Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 38 Snape's Test (High Energy Warning)

The third graders had Defense Against the Dark Arts class today, and get out of class has already ended.

Professor Quirrell walked quickly toward the restaurant with his head down, with George and Fred following furtively behind him.

When Loren and the others saw one of the twins, they took out their wands, pointed them at Professor Quirrell's head, and shouted, "Scarf, come!"

The purple scarf, which was originally wrapped around Professor Quirrell's head, suddenly began to untie itself from the exposed end and fly away under the influence of magic.

The scarf changed slowly, and Professor Quirrell quickly realized what was happening. He panicked, covering his head with the scarf and looking around to see who was playing the prank.

George and Fred were very familiar with this scene. They immediately flanked Ron, put their hands on his shoulders, and loudly pretended to chat with him.

"Oh, Ronnie, I heard you wet the bed again last night!"

"You last wet the bed last week, didn't you?"

All eyes immediately turned to Ron, and most of them looked surprised.

Those familiar with the twins knew this was another prank and felt sorry for Ron.

Ron's face flushed crimson. "This time I won't let you off! Prepare to die, George!"

Ron lunged at the person on his right, but his brother's arms were much longer. He hugged Ron tightly, saying, "Look, our little Ronnie is angry." He paused, then continued, "But I'm Fred, and that's George over there!"

George laughed and said, "It's so sad that you can't tell us apart from us, even though you're our brother."

Professor Quirrell, oblivious to the red-haired brothers' antics, had already walked away.

George and Fred could also notice Quirrell walking away.

"It seems the Summoning Spell won't work on the scarf that looks like a human-shaped dung bean."

"We need to think of another way."

"Perhaps we can launch a surprise attack during class."

Goodbye, Ronnie.

"We need to get down to business."

The two of them said one sentence at a time, put Ron down, and ran away quickly.

Harry couldn't help but laugh out loud: "When will Ronnie wet the bed next?"

"Harry, that's enough!" Ron said with a smile.

The group happily went to have lunch.

……

Professor Snape gave Loren a reading list of 25 books, and Loren has already read 4 of them. He has taken some time to review them.

I thought about how to talk to Snape several times, but I couldn't come up with the best answer.

After dinner, Loren headed toward Snape's office.

Snape's office was located underground, next to the Slytherin common room. Even the reliefs on the walls near his office were predominantly dark green, a somewhat somber shade with a hint of black.

As soon as Loren arrived outside the office, before he could even knock, Snape's deep voice came from inside: "Come in."

The office was dimly lit, and Snape was grading the assignments he had collected that day.

Snape didn't greet Loren, who began to look around the office on his own.

The table, bookshelves, and cabinets were nothing special, but the shelves along the wall were filled with glass jars.

Loren saw the eyeballs of various unknown creatures, a toad the size of a human head, and venomous snakes with strange patterns, all floating in liquids of various colors in different shapes.

These glass jars made the whole office feel eerie and terrifying.

"I hope you will go back and tell Harry Potter, and his sidekick Ron Weasley, that if their homework is any more similar, I'll make them copy it a hundred times." Snape didn't look up, and his voice was calm.

"Understood, Professor." Loren replied obediently.

"From the very beginning, I knew you had ulterior motives when you approached me. So tell me—" Snape raised his head, his unfathomable gaze fixed on Loren, "Mr. Morgan, what do you desire from me?"

Regardless of whether Snape had used Legilimency, Loren looked directly at the Potions professor and said, "Wolfsbane Potion, Professor."

Snape's gaze turned to surprise: "A werewolf? You?"

"No, my grandfather was a werewolf." Loren was straightforward; he didn't think trying to outsmart Snape would end well.

"I need the wolfsbane medicine to relieve my grandfather's pain."

"Ha, a werewolf!"

Snape's gaze was distant, "Pathetic and pitiful..."

He thought of another werewolf, and of the people he hated during his student days.

When Snape was in his sixth year, he accidentally entered the Shrieking Shack on a full moon night and was nearly killed by Lupin, but was saved by Harry's father, James...

After a while, Snape came to his senses, gave Loren a deep look, and said nothing.

Snape led Loren to his private storage room, where Loren discovered that there was another room hidden in the office.

Snape dragged over two boxes, opened the lids, one was empty, and the other was filled with a dense swarm of black snakes with green stripes, probably dozens of them, which made Loren's scalp tingle.

"Green-striped vipers, if you get bitten, the wound will never heal, it will keep festering and suppurating..." Snape said, as he reached into the dense pile of snakes, pulled one out, pried open its mouth, and knocked its fangs against the mouth of the test tube.

Loren watched as the venom rapidly secreted viscous venom from the fangs; a single sip of venom filled one-fifth of the test tube.

Snape put the test tube back on the shelf and casually tossed the snake, now empty of venom, into another empty box.

The venomous snake that had been thrown out was restless and tried to crawl out.

Loren noticed that there was a gold thread around the opening of both boxes. When a snake crawled to the opening of a box and touched the gold thread, it would stiffen and fall back into the box.

"I want you to collect this box of snake venom."

Snape's words sent a chill down Loren's spine, but he forced a reply: "Yes, I understand, Professor."

Snape ignored him, walked out of the storeroom, and continued grading assignments.

Loren had never encountered such a scene in his two lives. He repeatedly tried to reassure himself: these snakes probably wouldn't really bite him; Snape wouldn't put a student in such danger; the toxicity he was talking about was probably just a bluff.

After realizing this, Loren felt much better and calmed down a bit.

Loren took a deep breath and reached into the snake box. The wet, cold, slippery texture of the scales immediately overwhelmed his senses. Just as Loren had guessed, there were no snakes in the box that would bite.

He couldn't grab a snake as precisely and swiftly as Snape; several snakes crawled up his arm, their scales rubbing against Loren's skin.

He quickly pulled his hand away; there were two snakes on his arm. He almost cursed.

Just then, the snake that had been writhing in my hand quieted down.

Loren breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that it wasn't just touching the gold line that caused the snake to stiffen and become still, as long as it went beyond the height of the gold line.

Loren mechanically repeated the steps of extracting venom and placing it in the ground. Eventually, he was able to handle the snakes with a blank expression and even examine their patterns.

After an unknown amount of time, Loren emerged from the storeroom, pale-faced and with lifeless eyes: "Professor Snape, it's done."

"Go back now." Snape said without looking up.

A surge of anger welled up inside Loren, but it was quickly followed by a profound sense of powerlessness. He was mentally exhausted, and in the end, he left the office without saying a word.

"Come every Friday night from now on. You need to take the wolfsbane potion a week in advance. It's too late this month." Snape's voice came from behind.

(End of this chapter)