In midsummer, many flowers were already in bloom, and the long summer holiday would soon arrive.
For some, summer was filled with beautiful memories: flower-covered lawns, clear lakes, and beeches growing along the shore.
"Can I have one?" Felix asked Severus, who was smoking on the balcony.
"You smoke?" Severus asked.
Felix nodded.
"Unless you want to end up as short as a half-goblin, I suggest you don't," Severus said coldly.
Felix looked at the flower shop next door as well.
"I don't believe in miracles," Felix said. "Or magic. But I know the strange things that happen around me have something to do with me. I'm not the strongest or biggest kid on the street," Felix said. "But everyone is afraid of me, because the things I do are too strange. Even if those children tell their parents, they won't believe them. So I can get whatever I want, though not by buying it with money like rich kids do."
No one spoke.
"Why aren't you condemning me?" Felix asked.
"Why should I condemn you?"
"Using violence is wrong," Felix said.
Severus laughed. "Violence won't do. Magic is another matter."
"You approve of what I do?"
Severus stared at Felix with his black eyes.
"You should think about the consequences," Severus said in a low voice. "I've known many people who never thought about a way out when they were in power. After they lost everything, they started complaining that life was painful and unfair."
"I heard you were bullied at school. Why didn't you take revenge?"
"Where did you hear that?"
Felix took a book from his pocket. It was written by Rita Skeeter: Severus Snape: Saint or Sinner?
"Harry Potter's father was a bastard," Felix said. "Why was he never punished for bullying classmates in public, and