Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts

Severus curiously picked up a glass ball from it. This ball was similar to the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office, with the function of storing memories, only the storage capacity was not large enough.

Snape the Ghost didn't speak, but Severus found the answer himself from his memories.

"So he was a penniless wretch who could only use his family's treasured heirloom as a bargaining chip for making potions."

He was very interested in the various alchemical artifacts, but he didn't stay in the vault for long. After taking enough money, he returned the way he came.

However, before he could even return to Gringotts' main hall, two wizards dressed in Ministry of Magic Auror uniforms appeared to be waiting there and walked straight toward him upon seeing him.

Severus remembered the tall, bald, dark-skinned Auror.

He was one of Dumbledore's admirers—Kingsley Shackle.

It was Kingsley who took the initiative to speak, extending his hand in greeting.

"We went to Hogwarts first, then to the Leaky Cauldron, and finally found this place. Professor Snape, it's been a long time."

Severus looked puzzled, but he also extended his hand and shook hands with him.

"It's been a long time. It's rare for an Auror to reach out to me since that trial eight years ago."

“I’m sorry to bother you, but there is indeed a case that requires your cooperation in the investigation.” Kingsley’s expression was serious as he cut to the chase, “Have you read today’s newspaper? Especially the report on the potion poisoning case?”

Chapter 13 Powerful Hellfire Soup

"Is this a treat for us? Dali, you're so generous!"

"Percy never treated us to anything; he spends all his money on dressing himself up!"

"Shut up!"

After leaving Gringotts with the three Weasley brothers, Harry invited them to a dessert shop on the street for ice cream.

Hearing the Weasley twins' praise, Harry felt a little embarrassed and told the truth.

"This is the money my teacher gave me."

When the word "teacher" was mentioned, Percy's gaze turned strange.

“I’ve never heard of Professor Snape having any younger students before. Everyone thought he was always single, including Slytherin’s students.”

When asked this question, the young Harry felt a pang of guilt, but before he could stammer out an explanation, George Fred had already taken over the conversation for him.

"Do Hogwarts professors have to report to their students whether they have juniors?"

"I always thought that no matter how ambitious you were, Percy, you would be satisfied with becoming the male student council president at most. I never expected that you would actually want to become the headmaster of Hogwarts!"

The twins, working in unison, rekindled Percy's attention, prompting him to shout that he wanted to tell his mother everything they had done that day.

Harry didn't find them noisy at all; on the contrary, he was happy to take the initiative to start a conversation.

Are all the members of your family wizards?

“Both of our parents are wizards. Bill has already graduated, Charlie and Percy are still at Hogwarts, and Fred and I will be starting school this year. We also have a younger brother, Ron, who is the same age as you, and a younger sister, Ginny, who is a year younger. If nothing unexpected happens, our whole family will indeed be wizards.”

Fred, however, disagreed with George.

"Ron and Ginny are still uncertain; one of them might be a Squib!"

"Don't say that at home. If you scare one of them to tears, Mom will definitely give you a good scolding."

"Hey! Compared to seeing Ron Ginny cry, what's a scolding?"

"you're right!"

Harry looked at them with envy; he couldn't even imagine how happy he would be to have so many brothers and sisters.

"And you, Dudley, are all your family members wizards?" Fred asked.

“Both my parents should be,” Harry said calmly and cautiously. “But they died when I was very young. I lived with relatives until my teachers took me out. They were just ordinary people.”

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Fred said quickly.

Harry simply waved his hand; after the more intense emotional turmoil that morning, he was no longer so sensitive.

"No need, there's nothing to apologize for."

George had just finished the last bite of ice cream and put his arm around Harry's neck.

“You can come to our house to play! Ron will definitely like you. He always complains that Ginny is too young and that we don’t take him with us!”

"Come on! Let's not stay here. The Jumping and Playing Magical Joke Shop should still be open. Dudley, you have to come with us. They have lots of fun little gadgets!"

Percy, however, kept a straight face.

“I think Professor Snape would be more pleased to see us take Dudley to Flourish and Blotts.”

"Go ahead and go! I really don't understand how you could be interested in those terribly boring books!"

"Let's go, Dali!"

After saying that, George and Fred grabbed Harry's arms one on each side without saying another word, and started walking towards the other side of Diagon Alley without even looking at Percy.

Harry didn't react for a moment. He staggered and leaned forward. Just as he was about to fall, he bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry, sir!"

He covered his forehead and hurriedly apologized. When he looked up, he saw that he had bumped into a tall but extremely thin young man with a pale face.

The young man seemed more panicked than Harry himself after being bumped into.

Upon hearing the apology, he quickly waved his hand and then hurried away.

Harry stared at the strange man's retreating figure, feeling a strange sense of familiarity about him.

It seems he had seen this person before at the Leaky Cauldron bar.

"Let's go, let's hurry, Dali."

But with George and Fred calling out to him, he stopped thinking about it and, pulling along the reluctant Percy, quickly caught up with the twins.

"Poisoning case involving magic potions?"

Severus stroked his chin and quickly recalled today's Daily Prophet.

“I did learn about such a thing from the newspaper.”

Kingsley glanced around, then patted Severus on the shoulder, indicating they could find a quiet place in Gringotts to discuss the matter.

The three of them soon arrived at Gringotts' VIP reception room. It was Severus himself who went out of his way to get the room from the group of snobbish and difficult goblins.

This surprised Kingsley.

He never knew Severus Snape had become so agreeable.

However, the case was obviously more important. After arriving at the VIP room, he didn't bother with formalities and went straight to the point.

“If it were just a regular poisoning case, it might not be so troublesome, but this case involves high-ranking Muggles. The victim is not of low status in Muggles; his father is a Muggle duke. So the Muggle prime minister personally contacted Minister Bagno, demanding an explanation from us.”

Severus listened attentively until Kingsley finished speaking, at which point he raised an eyebrow.

"Then why am I involved in this matter? You suspect that I committed this crime?"

Kingsley quickly waved his hand.

"No, no, no, Professor Snape, we have never doubted you. Even Headmaster Dumbledore can stand up and testify for you, proving that you have never left Hogwarts Castle since the start of summer vacation until today. You have no criminal suspicion!"

“So,” Severus said calmly, looking at Kingsley.

Kingsley said seriously.

"Do you know about the living hell soup?"

Severus did not answer, but simply laughed.

“NEWT potions, you ask me if I know what they are? Is this a lame joke, Mr. Shackle?”

Kingsley coughed twice and said seriously.

“But that’s not your average living hell potion. We’ve tried many antidotes, but none of them have been able to bring the victims back to life.”

Upon hearing this, Severus frowned slightly.

"Are you sure you've taken some kind of living hell potion, and nothing else?"

"The Ministry of Magic has many potion experts, and they are all certain that it is. But unlike ordinary Hellfire Potion, the wizard who made that potion used an extremely ingenious method to amplify its effects, leaving us helpless!"

At this point, Kingsley's expression became extremely serious.

"However, this also narrows down our investigation. Only a very small number of people in the magical world are capable of concocting this kind of potion. We want to start from the source of this potion. The reason we came to you today is to find out if anyone has come to you specifically to order this potent Hellfire Potion before this?"

“Potent Hellfire Potion,” Severus shook his head. “If there were any orders with such a specific effect, I would remember them clearly, but I’m sorry, I have no recollection of it.”

Kingsley sighed with some disappointment, but he still stood up and expressed his gratitude.

"We apologize for bothering you. Please be sure to contact us if you have any further leads."

Severus, of course, didn't mind anything. He simply watched Kingsley get up to take his leave, and then suddenly asked a question.

"Did you go and ask the others?"

“Before coming to you, we went to see Mr. Assani Giger and Mr. Horace Slughorn, but they didn’t have any leads either. We’ll have to go to Mr. Libashe Polach for further investigation,” Kingsley said, shaking his head.

The names he mentioned were all famous potion masters in the magical world.

Severus's expression remained unchanged as he nodded.

"Okay, good luck to you."

"If Professor Snape is willing, you can come with us to see the victim. That poor girl is still unconscious, and we are trying to prepare an antidote for her. The Ministry of Magic will advance the cost," Kingsley said before leaving.

"If my own affairs go smoothly, I will consider going."

Severus bid farewell to Kingsley and his Auror.

After the two men had completely left, leaving him alone in the VIP room, Severus smiled.

He sat relaxed on the sofa, boasting to the silent ghost Snape inside his body.

“I told you, I know Dumbledore.”

"He would never assign me a task that I can't possibly complete!"

Chapter 14 Dumbledore's Mission

"George and I share a grand ideal!"

"After we graduate, we want to open a magic joke shop together in Diagon Alley!"

On the way back to Gringotts, Harry heard the twins' boastful words and agreed with them with admiration.

"You haven't even gone to Hogwarts yet, and you already understand and master those things so thoroughly. You can definitely do it!"

His words made George and Fred's faces light up with joy, and they smiled broadly.

"It's rare to find someone who agrees with us like this! Don't worry, we'll go scout out Hogwarts for you first, Dudley!"

After leaving the Magical Joke Shop, the Weasley twins and Harry looked more like three brothers, while Percy, like an outsider, made expressionless comments from the sidelines.

"Professor Snape's private students, do you two need to scout out Hogwarts beforehand?"

But the twins completely ignored him; they were already used to their rule-abiding, boring older brother.

As Harry was happily chatting with the Weasley brothers about all sorts of interesting things in the wizarding world, he suddenly felt a gaze on him from time to time.

Harry instinctively looked in that direction.

A short, bespectacled wizard, after making eye contact with him, was startled by his gaze and hurriedly walked into a nearby shop that sold cauldrons.

This left Harry somewhat bewildered.

He was certain that this was his first time in Diagon Alley, and that he had never met any wizards before Severus took him from the Dursleys.

But what happened today?

However, Harry is only a 9-year-old boy, so he might be confused, but he won't think too much about it.

His attention was quickly drawn back to the Weasley twins, and he returned to the gates of Gringotts at the time Severus had arranged with them.

When the four returned, Severus was already leaning against the door waiting for them.

"It seems you two get along quite well?" he asked with a smile.

George shouted.