Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 454 Confused——Snape's Identity

"Well," said Headmaster McGonagall, with a trembling voice, as if a little less decisive, "I—I know Hera must also want him to be buried here. This is a Hogwarts tradition, isn't it? Hogwarts—this is his real home. He told me more than once, and I believe he thinks so."

"Let's do it then," said Snape, before the others could react.

"It's a shame...," said Headmaster McGonagall, choked up, "that there hasn't been a headmaster—"

"There hasn't been a headmaster who died in the castle, has he? And all of us have seen his hard work this year." Hagrid's deep voice echoed in the room.

"Hogwarts should be Hera's final resting place." Professor Flitwick said, his eyes were red, his voice was high-pitched, and his chest heaved violently. He couldn't believe that the man who always joked with him at the dinner table in the morning had left him forever, just like Dumbledore.

"I know. The Ministry's plan, but we won't allow you to defile his body with Flashback Charms."

"Absolutely," said Professor Sprout.

"If you all think so," Scrimgeour straightened his robes, "I have no reason to refute you, but I have to say that you have lost a good opportunity to find out the truth. Also, we will send the students home tomorrow morning. Do you have any objections?"

Everyone was silent, and after a while, Snape said quietly, "Very good."

"Alright, Richfar, you rush back to the ministry immediately and tell them to transfer the express to Hogsmeade so that the students can leave the school as soon as possible." Scrimgeour said to a young man behind him.Richfar quickly lowered his head and wrote something on the paper, and handed it to Scrimgeour. After getting Scrimgeour's signature, he quickly left the room. The moment he closed the door, he glanced at Snape unconsciously.Too bad Snape didn't seem to see it at all.

"I want to ask something about what happened tonight, may I?" said Scrimgeour. "I heard that Potter was there, wasn't he?"

"How do you know?" asked Headmaster McGonagall, who was waiting for Scrimgeour with glaring eyes.

Scrimgeour quickly raised his hand to signal Headmaster McGonagall not to get angry, "I just happened to pass by the hospital hospital when I was going upstairs, and I heard what Potter was saying just now. Snape stood beside Bellatrix Lestrange, he was the accomplice who killed Hera."

His eyes were locked firmly on Snape's shiny black hair, as if trying to read something from his face, but he couldn't even see his face in the shadows.

"You believed a child's nonsense?" Principal McGonagall asked in disbelief.

"That possibility cannot be ruled out."

"We can all testify that Snape was fighting with us at the time, and he helped a lot." Professor Sprout said, and she gave Snape a strong look at the same time, "If it wasn't for him, the casualties among us would have at least doubled."

"Well, if Snape doesn't mind, I hope he can be tested with Veritaserum," Scrimgeour said forcefully.

Snape laughed suddenly, "Scremgeour, have you been in the Auror's office for too long? You thought Veritaserum would work on an Occlumency master!?"

"What are you talking about?" Scrimgeour wanted to reach into his arms and take out his wand furiously, but was stopped by the Auror behind him.

"Minister, I think Professor Snape must be very sad," the Auror said hastily, "and we all know that Veritaserum doesn't work on Occlumency masters."

"Hmph." Scrimgeour snorted coldly. "I wonder what you were doing when it happened, Snape." His eyes were fixed on Snape like a lion's on its prey.

"I was brewing a potion in my office, and suddenly I heard loud footsteps upstairs." Snape said expressionlessly, "I thought it was the students who were disobedient and going on a night tour."

"So there are often student night tours in the castle?" Scrimgeour asked. "Did you not expect that someone might break into the castle? Or did you know that someone would break into the castle tonight?"

Everyone looked at Snape nervously. It was undeniable that they had heard Harry's words before, and even believed them at first, because they didn't trust Snape in the first place, and only reluctantly accepted him because of the trust of Dumbledore and Hera.

"The 'savior' Potter you believe in is a frequent visitor to night tours." Snape said sarcastically, his lips moved slightly. "It's not uncommon to meet him in a castle after curfew. Why don't you ask him yourself, Mr. Minister?"

Scrimgeour was so angry that his face flushed red, and the veins on his arm bulged. He was a standard Gryffindor, and he didn't like Slytherin at all, let alone Snape, who was accused by many people of being a Death Eater. If Dumbledore hadn't excused him, Scrimgeour believed that Snape would definitely repent in Azkaban.

"Mr. Minister, I don't think you need to doubt Professor Snape. Tonight is enough to prove his loyalty, whether it's to Hera or to the Order of the Phoenix." Principal McGonagall said, she walked lightly in front of Snape, blocking Scrimgeour's view.

"Okay," Scrimgeour shrugged helplessly. There were only two Aurors behind him. He actually led a whole team out, but most of them were sent by him to check the safety of the castle. The three of them obviously had no chance of winning against the four deans.

"I trust Professor Snape for the time being, but once I catch any clues, I won't let you go." Scrimgeour said as if he was not relieved, which made Snape sneer.

"If I were you, I'd focus on more meaningful things. Rather than suspecting an ordinary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Snape said coldly.

"I will wait until that day." Scrimgeour seemed to have not heard Snape's words at all, obviously he listened to Harry's words, and he attached great importance to them, even surpassing his trust in the deans.

He knew how he got to where he was: the stupid Fudge who chose not to believe in Potter, was crushed by Voldemort's return, and stepped down.Scrimgeour would rather take Harry's word, even if it made him appear stubborn at times - but there was nothing wrong with being cautious.

"Mr. Minister, is there anything else?" Principal McGonagall said. "If not, we're off to watch the night, we have to make sure there are no Death Eaters hiding in the castle—"

"No, I'll lead the Aurors to inspect the forest and grounds as soon as possible," Scrimgeour said.

All classes are suspended and all exams postponed.In the early morning of the next day, the students left the castle in a hurry after boarding the Hogwarts Express, which made the professors very dazed. At this time of year, the school was full of students nervously preparing for exams, but this year, the castle was empty.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a large group of students all petitioned to stay in the castle. They hoped to attend Hera's funeral. Although Principal McGonagall explained to them the danger of this behavior-the Death Eaters are likely to make a comeback, but they still insisted on doing so.

In the end, the professors agreed to their request, but they must agree to the request of the professors, try to stay in the common room during the break time, everyone must arrive at the auditorium on time for dinner, and they are not allowed to go out alone and many other conditions.

The students agreed, just to attend Hera's funeral.

Under Madam Pomfrey's treatment, it took almost a few days for the wounded people who participated in the battle that night to return to normal, except for Bill, who was attacked by the werewolf Greyback, and the wizarding world does not have a good way to heal the wounds attacked by the werewolf, so he had to stay in the school hospital.

At dusk on the day before the funeral, a powder-blue carriage the size of a house was pulled by a dozen huge winged silver-maned horses, flew from the sky and landed on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.The students watched all this excitedly in the castle, and the younger students had never seen such a scene.

Harry watched from the window a tall, imposing woman with black hair and yellow skin got off the carriage and threw herself into the arms of Hagrid who was waiting there.Behind him, another wizard dressed in extravagance got off the carriage, and he walked quickly towards the castle, wrapping his hood tightly around his head—his robes had a dark purple brilliance, and he looked very expensive at first glance.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Ministry of Magic - which included Minister Scrimgeour himself - was accommodated at the castle.Harry took pains to avoid meeting any of them, believing that sooner or later they would question him about what he had seen that night, and he himself was having trouble with that memory - even though it hadn't changed in the slightest.

He was also deliberately avoiding any topic about Hera, he didn't know how he should treat that man, the man who had cheated him for a year, but taught him for so long, even in order to let Harry know Voldemort's weakness, he took the trouble to take Harry into the Pensieve every week.

Hermione was crying again, which upset Harry, she would now cry almost at any moment without warning, and she looked goofy, which was very unlike Hermione, but Harry could understand.

Although Harry and Hera were the first to meet among them, when it comes to depth, Hermione is definitely the deepest among the three of them. If Penello hadn't been with Hera first, she might have waited until graduation to confess her love to Hera, and Harry was convinced of this.

Harry and Ron were by Hermione's side all day, lest she get caught up in doing something stupid, and although they knew the concern was paranoid, Hermione was always in a daze, which worried them a lot.I'm afraid that Hermione will accidentally fall into the black lake.

The sunny weather seemed to be taunting them, and Harry and Ron looked at each other silently, and they understood each other's thoughts in an instant-it was surprisingly unanimous: it would be great if Hera didn't die.

They visited the school hospital twice a day. Neville had been discharged, and Bill was still under Madam Pomfrey's care there.His scars are still pretty impressive, but honestly, he looks like Moody now, luckily his legs and eyes are still intact, but his personality doesn't seem to have changed a bit.The only thing that has changed is that he now loves to eat very tender beef.

"We've got to move on," Ron said softly, trying to reassure Hermione.Ginny took Hermione's hand, afraid of losing her if she was not paying attention.

"Hera sure doesn't want us like this, does she, Harry?" said Ron.

Harry froze for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, I don't think Hera would want to see this scene."

"But he's gone," Hermione said miserably. Her hair was disheveled and she looked extremely decadent. She grabbed Ginny's hand so hard that she almost cried out.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and fell silent, they couldn't change the fact.The grief in their hearts was so great that they didn't know how to comfort Hermione.

When they returned to the lounge, Ginny kissed Harry on the cheek, which made Ron's eyes widen in surprise: "How can you ignore me?"

"We've been like this for a long time. It's not like you don't know it. You should be used to it." Ginny gave Ron a blank look, and left with a yawn. She waved at Harry before going to the girls' dormitory, where Hermione was signed away by her.

Lying on the bed in the dormitory, the room was quiet, Harry said softly, "I know the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, but I—"

"You figured it out?" Ron said in surprise.

"True, but I can't believe the fact." Harry said dreamily, looking at the ceiling.

Ron suddenly lost his voice, and after a while, a voice came from his bed, "The person you're talking about is Snape, right?"

"How did you guess that?" Harry asked in surprise.

"I can't think of anyone else who can make you so entangled." Harry saw a figure sitting up from the bed, and he sat up with Ron.

Harry's fingers tangle together, "I tried to stop him with a spell while I was chasing him, and then I read."

Ron listened patiently to what Harry had said, and then he asked his own question inexplicably: "But if Snape is a Death Eater, why didn't he kill you?"

"I don't understand either. He just said that I was the Dark Lord's target and they couldn't touch me." Harry said honestly, trying hard to recall what happened that night. "He also stopped Bellatrix."

"Maybe he's really not a Death Eater? Maybe he's really an undercover agent?" Ron asked suspiciously, he just thought it was a little unbelievable.Harry managed to escape from the hands of the Death Eaters with only minor injuries.

"But he watched Hera die," said Harry bitterly. "He could have used a spell to save Herra, but he just watched it happen."

"But you also said that Bellatrix suddenly uttered the death curse, maybe he didn't have time to react at all?"

(End of this chapter)