Hogwarts Search Operation

Even if Snape had given up on hinting at Lupin's identity, that did not mean the rest of the class would be peaceful.

"Can anyone tell me how to destroy a Dementor?"

Vincent and Hermione raised their hands high, but he still chose Harry to answer.

"The Patronus Charm?"

"Wrong!" Snape flicked his wand coldly, making the floating textbook turn to the next page. "Dementors cannot be destroyed. Even a powerful Patronus Charm can only drive them away."

A red line appeared beneath the third and fourth lines from the bottom of the page.

"Potter, I suppose you did not do any preparation over the summer. Otherwise, how could you not know something so basic?"

Snape casually lowered his wand. "I heard that you fainted the first time you saw them. Is that right?"

Harry clenched his fists. "Yes, but that was because—"

"I did not ask for your reason!" Snape glared at him. "Clearly, Professor Lupin was extremely irresponsible. He actually failed to teach you anything at all about Dementors."

Hermione waved her little hand, trying to get his attention.

But she had clearly failed. Right now, Snape had eyes only for Harry.

"Potter, your Boggart is a Dementor, isn't it?

Tell me, if no one taught you what to do, what spell would you use against them?"

"The Patronus Charm!" Harry's voice was a little too loud.

"Heh—" Snape sneered. "Potter, then can you demonstrate it for everyone?"

Of course he could not.

Harry decisively shook his head. "I don't know it yet, Professor."

Even though he had answered honestly, Snape had no intention of letting him off.

"How regrettable. Our great Savior actually has such a fatal weakness."

Harry's face turned livid, and the Little Lions did not look much better.

Ron's fists creaked as he clenched them. "I don't think that's a weakness. Everyone is afraid of those unkillable monsters!"

Snape leaned close. "Weasley, do you know what you are doing?"

Ron flushed red. "Of course I do, but I also know that the Hogwarts Employee Handbook says—"

"Silence!" Snape narrowed his eyes, his face darkening. "You are speaking out of turn and seriously disrupting class discipline."

"But I was only—"

"Do you dare deny it?"

Ron shut up completely.

Trying to reason with Snape in his class?

That was not a wise choice.

Without warning, he would suddenly turn his sights on you, then keep provoking you until you did something stupid in a moment of impulse.

"Ten points deducted for speaking out of turn! Another twenty points deducted for talking back to a professor!"

Seeing Ron furious but unable to speak, Snape straightened up with little interest. "Also, come to my office after class."

Naturally, he did not let Harry off either. "Potter, you will come as well."

Ten minutes into class, forty points had already been deducted.

The Little Lions were impulsive, but they were by no means stupid.

Snape returned to the podium, ignoring the furious stares aimed at him. "Everyone, open your textbooks to page 399!"

Everything seemed to have returned to how it was before.

No student dared make a sound. Only one voice echoed through the classroom.

They sat quietly, obediently copying down notes about Dementors.

Snape paced between the desks, checking the homework Professor Lupin had assigned in the previous lesson.

"An absolute mess... errors everywhere. Covering your ears does not stop you from hearing an Augurey's cry... Professor Lupin gave this five points? I would not even give it one..."

While tearing the Little Lions' homework to pieces, he also openly implied that Lupin's grading had been unfair.

Right was right, and wrong was wrong.

Vincent kept rolling his eyes.

What a shameless bastard.

He said one thing and did another.

For one brief moment, Vincent had thought the man had changed for the better. Turns out he had only been flattering himself.

The dismissal bell rang, but Snape did not let the students leave.

"Each of you will write an essay for me on how to overcome fear and face Dementors. I expect two full rolls of parchment on this subject, due Monday morning."

He closed his textbook. "This class really needs someone to keep it in line. Professor Lupin's habit of handing out sympathy points will only keep you from learning anything real."

As he stepped down from the podium, he naturally did not forget Harry and Ron.

"Potter, Weasley, come with me."

Once the three had gone far enough away, the students relaxed and immediately began noisily condemning Snape.

"Snape has never treated any of our other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers like this, even though he's always wanted the job."

"Then why is he picking on Lupin? Could it be because of that Boggart incident last time?"

"I heard a batch of his photos is circulating outside. Apparently, they're already selling for fifty Galleons each on the black market."

Hearing Seamus and Dean's conversation, Neville began trembling uncontrollably.

"Don't worry." Vincent gently patted his shoulder. "As long as you deny everything, even the Supreme Wizarding Court can't do anything to you."

Legilimency and Veritaserum were strictly forbidden. Over something as trivial as Snape's little issue, Fudge had absolutely no reason to make an exception.

Privately?

That would be way too illegal.

After lunch came Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class.

Healed by all the adorable little animals, the Little Lions finally forgot the morning's unpleasantness.

"Vincent!" Harry called out to Vincent, who was heading deeper into the Forbidden Forest. "Are you going to see Jormungandr and the others?"

"Yeah. They've had a bit of indigestion lately, so I need to brew some potion to clear out their stomachs."

"Can we come too?"

Harry and Ron blinked their big, pitiful eyes. They had probably suffered inhuman torment at Snape's hands and needed even more thorough treatment.

"Of course you can." Vincent comforted the two of them with a sympathetic expression.

Justice would ultimately triumph over evil.

One day, Snape would have to pay it back double.

"Oh no!" Ron suddenly stopped after only a few steps.

First, he frantically searched his pockets, then grabbed his school robes and shook them.

His eyes widened. "Scabbers is gone..."

He had clearly still been there during class. How had he disappeared now?

If elderly Scabbers had wandered deep into the Forbidden Forest...

The more Ron thought about it, the worse his expression became, as though he could already see Scabbers's mangled corpse.

A rat's life was at stake, so Vincent hurriedly called over the classmates who had not yet returned to the castle and had them split up to search.

Harry hurried after Ron, who was stumbling deeper inside. "Calm down first. Scabbers can't have gone far!"

"You don't understand..." Ron panted heavily. "Scabbers is already twelve years old. His legs are bad, and his eyesight is bad too..."

Honestly, for a rat to live to twelve was already an incredible feat, let alone one raised under the Weasley family's financial circumstances.