The Evil Thoughts of Hogwarts and the Genie

Soman was a crazy freak, and Snape had heard about it long ago.

But his aggression far exceeded Snape's expectations. The boy, who already lived in the mire, struggled to swallow the profanities that were on the tip of his tongue.

It's not that Snape had such a good temper; he was a Slytherin, and proud of it. Because of this, Snape followed the Slytherin rules entirely of his own volition.

He knew he couldn't afford to offend Soman, and he knew what would happen to him if he became a "blood bag".

In some ways, Snape wasn't even afraid of suffering. He wasn't afraid of becoming a punching bag for his classmates; after all, he received similar treatment when his father was home.

But he couldn't accept becoming a member of the academy's lowest rungs, forced to huddle together for warmth with other rats, or even less valuable ones!

He was a true Slytherin. Snape chose to join him not simply because this place held the "brightest and happiest days of my life" that his mother had described to him.

He chose Slytherin to fulfill his ambition—to climb the ranks!

Therefore, no matter how much Snape hated Soman, he would never say anything that might anger Soman to his face until he could completely eliminate him.

At least, at the very beginning of this conversation, when Snape was first humiliated, he did indeed rely on this belief to steady his mind. He retorted almost calmly:

"I just think you're a bit boring, Soman. If you're just trying to make a Muggle girl cry her eyes out, that's not very professional."

Edmund gave a peculiar look upon hearing this.

...Are you kidding me?

"Do you know what you're saying?" Edmund said calmly.

"I'll give you one more chance. Please rephrase your words—if you treat me like an idiot like Avery again, I'll show you what I'm like when I lose my patience."

After Edmund finished speaking, he clicked his tongue in disgust.

That sounds exactly like something Lucius Malfoy would say. Well, maybe Lucius wouldn't even give anyone who dared to offend him another chance to speak.

But this scene is still quite ridiculous.

Because, both Edmund and Snape, at this moment, are somewhat like Lucius.

If the latter was to make himself more like a Slytherin, then Edmund was simply used to responding to others in the same way they had responded to him.

But that wasn't good enough; it wasn't interesting enough. Lucius wasn't good enough for his imitations either, so he decided to try something different.

In the few seconds that Snape was speechless, Edmund flashed a fake smile.

"Don't pretend you don't understand, and don't treat me like a fool. Listen, Severus, I know very well that you and Lily Evans are friends, and I guess you've also heard others say that I prefer sorcery to pure-blood doctrine."

"So let's have an open and honest talk. What did I do to offend you? I admire Lily Evans; she's a powerful and good witch, much better than those mumbling, incoherent pure-blood idiots. I like her and want to be her friend."

That's complete nonsense.

But Edmund's acting was quite good. He spoke eloquently, almost boastfully:

"Therefore you don't need to worry that I'll make things difficult for you because you're friends with Lily, Severus. I understand you. I also think she's incredibly bright, a rising star that can't be ignored."

"So, please tell me directly what you're unhappy about. Lily herself is very grateful. She's a good girl; she even thanked me for telling her the truth when we parted!"

Undoubtedly, these extremely arrogant words had a perfect effect. Snape's face twitched, and a chilling rage emanated from his deep eyes.

This is really interesting. Only now did Edmund realize that Snape was Lily's "true friend".

They are each other's Achilles' heel, and each sees the other as someone who needs to be protected. Considering the differences in their appearances and underlying personalities, this is almost like a wizard version of "The Phantom of the Opera."

It's disgusting.

"...I don't think so, Soman."

"You can call me Edmund or Mr. Soman," Edmund said, rubbing his hands together amicably. "I don't need a middleman. You can either be my friend or we can remain strangers."

Snape's lips twitched, almost into a cold laugh. He spoke almost without hesitation:

"Yes, Mr. Soman." He was extremely calm, as if he felt no humiliation at all.

"If you insist on me telling the truth, I'll say you're a reckless bastard who only cares about his own satisfaction. How can you be Lily's friend? You don't care about her feelings at all, nor have you ever considered the impact your nonsense will have on her—"

Edmund, far from being angry, burst out laughing. He glared at Snape with a mocking expression.

"What impact? Don't accuse me like that, Severus. Do you think you've done the right thing, that you're doing it all for her sake? You deceived her, deliberately hiding the truth from her! You think that's what she wanted, but she's a Gryffindor, Severus!"

Snape gave a pained look, like a vampire being exposed to the sun.

"Open your eyes and look! It's better to have a short pain than a long one. I told her the truth so she wouldn't continue to be ignorant and blindly believe it was her fault after hitting a wall."

"Stop pretending you don't know, Severus. How could you not think of this, someone as smart as you? This is something all Muggle-born wizards have to face: the British magical community simply doesn't welcome them!"

"I admire her and am willing to save her time so that she no longer has to struggle and feel confused."

After saying this, Edmund added a sarcastic remark, as if he wasn't finished:

"And please stop acting like some Muggle rights fighter, okay? Have you even glanced at that little witch who's also Muggle next to her? Admit it, Severus, you're just being controlling and don't want me to touch your teddy bear, that's all."

Edmund heard Snape take a long, long breath and saw him reach into his cloak, seemingly preparing to draw his wand.

In the end, Edmund wasn't sure if Snape had calmed down or gone completely mad.

"You shameless madman."

Snape threw all considerations to the wind, arched his back like a snake, and almost roared.

If Lily hadn't come to him for help this morning because she couldn't stop Avery, Snape wouldn't even have known that Soman had told Lily the truth about the "Mudbloods"... This infuriated and terrified him.

"Stop your ridiculous pretense, Soman! You're up to no good, inciting her to oppose the entire Slytherin House—you know perfectly well what the consequences will be for her."

Snape couldn't continue. His whole face was trembling, and his sallow complexion turned deathly pale, as if he were thinking of an extremely horrific scene... When he spoke again, his tone was filled with murderous intent.

"You just want to have fun with her, to see her lying on the floor, broken and mangled—do you think I don't know that?"

"Let me guess, maybe you think this will force Dumbledore to step down, since everyone knows you hate him!"

Edmund curled the corners of his mouth in disdain:

"nonsense."

Upon hearing this, Snape instinctively wanted to retort. But before he could utter a word, his face turned even paler.

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable his own imaginings seemed.

"...You chose her." The 11-year-old boy was almost terrified by his own imagination.

"You chose her as a sacrifice... You can't do this!"