In the week after the Charms class incident, Snape seemed to have completely transformed into a walking iceberg. He ignored Lin Yanqing on every occasion, unwilling to spare him even the calculating, appraising looks from before. But through [Magical Perception] and the soul bond, Lin Yanqing could clearly sense the agitation and urgency churning beneath that icy shell—as though an invisible clock were urging Snape on.
Sure enough, one evening near the weekend, as Lin Yanqing was returning from the library to Ravenclaw Tower, he felt the hem of his robe being tugged ever so lightly. He stopped, casually turned his head, and saw a tightly rolled note swiftly slipped out from the shadow of a suit of armor beside him.
He continued walking as if nothing had happened, only unfolding the note when he reached a corner. It contained nothing but a brief time and place:
"Midnight. West Tower, beneath the abandoned clock tower."
There was no signature and no mention of its purpose. But Lin Yanqing immediately understood that this concerned the Tranquil Spring Water. West Tower was far from the main castle, and the abandoned clock tower was even less frequented. It truly was the ideal place for a secret operation.
At midnight, the castle had fallen asleep. Lin Yanqing put on the Invisibility Cloak once more, skillfully evaded the nighttime patrols, and arrived at West Tower. It was darker and damper here than in the main castle, with the air thick with the smell of dust and old stone. Following the instructions, he climbed the spiral staircase. Beneath the clock tower entrance, he found a narrow stairway leading into the wall, half-hidden behind heavy drapes.
The instant he lifted the drapes, he heard muffled, hurried breathing from within, along with the extremely faint light emitted from the tip of a wand.
Lin Yanqing's heart tightened, and he quickly slipped inside. In the narrow stairwell, Snape was kneeling on one knee with his back to him, his left hand clamped tightly over his right arm. Between his fingers flickered that familiar, abnormal magical glow, even stronger than it had been in the dungeon corridor last time! His wand had fallen beside him, its light flickering uncertainly.
He was trying dangerous magic alone again! This time, the backlash seemed even more severe!
"Don't come any closer!" Snape snarled without looking back. His voice was twisted with pain, carrying an unmistakable warning.
But through the contract, Lin Yanqing had already sensed the chaotic, violent current of magic spreading outward. It was not only affecting Snape; it had also begun to faintly tug at his own magical circulation.
"You're forcing the contract again?" Lin Yanqing's voice sounded especially clear in the cramped space. He did not move closer, but his tone was stern beyond dispute. "Stop! Unless you want both our magic to spiral out of control!"
Snape's body shuddered violently, whether from the pain of the backlash or rage at having his intentions exposed. He tried to summon magic to suppress the backlash, only for the glow on his arm to intensify as cold sweat poured down his forehead.
Lin Yanqing hesitated no longer. He stepped forward quickly, but instead of touching Snape, he picked up the fallen wand and pressed it back into Snape's uninjured hand. "Guide it!" he ordered in a low voice. At the same time, he raised his own wand and aimed it at the core of the Magical Disturbance on Snape's arm. "Say it with me—Return Flow, be calmed within!"
It was an extremely obscure basic calming spell, normally used to deal with minor experimental magical rampages. Lin Yanqing had found it in the appendix of A Brief Analysis of Ancient Pacts, a book awarded by the system. He was not sure whether it would work, but he had to try.
Snape was extraordinarily gifted in Dark Arts and Potions, but he was clearly unfamiliar with and resistant to spells meant for healing and calming. Yet with his own magic on the verge of completely losing control, he gritted his teeth and, almost instinctively, recited the awkward spell after Lin Yanqing.
Their wands pointed at the cluster of chaotic glow at the same time. Lin Yanqing focused with all his might, guiding his own calm magic through the spell and slowly pouring it into the violent current like a thin stream. Strangely, because of the contract's connection, his magic was not rejected. Instead, like a key, it began to guide and sort through Snape's frenzied magic.
The process was slow and difficult. Snape bit down hard on his lower lip until he could nearly taste blood. He could clearly feel an external force, gentle yet firm, working within the realm of his out-of-control magic. The sensation made him profoundly uncomfortable, yet he could not deny its effectiveness.
More than ten minutes later, the ominous glow on Snape's arm finally began to fade and settle. He slumped back against the cold stone wall as if all strength had left him, gasping for breath. His face was pale as paper, and sweat had soaked the black hair hanging over his forehead.
Lin Yanqing also let out a breath, exhaustion washing over him. He put away his wand and looked at Snape leaning against the wall. This time, Snape did not immediately glare at him with hatred. He merely lowered his eyes, his chest rising and falling as he sank into the relief of surviving the ordeal and an indescribably complicated emotion.
Silence spread through the narrow stairwell. After a long while, Snape finally spoke in a hoarse voice, still not looking at Lin Yanqing. "...The Tranquil Spring Water... is in a condensation pool in the clock tower's machinery room. The mechanism... is protected by old magic. I... can't open it alone."
He had finally admitted that he needed help. Not through an indirect note, but by directly stating his predicament when he had no strength left. For someone as proud as him, it was no different from a disguised surrender.
Lin Yanqing nodded. "Lead the way." He did not ask further questions or show any unnecessary emotion.
Snape struggled to his feet and headed up the stairs with slightly unsteady steps. Lin Yanqing followed one step behind him.
The clock tower's machinery room was covered in dust and cobwebs. Huge gears and rusted chains stood motionless. In the center of the room was indeed a small square pool built of ancient stone. Under the moonlight streaming through a broken window, the water was strangely, perfectly calm, like a piece of frozen crystal. Complex, somewhat faded Ancient Runes were carved into the ground around the pool, radiating faint magical fluctuations.
Snape pointed at the runes. "Stable light-aligned and dark-aligned magic must be supplied simultaneously to temporarily lift the protection and retrieve the spring water. The margin of error cannot exceed..." He paused, seeming to weigh whether to reveal this crucial information. "...one-thousandth of a Galleon's worth of magical energy."
It was an extraordinarily demanding requirement. It required astonishing magical control from the casters and... absolute coordination.
Snape looked at Lin Yanqing, his black eyes filled with unprecedented gravity and a trace of uncertainty. He excelled at precise operations, but his affinity for light-aligned magic was low. Lin Yanqing's earlier performance in Charms class and the calming spell he had just used, however, both showed that he had considerable control over this kind of peaceful, positive magic.
"I'll guide the light-aligned magic. You handle the dark-aligned magic." Lin Yanqing assigned their roles without hesitation. It suited their respective strengths.
Snape gave him a long look, then nodded. They took positions on opposite sides of the pool, raised their wands, and aimed them at the Ancient Runes on the floor.
"I'll count to three." Snape's voice was low and solemn.
"One..."
Lin Yanqing adjusted his breathing, cast aside stray thoughts, and pictured warm, pure light in his mind.
"Two..."
Snape's gaze sharpened as cold, restrained magical fluctuations began to gather around him.
"Three!"
Two beams of magic, utterly different in nature yet equally condensed and precise, shot from their wand tips and entered the Ancient Runes with perfect accuracy. The runes lit up instantly, one half flickering with a soft white-gold glow, the other suffused with a deep, dark radiance.
Both of them held their breath, doing everything they could to maintain a stable output of magic. Lin Yanqing could feel the extreme focus and control coming from Snape's side, as though Snape himself had turned into a precision instrument. As for Lin Yanqing, he too summoned all his concentration, ensuring the purity and steadiness of the light-aligned magic.
Time seemed to stretch on. Sweat slid down from Lin Yanqing's temples. Snape's fingertips trembled faintly from the strain as well.
Finally, when the two currents of magic reached a perfect yet fragile point of balance at the center of the runes, the light around the pool abruptly withdrew. The water, which had seemed frozen solid, rippled gently and returned to the texture of an ordinary water surface.
It worked! Lin Yanqing felt a surge of joy.
Snape moved with incredible speed. He immediately used a specially made silver vial to draw a small amount of the utterly clear spring water from the pool, then quickly stepped back.
Almost the instant he finished, the runes on the ground lit up again. The protection reactivated, and the pool water instantly returned to its deathly stillness.
Snape gripped the silver vial tightly, looking at the Tranquil Spring Water rippling within it before raising his eyes toward Lin Yanqing on the other side of the pool. Moonlight shone through the broken window, illuminating half of Snape's face and Lin Yanqing's tired but calm expression.
This time, there was no anger in his gaze, no displaced resentment. Only a deep, complicated scrutiny remained. He realized that if not for this Ravenclaw tonight, not only would he have failed to obtain the spring water, but he might have met with disaster himself.
He did not say thank you. That was still impossible for him. He merely carefully put away the silver vial, then turned around and said in a low voice:
"...The ritual can be prepared."
After saying that, he disappeared into the shadows of the clock tower once more.
Lin Yanqing remained where he was. From the other end of the soul bond, he could feel exhaustion like that of a survivor, along with a... resolute determination born from finally clearing the crucial obstacle and facing the final step.
The ritual to stabilize the soul contract was about to begin.
Before you continue