Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 234 Gambling
After spending one night at the Weasleys' house, Draco did not go straight home the next day.

Lupin took him and Harry to Hogwarts first, and after spending half a morning there, he returned them to the Malfoys' house.

Although he never admits it to anyone, it's clear that he's no longer as single-mindedly focused on going home to find his parents as he was when he first came out with Severus.

Although his experience traveling with Severus and the others hasn't completely transformed him, it has helped him get rid of many of his old bad habits.

As soon as Draco returned home, Narcissa came running down the stairs with a look of delight on her face and hugged him tightly.

"Oh my God! My child! I never imagined that one day you would be gone from me for so long!"

She spoke in a voice trembling with tears, her face streaked with joy.

"I'm so glad you came back safe and sound! You have no idea how angry your father and I were after you left!"

Draco looked happy as he hugged Narcissa, but soon he could almost hear the mocking words Harry would say if he saw this.

'Look there, it's little Draco!'

So he quickly struggled to break free from Narcissa's embrace.

"I'm fine, Mom. You don't need to get so worked up. I'm not a little kid anymore. Do you need to worry about me all the time? You'll starve if I don't survive out here!"

Narcissa wiped away her tears, still holding Draco's shoulders, checking his body for any injuries as she spoke.

"You're only nine years old! What else could you be but a child? Has Snape abused you? Has that student next to him hit you?"

"No, of course they wouldn't dare bully me!" Draco's old habit kicked in again. "I'm a Malfoy, even if they had ten or a hundred times the guts, they wouldn't dare!"

Narcissa knew her son's personality better than anyone else.

"Then tell me, where did Snape take you?"

Draco's face lit up with excitement as he began to tell Narcissa about his experiences since leaving England with Severus, Harry, Lupin, and their companions.

A nine-year-old boy, of course, does not understand the principle of reporting good news to his family and not bad news. Instead, he only tells the exciting and thrilling stories.

Especially in the French Ministry of Magic, how he protected the wife of a pure-blood family member when facing a goblin invasion.

How did they manage to fish up a skull in the troll camp in Albania?

Finally, they entered the legendary secret realm where the Fountain of Good Fortune was said to exist. They eventually found the Fountain of Good Fortune, only to discover that the water was actually cursed.

The more excited he became in his story, the paler Narcissa's face grew, and the tighter she gripped his arm unconsciously.

In the end, Narcissa was filled with lingering fear.

“He’s gone too far!” Narcissa couldn’t help but shout. “He actually took two children to such a dangerous place and did such dangerous things!”

“No! Mother!” Draco explained, “Snape is very careful about my safety. Whenever there’s a dangerous mission, he always goes alone and leaves Lupin to watch over us. He never takes us with him.”

"That won't do! You're only nine years old! Nine years old! This is absolutely absurd!"

Draco couldn't refute her, so he looked around the house and then changed the subject.

"Where's Dad? Where did he go?"

This question silenced Narcissa, who had been grumbling. After a couple of seconds, she touched Draco's hair and said casually.

"He went to take care of some things, and he'll be back when he's done."

Lucius felt that he might never be able to resolve his relationship with Dumbledore.

As one of the Hogwarts Board of Trustees and a major contributor to the centuries-old magic school, Lucius should have had no reservations about Dumbledore.

But Dumbledore was not just a headmaster of a magic school, and Lucius was not just a wealthy patron.

In particular, he had ulterior motives for coming to Hogwarts this time.

“The Forbidden Forest is also part of Hogwarts, and the Board of Governors has the right to inspect and accept the ecology within the Forbidden Forest.” He sat seemingly relaxed in his chair, his fingers tapping incessantly on the table, but in reality, his eyes had never dared to meet Dumbledore's gaze from the very beginning.

“Otherwise, so much of the school’s money is spent every year on the salaries of the game guards and the protection of the Forbidden Forest, yet we don’t receive any related reports. This does not meet the expectations of the Board of Governors for Hogwarts!”

Dumbledore simply crossed his arms on the desk and smiled at him.

“If the Board of Governors needs it, Hogwarts can certainly prepare an annual report on the expenses incurred in the Forbidden Forest for them to review, but I think it’s not a big deal for you to make the trip yourself, Lucius.”

Lucius criticized loudly.

"It's all because you've made such a mess of this school! You've been too lenient with Hogwarts, which has led to the students being extremely undisciplined. When I arrived at the castle today, there were even two red-haired boys throwing rotten eggs in the corridor!"

Dumbledore blinked.

“Those must be the two Weasleys. Thank you for your report, Lucius. I will have Filch punish them. Although it has only been less than two months since the start of the school year, they have already been confined to solitary confinement three times.”

"And regarding the forest ban, a report alone is not enough; the board of directors must assign someone to enter the forest to conduct an investigation!"

After spending so much time here, Lucius finally revealed the ultimate purpose of his trip.

Unlike his previous encounters with Dumbledore, when he thought the Dark Lord was long dead and he himself had been completely exonerated and was even a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, essentially making him half of Dumbledore's direct superior.

Back then, he could give this old man attitude at will and nitpick at his school and students.

But now, Lucius could no longer find that feeling he had before. No matter how confidently he spoke of criticizing Dumbledore, he was actually still feeling guilty.

When Lucius made his request, Dumbledore did not speak directly. He simply looked at Lucius calmly, as if he was pondering something.

His gaze wasn't particularly aggressive, yet it sent a chill down Lucius's spine, making him fidget in his chair.

Just as Lucius was about to lose his temper and stand up, trying to sound tough but actually weak, to question Dumbledore about why he didn't dare to answer, Dumbledore finally spoke.

But when he spoke again, he brought up a completely unrelated topic: Lucius's visit to him.

"I saw your son this morning, Lucius." This abrupt statement startled Lucius at first, but then, when he realized what Dumbledore was talking about, his expression completely changed.

The next second, he suddenly stood up from the chair.

"Draco? Where is he now? With you!"

Dumbledore just shrugged when he saw him.

"Don't get so worked up, Lucius. What do you take this place for? A criminal base for child trafficking?" Dumbledore seemed amused by his own joke. "This is a school. Every corridor, every classroom, every staircase is full of children."

"This morning, Remus came to visit me with him and another friend of his, and I chatted with him."

Dumbledore praised it.

“He is very good, better than most children from pure-blood families I have ever met. This is thanks to your education.”

Lucius neither spoke nor sat down; he simply stared intently at Dumbledore, failing to discern whether he was speaking the truth or being sarcastic.

Seeing his flustered state, Dumbledore suppressed his smile, interlaced his fingers again, and said softly.

"Since you care about him and your family so much, why don't you sit down and we have a good talk?"

Lucius's gaze never left Dumbledore. He finally sat down, his mind a complete mess.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

He vaguely suspected that Dumbledore knew something, but he felt it was impossible for him to know those things. In addition, Dumbledore mentioned Draco's own son, which made him even more anxious.

"How do you feel about your life right now?" Dumbledore asked Lucius a question he never expected anyone would ask him.

A disdainful smile appeared on his face, just like Draco pretended to be a big kid in front of Narcissa.

"How's life? I dare say there's no male wizard in the wizarding world who lives like me!"

"Ah, of course. The Malfoy family has a long history and wealth accumulated over the years, as well as the social status you have always maintained. With the life you enjoy in the wizarding world now, it is of course top-notch and incomparable to others."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

Such flattery made Lucius, who was still feeling uneasy, raise his head. What Dumbledore said was indeed true. Even Dumbledore himself could not compare to the Malfoys in terms of quality of life.

"Your family is happy, you have no worries about food and clothing, and you are respected by others. Of course, everyone hopes for this kind of life. But what if one day, someone suddenly approaches you and asks you to go on a gambling trip with him?"

"A gamble that will cost the Malfoy family everything, your cherished family, and everything you have right now. If you lose, you will lose everything. If you win, your life will not improve much, because you are already ahead of almost 99 percent of wizards in England or even Europe."

Dumbledore looked into Lucius's eyes.

"Would you take this bet?"

Lucius gave a cold laugh.

"Do you think I'm a fool?"

Dumbledore laughed.

"Even a fool wouldn't gamble like that, Lucius."

"if not?"

"Then why did you make a decision that's worse than a fool's?"

Lucius then realized what Dumbledore was talking about.

At that moment, he felt a chill run through his entire body, as if he had fallen into an ice cave!
The entire headmaster's office fell silent. Apart from the snoring of the portraits on the wall, they weren't pretending to be asleep, and they genuinely had no interest in this pure-blood wizard.

Looking at Lucius, who was completely stunned, Dumbledore said calmly.

“A friend of yours told me that although you have done some bad things, you are not beyond redemption, especially since you cherish your family very much.”

"You still have a week, right? Why don't you use that time to go home and talk to your son and wife, and then decide whether or not to take this inherently unfair gamble?"

Lucius didn't know how he left Hogwarts.

His mind was a complete blank, filled with countless random thoughts.

Dumbledore must know!
He knew what he wanted to find at Hogwarts!

He even learned that the Dark Lord had only given him a week to finish!
Only those who were present at the time knew about such a thing. How did he know?
Who informed him of these things?

And then there was the friend he mentioned.

Everyone sitting in his living room that night could be called his friend, but who were they?
Thinking of this, Lucius suddenly held his breath!
Could it be him?

The moment he thought of that name, he immediately dismissed the idea.

It absolutely couldn't be him!
His master trusted him so much, and he did so many things for his master. Anyone could be a traitor, even Little Barty, but it just couldn't be him!

Even after returning home, Lucius seemed distracted when he saw Draco.

Narcissa noticed that something was wrong with him and immediately asked him anxiously what had happened.

Lucius, however, was unwilling to tell her such things. Instead, he locked himself in his study, forcing himself to calm down and think about what to do next.
Dumbledore clearly already knew everything about the Dark Lord's return. There was a traitor within the Death Eaters, and the mission to obtain the unicorn blood within a week was obviously impossible to complete. How was he going to explain this to the Dark Lord?

And Dumbledore's words came to mind again at that moment.

Even if he could give an explanation to the Dark Lord, would he really take such a gamble where losing means losing everything and winning doesn't bring much benefit?
Especially since they have to gamble with the safety of Draco and Narcissa?

These questions kept Lucius pondering in his study all night, but even after a whole night, he still hadn't found any answers.

(End of this chapter)