HP Starlight

When Professor McGonagall told the other headmasters to make an exception and let Potter, who had just entered the first year, be the Seeker, Snape immediately expressed strong opposition.Everyone else thought he was worried that Slytherin would lose to Gryffindor.In fact, he didn't think Porter, who was just in the first grade, could defeat Collins, who was in the fourth grade. Even if he was talented, he hadn't grown up yet.He's just more worried that the guy will get his hands dirty during the race, and it's so easy for him to "accidentally" fall off his broomstick.

As expected, Potter's broom lost control during the race and tried to throw him off.Snape tried his best to counter-curse just to keep the broom steady.Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure rushing towards him, bumping into him before he finished chanting a spell.Snape struggled to look up at Potter in mid-air for fear that he would fall.Fortunately, he has turned his broom and flew away.Snape then looked for the culprit.Collins again!He gave her a hard look, furious that she had nearly killed Potter.

That night Snape reported to Dumbledore the danger Potter had encountered.

"The Quidditch match is a dangerous activity. It's too easy to pretend it's an accident. I suggest not to let Potter play in the next match, so as to avoid such a thing from happening again!" Snape said.

Obviously, Dumbledore had already heard about the situation of the game. He flipped through the "Transfiguration Today" magazine in his hand, and seemed not surprised by what Snape had to say.

"We can't take away his right to Quidditch just because we protect him, Severus. And as far as I know he's good at flying, just like James."

"Oh, he is simply a copy of his father!" Snape became irritable when he mentioned James Potter, and could no longer suppress the long-standing bad breath in his heart.He kept pacing up and down, subconsciously complaining, "Like his father, mediocre, arrogant, obsessed with disciplining, showing off, attracting attention, insolent—"

"You saw what you expected to see, Severus," said Dumbledore without looking up. "The other teachers said the boy was modest, easy-going, and talented. I personally found that He's a lovely kid."

Snape snorted in disapproval.

Dumbledore didn't care about his attitude, but turned a page of the magazine and said, "Pay attention to Quirrell, will you?"

"Quirrell?" Snape stopped and looked at Dumbledore, who nodded slightly.Snape stopped complaining to the Potters and his son, and returned to a state of calm and restraint.He knew that Dumbledore had doubts about Quirrell for a long time, and now he mentioned it again, indicating that Dumbledore had confirmed that he was serving the Dark Lord.

Except for class time, Snape devoted almost all his energy to the task of monitoring Quirrell and protecting Harry.He increased the time of night inspections, and after each class, he walked out of the cellar to the castle as quickly as possible to observe whether there was any abnormality in the corridor on the fourth floor.

As the Christmas holidays approached, Quirrell didn't make any new moves.He seemed to sense Snape's vigilance and became extra cautious.Every time we met, I was nervous, which made my stuttering problem even worse.

If it wasn't for the greeting cards and gift boxes that appeared on the table every year when he woke up in the morning, Snape would have almost forgotten that today was Christmas.He acquiesced in his idea of ​​temporarily relaxing, and picked up the corners of his mouth to pick up the things on the table.The greeting card is still embellished with stars, and the handwriting is more mature and powerful than in previous years.The green ribbon on the box was slowly opened, and Snape wondered if it might be a collapsible cauldron.But this time it was beyond his expectation, it turned out to be an ancient book inside.Snape carefully checked the book for any hidden curses, and after confirming that it was safe, he held the wand tightly in one hand and carefully opened the book with the other.

After opening it, Snape found that it was not so much a book as an ancient notebook.It records a large number of spells, ancient magic principles, energy conversion, lost potion formulas and so on.Snape was so attracted by the contents of the book that he didn't even want to put down his breakfast. If it wasn't for Quirrell still thinking about him, he could hardly go out for a whole day.

At midnight, Snape was patrolling the corridors as usual, only to find Quirrell also sneaking out of the office.

"Good evening, Professor Quirrell." There was a cold smile in Snape's voice.

"Si-si-Severus..." Quirrell obviously didn't expect to meet Snape at such a late hour, and looked extremely flustered.

"Is there something wrong with coming out so late? Or do you want to try again how to pass through the three-headed dog?" Snape approached him and said.

"S-Severus, I-I-"

"You don't want me to fight you, Quirrell?"

"I-I-don't understand your-mean-meaning."

"You know very well!" Snape stared at Quirrell sharply, as if he wanted to see through him.

Suddenly there seemed to be some movement behind him, Snape turned around vigilantly but saw nothing.He stretched out his hand and grabbed it tentatively, but it seemed that only the cold air passed through his fingertips.

But Snape still felt that it was unusual, he turned around and warned Quirrell, "We'll talk about it another day, after you've decided who you should be loyal to."

In a blink of an eye, it was February, and Gryffindor was about to start its second Quidditch match.In order to ensure Potter's safety, Snape applied to be the referee of the game temporarily.He hadn't used a broomstick for a long time, although he wouldn't completely forget it, but the feeling of unfamiliarity made him somewhat uneasy.When he came out of the office, he was thinking about possible situations and countermeasures for the game, when he suddenly found Collins and Porter standing in the corridor and glaring at each other, both of them seemed very angry.He made an excuse to distract Collins so that she would not be targeted by Quirrell again.But Collins didn't seem to understand his kindness.

Nothing happened in the game.But Potter caught the Snitch by his side and Snape saw him overlapped with his father again.Remembering what James had done to him, Snape had a rare look of anger on his face.He tried his best to cover up his emotions with Occlumency, and then searched for Quirrell in the crowd to divert his attention.

The end-of-semester exams kept the professors busy, and Snape had no time to attend to them for the time being.He was sitting at his desk grading piles of test papers, not even noticing that it was late at night.Suddenly a big silver bird came in through the wall, and said in Dumbledore's voice, "Severus, come down from that room on the fourth floor, hurry up!"

Snape was taken aback, but quickly reacted and rushed to the place where the Philosopher's Stone was hidden.

The checkpoints have all expired, and he quickly passed through several rooms, and saw Dumbledore anxiously examining Harry, and beside him lay Quirrell, who was almost unrecognizable.

"Headmaster?" Snape said.

"Severus, Harry was just fighting Voldemort, come and help him."

Snape's heart tightened, and he quickly pulled out his wand to check whether there were traces of dark magic on Harry's body.After a while, he calmed down and said softly, "There is no remaining black magic, it's just that the burst of magic power overwhelms the body and requires cultivation. I think Madam Pomfrey can take good care of him."

Dumbledore believed in Snape's judgment, and he relaxed a little after hearing what he said, and put Harry on the transformed stretcher.Putting Quirrell on another stretcher, he said to Snape, "Quellnus can't be saved. Voldemort is attached to the back of his head. When he was injured by the protective magic Lily left on Harry." He was abandoned by Voldemort when he was about to die. He was unconscious when I pulled him away from Harry."

"The Dark Lord has been on him?" Snape was so shocked that his voice was distorted.

"Yeah," Dumbledore said, his sharp eyes sweeping across Snape quickly, and he walked out while controlling the two stretchers, "Quirrell was probably possessed at the beginning of the term. What you did this term Voldemort We all know. He will come back sooner or later, are you afraid?"

Snape had recovered from his initial shock, and the Dark Lord was still too weak to threaten him for the time being.Even if he becomes stronger again in the future, he can still claim that he doesn't know.If he really refused to let himself go... Snape pursed his lips, and then said softly, "I will keep my promise, and I hope you will not forget what you promised..."

"Severus..." Dumbledore sighed softly.

Another semester was over, and Dumbledore announced at the teachers' meeting that Gilderoy Lockhart would be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for the next semester.The professors all started talking in low voices.Professor McGonagall even bluntly expressed his objection, "Dumbledore, how can you let him be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? How can the students learn from this vain fame-seeker?"

Dumbledore replied earnestly: "You can learn a lot from a bad teacher about what not to do and what not to be."

Snape curled his lips slightly.He wasn't worried that the Slytherins wouldn't learn anything, what they studied in the common room was more than enough for the exam.He was more worried about Lockhart himself.Lockhart was a few years younger than Snape, and they weren't familiar with them, but Snape still remembered his stupid behavior.Engraving names in huge letters on the Quidditch pitch; imitating the Dark Mark, projecting a huge, glittering likeness of himself into the sky; Sending love letters himself, making everyone skip breakfast... It would be a disaster to send him back to Hogwarts.

But everyone also understands that this position has long been notorious, especially the news that Quirrell died during his term of office spread like wildfire. It would be good to have someone to teach, and they have no choice.

After announcing the candidates for the new teacher, Dumbledore asked everyone to discuss the new president of the male and female student unions, and asked the deans to tell Professor McGonagall the new prefect candidate, so that the prefect badge can be sent to the students along with the letter .

With little hesitation, Snape reported the names of Collins and Wilkes to Professor McGonagall.Needless to say, Collins, even if she has nothing to do with Potter, her grades are enough to become a prefect.The only fly in the ointment is that she is a half-breed and has limited influence in Slytherin.So Snape chose Wilkes to help her again, so there shouldn't be too much trouble.

The holidays had begun, and for the first time Snape, who passed the time every year brewing potions in the basement of Spinner's End, stayed in the living room.He emptied the table, leaving only the big black book that Collins had given him, and he studied it all day long, occasionally revising a few spells according to the contents in it.

Two months passed without Snape immersing himself in the new research.Even sitting in the auditorium waiting for the opening banquet, I still deduced a curse in my heart to break the curse.An owl flew towards Dumbledore, he glanced at it and didn't pay attention, but Dumbledore followed and stuffed himself with the note the owl had brought.Snape opened the note, and it was in Collins' handwriting.The note was short and said Potter hadn't boarded the train at the train station.Snape frowned, exchanged glances with Dumbledore and immediately got up and left the school to Apparate to King's Cross Station.

There was no one in the station, and he checked everything quickly, but there was no sign of Harry.He cast a revealing spell from behind the platform and saw Potter and Weasley being stopped as they crossed the platform.He followed Xiangying to the outside of the station, watched them get into a car, and then the car wobbled and flew up...

Snape scolded Potter severely again in his mind.The little guy is really annoying.He apparated back to Hogwarts to report the incident to Dumbledore, and it happened that the owl had delivered the Evening Prophet.The headline on the front page said that the Ford Anglia could fly, and Muggles were amazed.

Snape snorted angrily, and waited outside the castle to meet the two "troublemakers".

As soon as he reached the foyer, Snape saw Collins hovering outside the door.He knew she was waiting for Potter, and he felt a little dissatisfied.As a Slytherin prefect, I don't know how to restrain myself when I get so close to Gryffindor.

Snape approached and reminded Collins not to be too concerned about Potter, and warned her not to be too presumptuous towards the Dark Lord.Unexpectedly, the little girl didn't care about his ridicule, and deliberately misinterpreted his meaning.Snape thought he should be outraged at the new prefect's brazenness.Unexpectedly, that bright smiling face made him shake his head.Different from the immature smile when I first met her, it was a little more cunning and proud, but it also seemed closer.Looking at the little girl briskly running into the auditorium, Snape felt a rare warmth in his heart.The corners of his mouth curled up unknowingly, and even his dissatisfaction with Potter eased a little.

After the dinner, Snape returned to his office to arrange the timetable for the new semester.Potter and Weasley had left his office after dinner.Snape snorted and disappeared their used plates, complaining inwardly about Dumbledore's pampering them too much.Arrogant and contemptuous of rules, just like his father, nothing like Lily.

He was thinking about the knock on the door.Lucius Malfoy entered the office with his head held high.

"Severus, I really don't understand what's so good about the cellar. Didn't you have enough to live in when you were in school? If you want, I can ask Dumbledore to arrange a better office for you up there." Lucius glanced Looking around at the bottles and jars with specimens floating around, he curled his lips in disdain.

"Thank you for your concern, but it's more used to living here." Snape said politely, "Why, Draco is worried that he just returned to Hogwarts today?"

"I'm relieved to have you here." Lucius said with a smirk, "I'm here today to sponsor some broomsticks for the Slytherin Quidditch team. I heard Draco say that last year's Seeker turned out to be It's not surprising to lose to Gryffindor with a sweep. But it probably won't happen this year. Dobby, take it here."

As he spoke, Lucius waved his hand, and a large long package staggered over as if it had two legs, and stopped in front of Snape's eyes.

"Open!" Lucius ordered impatiently.

The parcel was placed on the ground, and Snape saw the house-elf's long, pointy ears.Opening the package was a little clumsy as his hands were covered in bandages.Lucius beat him aside with his cane in annoyance, pulled out his wand and flicked it lightly, and seven shiny black halos 2001 were revealed from the package.

"On behalf of all Slytherins, I thank you for your donation, Lucius. Then I guess Draco will be on the Quidditch team this year, too?" Snape had a rare smile on his face.

Lucius nodded slightly, and said proudly, "Draco has been practicing all summer. He said he would definitely defeat Potter and catch the Snitch for Slytherin."

Snape froze for a moment, then asked, "Draco wants to be a Seeker?"

"I think this is the most suitable position for him. What's more, I heard that last semester's Seeker was just a waste. He couldn't figure out the direction, and even flew into the faculty and staff watching the game, huh." Lucius said contemptuously. explain.

Snape's face was a little stiff, he didn't expect that Draco was staring at Collins' position.Both were his preferred students, and Snape didn't want Draco to replace Collins.But the seven light wheels 2001 in front of him couldn't refuse either.

"I'll call the captain of the team, Flint, and you can talk to him directly." Snape decided to leave this matter to the students themselves.

The next day word was circulating through the academy that Malfoy had sponsored the team's newest broomstick.When Snape heard that Collins had voluntarily quit the team, he felt a little regretful, but he was also a little impressed by the little girl's mature mind.

The cold and humid weather lasted for nearly two months, causing most of the teachers and students at Hogwarts to catch colds.Madam Pomfrey couldn't do it alone, so she asked Snape to help make a refreshing potion.Snape was busy with work, so he immediately thought of asking Collins to help.It just happens to be able to guide her potions, and it can also be regarded as compensation for her giving up the Seeker position.

In the office at night, Snape secretly observed Collins' operations while arranging the students' signature forms.The little girl's hands were quick and steady, and Snape was secretly satisfied.

What people didn't expect was that Lockhart came to him to "reminiscing about the past".Snape didn't like to see Lockhart, and Collins could feel that Lockhart was disgusted.So he did not delve into Collins's truancy.After Collins returned, Snape looked at the high-quality refreshing potion and showed a satisfied smile.Recalling the worried and angry expression on Collins' face when he mentioned the OWL exam of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Snape dug out the preparation books and notes on Defense Against the Dark Arts from the bookcase and secretly distributed them to Slytherin House.That should be enough to get them through the exam, Snape thought.