Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 41 is not the best.

"That's terrible... I'm an old man..."

Slughorn stood there, murmuring weakly for a long while. His bright green velvet casual clothes were now soaked with sweat and clung tightly to his skin.

“Severus,” Slughorn said weakly, “I can’t answer your question. We need to see the headmaster.”

"Has the headmaster returned?" Snape asked curiously. "I haven't seen him at all these days."

“He just got back this afternoon,” Slughorn said, shivering as he put on his coat. “Let’s go, let’s go to his office now.”

……

"Why is it always you?" The dripping stone monster outside the headmaster's office squinted at Snape with disdain and snorted.

“I had no choice.” Snape glared back at the stone beast.

“Oh, you had no choice, did you?” the stone beast said in a shrill voice. “I’m in the same situation here, aren’t I?”

"—Sour Pop Candy." Slughorn had no interest in listening to their nonsense and rudely interrupted Snape and the stone beast's conversation.

The stone beast let out a few strange cries and reluctantly slid to the side, revealing the spiral staircase behind it.

"Albus, I'm sorry to bother you." Slughorn led Snape into the circular office.

"Good midnight, Professor," Snape said with a grin, peeking out from behind Slughorn's broad body.

“Oh, Horace, it’s alright.” Dumbledore smiled gently. “What earth-shattering thing has Severus done this time on such a cool and pleasant night?”

“It is indeed earth-shattering, Professor,” Snape said, jumping out from behind the old slug. “Prejudice in people’s hearts is a mountain. Let me help you blow it up.”

Upon hearing the word "explosion," Dumbledore's lips twitched involuntarily, and his eyes instinctively glanced towards the door, as if checking to see if any other "dangerous individuals" were following behind.

"Stop talking nonsense, Severus," Slughorn snapped, "shut your ears—"

"He said he found a Horcrux in the castle, Albus."

"Hordeal?" Dumbledore's expression instantly turned serious.

Then he raised his wand and pointed it out the window.

Snape heard something whooshing through the air outside.

Several large, faded black leather-bound books flew in through the open window from the dark night sky, abruptly stopping in mid-air and hovering beside Dumbledore.

Dumbledore tapped the books lightly with his wand a few more times, and then the door of a black cabinet behind Snape creaked open, and the thick books flew inside before the cabinet door slammed shut.

“I’m sorry,” Dumbledore said softly, “it was my oversight. Have you read these books, Severus?”

“I’ve seen them,” Snape said. “They’re in the library, and a library is a place for reading, isn’t it?”

"How did you get in? I don't think any professor would be willing to sign your note," Dumbledore asked. Snape couldn't help but chuckle softly, thinking: Unless he's a brainless idiot, like Gilderoy Lockhart years later.

Dumbledore and Slughorn were both baffled by his inexplicable laughter, looking at him with puzzled expressions.

“There was no note, Professor,” Snape quickly explained. “I sneaked in using the Disillusionment Charm.”

“You know, I had a parchment on my hands a while ago,” Snape said, glancing intentionally or unintentionally at Dumbledore’s desk, where the Marauder’s Map lay quietly in a drawer. “I was wandering around the campus a lot during that time.”

“Young man…” Dumbledore shook his head, then turned his gaze to Slughorn, “Horace, Severus asked you about Horcruxes?”

“Yes… Albus… he asked me about Horcruxes…” Slughorn’s voice trembled slightly. “I’m a little uneasy… because… because many years ago, someone asked me a similar question…”

“Others have asked you,” Dumbledore said calmly, offering reassurance. “It’s nothing, Horace. It’s normal for some promising young wizards to occasionally be interested in the other side of magic. As long as they don’t make an irreparable mistake, everything is still possible—”

“No—” Slughorn interrupted Dumbledore abruptly, his voice trembling with emotion. “Didn’t you hear me, Albus? He found a Horcrux in the castle, right here at Hogwarts.”

"Relax, Horace." Dumbledore drew his wand and waved it gently, and a dirty wine bottle and three glasses appeared in the air.

The bottle automatically tilted to fill each cup with a honey-yellow liquid, and then the cups floated towards each person in the room.

“Have some; it will calm you down,” said Dumbledore. “Lady Rosmerta’s finest oak-ripened mead.”

As he spoke, he raised his glass towards Slughorn and Snape.

Slughorn grabbed his own glass of wine and took a small sip.

Snape also took a sip, but found it not as delicious as the one he had drunk from the Three Broomsticks.

Therefore, it is not the best.

“I may have made a mistake… Albus…” Slughorn gripped the stem of the cup tightly. “I feel ashamed… More than thirty years ago, someone asked me about Horcruxes… I think I may have caused great harm to others that day…”

"Oh, who asked you that?" Dumbledore pressed.

“I think you must remember him too…” Slughorn murmured to himself, “Tom Riddle, that brilliant young man…”

“It’s him,” Dumbledore said, giving Snape a meaningful look. “Of course I remember him. I’ll never forget a student as brilliant as him.”

"So what did Tom ask you?"

“He asked me…” Slughorn hesitated for a long time, as if he had made a great decision, before slowly speaking, “He asked me… whether the soul can only be divided once… whether it would be better to divide it into more pieces… just like Severus asked me today…”

Dumbledore placed the empty cup on the desk, got up, walked over to Slughorn, gently patted his shoulder, and said comfortingly:

"It's alright, Horace. I believe you just accidentally revealed a little bit of a secret magical theory. Everyone makes mistakes."

"However, I wonder if you could show us that memory? Maybe we can do something about it."

(End of this chapter)