I'd Do Anything for Him / Not Everyone on a Horse Is Harry

Harry:...

If you say that, then we can't have a conversation like this.

You slept with her?

If I were a woman, I'd sleep with her right away, believe it or not?!

And... I'm not good enough?

Are you trying to push my physical limits?

So, on Valentine's Day evening, Harry, unable to reach an agreement with Hermione on certain issues and subjected to personal attacks by her, decisively decided to retaliate in kind, fiercely fighting Hermione until both were badly injured...

After a fierce argument, as the two fell asleep in each other's arms, Hermione let out a self-deprecating sigh.

Perhaps her behavior seems incomprehensible to outsiders.

Harry, too, found it hard to understand why she would do something that was clearly a sacrifice for herself.

But for Hermione, she was simply actively creating something that was bound to happen in order to maximize her control over the situation.

She tried to stop it, but failed, so continuing to fight it would be foolish.

Blindly denying or being hostile to another person could ultimately damage the strong bond between herself and Harry, and might even lead to her leaving the scene in disappointment; but if she continues to play dumb and procrastinate, in the current situation where she is surrounded by powerful enemies, it will inevitably consume a lot of Harry's energy.

So, as his partner and, of course, as his older sister, Hermione felt it necessary to give Harry a push... after all, he was such a troublesome younger brother!

Although we are caught in the whirlpool and have no control over our own destiny, we can at least choose a way we like... to dance with the waves.

Ten days later, on February 24th, was the second match day of the Triwizard Tournament.

At breakfast time, there were a few fewer students at Hogwarts.

Peeves secretly told Harry that Professor Flitwick had taken Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang away; meanwhile, Gabrielle was not with Phoebe, who had just arrived for dinner.

"Godfather, I'm leaving Hermione's match in your care. You'll ride Kel and keep an eye on things for me."

Harry wasn't with Hermione; instead, he was instructing Sirius, who had arrived earlier, that he needed to sneak into the nursing home today and that Hermione should disguise herself as him to attract attention.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems." Sirius confidently shook the chocolate candy in his hand, which contained the highest grade of Polyjuice Potion.

However, he now has some other worries.

"Harry, we should be fine here, the problem is with the Lovegood family girl..." Sirius said worriedly to Harry, "She doesn't know Occlumency, if she's taken away alone, they might try to take advantage of the situation."

"No, Luna Lovegood is smart; she knows how to deal with those people." Harry smiled and shook his head. "Besides, there's Severus Snape watching."

"That snot... well, then it shouldn't be a problem."

Having cooperated a few times before, Sirius now acknowledges that Snape is a reliable ally.

However, they still couldn't stand each other; one wouldn't accept an apology, and the other hadn't even considered apologizing.

Then there's the third party between them, who never even considered mediation.

We're all adults, let things take their course.

Meanwhile, the four hostages who were taken away during breakfast have now been brought to the classroom, which has been temporarily used as an office.

Waiting for the hostages here were the headmasters of the three schools, Minister for Magic Fudge, and the Vice President of the International Confederation of Wizards, Akinbad, along with Snape.

As for the hostages, they are Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Gabrielle, and Ginny Weasley.

Presumably, this is because the competition organizing committee couldn't find Viktor Krum's most important person, so they simply grabbed his dance partner to take the blame.

"Ladies, I need to inform you...you have been chosen as treasures for the Champion to find, and will soon be sent into the Black Lake," Akinbad explained to the four hostages. "Next, I will cast a spell on you that will temporarily render you unconscious and unable to breathe, to ensure you will not encounter danger underwater. The spell will be automatically lifted when the Champion rescue you from the water."

The four people nodded simultaneously, indicating that they understood the task.

"Uh...is this Miss Lovegood?" Akinbad suddenly looked at Luna Lovegood, "What's with those glasses of yours?"

"It's just an accessory, why... can't I wear it?" Luna Lovegood asked casually, showing no intention of taking off her glasses.

"No, that's not it..." Akinbad, having been rebuffed, awkwardly changed the subject, "Let's begin now."

He drew his wand and cast spells on Gabrielle and the others, who quickly fainted while still standing.

After that, he turned to Luna Lovegood again, but this time he swung his wand more forcefully than he had with the others.

Upon seeing this, Dumbledore frowned slightly, and Snape emerged from the corner of the room.

Akinbad was oblivious to these changes; he was focused intently on Luna Lovegood, a confident smile on his face.

But just when he thought he was about to succeed, a dazzling light suddenly reflected off Luna Lovegood's glasses, knocking his wand away!

After that, the relentless beam of light slammed directly into him, like a giant hammer, sending his body flying!

At the same time, Luna Lovegood also discovered that many unfamiliar memory fragments seemed to have appeared in her mind...

Chapter 692 I can do anything for him

With a muffled thud, Akinbad's body crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Although he was dazed and confused from the fall, he wasn't seriously injured; however, his expression was one of shock and anger.

"Oh, I didn't expect the Spectrespecs to actually work." Luna Lovegood casually pushed up her glasses. "Looks like some people aren't much different from demons."

Akinbad had clearly used Legilimency on Luna Lovegood, but Luna Lovegood's Spectrespecs countered it, allowing Luna Lovegood to steal a portion of his memories.

It was this memory that allowed Luna Lovegood to learn the other party's true purpose for coming.

The reason this vice president of the International Confederation of Wizards, who was from Africa, would unusually get involved in the Triwizard Tournament, which only three Europe schools participated in, was because he had received information from someone else and came here specifically to investigate Norberta!

Although Luna Lovegood didn't find a specific connection between Akinbad and Norberta in this brief memory, she did see fragments of this guy meeting with the head of the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and Cornelius Fudge.

As clever as Luna Lovegood was, she figured it out almost instantly: who was the source of Harry's secret?

She subtly shifted her gaze to one of the hostages who was unconscious inside the room, her expression losing some of its tranquility and instead becoming more sarcastic.

Ha... If Harry really did make that choice for someone else, then I'll have to look down on him.

"What... what's going on? What kind of weird thing is that pair of glasses of yours?!"

Akinbad, who had been knocked away, came to his senses. He glared at Luna Lovegood with a gloomy expression and reached out to grab the wand that had fallen beside him.

But at that moment, a sudden spell, like a sharp blade, cleaved his wand in two!

"Professor Snape, what do you mean by this?!" Akinbad stood up and glared angrily at Snape, only to find that the latter had already stepped in front of Luna Lovegood.

"That's right, Albus ... How can Hogwarts professor attack Vice-President Akinbad so casually?" Fudge rushed over to Akinbad's side to chime in.

"I meant nothing by it, I was just protecting my students," Snape replied expressionlessly. "And I also hope Vice-President Akinbad can explain... why you used Legilimency on a Hogwarts student?"

"That's utter nonsense!" Cornelius Fudge shrieked. "How could Mr. Akinbad possibly use such magic?!"

"I don't think I'm mistaken," Snape shook his head indifferently. "Or are you going to stick to your opinion and let me have my evidence? Perfect, I carry Veritaserum with me..."

"Severus, that's enough!" Dumbledore interrupted, "That was just a misunderstanding. Babajide only made a mistake."

To quell the trouble, he personally went to Luna Lovegood and, without saying a word, cast a spell on Luna Lovegood that would cause her to fall into a coma.

After that, he looked around at everyone present and proposed in a rather firm tone, "I think we must go to the venue now and not delay the progress of the competition. As for other matters, we can discuss them after the competition."

"Professor Dumbledore's words make a lot of sense, but I'm now very puzzled as to why Mr. Akinbad would target a student like this, so we'd better be careful."

Igor Karkaroff suddenly spoke up, quickly stepping forward to block Akinbad and Fudge, subtly protecting Luna Lovegood and Ginny behind him.

"Our school's Champion seems to enjoy chatting with this young lady, and I'm worried he might inadvertently reveal some secrets that shouldn't be known to outsiders." Igor Karkaroff's expression was very wary. "Olympe Maxime, I'm sure you share this concern. The Britain Ministry of Magic's intention in setting up these hostage girls doesn't seem to be solely for the competition."

"I'm starting to have those suspicions now!" Olympe Maxime was clearly swayed by his words. "No one, under any circumstances, should lay a hand on my student!"

She squeezed in as well, and with her much larger size Igor Karkaroff, she completely blocked the four of them from view.

"Shall we set off now..." Dumbledore suppressed breath and walked out of the classroom with the others.

But on the way, he and Snape gradually fell behind.

"Severus, you went too far!" Dumbledore said sternly as he was about to step down the stairs, his expression clearly showing his displeasure.

"That's just what I should do as a professor..." Snape replied casually, but then uttered a form of address that surprised Dumbledore: "Headmaster."

"What did you call me?" Dumbledore suddenly became alert, staring intently at Snape with his blue eyes. "Severus, you swore an oath to serve me."

"But that came with conditions, Headmaster." Snape's tone remained indifferent, but a hint of resentment seemed to creep into his eyes. "And I've already done enough, but you've never fully trusted me. You'd rather trust that simple-minded, lisp-prone Half-blood- Giant than give me your complete trust."

"Severus, I thought you knew the reason!" Dumbledore said gravely. "I don't want to put all my secrets in one basket, especially... before Harry came along, that basket was still hanging on Voldemort's arm!"

"But he wouldn't think that way." Snape shook his head noncommittally. "From him, I received my complete trust... Headmaster, that's all you can't give!"

"What's the point of saying all this now, Severus?" Dumbledore's voice was becoming increasingly subdued. "Are you so eager to make this clear, are you trying to betray me completely at this moment?!"

"I was just doing what we agreed on," Snape confronted Dumbledore without flinching. "I acted as your spy, I risked my life for you, all supposedly to ensure the safety of Lily's son. But he has revealed your true purpose... You've raised him like a pig to be slaughtered!"

"He desperately wanted to rebel against all of this, but initially he lacked the power, so you constantly sought to control him completely; once he gained power, you began to be endlessly wary and suspicious of him!"

"Ha... are you standing up for him? How touching, Severus..." Dumbledore laughed at Snape's interruption. "You don't actually like him, do you? The son of James Potter, whom you hate the most, Harry Potter?"

"His last name Granger!!" Snape shouted excitedly, "And... he likes him? The Patronus Charm!"

He raised his wand, and a silver doe sprang from its tip... Harry's mother's Patronus.

It nimbly circled Snape, then leaped and flew out of the castle through the window.

Dumbledore stared blankly at the receding silver light. He turned to look at Snape, only to find that the other man's eyes were filled with sadness, yet his gaze was unwavering.

"It's been so long and it's still like this?" He seemed somewhat incredulous.

"It always has been that way, but it's not the main reason anymore," Snape murmured, seemingly responding to Dumbledore, yet also as if talking to himself. "I used to tell myself... because of those eyes, I would do anything for him."

"But he... only wanted me to become a beloved and competent professor!"

Chapter 693 The one riding a horse isn't necessarily Harry

Whew... that felt so good!

Actually, today's outburst was somewhat unexpected for Snape, but there was nothing he could do; the topic had simply come up here.

Akinbad openly used Legilimency on Lovegood in the classroom, Dumbledore, as the headmaster, not only did he not stop it, but he also so easily suppressed the matter. Later, he even had the nerve to accuse himself of going too far. Wasn't he just asking for trouble?

To be honest, Snape's anger towards Albus Dumbledore had been building for quite some time.

Yes, he knew he had a criminal record, so he had always been very careful to follow Dumbledore's orders.

The problem is, Snape also has pride, and a very strong one at that!

He gave his all, so naturally he hoped the other person would give him enough respect and trust.

But to be honest, Snape had been doing work he had no passion for all these years, risking his life, yet Dumbledore only trusted those simple-minded guys!

Well, Snape didn't mean to belittle Hagrid here, but he felt that Dumbledore's preference for believing Hagrid wouldn't leak the secret rather than believing he himself could keep it was somewhat ironic.

Of course, he also admitted that he was influenced by someone, because if it were the original him, he wouldn't have cared about these so-called 'unfair' situations.

Isn't this his destiny? He has to accept it no matter what...

But the appearance of that person gradually changed his mind.

The boy had a face just as repulsive as his father's; apart from his eyes and Potions talent, there wasn't a single pleasing feature about him, and his personality was even more detestable than his father's. Yet, he clearly told Snape...

You no longer need to carry the heavy shackles of the past!

And so, Snape gradually came to understand.

The deceased will forever remain his beloved, a fact steadfastly proven by both him and his Patronus.

But on this basis, Severus Snape can also walk the path he chooses!

Moreover, Snape was even a little smug now, after all... compared to a certain former Werewolf who was wavering between phoenix and eagle, his choice was much more resolute.

In short, after saying all that today, Snape seemed to have come to terms with it. If Dumbledore were willing to let him succeed Moody as the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts next year, he might consider staying.

But if the other party continues to make excuses, then he might as well give up the position of Headmaster of Slytherin House and the position of Professor of Potions Class.

Thinking this, Snape, head held high and chest puffed out, even started walking with a swagger. He completely left Dumbledore behind and headed straight for the stands by the Black Lake.

"Severus ..." Dumbledore, watching Snape walk away, still seemed unable to fully accept what had just happened.