Chapter 42 – Saturday 06.
[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Hogwarts.
...
...
Snape continued his way to the school after the incident with the Gryffindor students. As he walked calmly, many students were already returning from Hogsmeade, while many groups were in the front garden of the castle as he approached the castle gate.
At the same time, in the main tower, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who had already returned to the castle, was having a difficult moment. He hadn't even gone out, due to the urgent situation he was in; he didn't know how to proceed when there was a student who had probably died that day in the Forbidden Forest...
"How could this have happened..." He didn't know what to think or what to do to inform that a student had died the next day, but he still had some hope of seeing Snape safely entering the castle by dinner time in the Great Hall.
Hagrid was another who came to him in desperation, talking about what had happened in the forest regarding his animal that he kept hidden, which was with Snape according to what Ravena had said.
He also mentioned the centaurs preparing to face an army of spiders, which meant that Ravena wasn't as innocent as she claimed, but Albus would deal with her later. For now, he had to focus on the present.
However, suddenly, Fawkes appeared in a burst of flames, as he had asked her to search in the hope of still finding Snape somewhere, and she did exactly that.
"He has returned!" Albus stood up as soon as Fawkes delivered her message. "Let's see how he is." He said as he tried to sense Snape, who noticed someone spying on him through his heightened instincts. Albus grabbed his wand before making a move and disappeared with a pop.
"Who is it this time..." Snape muttered as he approached the Slytherin entrance when a vortex appeared with a distorted space. After distorting for a split second, the Headmaster himself appeared in front of him, blocking his way, while no students were there, only portraits observing the scene with interest, probably to gossip among themselves later.
"It is rude to appear like this in front of others..." Snape muttered, while the Headmaster was a little surprised by this, but he should have gotten used to the boy and the way he acted since the beginning of the week.
"What can I do for you, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Snape asked, looking at him, while the Headmaster still stared with a raised eyebrow. After all, Snape in front of him didn't seem at all like a 16-year-old boy entering a dark forest and being chased by hundreds of giant spiders, not to mention entering an area that even Dumbledore himself wouldn't have the courage to enter.
"How have you been? I'm worried after hearing some things about you entering the Forbidden Forest," he said, trying to ignore even Snape's mockery in his last words.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Headmaster, there is nothing to worry about. I just went to collect some herbs and got what I wanted..." Snape said in a neutral tone.
"But, my boy, I heard some..." the Headmaster began to speak but was interrupted by Snape.
"Headmaster, I am fine. Can you let me pass? After all, I will be busy the rest of the night making some potions with the things I collected today and need to earn some money..." he requested.
The Headmaster stood there, thinking of his options to try to make Snape talk about what happened, but he knew the boy was hard to deal with. He sighed and said, "Anyway, it's good to see you well." He said, stepping aside to let Snape pass.
Snape just nodded and continued, no longer paying attention to the Headmaster as he continued on his way. He entered the Slytherin common room after saying the password and went to his room. There were some Slytherin students standing there, but he didn't care and went to the dormitory corridor.
He opened the door and quickly closed it, opening the bag after removing it from his shoulder, taking out the Graphorn cub, which stepped out, touching the ground and shaking itself, feeling quite uncomfortable in the space it had been in for hours. The animal made a sound at Snape, displeased, and Snape shrugged.
"If you are talking about the bag, there is nothing I can do about that. It was our only way for you to get into Hogsmeade," Snape said and continued. "And if you are talking about why I took so long, well, some things happened."
The animal still had a look of disapproval for Snape. "Well, you will have to stay here for a while until we find a place for you," he said. The Graphorn looked at him, stomping its hoof on the ground the next moment. "You want food?" Snape raised an eyebrow as the animal seemed to agree with his question.
"Take this," he said, handing over a cereal bar he had with him. Snape hadn't eaten all day, as he had been kept busy all day, and butterbeer didn't seem like a good way to regain energy.
"I'll leave eating for tomorrow..." he murmured, as he had a long night ahead while he started preparing his things with his cauldron as the Graphorn ate and stayed in the corner.
He began to take all the nightshades from his bag and placed them on the table beside the cauldron. Raising his wand and creating a fire below it, he opened a cabinet next to his room, taking out a rather old piece of equipment full of cylinders and glass tubes. He had saved some gold doubloons to buy it from one of Lucinda's family shops that dealt with magical artifacts. He had bought it cheap because no one had bought this equipment in the last 10 years.
He started to prepare a substance in his cauldron while setting up the equipment, lighting fires on two sides of it. After half an hour, the substance in the cauldron was ready, and he added it to a container in the equipment as it bubbled.
This equipment would be the filter to extract the substance from the plant. With everything ready, he began to take the plant, placing it in the substance he had added, as it started to dissolve right there.
After some time, with steam being generated, it began to drip a viscous green liquid through a tube coming out of that liquid, falling into a vial he had left on the side.
"This equipment is quite useful despite being old... I will have to buy a better one in the future. After all, I will have to stay here all night, whereas more modern equipment would only take an hour..." Snape murmured, but with no option, he had to work with what he had. He was already preparing to create more substance in his cauldron, as the steam was beginning to dry out the container in the equipment.
It took two hours for the first glass vial to be filled with pure minoxidil. He finally sighed as he prepared to place a new one. Snape couldn't help but look to the side and see his new companion sleeping in a corner while he concentrated on his potions.
He continued working throughout the night, separating the liquid and maintaining the equipment, with the cauldron always lit beside him to replenish the extraction substance. Snape also kept writing everything he did, listing the ingredients and the results so that his formula would have recorded his actions for feedback later.
"Well, I'm finally done," he murmured, looking at his progress. There were 5 vials ready when he felt it was morning.
"I'm hungry, but I'll sleep for at least two hours to recover a bit." He murmured, extinguishing all the flames as he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes for a moment.
The Graphorn was awake but remained curled up on the floor. "What should I call you..." Snape murmured, not wanting to refer to it just as Graphorn. "Anyway, let's get something to eat. Stay there; I'll be back and bring something for you to eat." He said as he left the dormitory. It was already 8 AM when he headed to the Great Hall.
The place was quite full as Snape sat next to Geronimo Arts, who always seemed to be by his side. Without caring about the boy shrinking beside him, Snape began to eat everything he could on that table.
The students were surprised to see Snape devouring everything he could right there, some looking disapprovingly, but Snape didn't care. They weren't the ones who had to run for their lives with all their might while giant spiders and powerful monsters chased after them.
He bit into his sixth apple and couldn't help but glance at the main table. There were only a few professors, while the headmaster was absent, as he had a commitment and, due to a delay, had to stay out during the night after finding Snape.
Some students looked at Snape at that moment, especially those who wanted revenge on him in Slytherin. "Hey, did you hear?" asked one student. "Two seventh-year students are in the infirmary. They say it was Snape himself who did it after they were caught at the edge of the lake!"
"You've got to be kidding," replied another.
"How many students has he sent to the infirmary?" asked a third.
"You won't believe it when I tell you, but all the students in the infirmary were sent there by Snape himself," said the first. "The beds are almost all being used by Gryffindor and Slytherin students. He sent four Gryffindor brats, two seventh-year students from the same house yesterday. On our side, we have Adrian Rosier, Paris Black, and Lucas Nott, although the last one was actually sent by Bellatrix to the infirmary. Madam Penelope is freaking out!
"What will we do? I don't want to go to the infirmary," said a seventh-year student.
"Don't be afraid of him. We'll get him. This plan is going to be perfect," replied the other.
"When will it be?"
"Of course, as soon as we catch him alone."
Meanwhile, in the infirmary at that moment...
Someone peeked in. "It looks like someone is talking about me," said Adrian Rosier, looking to the side and seeing a discussion happening right there.
"Come on, Sirius, you're pathetic, scratching yourself like that," taunted a cousin of Sirius while watching him scratch himself with his friend.
"Talk about your broken egg!" Sirius mocked, forcing himself to resist the effect of the powder Snape had thrown at him. He still hadn't stopped scratching as it would take a week, making him and his friends miss the second week of classes.
"Damn... Snape!! You'll pay for this!" James Potter shouted angrily while scratching himself.
That name attracted the ire of most who were there. Except for Lucas Nott, everyone had suffered at the hands of that student. The two Gryffindor students who were bandaged and arrived yesterday couldn't even speak, while Adrian could see their angry faces. Despite enjoying seeing the members of that house in that state, he was still quite angry at Snape.
"For Merlin's sake! I don't want to hear the name Snape here anymore." Madam Penelope appeared at that moment, bringing a tray with medicine. "Now let's forget Snape and take your potions to get better. You've been talking about that name all week, and I'm starting to get sick of it." She said with a small smile.
Raccoon here:
I'll give the name to the animal with the best comment, so comment on what I should call the Graphorn.
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🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
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