On the last night before the christmas holiday ended, Hogwarts was like a giant just awakening from sleep, with the faint murmur of voices beginning to stir. Yet beneath that bustle of revival, the atmosphere in the abandoned classroom on the fifth floor was more oppressive than ever.
Snape repeatedly checked the three layers of protective spells over the door. His movements were more forceful than usual, his fingertips turning slightly white from excessive tension. The pressure brought by the man in black clung to the air like an icy spiderweb, refusing to dissipate.
"He wasn't a professor from the school." Snape's voice was decisive. With his back to Lin Yanqing, his gaze seemed to pierce through the walls, fixed on the direction where that figure had vanished the night before. "Nor was he... any 'visitor' we know of." He was clearly referring to Voldemort or one of his core Death Eaters, but at their current level, they had yet to come into contact with beings like that.
Through the contract, Lin Yanqing could sense the surging emotions within Snape—not merely vigilance, but also the humiliation of unwillingly acknowledging an absolute gap in power, along with the even stronger desire to grow more powerful that it had ignited.
"His target doesn't seem to be us." Lin Yanqing analyzed calmly as he carefully placed Advanced Potion-Making, its margins filled with the Half-Blood Prince's notes, back into Snape's dragon-hide pocket. "He drove Avery and the others away, but he didn't pursue Wilkes's deal any further, much less... search for us."
That was highly unusual. Given the level of magic and dark aura the other party had displayed, it would not have been impossible for him to discover that they had been watching him.
"Either we are insignificant in his eyes," Snape said,