Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts

A rude shout interrupted the three people who were still discussing the peculiar street lamp with great interest.

This startled Arthur, who was whispering to someone. Severus and Harry also turned around and saw that the person who came in was an old man in pajamas with thinning hair and a fierce appearance.

"Who gave you permission to touch it! Get out of my house! Get out!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Arthur's expression hardened, and he pulled out his Muggle Misuse Department badge from his robe pocket.

“Mr. Foster, my name is Arthur Weasley, head of the Division for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Items under the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic.”

The old man named Foster's fierce expression changed, and he chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Good afternoon, Mr. Weasley. If you hadn't come, I was just about to get rid of this lamp. It's not my fault."

"If you disagree with the punishment, you should take the initiative to submit a review to the Ministry of Magic!" Arthur ruthlessly shoved a ticket into his hand.

Holding the ticket, Foster abandoned his feigned politeness and began to berate the Ministry of Magic. After running back to his room, he leaned out the window and angrily cursed Arthur, who had issued the ticket.

But Arthur disagreed and said to Severus and the others.

"If he had dealt with the lamp earlier, or if the matter hadn't become known to so many people, he wouldn't have received this ticket. But the department has already sent him three warnings, which he ignored."

Just as Arthur was finally free of distractions, he could hold his wand in one hand and a wrench in the other, ready to focus on repairing the streetlight.

A crisp, somewhat arrogant voice suddenly rang out from the side.

"Are you here to fix this strange streetlight?"

Arthur, who was about to cast a spell, was startled again and his hand trembled. A spark appeared at the tip of his wand, and he quickly hid it under his robe.

Harry and Severus both turned to look at the source of the sound.

She was a little girl with thick, fluffy brown hair, and looked about the same age as Harry.

When all three of them looked at her at the same time, she raised her head, smiled, and revealed her large, rabbit-like front teeth.

"Good afternoon, my name is Hermione Granger. My parents and I live next door and we're here on vacation."

Chapter 69 Full Moon and Howling Wolves

"Shouldn't you cast a Muggle-repelling charm around you before you start working?"

"That old man named Foster startled me when he rushed out; it's inevitable that I'd overlook something. Did she not see anything?"

"They probably didn't see it, but even if they did, nothing will happen."

While Severus and Arthur were whispering to each other, Hermione's gaze remained fixed on the street lamp whose circuit cover Arthur had just opened.

“You’re government officials, right? Last night I saw this lamp grow legs and run into the forest! I went to call my parents to come and see, but it came back!”

“Dad insists I must have misread it, but I swear I definitely didn’t!”

The little girl kept talking non-stop from the beginning; she chattered away and seemed quite outgoing.

This put Arthur in a difficult position, so he continued to speak in a low voice.

“These kinds of kids are the most difficult to deal with. Even memory erasure groups won’t take them in. We have to solve their problems by making them think they are hallucinating or dreaming.”

Severus looked at Hermione and shook his head.

"If you make her think this is fake, then you'll be in real trouble. She's the kind of person who never doubts herself."

"You know this child?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"No, it just sounds like it from the way she talks."

"What are you talking about!" Hermione was getting angry when no one paid attention to her and the two adults kept whispering. "This streetlight is broken, isn't it? I don't know why it's moving. Maybe you're doing some kind of robot experiment with it! But if I'm right, then you should vouch for me to my mom and dad! I'm not lying!"

“It’s too late to cast a Muggle Exorcism Charm now. We need to find a way to get her away.” Arthur was about to pull his wand out from under his robes again to cast a spell on Hermione when Severus grabbed him.

"Don't rush, some things don't need to be solved with magic. Dudley!"

Severus's last name was shouted out loud.

Harry doesn't accept Conan's name, so he can only continue using his annoying cousin's name.

Harry, who had been hiding to the side watching the show, could only come out with a long face.

"I'm here, teacher."

“Go with Miss Granger to meet her parents and explain that the streetlights are indeed broken. She wasn’t mistaken yesterday, and we are currently repairing them.”

Hermione stared at Harry, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

"Can his words be convincing?"

Severus patted Harry on the shoulder, vouching for him.

"Don't worry, young lady, Dali is a professional."

Harry straightened his back as he tried to appear very professional.

“Alright then! Thank you, sir.” Hermione thanked Severus politely and then offered to lead the way.

Severus winked at Harry, indicating that he could play outside with Hermione a little longer before coming back.

Harry shrugged, looking troubled, before following her at Hermione's urging.

After the two children had gone some distance, Severus took the initiative to set up the Muggle banishment spell for Arthur, and then instead of staying to help Arthur, he said...

"I'm going to find Mr. Foster to ask him some questions."

"Then you'd better be careful, that old man clearly has a bad temper," Arthur warned.

Severus didn't say much, just waved his hand, then went to the old wizard's apartment building with its eccentric temperament and knocked on the door.

The old wizard named Foster quickly pushed the door open from the inside and poked his head out.

Upon seeing Severus, he immediately shouted.

"What else do you want to do! I've already received the ticket! And you're going to tear down my cute and lively Simi?! If you cause any more trouble, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Severus simply stared into his eyes. Though he didn't wave his wand or utter any spells, an invisible magical force had already enveloped the old wizard's mind.

"Relax, sir, please relax. I'm not here to cause trouble. You don't want to get fined, right? We can talk about that ticket, let's talk about it slowly."

Severus and Arthur came together, seemingly relaxed, but in reality they were constantly thinking of a solution.

He understood that Lupin and the werewolves couldn't be delayed; both the three children who had been taken away and Lupin himself were in danger.

But the Ministry of Magic couldn't provide any information at all; he had to start from scratch to investigate everything.

Therefore, Severus could only resort to the brute-force method first.

There aren't many wizards living in Nottingham to begin with, so those werewolves must have their reasons for coming here. If he investigates them one by one, he'll eventually find some clues.

As for being found to have used Legilimency, that is illegal.

As long as no one finds out, it's not illegal!

As one of the few Legilimency masters in the magical world, Severus's skill in this spell, while not as divine as Dumbledore's, still had its own unique aspects.

The old wizard Foster was a master of alchemy, but when it came to spells, he was no match for Severus's sudden spellcasting.

Soon, Severus had seen all of his memories from the past month.

Among them, there are indeed some pieces of information that might be clues!

Just two days ago, something about streetlights seemed to have exposed Foster's identity as a wizard.

A male wizard with a full beard came to the door, wanting to ask if there was a St. Mungo's healer living near Nottingham, but was chased away by the old man in a bad mood.

Later, Foster saw that the wizard had gone to the house of his neighbor, the dentist Granger, who was on summer vacation with his children. He wondered what Granger had asked him. Mr. Granger went out with him and didn't return until an afternoon later.

In addition, about a week ago, on the night of the full moon in July, it seemed that a wolf attack had occurred in the nearby Sherwood Forest. That night, the howling of wolves could be heard one after another from the forest, prompting the Muggle government of Nottingham to send a fire brigade to the forest the next day to exterminate the wolves.

As a result, they couldn't find even half a wolf in the forest, and in the end, they had to give up.

From old Foster's perspective, he only stood there in a daze for a moment before quickly regaining his senses and continuing to glare fiercely at Severus.

"What on earth do you want to do!"

Severus apologized to him.

"Excuse me, sir, my colleague wants to know how you managed to make the streetlights look the way they do."

"It's beyond repair, is it!" Old Foster sneered. "Hmph, don't even think about asking me for help!"

"boom!"

Seeing the door suddenly slam shut, Severus shrugged and turned back to Arthur, who was busy at work.

"Were we turned away?" Arthur asked.

Severus fanned the flames: "He said you can't handle this by yourself, and he will never help you."

"Who does he think I am?" Arthur said dismissively. "He's miscalculated."

Severus looked up at the apartment Granger rented next door and said softly.

"I wonder how Dali is getting along with his new friends?"

Chapter 70 Sniff

“I live in the suburbs of London and came here for a holiday, but I’m not really interested in the forest or Shakespeare’s birthplace.”

On the way to the apartment, Hermione suddenly turned to Harry and said.

Harry was caught off guard by her sudden action and could only give a perfunctory reply.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty boring."

“You know me well enough. As a matter of courtesy, shouldn’t you introduce yourself?” Seeing that Harry was really a blockhead, Hermione had no choice but to be blunt.

Harry only realized it at this moment.

“My name is Dudley Dursley! You can just call me Dudley. I live, uh, in Little Huigkin, Surrey.”

Hermione nodded in satisfaction.

“Very good, Dudley, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Hermione? I guess I can call you that?”

“Of course.” Hermione suddenly lowered her voice. “I just heard you call that gentleman ‘teacher’? Is it some school’s summer camp?”

Harry quickly waved his hand.

"No, no, it's just that the teacher is temporarily taking care of me."

"So that's a special government department? I saw it all, don't try to fool me! That streetlight is acting strangely, are you here to fix it?"

"Is it possible that you're seeing things?" Harry racked his brains.

Hermione didn't say anything more; she simply crossed her arms and stared up at Harry.

Harry felt uneasy under her gaze. The only person his age he had been in contact with during this time was Luna, but this girl in front of him was completely different from Luna.

Harry was quickly defeated.

“Okay, you read that right, there really is a problem with that streetlight. My teacher and another Mr. Weasley came here specifically to deal with it, but this kind of thing is confidential, yes, just like you think, a secret that only a few people can know! I can help you explain to your parents, but you can't tell anyone else.”

Clearly, Harry had done his best.

From the incident with Bloodny, he learned how much wizards valued the Law of Secrets. In his eyes, Hermione was now just an ordinary Muggle girl with a slightly strong personality.

Harry could only talk to the special departments; as long as he didn't think about magic, anything else was fine.

Hermione was finally completely satisfied with Harry's "frank" attitude.

“I knew it! The fact that you can tell me the truth proves we can be true friends. Besides, I don’t necessarily need to prove it to my parents.” She gave a sly smile. “I said that on purpose after seeing you.”

Harry stared at Hermione, his eyes wide.

Clearly, he had only known this girl for a short time, but she had already made a very deep impression on him.

Then, Harry said slowly.

"Since that's the case, then I..."

But before he could finish speaking, Hermione had already grabbed his arm and led him home.

“Come on, Dali, it’s too boring here. Maybe we can play chess, and then you can tell me about your teacher’s work!”

As she pulled him forward, Harry remembered Severus's wink before he left, so he didn't resist much. He understood that his task today was to keep this girl away and not let her disturb Mr. Weasley's work.