Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 266 The Damp and Cold Grave

"Deng deng deng deng".

Snape walked out of Levi's office and hurried towards the underground office, Levi's words echoing in his mind.

A few students happened to be in the hallway. When they saw Snape, they were all frightened and hid to the side. The bolder ones started talking in hushed tones, obviously talking about him.

Snape used to not care about these things at all.

If he didn't hear it, he should pretend he didn't hear it—but if he did hear the specific content, he should deduct points severely and give him a good scolding.

He never gets bogged down in internal conflicts because of his students' performance.

But now, these students' behavior is indeed quite jarring!

Snape glared at them—the students he saw gasped and covered their mouths, not daring to utter a word.

Seeing the students' performance, he became satisfied again—but the next second, he became unhappy again.

Perhaps this is not what he wants right now.

Hogwarts is undergoing positive changes, and all the students are changing—they are bringing a vibrant energy.

Like fresh, scalding blood, it injected itself into this decaying castle with unstoppable force, like a stimulant—along with all the decaying souls within, whether you refused or agreed, as long as you existed in Hogwarts, you would inevitably be infected.

Everyone except Professor Binns the Ghost felt this burgeoning vitality; even the stern Professor McGonagall felt her soul lighten a bit.

Snape. He never dared to relax.

But now, of the seven Horcruxes assumed by the two legendary wizards, Levi and Dumbledore, only three remain—Dumbledore seems to have been looking for Slughorn lately, so this will likely be confirmed sooner or later.

So, just as Livy and Dumbledore suggested, it seems that he no longer needs to isolate himself.
Snape lifted the robe on his arm, revealing the Death Eater mark that was dimmer than ever before.

This represents the mark of the Dark Lord's pursuers.
The mark that once represented pure-blood glory and fanatical faith later became a branding iron, a constant reminder of the grave mistakes he had made. Now, only a bluish-gray outline, like a bruise, remains on his pale arm.

Snape's fingertips hovered above the skin, without actually touching it.

Footsteps suddenly echoed down the corridor—Snape reacted as if scalded by boiling water, quickly restoring everything to normal and facing a fat, round face.

It was that stupid kid he had just been talking about—Longbottom.

"Hmm—Teach—Professor, hello—"

Their cowering appearance is repulsive.

Snape's brow furrowed instinctively, recalling the countless mishaps this boy had caused in Potions class. He felt an urge to reprimand him, but Levi's voice echoed in his mind at that moment.
Snape forced back the reprimand that had already escaped his lips—the child hadn't done anything wrong; the one who was wrong was himself, observing the mark in public.
Snape heard a disgusting voice—with his usual drawn-out tone, but the softness was completely different from his usual manner.

"Lombardon—"

When Neville heard Snape call his name, he shuddered and instinctively crossed his arms and held them in front of his face, not daring to look at Snape.

Seeing him like this, Snape was stunned.
"Forget it, let's go."

He shook his head, let out a deep breath, waved his hand, and left before Neville could react.

Only after the footsteps had completely disappeared did Neville, cowering in fear, try to lower his arms and look in the direction Snape had gone.

Professor Snape is gone. *Phew*

Neville breathed a sigh of relief, his face, which had been deathly pale, regained its rosy hue, and he finally had the mind to think about Professor Snape's strange behavior earlier.

He thought he was going to get a severe scolding, though he didn't understand why he should be scolded.

The expected storm did not arrive—which reminded him of his previous Potions class.

Professor Snape has been absent-minded during class lately, often spacing out on the podium, which has caught the students' attention.

Neville didn't understand what they were saying—"Professor Snape was outdone by Professor Levy, he must be up to no good."

He felt that as long as Professor Snape didn't cause him any trouble, that would be good enough; he didn't care about anything else, or rather, he couldn't care about anything else.

Ever since the professors started merging into classes with Professor Levi, Neville has been living a life of "occasionally encountering professors merging into classes and assigning a lot of homework, then fighting tooth and nail for a week and luckily winning."

Fortunately, his friends are all finishing their homework very quickly because they have to squeeze in time to go to the Duel Tower.

So much so that whenever he struggled with his homework, someone would always step forward and casually remind him.

Moreover, with the guide, it became much easier to look up information and do homework.

All of this is thanks to Professor Li Wei
He was the one who started the combined classes, he was the one who caused the homework load to surge, he was the one who helped students complete these assignments better, he was the one who established the Free Day, and he was the one who started the Duel Tower.
The thought of Professor Levi made even the timid Neville stand tall and feel proud.
“Longbottom, I’ve emphasized to you countless times just how important a suitable wand is to a wizard.”

Neville's puffed-out chest instantly collapsed.

Professor Levi and Professor Snape are equally terrifying to Neville—Neville absolutely refuses to change the wand that came from his parents, the only thing they left him.
Well, no.

Professor Snape is probably more terrifying.

After all, Boggart was disguised as Professor Snape at the time.
Neville imagined that if Boggart had been transformed into Professor Levi's likeness, and he had transformed him into a woman, all the students from the four houses, regardless of year or magical ability, would have torn him to pieces.

Just imagining that scene made Neville shudder—he glanced around, saw that no one was paying attention to him, and shrank back and ran away.

Snape went underground, and the closer he got to the office, the more the noise seemed to be shut out by the descending cold air.

The door slammed shut behind me.

The office fell into the silence characteristic of a cellar.

The air was filled with the scents of dried herbs, aged parchment, and a deeper, lingering smell of cold stone.

Sniff.

Snape twitched his nostrils, and for the first time, he felt so clearly the chill and silence that enveloped him.

His expression became numb and indifferent.

No wonder Levi refused to have his office next door.

This place is like a cold, slowly seeping grave.

And he seemed to have begun to find the air in the tomb unbearable.

(End of this chapter)