I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 295 Like a Man

Hermione's act of standing up for him caused Snape's hatred to instantly turn into anger. He smirked sinisterly, as if someone owed him hundreds of thousands of Galleons.

Of course, some people do owe him a lot of money, such as Barty Crouch Jr. who used his snake bark and didn't pay it back. Dumbledore said that reimbursement still hasn't been settled, and almost a year has passed. The landlord's family doesn't have any grain stored up either.

Thinking of this, Professor Snape's eyes welled up with tears.

And so, seeing James's "disgusting" face—which he didn't think was Harry—Snape felt it necessary to pin the blame on James Potter.

But now some foolish little creature has dared to trespass into the territory of this old bat; it's practically courting death...

Louis watched as Snape grinned, about to unleash more ultrasonic waves, but was abruptly stopped by a knock on the classroom door.

This really annoyed Snape, and his mood worsened even more.

"Come in," Snape said in a voice colder than usual.

The door opened, and everyone turned to look. Headmaster Karkaroff walked in, and they watched him walk toward Snape's podium. He fiddled with his goatee and looked anxious.

"We need to talk," Karkaroff said abruptly as he approached Snape, but his voice was very soft; he didn't want anyone else to hear him, so his lips barely moved.

This was no problem for Louis; he simply reached out and scratched his ear, and he overheard the two whispering.

He knew Karkaroff's purpose for coming, but still wanted to satisfy his voyeuristic desires.

"I'll talk to you after class, Karkaroff," Snape said in a low voice, but his expression was extremely impatient, and his dark eyes gleamed with an indescribable light.

Karkaroff looked impatient and immediately interrupted Snape: "I want to talk now, you slippery fellow! You've been avoiding me these past few days, haven't you! What are you so afraid of?"

"We'll talk after class!" Snape's tone left no room for argument, his dark eyes staring lifelessly at Karkaroff, making the latter shudder.

"Alright, alright, then I'll wait for you here." Karkaroff took a step back, looking panicked. He was afraid of angering Snape and having him completely abandoned, so after weighing the options, he decided to behave himself, lest Snape really leave him in a fit of anger, which would be terrible.

Seeing his expression only worsened Snape's mood, and he immediately lost all desire to pick a fight with Hermione and Harry.

For the remainder of the class, Karkaroff paced back and forth behind Snape's desk, looking like a cat on a hot tin roof, seemingly determined not to let Snape sneak away after class.

After class, Louise glanced at Harry, who was pretending to deal with armadillo bile, but didn't call him out on it. Instead, she walked straight out of the classroom.

Instead of sitting here watching two old men put on a show, I'd rather go back and have some good food.

Sure enough, the next day, Harry, looking worried, brought his brain (referring to Hermione) and his fellow (referring to Ron) to Lewis's office.

Harry cut to the chase: "Louis, do you know that Headmaster Karkaroff—is a Death Eater!"

When he spoke of the Death Eaters, he lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard.

Actually, there was no need for this at all. Firstly, there was no one else in Louis's office, and secondly, Louis's office itself was protected by the magic of bronze dragon solidification. Putting aside everything else, the soundproofing alone was already excellent.

"It's no secret, why are you acting like you've discovered a new continent?" Louis chuckled and waved to Sakuya, gesturing for her to bring out some cookies. "Try them, Sakuya just baked these recently, I really like them."

Harry had no appetite for cookies; he wasn't like Ron with his extraordinary appetite. "Good heavens, how can I possibly eat cookies? The other headmaster is a Death Eater... and he's so familiar with Professor Snape, I don't know what to say."

"So what else did you discover?" Louis asked cheerfully.

Hermione frowned, her brows almost knitting together. "I'm wondering, is it possible that Karkaroff threw Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire? You know, he's a Death Eater, he'd definitely want to harm Harry, and he's never been very nice to Harry. I suspect it was him..."

"That's unlikely. From what I know, Karkaroff is someone who is cautious about his own safety when it comes to big things, but will risk his life for small gains. He's not the kind of person who would do something like that..." Louis shrugged and gave his opinion.

"Then why is he getting so close to Professor Snape?" Ron asked, stuffing a large piece of cookie into his mouth.

"Yes, Snape was a Death Eater too," Louis said with a chuckle as he began to reveal the information.

The three children were immediately shocked, especially Ron, who choked on a cookie for a long time. If Hermione hadn't patted him twice, he might have choked to death.

"Then Dumbledore—Headmaster Dumbledore…" Hermione said urgently, looking as if she could hardly breathe.

Oh my god, she didn't want to think about it anymore.

"Of course, Professor Dumbledore does know that." Louis looked at the three children, who were breathing heavily, and smiled to reassure them. "I know you're anxious, but I want to tell you not to rush. What you don't know is that Professor Snape was actually Professor Dumbledore's spy on Voldemort's side."

"Huh?" The three of them gaped in astonishment.

"In fact, Voldemort also knew about this. Voldemort knew that Professor Snape was Dumbledore's mole, and Professor Snape knew that Voldemort knew that he was Dumbledore's mole, and Voldemort also knew that Professor Snape knew that he was Dumbledore's mole, and Professor Snape also knew that Voldemort knew that he was Dumbledore's mole..."

Louis stopped mid-sentence.

The three little eyes in front of me have turned into mosquito coils...

"I think I've figured it out. Voldemort knew Snape was the mole, right?" Hermione asked, her brows furrowed.

"Probably. Voldemort doesn't trust anyone, anyway," Louis shrugged. "It would be strange if he completely trusted Snape. Besides, Professor Snape is good at shifting blame. Look at him, infiltrating Hogwarts according to Voldemort's instructions. He has something to say: 'Who am I, Snape? I've been at Hogwarts for so long, I even know how many new outfits Dumbledore has bought over the years. You Death Eaters are loyal, but what good are you? What can you do besides sing 'Tears Behind Bars' in Azkaban? Right?'"

"Doesn't Voldemort know Legilimency?" Hermione scratched her tousled hair. "I've heard that Voldemort is a master of Legilimency; he could definitely detect Professor Snape's Occlumency..."

Louis laughed, and after a moment he asked, "Who is Voldemort?"

"Huh?" Hermione was taken aback.

"I mean, what kind of person do you think Voldemort was?" Louis expanded on the question.

Hermione frowned and began piling up adjectives: "Hmm... cold-blooded, ruthless, cruel, cunning, vicious, evil... that's all, I really can't find a better word."

"And despicable and shameless," Ron added.

Good grief, Yang Ying had a tooth pulled, right? Baby is shameless...

"You've missed one thing, and that's arrogance." Louis shook a finger. "You know, Voldemort was actually a very, very arrogant person. He preferred to believe that Snape would not betray him rather than believe that his Legilimency could not break Snape's Occlumency. So his suspicions remained just that—suspicions, and the kind of habitual suspicions he had."

"Ah..." The three little ones nodded as if they understood, he made a lot of sense, and they were speechless.

"That's why Karkaroff relies on Snape so much. After all, in his eyes, the only Death Eaters left who are still at large are the two of them." Louis tapped his fingers on the table. "Of course, there are others, but some have completely reformed, like the Malfoys. As for Crabbe and Goyle... I don't know about them, and they're not my concern."

"So that means... Karkaroff is still a prime suspect, and even Snape might be an accomplice?" Hermione asked instinctively.

See? When they have doubts, they don't even use the word "professor."

Louis looked at Hermione with pity, shook his head, and said sadly, "Silly girl, you're supposed to be Hogwarts's smartest person, how come you still can't understand? First of all, Karkaroff doesn't have the guts. Look how scared he is just because the Dark Mark is a little darker. What can he possibly accomplish?"

At this point, Louis let out a disdainful snort and continued, "Furthermore, I need to remind you that if Snape wanted to harm Harry, he would have done it long ago, he wouldn't have waited until now... Four years have passed, he clearly had countless opportunities, even when Quirrell cast a curse on Harry in the first year, he could have stood by and watched... Believe me, he absolutely had a reason to protect Harry—which was also a reason for him to resent Harry."

"Huh? How so?" The two of them immediately became gossipy, their eyes sparkling as they looked at Louis, waiting for his next answer.

Louise recounted the love story of Harry's parents.

Hermione and Ron had incredibly complicated expressions; they had never imagined that Harry's parents had such a complicated history with Snape...

"I'm starting to understand Professor Snape better now." Ron nodded gravely, glancing at Hermione. "If—I mean, if this happened to Hermione and me, I might end up like Snape... well, to be honest, I'm not as good as him..."

Ron, who is usually so stubborn, actually admitted that he was inferior to Snape, which means he was truly convinced of Snape's abilities.

Hermione was much simpler; her compassion began to overflow again, and she even conjured up countless touching stories in her mind...

Louis didn't intend to expose the charade. Snape's popularity at school was indeed quite poor. Wouldn't it be good if his classmates could change their opinion of him?

His outstanding personal deeds are commendable; if placed at Southeast University, they would certainly warrant a title like "Sunshine and rain nurture the pine tree, perseverance is the mark of a true hero."

"After hearing about your father's exploits, Harry..." Hermione looked at Harry apologetically, hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "It seems he's not much different from Malfoy before he was dealt with by Louis..."

"Have you forgotten when he deducted points from your score?" Harry said, somewhat bewildered.

"Oh, it's not my fault." Hermione shrugged, looking like she thought, "It's not my fault."

Harry suddenly felt like hitting someone.

"Alright, stop dwelling on your parents' love life." Louis tapped the table. "The biggest problem now is how Harry will survive the third project, so... from now on, I won't allow the three of you to team up. Harry will have to venture into the Mirror World alone!"

"Huh?" The three little ones looked at each other, not quite understanding what Louis meant.

"You guys don't really think the last event is a team competition, do you?" Louis said helplessly. "Practice hard, it'll do you good."

"Maybe I shouldn't..." Harry scratched his head. "I can't beat Catherine anyway, what's the point of practicing this?"

"You're going to die sooner or later, so why bother eating?" Louis slammed his hand on the table, his tone tinged with exasperation. "Listen, you're a Gryffindor! Harry! Has the world changed? Is retreating without a fight the Gryffindor motto now?"

"But I... I really can't, I really can't..." Harry said, covering his face, his voice full of frustration. He simply couldn't muster the courage to fight Catherine.

Suddenly, Louis jumped up, grabbed Harry's arm, slapped him across the face, and roared angrily, "You need to act like a man! You need to act like a man! Look at the state you've become!" Then, Louis began to mimic Harry's tone, "Waaah, but I really can't, I really can't... What a mess! Ridiculous!"

At this point, Harry stopped crying and started laughing. He pulled himself together and looked up at Louis: "Yes, Louis, you're right. I should cheer up!"

"That's more like a Gryffindor." Louis patted the back of his head. "Remember, you're a Gryffindor. Courage and fearlessness should be your motto, not cowering like a sissy. That's disgusting."

"You're right, Louis." Harry no longer hesitated, grinning broadly. "I am a proud Gryffindor! How could I back down before the battle even begins!"

“Exactly, look at Cedric, that Hufflepuff, he didn’t back down.” Louis continued his eloquent performance: “Do you really think you, a Gryffindor, would lose to Hufflepuff in courage? Good heavens, you’d be a disgrace to Gryffindor…”

With that kind of motivational skill, it's a real shame she's not working at a company with a "wolf pack" culture.

(End of this chapter)