severus is not holding his wand.

So Blake endured it all, waiting until late at night before quietly sneaking into the tent.

Instead of going to Severus first, he quietly went to Harry's room and stared at Harry in his sleep.

Really similar.

Even though Severus had disguised Harry, it was easy for Black, who was closer to James than brothers, to see that Harry and James looked remarkably alike.

Staring at Harry's face, Black had already made up his mind.

Wait, he won't kill Severus directly.

Instead, they should capture him, bring him to Harry, tell Harry how evil and wicked this snotty-nosed man really was, and then let Harry choose whether to kill him or expose his true nature and send him to Azkaban!

With that thought in mind, Black quietly left Harry's room and went to Severus's door.

(End of this chapter)