Ever since he pulled his face out of the Pensieve, Gong Saiyi had been grinning foolishly.
He looked as though he had been hit by the Imperius Curse, or had drunk Amortentia and contracted the hopeless terminal illness known as lovesickness.
Severus had initially not wanted to bother with him and had been content to let him remain deranged. But once the initial amusement wore off, the old bat lost his patience. He smacked Gong Saiyi hard on the back of the head.
He had used that move many times over his more than ten years of teaching, almost always on boys. Whether they came from pure-blood families or were Muggle-born, they had all experienced it. The sharp smack echoed through the classroom, sounding especially bracing; even the sleepiest students would instantly become wide awake after hearing it.
Who would have thought that Snape, who was always prowling around the school with Filch to catch students breaking the rules and took pleasure in deducting points, was also someone who did not follow the rules? Put another way, if he had truly been so law-abiding, he would not have taken the shortcut of joining the Death Eaters to fulfill his ambition of rising above others.
"Do you know where this is?" Severus asked in his oily voice.
"The Louvre Museum." Gong Saiyi rubbed the back of his head, then looked down at the scarab amulet in his hand. "I'm in France now?"
"Where did the Pensieve take you just now?" Severus handed Gong Saiyi a small bottle of Firewhisky.
Gong Saiyi immediately took it and drank. The fiery taste made him let out a loud breath.
"You'd never believe where I went," Gong Saiyi said, beginning to grin foolishly again.
Severus drew his wand from his sleeve.
"If you do not