HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

Snape looked down at West's sleeping face without even lifting his eyelids.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald stared at each other, and Grindelwald slowly yawned.

"It seems West won't wake up tonight. Shall we take him to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore said, turning to Snape.

"I'll take him back to the cellar," Snape said, hoisting West onto his back and casting a levitation spell. The weight relief eased his mind.

Returning to the cellar through the fireplace, Snape had just settled West into bed when the fireplace started making noise again.

Snape quickly covered West with the blanket and closed the bedroom door.

Lucius was coming out of the fireplace, frowning as he cleaned the soot from his hair.

Snape came out of the bedroom, and Lucius forced a smile and greeted him, "Good evening, Severus."

"Keep your voice down," Snape warned in a low voice, his face grim. "Lucius, you know it's nighttime?"

Lucius rushed up to Snape. "I have urgent business to attend to!" he whispered. "Bellatrix Lestrange has come to Malfoy Manor!"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Why now of all times? What's her purpose?"

Lucius sat down on his own, tapping his snake-headed cane on the ground with a dull thud.

After a moment of silence, he looked up. "She brought me an order."

"An order?" Snape tapped the table, countless guesses flashing through his mind. "He shouldn't trust Malfoy so much."

"Indeed." Lucius said expressionlessly. "He wants Draco to bring West Porter to him on the night of the final event of the Triwizard Tournament."

Snape paused, "...He couldn't possibly not know that West isn't at Hogwarts right now."

"Of course he knows!" Lucius and the snake-headed cane glared at each other, thoroughly annoyed. "I suspect he has spies at Hogwarts—and I must say, Severus, you really need to be careful. Now he suspects West Potter is being hidden by Dumbledore."

Snape thought of that prophecy.

He had assumed that after that harrowing night, Voldemort would forget about West and focus all his attention on Harry.

However, the reality is quite the opposite—since that fatal mistake, Voldemort has become increasingly paranoid, now adhering to the ruthless attitude of "better to kill the innocent than let any suspicious person go free."

"This is practically an impossible task! If you ask me, he just wants an excuse to punish Malfoy, and mission failure is a good excuse, isn't it?" Lucius gritted his teeth. "Anything is fine, but he actually dragged Draco into this. Severus, Draco is our and Sissie's only weakness."

"What else did Lestrange say?" Snape asked.

"What else could she be? You know she's Cici's sister!" Lucius grumbled incessantly. "Of course, a crazy sister who's head over heels for her master!"

"She told me and Sissy to do as she was told and work on Draco's mindset. If Draco could complete the mission smoothly, she would put in a good word for us with our master and restore the Malfoy family's former status!" Lucius said, taking a deep breath and trying to maintain his aristocratic demeanor. "If you ask me, the Malfoys have been doing quite well without him."

"What do we do now?" Lucius asked. "I can't really hand over West Porter, can I?"

"Of course not," Lucius silently retorted to himself.

Ever since he learned that his current partner—the head of the Somerset family—was West Porter, he has been unable to calm down.

In fact, West did not seem to be deliberately hiding his identity; he simply remained silent about it.

The first to see through the truth was none other than the perceptive Narcissa. The couple later confirmed this shocking fact with Draco.

Thinking of this, Lucius gasped.

He dared not delve into how Potter had transformed into the head of the Somerset family.

However, one thing is certain: even if the Malfoy family knew this secret, they would never reveal a single word of it.

"Of course not," Snape immediately rejected.

Lucius glanced at the closed bedroom door and suddenly asked, "Where's Somerset? Is he with you?"

Snape coughed, a crack appearing on his perpetually icy face. "Why do you think he'd be with me?"

Lucius glanced at Snape, puzzled. "Aren't you two together?"

Snape: "...Why do you think I'm with him?"

Lucius sighed. "Isn't this common knowledge? My dear junior, not only are you on the cover of the Daily Prophet, but look at what you're wearing on your hand!"

Snape was speechless. He raised his hand, revealing a ring inlaid with an emerald on his middle finger. The ring was encircled by a gilded black snake, and the snake's eyes seemed to sense his gaze, flashing with a dark light.

Snape couldn't help but think of someone's eyes, "...What does this have to do with the ring?"

Lucius's eyes widened slightly. "Severus Snape, you...!" The concerned senior student clutched his chest. "This is the other half of the Somerset family head's ring!"

Lucius raised his meticulously maintained, smooth left hand, a hint of arrogance flashing in his eyes: "See this ring? In pure-blood families, the head of the family ring is not only a symbol of status, but it's usually made as twin rings—one worn by the head of the family, and the other passed down to his partner. Can you guess who has the other ring from the Malfoy family?"

Snape: "...Narcissa?"

Lucius gazed at the ring on his finger, a gentle ripple in his eyes: "You see, that ring suits Cici's hand perfectly—it makes her hands look even whiter and more delicate, oh, my Cici..."

Snape stubbornly insisted, "He said it was just an ordinary gold ring."

Lucius: "You've been played, you've been tricked into marriage, I'm sure of it."

Snape: "..."

Snape said coldly, "From now on, I will cut off your beauty potion and fabric softener..."

Lucius suppressed his gloating laughter. "...Let's get back to the point, Severus, what should I do?"

He produced a door key. "This is the door key Bellatrix gave us. She asked Draco to deliver this thing to West Porter that night."

Snape thought for a moment, then said, "Go back and tell Lestrange that you've given the Portkey to Draco."

Lucius, unsuspecting, nodded. "Alright, the Malfoy family is counting on you." He paused for a moment. "Right now, I just hope Draco is safe. You know, he's been protected too well by me and Sissy."

Snape was debating whether or not to tell Lucius about Draco and Potter's relationship.

After much deliberation, he finally abandoned the idea, worried that Lucius might faint in his cellar due to the shock.

"Don't worry, I will do everything I can to protect Draco," Snape said.