Snape's Flounce Out

"That is how it happened."

In the living room, Ezio poured a cup of black tea for Snape. He didn't add anything to it; he knew full well that this Potions Master wouldn't fall for such tricks. Anyone who could be called a master possessed extraordinary, peerless qualities.

"My father is dead, and the only clue I have is that he might have died where the twelve moons rise."

"This should be related to what you told me about wizards."

"You don't know about the Wizarding World?" Snape's brow furrowed. He was skeptical of Ezio's answer, which was only natural, as the spearhead in the boy's hand clearly possessed magical power. "Where did you get the weapon in your hand? You know how to use it, yet you tell me you don't know about wizards."

"It's an heirloom left to me by my father. Perhaps his ancestors were once wizards, or perhaps he obtained it from somewhere else. I am an adopted child, so there are some things I cannot be certain of."

"I can use it, but I don't know why I am able to."

Ezio's words were a mix of truth and falsehood. The hardest lies to debunk are those composed entirely of facts, but Ezio couldn't quite manage that. Still, in Snape's ears, the credibility of his words was passable; after all, Ezio's attitude was currently quite good, his tone was sincere, and Ezio had a request of him.

However, Snape had no idea what the "place where the twelve moons rise" referred to, otherwise, he would have revealed his nasty side by now. As long as he had leverage, Snape would never be polite to this little brat.

"I will take your word for it for now. Then, the second question."

Snape's attitude appeared somewhat aggressive.

"You must have received an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Since you knew a professor would be coming here, why did you launch a surprise attack on me?"

Snape didn't want to ask "what you and your deadbeat father did before," because the answer was obvious. This guy had definitely received professional training in a specialized field. If Ezio didn't have that broken spear, and if Snape were prepared with his wand in hand, he wouldn't have looked at him twice. While Muggle tricks weren't entirely useless, in the eyes of a wizard, they were just that.

After all, wizards possessed the magic to manipulate and alter the will of Muggles at will. With a flick of his finger, he could erase Ezio's memory. The wizarding world's disdain for Muggles wasn't without reason, and at this moment, Snape held that arrogance of a wizard; he didn't believe he could fall into Ezio's hands again.

"I never received any so-called Hogwarts acceptance letter. Otherwise, I wouldn't have mistaken you for a dangerous individual who killed my father and tracked me to my home. The throwing knives I aimed at you were only targeting your joints. From the start, I never intended to take your life, otherwise, your head would already be separated from your body. I wouldn't have given you the chance to speak."

Ezio spoke coldly, not giving Snape an ounce of face. "I intended to take you alive. I don't like killing the innocent, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of being ruthless."

Snape's brow twitched slightly, but upon reflection, it was true. At the time, Ezio's spearhead had been pressed against his throat; one slight movement and he would have been decapitated. Back then, forget potions—even if Merlin himself had been reborn and appeared before him, he wouldn't have been saved.

"Impossible! I only receive a report that a student has arrived after the letter has been accepted. It is impossible for you not to have received the owl's delivery."

"An owl?" Although Ezio knew about this, he still wore a look of confusion. "You use owls to deliver mail?"

"Of course." Snape replied as if it were obvious. "Owls possessing magic in their bodies can deliver items to the target with absolute accuracy. This is their magic—the wonders of the Wizarding World are beyond your imagination, boy."

"I think I know what happened."

Ezio stood up and walked to the window. After opening it, he let out a sharp, loud whistle and extended his right arm. A moment later, a heroic and handsome raptor landed on his arm.

"Neil, what did you catch earlier?"

Ezio stroked the head of the magnificent bird he had raised himself, one that could resonate with his soul. It was a gyrfalcon, a medium-sized raptor with an extremely fierce temperament. It was distributed across Northern Europe, Asia, and North America, with a body length of 56-61 centimeters. If it were a trained delivery owl, it wouldn't be surprising at all for it to fall into his hands; the diving speed of a gyrfalcon was more than six times the maximum flight speed of an owl.

The magnificent bird named Neil naturally understood Ezio's words. It flapped its wings and hopped onto the windowsill, then took flight. Ten seconds later, it flew back, clutching a skeleton that had been almost entirely picked clean.

"The letter is here."

Ezio untied a blood-stained letter from the unfortunate owl's leg and shook it at Snape.

"Sorry about that. I don't have any other neighbors nearby, so Neil plays outside all day. If it sees a bird trying to approach the house, it just grabs it. But Neil doesn't hurt people; I've already trained it well."

Snape's face was now so dark it could drip water. This reason left him with no excuse to refute, but he still keenly found a blind spot.

"Even if the delivery owl was caught by your bird, it shouldn't have sent back a feedback that the letter was received." Although this wasn't Ezio's fault and fell under the category of magical failure, Snape was determined to pick a bone with him. "I suspect you..."

"Do wizards have any special abilities? Besides casting spells?"

Ezio asked Snape a question he already knew the answer to, waiting for his response.

"Yes." After a moment of silence, Snape nodded. "A very small number of wizards possess some unusual abilities. Are you trying to tell me this?"

"I can communicate with Neil telepathically. Sometimes I feel like I've become Neil, flying in the sky and seeing things through its eyes."

"Your hawk has been tainted by your magic; that is indeed a very good explanation. Hmph." Snape let out a cold snort. The cause of the problem had been found, but he was not satisfied with it.

"Hogwarts will reconsider your enrollment."

After clarifying the situation, Snape turned and left without looking back, though his tattered robes made his movements look somewhat comical. He realized this, so without even walking out the door, he vanished using Apparition.

"Hmph."

Ezio sneered, but he didn't care about Snape's words. Now that he knew of the existence of the Wizarding World, even in the worst-case scenario where he couldn't enter Hogwarts, he could find other ways.

And with Dumbledore's character of "being willing to give people a chance"—he who dared to take in even Voldemort—how could he not dare to take in a Muggle assassin?

Without dwelling on this any further, Ezio walked toward the stairs and headed up. Whether it was the Templars or wizards, he shouldn't stay in this house any longer.