A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 83 Snape's Letter (Second Update)

Rumor has it that Snape's most prized possession was his medicine storage room.

No one was allowed to enter. The professor had also placed the hut under the most stringent spells to prevent students from breaking in.

Someone once attacked the cabin at night and stole some potions while William and Cedric were moving Lu Wei.

Professor Snape added several spells to the hut after returning from Azkaban, but it was attacked again today.

William knew about this. On the day he first fell into the loop, he saw Dumbledore's memories in the Pensieve, where Professor Snape said he was fighting against "himself".

The professor must have discovered that someone was trying to enter his cabin, which led to the fight.

The wooden door was closed, bearing the marks of flames. When William approached, he did not trigger any magic.

The attacker must have broken through the defenses, but Professor Snape was taken away by the Ministry of Magic before he could redo the magic on the hut.

William glanced around; the corridor was deserted. He pushed open the door and went inside.

It was a dimly lit room with hundreds of glass bottles on the shelves, containing sticky plant and animal specimens floating in colorful solutions. A cabinet in the corner was filled with medicinal herbs.

"Flames are raging."

William casually flicked his wand a few times, lighting the kerosene lamp on the table.

The room contained only common herbs and the corpses of magical creatures; it was indeed a treasure trove for brewing potions, but not as precious as William had imagined.

He was slightly disappointed.

William's attention was quickly drawn to the desk, where there was a set of keys.

"The office key?" William pondered for a moment and picked up the key.

There was also a note under the key, which read in a messy hand: "Professor Dumbledore, please keep this safe for me."

If it were a particularly valuable key, Professor Snape would indeed find it difficult to take it to Azkaban.

William searched around and found an old box in a corner.

The box had a large padlock, and William compared it to the keyhole and found that it was the same key.

Although secretly opening someone else's box is not a good habit, William is currently in a time loop, so no one will notice.

Soon, his curiosity overwhelmed his sense of propriety.

Actually, it doesn't matter if there's a curse on the box, since William is seriously injured and will recover completely tomorrow.

William walked up to the box with seven locks, inserted the first key into the lock, opened the box, and found a pile of clothes inside.

He closed the box, inserted the second key into the second lock, and opened it again. Inside the box were no longer clothes, but various potion textbooks, some parchment, and quills.

William quickly inserted the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth keys into the lock, opened the box, and each time the contents were different.

Finally, he inserted the seventh key into the lock, opened the box, and William's pupils contracted slightly.

The bottom of the box turned out to be a room, like a basement, with a ladder hanging at a height of about three meters.

William climbed down the ladder.

This is a huge room, laid out almost exactly like the outside. There is a long corridor on the far right, but it is too dark to see clearly.

There was a kerosene lamp on the table. When William lit it, the room was suddenly bright.

To his left was a pearwood wooden table with a chair in front of it. On the table was a group photo and a bouquet of lilies.

William picked up the photograph, which was immobile; he knew this was the Muggle way of taking pictures.

In other words, the photo was taken by a Muggle, but for some reason, Professor Snape did not use developing chemicals on the photo, thus preserving its original style.

The photograph was from a long time ago, carrying a sense of historical vicissitude: it showed a boy and a girl, both only about ten years old, in a nearly deserted amusement park. A large chimney stood out starkly against the distant horizon.

The girl was swinging on a swing, and a thin boy was pushing her on the swing from behind.

The boy had long black hair, and his clothes were extremely mismatched, as if he had dressed deliberately: a pair of jeans that were too short, a big and long, worn-out coat that looked like an adult's, and a strange-looking shirt that resembled a maternity dress.

There should have been another person in one corner of the photo, but they were torn off.

The boy smiled happily.

Or perhaps, this was the first and only time he had ever laughed so happily.

William recognized them as Professor Snape and the girl named Lily. They were the two of them in Dumbledore's Pensieve, in the scene on the train.

William guessed that it was taken by Lily's parents because Snape's childhood attire didn't seem to come from a family that could afford a camera.

On the table, there is an envelope dated April 20th, which is today.

There was no stamp or other markings on the envelope, only the words: "Three thousand nine hundred and fifteen days of missing Lily, sent to the girl I love most."

There was another piece of paper under the envelope, but because it was obscured, William could only see the last few lines.

"Lily, Dumbledore told me, 'We are all the same. We all feel pain. Our lives are all messed up. Life is just that incomprehensible.'"

But I... I'm already tired of it. I have nothing left but the awareness of the world's malice.

This isn't the life I want, I can't take it anymore...

Professor Snape was probably writing a letter here before he left. He didn't finish writing it when he heard the sound of an attack at the door, and then he left in a hurry.

William opened the drawer of his desk and froze. The entire drawer was filled with envelopes!

Each one was signed "For Lily".

However, not a single letter was sent.

Because Lily died eleven years ago.

Snape probably really... loved Harry's mother, and these letters are the best evidence of that.

In that instant, William was so overcome by this intense emotion that he couldn't bring himself to open the letters and read their contents.

He sighed softly, turned and walked out of the room, heading towards the right-hand corridor.

……

……

(Second update, please vote! There will be a third update this afternoon.)

(End of this chapter)