Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 97 Mind Your Manners, Potter

“You’ve made a lot of new friends, Severus,” Lily said softly on the way to the student council president’s box, her voice unusually calm. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Yes, yes, new friend.” Snape tugged uncomfortably at his collar, feeling something creeping inside his robes. “Much better than the old one. Oh, of course, I mean everyone except you.”

A fleeting, unreadable emotion crossed Lily's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.

She reached out and pushed open the door to the student council president's private room. It was empty except for two rays of sunlight that slanted in through the rain-soaked clouds, casting shadows on the two armchairs side by side.

"What instructions should we give the prefects?" Snape asked eagerly, while secretly scratching his itchy back.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Noticing his strange behavior, Lily frowned slightly and asked in confusion.

“It could be an allergy,” Snape muttered, avoiding her gaze. “You know, it’s the weather.”

“I’ll do most of the talking for a bit,” Lily said, sitting down in one of the armchairs and taking a notebook out of her bag. “It’s nothing complicated, just routine: patrolling the carriages, stopping pranks, and ensuring the safety of the new students…”

“Okay,” Snape breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s up to you, Lily.”

In both his past lives, he had never held such a high-ranking position. If it weren't for the fact that James absolutely had to become the student council president, he wouldn't have bothered to ask Professor Dumbledore for the position.

The train gave a long whistle and slowly started moving. The scenery outside the window began to recede, and the students and parents waving on the platform gradually became smaller.

The prefects from each house gradually arrived. When they saw the badge on Snape's chest, most of them showed a look of disbelief.

Although Snape won the dueling tournament last semester, he had no other notable contributions. Therefore, Dumbledore's appointment of him as head of the student council was clearly unexpected.

Although Lupin did not show any surprise, his eyes occasionally swept over Snape, and a hint of worry seemed to appear between his brows.

Snape knew that expression all too well—Lupin would wear that worried and helpless look before the raiders plotted any prank.

Perhaps he was worried about his friends, Snape thought, but Lupin's concerns weren't entirely unfounded. As the saying goes, "If you don't use your power, it will expire," and it would be a waste of this precious last year if he didn't give them a little trouble.

As Lily relayed instructions and assigned tasks to the prefects, Snape admired her efficient figure while sizing up the twenty-three prefects before him.

His gaze suddenly met a pair of dark brown eyes.

She was a Slytherin prefect, a beautiful girl with an elegant demeanor, her long, black hair tied up with a silver-green ribbon.

He noticed that she kept staring at him, her gaze occasionally lingering on his watch.

That was a coming-of-age gift from Eileen. Later, Eileen told him that the watch was a high-end handmade magic watch that she had bought from Switzerland, worth thousands of Galleons.

Snape searched his memory for a long time before finally remembering the surname of his dark-skinned Slytherin classmate—Sabine.

Oh, isn't this the "Madame Sabine" who will marry seven times, with each husband dying mysteriously and leaving her a large inheritance?

But why does she have the surname Sabine and not something else? Could it be because she has too many husbands and changing surnames is too troublesome, so she simply uses her original surname?

Snape quickly sat up straight: What did that look mean? He had absolutely no interest in her. Besides, even if he were interested, who would dare to mess with her?

Lily finally finished assigning tasks to the prefects.

“Alright,” she closed her notebook, “you can start working now.”

The prefects accepted the order and filed out. Sabine, however, deliberately lagged behind, lingering at the doorway.

“President Snape,” her voice was deep and magnetic, “I just became a prefect this year and I’m not very familiar with the specifics of the job yet. Could you demonstrate it for me?”

Her voice was rather pleasant, Snape thought.

However, if she just became a prefect, it means she's only in fifth grade. Furthermore, she'll give birth to Blaise Sabine when she's eighteen—that's quite an achievement!

At this thought, a terrifying image suddenly flashed into his mind—he was lying in a hospital bed, and Sabine was holding a small bowl containing a suspicious liquid, saying to him, "Severus, come on, take your medicine."

"I'm busy!" Snape tried to clear his mind of the jumbled thoughts, but he couldn't help but adopt a victim mentality, raising his voice and saying fiercely, "Go yourself!"

Sabine was startled by Snape's reaction. Panic and fear flashed in her beautiful eyes as she backed out of the box, at a loss for what to do.

"Why were you so mean to her?" Lily's green eyes were filled with confusion.

“Because I want to live a long life,” Snape chuckled. “May we all live long lives!”

Lily gave him a strange look, but just sighed: "Let's go, we'll also be patrolling in two directions."

The job of inspecting the carriages is actually quite interesting.

Snape stood with his hands behind his back, like a black bat surveying its territory.

Seeing the younger students looking at me with awe, even lowering their voices as I passed by... that feeling of being feared... wasn't so bad.

“That’s the dueling champion,” a third-year Hufflepuff was introducing him to the new students, his voice barely audible. “At Hogwarts, you’d rather offend the headmaster than mess with him.”

"Why?" A round-faced little boy asked, holding a picture of a chocolate frog. "Is he more powerful than Dumbledore? Why does this picture say that Dumbledore is recognized as the most powerful wizard of our time?"

He held up the picture, in which Dumbledore was winking at them.

"Shh—keep your voice down!" The fourth-year student glanced nervously in Snape's direction. "Even if you plucked the headmaster's beard, the worst he'd do is expel you. But if you mess with this guy," he made a throat-slitting gesture, "he can make you drop out of school voluntarily..."

Snape walked past the two men, then deliberately turned back to them.

The third-year student immediately fell silent, while the freshman was so frightened that he dropped the picture card on the ground. Dumbledore on the picture card was thrown against the frame and was getting up, glaring angrily.

“Grow well at Hogwarts, little one,” Snape said slowly, bending down to pick up a picture card and handing it to the new student, patting him on the shoulder. “Cherish the days I have left at school; you only have one precious year to learn from me.”

After saying that, he continued to patrol the train corridor, feeling inexplicably pleased.

In a box with the door open, Snape heard the voice of an old acquaintance.

He held his wand in his hand, stopped at the doorway, and let out a cold laugh as he looked inside.

"What do you want, you snotty-nosed devil?" James asked angrily before he could speak, his fingers already reaching for his wand.

“Mind your manners, Potter,” Snape said in a drawn-out tone, deliberately adjusting the gleaming badge on his chest, “or I’ll put you in solitary confinement.”

“You see, I’m different from you. I’ve become the president of the boys’ council,” he said, enjoying the fleeting look of annoyance on James’s face. “That means I’m different from you. I have the right to punish others.”

(End of this chapter)