I Knew Quirrell Wasn't a Good Bird

"There's no time!" Ron growled anxiously, staring at Harry being thrown around on his broomstick in the sky. "We have to stop Snape!"

"It's Quirrell!" Eliana jumped up. "Did you hear my analysis just now? It's Quirrell!"

"Fine—it could be Quirrell—" Ron said reluctantly, still convinced Snape was the villain. "Either way, we have to stop them!"

Hermione leaped from the stands, wand in hand, and ran out.

Seeing Hermione's determined posture, Eliana knew what she was planning and quickly squeezed out after her. "Don't you dare burn Professor Snape! Go burn Quirrell!"

"I'll go talk to Professor Snape. I can interrupt him too. We'll split up, it'll be faster—Harry can't hold on much longer."

You know yourself whether you're doing this because Harry can't hold on.

Hermione let out a heavy snort through her nose but said nothing. Clutching her wand, she charged towards Quirrell, the hem of her robes flying with anger.

Eliana also sprinted to the row of seats behind Snape. Just as she was about to call out to him, she inexplicably glanced at Hermione.

Hermione's face was grim, and a string of blue flames shot from the tip of her wand.

With a yelp, Quirrell clutched his large scarf and jumped up abruptly.

Eliana keenly noticed that Harry in the sky seemed to have suddenly mastered his broomstick, climbing back on with difficulty. Snape ahead was still staring at Harry, chanting, but it was clear Harry's broom was becoming steadier.

Eliana let out a huge sigh of relief. As confident as she had sounded, she had actually been quite nervous.

Although she liked Snape a lot, to be honest, she thought it wasn't impossible for him to have cursed Harry.

That was the reputation of the Slytherin dungeon king—venom dripped from his every word.

Who would have thought, Merlin as my witness, that Snape was actually a good person? He was actually reciting a counter-curse—she hadn't even dared to imagine that.

She was the only student who would believe Snape, and yet she had harbored a sliver of doubt in her heart.

She felt her pocket, where the expensive Essence of Dittany was, and thought she was truly terrible.

Eliana felt like her fan loyalty had been severely tested.

Her eyes welling up, she rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a miniature carved walnut she had practiced making. She tapped it with her wand, then yanked Snape's robe hard.

Snape, who was intensely focused on stabilizing the blasted broom for young Potter, had just seen the situation improve and hadn't even had time to relax when he suddenly couldn't breathe.

His collar was yanked violently backward and downward, the force so great that stars flashed before his eyes.

The caster is this brazen? Seeing his plan foiled, is he abandoning all pretense and attacking me, the stumbling block?

Snape shielded his neck with one hand, turning around sharply and swiftly, his wand already sliding into his other palm.

He met Eliana's tear-streaked face.

"You better have a good reason for this, Rich," he said, suppressing his impatience, his voice like it was squeezed from between his teeth.

"Professor Snape, you're such a good person!"

But Rich didn't seem scared by his tone at all. For some reason, she seemed even more moved. "You're worried about me, aren't you? See, you really are a good person with a sharp tongue and a soft heart. So many people misunderstand you!"

Snape: ???

He felt as if a rotten rat had been shoved into his mouth, thoroughly disgusted.

"Speak properly, Rich," his usually unpleasant expression now looked like it had been painted with black ink. "Or is the water in your skull not yet... drained?"

Before he could finish, the little Mandrake, whose emotions were as abundant as the water in her brain, lunged forward and hugged him tightly.

Snape:!

He froze, his body rigid, like a fresh statue just petrified by the Basilisk.

She shoved a round object into his hand, sobbing.

"Professor Snape, everyone misunderstands you so deeply. You're the best professor at Hogwarts!"

Snape:???

He stared in shock as Eliana, tears streaming down her face, bolted back to Gryffindor.

Snape began to wonder if the person who cursed Harry's broom had cursed him instead. How else could he be experiencing such an absurd situation?

He was in the middle of a Quidditch match, and Eliana suddenly ran over, crying her eyes out, calling him the best professor at Hogwarts, and then ran off without a word?

He unconsciously picked up the object Eliana had just given him. It was a walnut with a carving of Hogwarts castle on its shell. The castle was exquisitely detailed, and even a Whomping Willow was carved at the corner. Snape's gaze fell to the bottom of the walnut.

To my best teacher—Severus Snape.

Hmph. Instead of making potions properly, she spends all day making this sort of thing until her brain is addled.

Snape sneered and shoved the walnut into his pocket.

Best?

—When Flint hit Gryffindor with the Bludger earlier, he hit her on the head with it?

Flint is always asking me for passes to use the field. What kind of training is this! Such poor aim, it's a disgrace to Slytherin!

He began to lash out in anger and frustration.

When Eliana returned to the Gryffindor stands, the match was already over—Harry had spat out the Snitch, Gryffindor had defeated Slytherin by 110 points, and everything was chaotic.

They planned to take shelter in Hagrid's hut.

"It was Quirrell!" Eliana declared triumphantly, casually finding a scapegoat and stumbling upon the real culprit, and she was so proud to have defended her favorite professor. "He was cursing Harry!"

"Really?" Ron was still skeptical.

"It was Quirrell," Hermione said with disappointment—she had always thought Professor Quirrell just smelled strongly of garlic but had a gentle temper and was a decent professor.

Who knew, a bad smell and a bad heart!

"After I burned Quirrell's robes, Harry's broom stopped. Eliana hadn't acted yet, and Snape was still chanting, but Harry's broom became more and more stable."

"I told you, my eyes are the ruler!" Eliana declared triumphantly, hands on her hips. "I knew Quirrell was up to no good long ago! When school started, Headmaster Dumbledore took me shopping. The moment Quirrell saw the Headmaster, he ran away. If that's not a guilty conscience, what is? Everyone else rushed forward to shake Dumbledore's hand!"

"Before, you all said Snape wanted to steal something. I think it was clearly Quirrell, and then Snape went to stop him, only to get bitten by that three-headed dog!"

She slapped her thigh hard, exasperated. "Why can't this dog tell friend from foe? It has three heads, but are all three of them idiots?!"

Ron yelped and jumped up. "Eliana, I know you're excited—but you slapped my thigh!"

Eliana didn't look away. "It hurts more to slap your own."

Ron was almost amused to anger by her. "Am I just a wooden dummy who doesn't feel pain?"

"Fluffy isn't an idiotic puppy! He's a clever little fluffball!" Hagrid said heavily, putting down his teacup. "And how do you know Fluffy?"

"That dog is called Fluffy—you know it, no, it's your dog!" Eliana's reaction was incredibly sharp at this moment. "You praise it for being clever—you like this dog, but you're not worried that it's not with you—you know where it is and what it's going to do!"

Harry also realized and asked eagerly, "What is it guarding?"

"This is not something you should know, it's Top Secret!" Hagrid interrupted rudely. "Professor Quirrell wouldn't want to kill a student—you're all overthinking it."

"I don't believe it. The way he looks, I can tell he's no good. Hagrid, I think you're underthinking it."

Eliana crossed her arms and sneered.

"You're wrong!" Hagrid looked furious. "Forget about it, it's none of your business, forget about Fluffy, forget about what it's guarding, this is Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel—"

He realized he had let slip again and stopped abruptly, becoming even angrier.

Eliana whispered into Hermione's ear, "I think we can get more information from Hagrid. His mouth is practically a wide-mouthed jar."

Hagrid, whose ears were as sharp as his mouth was wide, furiously kicked them all out.