James Potter's malicious words were like a boulder cast into a still lake, sending invisible ripples across the grounds on that spring afternoon. The gazes of several nearby students turned toward them, filled with curiosity and anticipation for a spectacle.
Beneath the shade of the trees, Snape spun around. His face was so pale it was nearly translucent, his lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. In those black eyes surged a storm repressed to its very limit—an expression Lin Yanqing had never seen before, one that mingled bone-deep humiliation with rage on the brink of losing control. The knuckles of the hand clutching the half-processed magical ingredients made faint cracking sounds from the force of his grip.
"Potter," Snape said, his voice seeming to squeeze out from a crack in the ice, low and dangerous. "Take that back."
"Take it back?" James spread his hands theatrically, relishing the attention around him. "Why? Was I wrong? Weren't you two just over here... hmm? On a secret date?" He deliberately drew out the last words, drawing a snicker from Sirius. Even Peter cracked a grin.
"I said, take it back!" Snape took a step forward, his wand already in hand. The icy killing intent radiating from him seemed to freeze the very air around them.
Lin Yanqing had walked over by then as well. He did not stand beside Snape, instead stopping in a position where he could support him from another angle without appearing overly intimate. His expression was calm as his gaze swept over James and Sirius before finally landing on Snape's taut profile. Through the contract, he could clearly sense the destructive energy building inside Snape, ready to erupt at any moment. If they started fighting, Snape would inevitably be at a disadvantage against multiple opponents, and in his fury, he would likely lose all precision.
He couldn't let Snape make the first move.
Just as James smugly prepared to add fuel to the fire, and Snape's wand was about to rise and point at him—
"Mr. Potter seems to have a rather unique understanding of interpersonal relationships." Lin Yanqing spoke up. His voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying the calm of an almost academic Ravenclaw discussion. "However, confusing academic collaboration with baseless speculation and using it as a weapon to attack others hardly seems to reflect the 'chivalry' Gryffindor claims to uphold."
With those words, he deftly shifted the focus away from the insulting accusation about their "relationship" and toward "academic collaboration," while turning the tables and accusing them of betraying their House's values.
James was choked by the unexpected response and could not immediately find a suitable retort.
Sirius, however, gave a cold laugh, his gray eyes fixed sharply on Lin Yanqing. "Collaboration? A Ravenclaw and a Slytherin, running off to some deserted place during break time to 'collaborate'? Collaborate on what? Dark magic?" His accusation was even more insidious.
"What we collaborate on is none of your business, Black." Lin Yanqing's tone remained steady, but his eyes sharpened. "Just as we do not pry into whether the three of you, always glued together, are 'collaborating' on your next prank that violates school rules, or something else... something even more shameful."
"You—!" James flew into a rage, raising his wand sharply at Lin Yanqing.
At almost the exact moment James lifted his wand, Lin Yanqing clearly received an extraordinarily swift and precise prediction from Snape through the contract—"Leg-Locker Curse! Block low left!"
Without hesitation, Lin Yanqing flicked his wrist and pointed his wand downward—
"Petrificus Totalus!" James's spell shot forth.
"Protego!" Lin Yanqing's Shield Charm rang out almost simultaneously. An invisible barrier appeared precisely at the lower left side of his body, perfectly blocking James's tricky Leg-Locker Curse. The red light struck the barrier, scattering a few sparks before vanishing into nothingness.
At almost the same instant Lin Yanqing blocked the attack, Snape moved! He did not attack James. Instead, he jabbed his wand sharply, sending a silent, nearly imperceptible flash of magic toward the apparently level grass beneath James's feet—
"Muddying Charm!" An improved Softening Charm with exceptionally powerful effects!
The firm grass beneath James's feet instantly transformed into a patch of sticky, slippery muck! Still slightly stunned that his attack had been blocked, he suddenly found the ground give way beneath him. He lost his balance, cried out, and toppled backward with a splash into the mud he himself had created—enhanced by Snape's magic. He was utterly disheveled, and his wand flew from his hand.
Everything had happened in a flash. From James's attack, to Lin Yanqing's precise block, to Snape's vicious follow-up, only two or three seconds had passed. The seamless coordination and swift, ruthless counterattack left everyone present stunned.
Sirius and Peter stood frozen in place, unable to react for a moment.
Snape remained where he was, wand still in hand, his expression as cold as ever. But the storm in his black eyes had subsided somewhat, replaced by a cold, almost cruel satisfaction. As he watched James struggle and curse in the mud, the corner of his mouth curved into an almost imperceptible, mocking smile.
Lin Yanqing slowly lowered his wand and looked calmly at Sirius and Peter. "Do you want to continue?"
There was no provocation in his tone. He was merely stating a fact. Yet with James floundering in the mud beside him and Snape's wand looking ready to fire an even nastier curse at any moment, the words carried immense intimidation.
Sirius's face turned livid. He stared hard at Lin Yanqing, then glanced at Snape, who watched coldly from the side. He knew they would gain nothing today. This Ravenclaw was more troublesome than they had imagined, and Snape... seemed to share some strange tacit understanding with him.
"We'll see about that." Sirius forced the words through gritted teeth. He bent down to pick up James's wand, then, together with Peter, laboriously hauled the still-swearing James out of the mud. Covered in filth from head to toe, the three hurried away in embarrassment amid the suppressed snickers of the surrounding students.
Silence returned to the edge of the grounds, but the atmosphere had changed completely.
The students who had originally come to watch the show now looked at Lin Yanqing and Snape with added surprise, scrutiny, and even a trace of barely perceptible wariness. They had witnessed firsthand how the two had joined forces and easily made the Marauders suffer a crushing loss.
Snape did not look at Lin Yanqing. He silently put away his wand, bent down to pick up the ingredients he had dropped earlier, and carefully brushed away the grass clippings and dirt. His movements had returned to their usual precision, though the cold hostility surrounding him had not yet fully dissipated.
Lin Yanqing did not speak either. Through the other end of the contract, he could feel a cold exhilaration, like the satisfaction of avenging a great wrong, as well as a sense of solidity that came from establishing some kind of "boundary."
After gathering his things, Snape straightened up and finally turned his head, sweeping his gaze over Lin Yanqing with remarkable speed. There was still little warmth in that look, but it no longer carried the previous rejection or scrutiny. Instead, it was a cold acknowledgment, something akin to the way one might regard a weapon that fit perfectly in the hand.
Then, without saying anything, he turned away, gathered his ingredients in his arms, and headed steadily toward the castle.
Lin Yanqing watched his back disappear into the castle's shadows, then lowered his gaze to the hand that had held his wand moments earlier.
This time, they had exchanged no objects and passed no notes.
But together, they had erected a boundary marker—using their actions to announce to everyone that the "connection" between them was not to be violated. Anyone who tried to cross that line and defile it with filthy words would pay the price.
That boundary marker had been forged from cold tacit understanding, precise tactics, and merciless retaliation.
It stood silently in the spring afternoon at Hogwarts, marking the official establishment of a new alliance that no one could ignore.
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