Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 67 Poor Old Tom

Snape pulled out the cork, and a strange fragrance immediately wafted out of the bottle.

“Smell it.” He held the crystal bottle right under Sirius’s nose.

Sirius frowned instinctively, took two steps back, and a hint of displeasure flashed across his face, but he still couldn't help sniffing.

"Aphrodisiac?" he asked tentatively.

“Yes,” Snape nodded slightly. “What do you smell?”

"What's it to you?" Sirius asked curtly, refusing to answer the question.

The scent emanating from the bottle reminded him of the alluring aroma he had smelled in Old Snot's class at the beginning of the semester: it simultaneously conjured up images of the Forbidden Forest shrouded in mist after a midnight rain, and the freshly mowed grass of the Quidditch pitch.

James had asked him the same question before, but he had made up an excuse to avoid it.

He believed he and James would always be best friends. As a friend, he should support James in pursuing his own happiness.

"Who do you want to use this on?" Sirius asked warily.

“I’ll lend you a strand of hair,” Snape said, quickly reaching out to take a fallen strand of hair from Sirius’s shoulder, placing it in the crystal bottle, and gently shaking it. “Now, it’s all yours.”

The aphrodisiac turned transparent after being added to Sirius Black's hair, and its alluring fragrance dissipated.

Sirius took a few more steps back, his eyes filled with wariness.

“I don’t need it,” he said. “I don’t need this stuff on girls.”

“You’ve always been popular with girls,” Snape said, looking at Sirius with a puzzled expression. “But who said this is for girls?”

Snape believed that the danger of the infamous Dark Lord's love potion was significantly underestimated. Although the original work only depicted women drugging men, the potion's properties suggest that the user's gender is not a factor.

Poor old Tom was enjoying a wonderful relationship with his beautiful girlfriend Cecilia, but after drinking a cup of water given to him by a witch, he inexplicably had a son with the same name as him. When he came to his senses, not only did he not receive justice, but he also ended up with his family destroyed and his life ruined.

Even more outrageous, later on, the love potion could even be openly sold at the Weasleys' Magic Tricks Shop and delivered directly to the school via the Owl Order service.

Seeing that Sirius didn't take the crystal bottle he offered, Snape continued, "James hasn't left the Gryffindor Tower for days, has he? He even missed today's Quidditch match. Do you think he can recover from this blow?"

“Don’t look at me like that,” Snape said calmly. “What’s done is done, and it’s too late to say anything now. Just like you hung me upside down here, you have to learn to accept the consequences of this, just like I have.”

Sirius remained silent, his face darkening, as if he had already guessed the meaning behind Snape's words.

“James must have told you he likes Lily,” Snape said. “But think about it, if you were such a wonderful girl, would you accept someone who would embarrass himself in front of the whole school and expose his naked body?”

Sirius Black raised his wand again, his eyes blazing with fire.

“Don’t get worked up, relax,” Snape shrugged. “What we need to discuss now is how to solve the problem. If we let James continue to be so depressed, your best friend will be ruined.”

"I believe you are also his best friend. Sometimes, the only thing separating two people is a thin veil of paper."

“I read in a Muggle book that in this situation, he needs a little positive stimulation. It can help him recover from past traumas.” “Take it…” Snape placed the crystal bottle in Sirius’s hand, his voice like a devil’s whisper in Sirius’s ear, “It’s up to you… Remember, this is to help him…”

A cold wind, carrying damp moisture, passed through the branches of the beech trees.

After saying this, Snape turned and left the lakeside. When he reached the stone steps in front of the castle, he looked back and could vaguely see Sirius still standing under the shade of the beech tree.

Snape wasn't sure if Sirius would need the potion, but he knew that Sirius only had eyes for James.

As Snape entered the foyer, he saw Filch and Mrs. Pines huddled together, whispering something to each other.

Curious, he sat on the outermost stool, craning his neck and trying hard to hear what they were talking about.

If only we had a pair of retractable ears made by twins right now.

“Yes… I found her in the village. I heard that she was abandoned by her mother because she was too thin…” Ms. Pins’s voice came through intermittently.

“Could I take a look at her…” Filch mumbled. “Oh dear, the poor little thing… give her to me, Irma, I’ll take care of her…”

Snape listened so intently that he almost leaned against the door.

"Sit down!" Filch suddenly appeared next to Snape and shouted, startling him. "If you don't want to eat, you can stay in my office!"

After saying that, Filch picked at a few pieces of chicken breast and beef from his plate, then left the auditorium humming a little tune.

When Filch reappeared before his classmates, he was accompanied by a kitten that was always by his side. He called this little cat with dark gray fur Mrs. Lorris.

February 1st turned into March in the blink of an eye. The weather didn't change much, just damp and windy. Snape and his friends would occasionally spend some time with a shy boy with straw-colored hair, away from the attention of others.

They, especially Abbott, never hesitated to praise Barty. Abbott even wanted to shove a quill directly into Barty's hand; without him, the paper Professor Glapland assigned on how to deal with Dementors would probably have been delayed for a long time.

When they met again at the library, Barty hesitated for a long time before casually crumpling a small piece of parchment into a ball and tossing it at Snape's feet.

Snape pretended to accidentally knock the book to the ground, and as he bent down to pick it up, he slipped a small piece of paper into his sleeve.

When he looked up, he saw Ms. Pince's vulture-like face in front of him.

“What did you do to that book? You wicked child!” she screamed.

“Blasphemy!” Ms. Pince’s face flushed crimson. “Defilement!”

She looked like she was about to have a heart attack, so Snape quickly packed his things and rushed out of the library.

He quickly walked to a secluded corner, unfolded the crumpled paper, and found a seemingly random sentence written in neat handwriting: "They want us to join now."

　Thank you to Dog Ice Cream, Mo Ge, Sky Wind, Edogawa Conan 23333, EVA Lone Wolf, and Book Friend 33021207944543 for the monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)