Professor Snape Is Quite the Businessman / If a Rat Goes Missing, It Can't Possibly Have Been Eaten by a Cat

Just as Harry was on guard against the Inferi rising up again in the grave, a slight tremor suddenly came from the ground at his feet.

"This is..."

The once-solid ground suddenly began to churn rapidly, and then one after another, jagged ghostly claws emerged from the graves, involuntarily revealing their nails in Harry's direction!

Almost all the graves in West Highgate Cemetery had been violently opened by their original owners. Corpses staggered out of their graves, uttering incoherent roars, and then rushed towards Harry!

There were Inferi everywhere, dozens of them had already surrounded us!

"Hmph, Incendio!"

The situation was urgent, and Harry didn't care about the possibility of being monitored when casting magic outside of school. He quickly pulled out his wand and flicked it at Peter Pettigrew's mother, unleashing a burst of blazing flames!

"Roar~"

These Inferi are most afraid of fire. Peter Pettigrew's mother was caught off guard and was hit by the flames released by Harry. She let out a shrill scream and was quickly engulfed by the spreading fire.

"Roar..."

The remaining Inferi hesitated upon seeing the firelight beside Harry, and the main force of Inferi at the back, unable to stop in time, trampled the first dozen or so Inferi into a pulp.

"Incendio! Incendio!" Seeing this, Harry pressed his advantage, continuously spewing bursts of flame from the tip of his wand, causing the surrounding hordes of Inferi to scream in agony.

Faced with these resurrected corpses, Harry did not choose to call on Norberta for help, because the Ministry of Magic might arrive at any moment, and it would be easier for him to escape alone.

Furthermore, these Inferi are so terrified by the sight of flames that they become completely defenseless; it makes no difference whether one comes or a hundred.

Finally, after Harry used several Fire-Making Spell to engulf all the Inferi in flames, he immediately donned the Invisibility Cloak and hurriedly left the spot.

However, before leaving, Harry had a plan. He used the Reductor Curse to blow up Peter Pettigrew's mother's tombstone and also took her wand with him.

In this way, even if the Ministry of Magic wanted to investigate, they would basically find no useful evidence.

Sure enough, shortly after Harry left, the people from the Improper Use of Magic Office arrived late, and the leader of them was none other than Ron's father, Arthur Weasley.

However, faced with a group of trembling Inferi huddled in the flames, Arthur and his colleagues knew that now was not the time to investigate which wizard had started the fire. They had no choice but to take out their wands and begin to deal with the group of corpses defiled by Dark Magic at the center of the flames.

Meanwhile, Harry had already transformed back into Golden Eagle soaring through the sky, flapping his wings and returning to Hogwarts.

"He actually escaped... and even managed to evade the Ministry of Magic's search? No wonder he's Harry Potter; he's only thirteen and already so formidable!"

In a quaint yet luxurious villa, a man dressed in the attire of a former nobleman stared coldly at the towering flames outside the window, his dark red eyes involuntarily darkening.

"But I'll let you off this time... Once my power is fully restored, I'll have plenty of ways to play with you!"

The man picked up the wine glass beside him, took a small sip, and then suddenly threw the glass on the ground with a dark expression.

"The wine is no longer fresh, replace it!"

The wine in the glass spilled out, its color even more crimson than the deep red carpet. The man glanced at the stain on the carpet with disdain, then ignored it.

The servants who rushed to clean up the mess and respectfully served the man a new wine cup were also two Inferi!

(P. S. Chapter 3 is a bit late, I apologize. Something came up at home recently, so updates have been a bit unstable.)

Chapter 231 The Severus Snape is also very good at business.

After Harry found a secluded spot and opened the wooden box, he became even more puzzled about his journey.

The bottom of Peter Pettigrew's wooden box was lined with lime powder, indicating that his fingers had been preserved during the burial process. However, his fingers were now completely broken, as was the Order of Merlin, First Class that he was utterly unworthy of.

They all mixed with the lime at the bottom of the wooden box, turning into a pile of rubble that couldn't be pieced together.

It's obvious that natural decay couldn't achieve this state; this is clearly the effect of the Reductor Curse!

Upon seeing these things, Harry immediately felt that destroying Peter Pettigrew's finger and turning the corpses in Highgate Cemetery into Inferi were both the work of the same person.

Harry's motives are still unclear, but they are generally nothing more than venting his anger and scheming.

If it was out of revenge, then the target was undoubtedly Peter Pettigrew. The other party might have been Death Eater under Voldemort, and did these things specifically to get revenge on Peter Pettigrew.

After all, if Voldemort hadn't listened to Peter Pettigrew's leak, he wouldn't have personally gone up to Godric's Hollow, only to be retaliated against by Harry's mother's love curse and suffer a fate worse than death.

But if the person doing these things is scheming, then their target might not just be Peter Pettigrew, but could very well be Sirius, or even Harry himself!

The direct consequence of destroying the finger is that Harry is unable to use it for forensic examination, thus preventing him from reconstructing the true circumstances of the day of the incident!

Could it be that... when Barty Crouch was submitting his recorded statement to Wizengamot, someone with ulterior motives anticipated this and came to destroy the evidence beforehand?

Harry can't be sure of the specifics right now, but thankfully, Harry doesn't actually need the finger bone for cross-sectional analysis.

What Harry really needed were the fingernail fragments scattered in the wooden box!

Human hair and nails are made of special keratin, a type of dead cell that exists in a very stable state. Therefore, Harry was completely certain that even if Peter Pettigrew's fingers completely rotted due to improper handling, the nails on those fingers would still be perfectly preserved.

His purpose in obtaining Peter Pettigrew's fingernails was, of course, to brew the Polyjuice Potion.

As mentioned before, Harry had given up all hope of Wizengamot's impartial evidence, and he had also decided to no longer stubbornly adhere to the ethics of a forensic pathologist.

So... since there's no crucial evidence, we might as well fabricate it ourselves.

The key to clearing Sirius's name is to prove that Peter Pettigrew is still alive. Therefore, even if Peter Pettigrew is truly 'dead,' he must be brought back to life!

After confirming that his next plan did not need to be changed, Harry hurriedly returned to Hogwarts, and then went straight to Snape with a bottle of Acromantula venom in hand.

"Granger, are you trying to do business with me?" Snape scrutinized the potion list Harry had included with the poison, his face grim. "And... what exactly are you planning to do with such a large quantity of Polyjuice Potion ingredients?!"

"Of course, I'm disguising myself as someone else!" Harry said with a grin. "I brought you the venom of the Acromantula because I thought you would be interested. As for the medicinal herbs I need, even if you refuse to provide them, I will sneak over and steal them later."

"You..." Snape carefully controlled his increasingly heavy breathing, while also suppressing the profanity that was about to burst out.

That little rascal's words were practically meaningless. Polyjuice Potion... who doesn't know that stuff is used to impersonate someone else?

However, after silently watching Harry for a while, Snape got up and opened his personal storage box.

Lacewing Flies, crude antimony, leeches with their mouthparts removed, dried African Tree Snake, and so on...

"If you're frugal, this amount of medicine should last you a long time," Snape said expressionlessly, tossing a pile of ingredients in front of Harry. "It's worth about fifty Galleon."

"Heh... Severus Snape, you're really making a good profit off that price difference."

Harry twitched his lips speechlessly. It turned out Snape was quite the ruthless businessman, actually taking half of the profits!

"You were the one who said you wanted to talk business," Snape said casually.

"That's true, since you have a monopoly at the school, it's only right that you earn more."

With a relieved shrug, Harry figured Snape were understandable, so he packed the necessary medicine into the Cauldron and then took his leave.

Snape remained silent throughout, only watching Harry's retreating figure disappear with a somber gaze.

Since what happened at the hospital, their relationship has become somewhat strained, and some unresolved issues remain unresolved to this day...

After securing the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion, Harry didn't brew it himself but instead entrusted it to Hermione.

He has many things to deal with right now. His own practice of Wandless Magic and pure magic projection continues, and at the same time, he also has to teach the first-year students... Influenced by certain wills, Harry is doing his job as a substitute first-year Black Organization teacher with absolute dedication.

Upon returning from the Easter break, Harry, as promised, taught the first-years a brand new set of spells, and unsurprisingly, the children initially struggled immensely.

Shield Charm.

Who would have thought that Harry would make first-year students learn such advanced spells, which are only for fourth-year students and above, during the most crucial exam preparation period?

And it has to be a real battle right from the start!

In short, on their first day of encountering the Shield Charm, the first-year students finally understood why Harry had made them learn the Waddiwasi Spell in the first place.

All those marbles and those "Waddiwasi" were basically just for group brawls when learning the Shield Charm!

To Harry's relief, however, none of the children fell behind despite their constant complaints.

At first, they couldn't even pronounce the 'Protego' spell properly before being hit by the incoming marbles and crying out in pain. But after a period of practice, even the slowest student in the class was able to form a broken protective shield on his side.

From Harry's perspective, at least, if the first-year students he taught actually stepped into the Duelling Club's ring, the slightly weaker second-year students would probably not be a match for them.

Harry actually had his own reasons for this "forced growth" approach.

Because in his view, defense against Dark Magic is really nothing more than two words: practical application.

Therefore, students must practice the offensive spells and the defensive spells, such as the Waddiwasi Spell and the Shield Charm, until they are completely proficient from the very beginning.

Harry needs to prioritize ensuring that the first-years are proficient in offensive and defensive techniques in actual combat. Only after that can they gradually learn more detailed strategies for dealing with dangerous creatures, as well as methods for breaking various evil curses, poisons, and curses.

At the same time, Harry felt that the students should also be helped to master the other courses they were learning at Hogwarts in a comprehensive way. Transfiguration, Charms, Herbalism, and even minor subjects like flying should all be added to the practical courses of Defense Against the Dark Arts if possible!

Because... the best defense against your opponent is to use all your strength to defeat them!

It's a pity his substitute teaching time is running out, and it's unclear how the new teacher will teach...

Chapter 232 The mouse is missing; it couldn't have been eaten by the cat.

"Ginny, is it true...? I heard your father discovered the Inferi in the human world?"

"I've heard the news too. Apparently, there are several hundred of them in Highgate Village!"

In a Defense Against the Dark Arts Class shortly after Harry's return, the first-year students, after a hard sparring session, began whispering in small groups about a recent big news story.

The main character in this whispered conversation was undoubtedly Ginny, as many people had heard that her father was present at the time.

"The letters they sent us did mention some of that. My father said in the letter that he was also shocked when he saw hundreds of Inferi gathered together in the cemetery of Highgate Village."

Seeing that her classmates were quite curious, Ginny didn't hide anything and openly shared what she knew. "Fortunately, when they arrived, some wizard had intervened and controlled the scene beforehand, preventing the situation from worsening. However, we still have no clue about the mastermind behind those Inferi or the wizard who helped them."

"By the way... Harry, could you explain the Inferi to us?" Colin, who was chatting idly, suddenly raised his arm towards Harry.

His action drew the attention of the entire class to the substitute teacher.

"The Inferi are something you'll learn about later, but it doesn't hurt to talk about them now. These creatures are corpses resurrected using Dark Magic, and their main characteristic is their cloudy white eyes..." Harry recited some of the Inferi's characteristics from the textbook, and finally concluded, "In reality, they're just scary-looking and unpredictable. Does anyone know the real way to deal with them?"

"It's fire," Luna Lovegood casually interjected from the side.

"That's right~ We'll give five points each to the ladies who told the story and answered the questions." Harry nodded to Luna Lovegood first, then looked at the class again. "So if you really encounter such a creature, you have nothing to be afraid of as long as you're brave. Because Professor Flitwick taught you the best spell for dealing with Inferi shortly after the start of the semester. Alright, class dismissed~"

Harry smiled and announced the end of class, then got up and left the classroom.

But at the classroom door, he suddenly encountered Ron, who looked anxious.

"Weasley, what's wrong?" Harry asked, puzzled, as the other man blocked his way.

"Uh... well, Harry," Ron seemed hesitant, but finally asked, "Have you seen my pet mouse, Scabbers?"

"Scabbers?" Harry frowned curiously. "Your pet mouse is missing?"

"Yeah, he was gone when I woke up this morning..." Ron's tone was anxious, but his eyes kept darting towards Harry.

Seeing his expression, Harry knew perfectly well why he had come today!

"Ha... Your mouse is missing, and instead of looking for it yourself, you come to me asking what I mean?" Harry's face darkened, and he questioned unhappily, "Do you think my cat ate your mouse?"

"I...I don't want to think like this either," Ron said, looking flustered but still clinging to his original thought. "It's just that, Harry, there are so many cats in the castle lately, and unlike regular pets that stay in their dorms, they're always running around everywhere..."

"It couldn't possibly be them!" Harry stood by his cat without hesitation. "My cat has been carefully raised by Mrs. Norris and Crookshanks. They've now recognized every student's pet in this castle and promised not to kill them indiscriminately. Even if your rat did escape from the dormitory, they would only hand it over to Mr. Filch if they caught it; they would never eat it themselves!"

Harry had absolute confidence in his cat, so he didn't want to pay any more attention to Ron.

"But..."

"Ron, don't blame your own forgetfulness on Harry!" Ginny, who had followed Harry out the door, came over, annoyed. "Besides Scabbers, you must have lost something else too, right? I heard it at breakfast this morning—your old wand was gone too!"

"I... okay, maybe I misunderstood, I'm sorry..." Ron was speechless after being interrupted by his sister, and could only awkwardly leave after offering a forced apology.

"Harry, please don't blame him. My brother is just in a hurry, after all, Scabbers has been in my house for a long time." After Ron left, Ginny carefully apologized to Harry, as if she was worried that Harry would be angry.

"I didn't think much of it," Harry shook his head slightly. "Also, thank you for just now."

"No, you don't need to thank me! And I... uh, Hermione?"

Ginny was excited and wanted to say more to Harry, but then she saw the studious girl walking leisurely from around the corner of the corridor, obviously there to pick Harry up from class.

"Excuse me, I must take my leave now." Harry took a step back from Ginny, apologized, and immediately turned to face Hermione.