A Certain Scientific Harry Potter 35

She didn't know what had come over her, but at that moment, she simply couldn't accept Harry's deception.

Thinking back on everything Harry had done since starting school, realizing it wasn't just about protecting her but actually risking them both being expelled, Hermione felt a sorrow she couldn't suppress.

At the time, Hermione hadn't been able to listen to any of Harry's explanations; she just wanted to hide away by herself.

But after experiencing this crisis, Hermione had come to understand that Harry's reckless behavior to get them expelled was, in fact, also his way of trying to protect her.

Hogwarts wasn't as safe as she had imagined, and Harry had only hoped to keep her away from danger.

In truth, if he hadn't requested that Professor McGonagall let her stay with him, she might have been snatched away before this incident even occurred.

She had truly wronged him, and she had been far too harsh this time...

"No, this was my fault. Regardless of the motive, the fact that I deceived you is undeniable."

While Hermione was blaming herself, Harry was reflecting as well.

He realized that his behavior was essentially no different from Dumbledore's; both were acting from the standpoint of a guardian, treating those they cared about as if they were ignorant children.

Dumbledore hoped Harry would grow according to a pre-planned route, while Harry hoped Hermione would stay away from danger according to his own expectations... they were both arrogantly imposing their own ideas onto others.

It was precisely because of this that Harry hadn't felt he was deceiving Hermione before, because spouting nonsense to a child, or even making empty promises... in the dictionary of many parents, this behavior is called—coaxing.

Coaxing is the most common tactic used to deal with a troublesome brat.

To most parents, or adults standing in the position of a guardian, children are born to be troublesome.

They are young and ignorant, they only know how to cry and make a scene instead of communicating when they encounter problems, they only do things that hurt themselves, and they won't voluntarily accept anything that is actually good for them.

Driven by this underlying logic, children are easily labeled as "bad kids," and parents, regardless of their actual competence, are always "doing it for the child's own good." Therefore, whether they are despotic or even violent, they are still considered good parents, good adults.

This is the "conspiracy of parents" derived from the "arrogance of adults"!

But the truth is, even children have their own thoughts, deserve to have their inner wishes respected, and should be treated as equals!

Harry's biggest mistake before was that in his pursuit of an equal dialogue with Dumbledore, he had ignored the fact that Hermione also needed equality!

"Harry, I know you care about me, but if something like this happens again..."

"Hermione, I won't hide anything from you ever again!" Before the girl's eyes could well up with tears, Harry gave her a solemn promise.

From now on, he would never again ignore Hermione's requests from the high-and-mighty perspective of an adult, just as Dumbledore did!

Their eyes met, and they both smiled; all the misunderstandings caused by the crisis of trust and their lack of synchronization had vanished in that moment.

"By the way... why did you come into the girls' bathroom?" Suddenly, Hermione seemed to think of something and asked the soul-searching question in confusion.

"I... yeah, why did I come into the girls' bathroom?" Harry was speechless at the question, a waterfall of sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead.

Should he say, "I thought you were in the girls' bathroom, so I rushed in to check, and then I got cornered by the Troll"?

That would be so embarrassing to admit...

Oh boy, someone just made a promise that he would never hide anything from Hermione again... that face-slap came fast.

"I and several other professors would also very much like to know why the two of you were in the girls' bathroom?!" Professor McGonagall's suppressed voice arrived. She stepped over the rubble at the entrance with Snape and Quirrell, and proceeded to give Harry and Hermione a stern lecture.

While enduring Professor McGonagall's earnest instruction, Harry quietly squeezed Hermione's hand.

Harry: Do you want to stay here and listen to Professor McGonagall nag?

Hermione: Not at all~

Harry: Then run!

They hit it off immediately. Harry and Hermione made faces at Professor McGonagall at the same time, grabbed each other's hands, and bolted away, leaving Professor McGonagall stomping her feet in helplessness.

However, as they brushed past, Harry caught a glimpse of something... the blood dripping down Snape's leg.

Chapter 65: You Need a Vaccine If You Get Bitten by a Dog (8/10)

The Troll had been successfully cleared by the Granger Siblings, and peace had returned to the school, but for Harry, there were still endless things to worry about.

For instance, the House-elf that had been confirmed to be sent by a pure-blood family to deal with him and Hermione, and that strange Mirror of Erised in the abandoned classroom on the fifth floor.

And then there was... Snape.

The evening after the incident, Harry finally waited for his owl.

"Hedwig, you must be exhausted~"

Looking at his panting, listless pet, Harry felt a pang of heartache and hurriedly offered her his specially prepared feed.

In less than a day, Hedwig had traveled back and forth between Hogwarts Castle and his home in the suburbs of London, helping Harry deliver letters and bringing back the packages he needed, barely resting for a moment.

Harry couldn't help but complain that the wizarding world was truly inconvenient for a wizarding apprentice.

Things that could be settled with a single phone call required Harry, only a first-year student, to rely on an owl, which not only tired Hedwig out but also wasted time.

"What did Hedwig bring?" Hermione asked, looking at the small package in Harry's hand in confusion.

"It's medicine. Snape was bitten by a dog earlier, right? I asked my parents to help me get a set of Rabies Vaccine, plus syringes~" Harry explained with a playful expression.

"Vaccine, syringes..." Hermione was dumbfounded, and after a long pause, she continued to ask in shock, "You... you're going to give Snape an injection?!"

"That's a must." Harry looked completely matter-of-fact. "Getting bitten by a dog is no small matter. If he doesn't take precautions now, he won't even have the chance to cry if he develops symptoms later. I'm doing this entirely out of the kindness of my heart~"

"Heh, Snape should really thank you," Hermione rolled her eyes helplessly. "He might just happily deduct a hundred points from Ravenclaw for it~"

Out of the goodness of his heart?

Pah!

Hermione felt that Harry simply couldn't go a single day without stirring up trouble.

"So, are you coming with me? You might get to see the Bat Professor crying and begging not to get a shot," Harry asked with a grin, completely ignoring Hermione's grumbling.

"I am not going!" Hermione refused without a second thought. "You're already enough of a handful on your own; if I tag along, wouldn't I end up losing two hundred points?"

"Hey, fine, I'll go by myself then... Oh, and I'm counting on you for tonight's homework!"

"You wretch... Harry, you annoying little brat!!"

After winking at Hermione, Harry stood up and left, carrying the medical kit Hedwig had delivered down to the Staff Room, leaving the bristling Little Lion behind, grinding her teeth in frustration.

Harry had inadvertently noticed Snape's leg injury yesterday. After a brief recollection, he knew it must have been bitten by the Three-headed Dog, so he had immediately written a letter to his parents.

He had asked Mr. and Mrs. Granger to help him prepare a set of Rabies Vaccine, syringes, and a medical kit capable of maintaining a constant low temperature, and had Hedwig rush them back with all possible speed.

Of course, giving the Bat Professor a shot was just a whim of his own twisted sense of humor; Harry's real goal was to use this opportunity to have a proper talk with him.

When Harry pushed open the doors to the Staff Room, a truly horrifying scene greeted him.

Only Snape and Filch were in the room. Snape was slumped on the floor, his robes hiked up above his knees and his trousers seemingly pulled down, with dark red bloodstains still lingering on the floor between his legs.

Filch was standing opposite him, leaning forward and reaching toward him...

"Ahem, looks like I've come at a bad time?"

Following two light coughs, both Snape and Filch froze in their tracks.

They turned their heads mechanically toward the door, only to see Harry standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Granger!"

Before Filch could react, Snape was the first to bristle. He quickly pulled his robes down to cover his exposed, injured leg, glaring at Harry with such hatred that his face was practically twisted out of shape.

"It's fine, you two can carry on; just pretend I'm not here~"

"Get out! Get out right now!!"

Harry's cheeky attitude clearly made Snape even more furious.

"Hey, Professor Snape, that's not fair! Mr. Filch is here to help you bandage up, and I'm here to treat you too. We're all on the same side, so why are you only yelling at me?"

Harry didn't care at all about Snape's threatening glare; instead, he walked into the room on his own accord and reached out to take the bandages from Filch's hands.

He had called out to stop them precisely because he had seen Filch preparing to bandage Snape.

Just kidding—with a bloody mess of an injury like that, it would be a miracle if it healed properly just by slapping some bandages on it.

"Hmph!" Snape let out a gloomy cold snort and turned his head away, unwilling to engage with Harry.

Who's on the same side as a little brat like you!

"Mr. Filch, leave it to me from here. You can go back to your business."

As he spoke, Harry pulled a series of items needed for wound treatment out of his oversized wizarding robe pocket (which was actually a Space Ring).

"Very well." Hearing this, Filch turned and left quite readily.

This display made Snape's expression tighten slightly. That Filch would have such a good relationship with a student was something absolutely unheard of in the past.

"Your method of treating that wound is wrong, which is why it's healing so slowly."

Harry picked up a bottle of saline solution and approached Snape, making a move to pour it.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Snape's hand, hidden within his robe sleeve, was already clenched into a fist, as if he might cast a spell at Harry at any moment.

"I told you, I'm here to treat your injury." Harry met Snape's gaze with a calm, breezy expression, his hands moving without pause as he carefully poured most of the saline solution directly onto Snape's wound. "Bear with it, it's going to sting."

"Ugh!" The pain from the wound made Snape bite his lip involuntarily. He glared at Harry in anger, but in the end, he endured it without losing his temper.

Perhaps, deep down, he knew that Harry was genuinely there to help.

By now, Harry had already begun debriding the wound using clean tweezers and gauze.

"The moment I saw how you were walking yesterday, I knew you'd been bitten pretty badly. Looks like I was right."

After helping Snape wipe away the blood and disinfecting the wound, Harry took a piece of hemostatic gelatin sponge and applied it to Snape's leg before beginning to wrap it carefully with bandages.

Snape had been bitten quite severely; not only were there several bloody holes in his leg, but a chunk of skin and flesh had actually been torn away!

And yet, he had refused to go to Madam Pomfrey for treatment, letting Filch bandage him up here instead. If Harry hadn't stepped in today, he would likely have been limping for the next half-month.

Chapter 66: Snape Can Be Won Over (9/10)

Watching Harry treat the wound with such meticulous care and feeling the pain in his leg subside, Snape's cold, rigid expression finally began to soften.

"Granger... what exactly did you come to see me about today?" After a moment of hesitation, Snape asked in a hoarse voice.

"The thing Hagrid took out of Gringotts is the Sorcerer's Stone, isn't it..." Harry asked as he tightened the bandage, feigning indifference. "Is that thing really at Hogwarts now?"

"The Sorcerer's Stone... you'd best stay out of this!"

"Alright then~" Harry shrugged nonchalantly and opened the medical kit Hedwig had brought to begin mixing the vaccine.

As expected of Snape; he's quite different from Hagrid, whose mouth is like a wide-mouthed jar.

Harry Granger had always harbored a suspicion regarding the Sorcerer's Stone; he felt it was highly likely that the object wasn't even at Hogwarts to begin with, which was why he had wanted to test Snape's reaction, though unfortunately, he hadn't managed to glean anything at all.

Moreover, judging by Snape's reaction, there were some things he perhaps didn't know either...

"Alright, bare both your arms and come over here for disinfection." Temporarily pushing his thoughts aside, Harry held up the cotton swab dipped in iodophor and the syringe filled with medication toward Snape.

"The wounds are already healed; what more could you possibly want to do?"

Snape stared warily at the needle tip of the syringe in Harry's hand, his entire face etched with blatant resistance.

"I'm giving you a vaccine, of course. This is a necessary treatment after being bitten by a canine. The origin of Hagrid's Three-headed Dog is unknown, so it's best to be cautious." Harry explained with forced patience, "Besides, it's already been over two days. If we drag this out past 72 hours, it might not even be effective anymore, even if you wanted it."

"Harry Granger, have you had enough of this nonsense?!" Snape waved his hand violently, the gust of magic forcing Harry back several steps. "Don't think that just because someone is backing you in this school, you can do whatever you want!!"

"You think I'm messing around? Fine, then let me ask you: do you know the consequences of being bitten by a dog? Do you know that the incubation period for the Rabies Virus can sometimes exceed a year? Do you know that the fatality rate for rabies is nearly one hundred percent?"

The three consecutive questions left Snape speechless once again, and Harry narrowed his eyes slightly: "After knowing all this, do you still think I'm messing around? And... if it weren't for the sake of my late mother, do you think I would care about the wounds on your body?!"

"Lily..." Hearing Harry bring up the person he cherished most in this life, Snape froze in place.

"Professor... are you going to take this shot or not?!"

"I will..."

Hearing Harry's demand, Snape nodded woodenly, allowing the other to pull his arm out from his robes.

"That wasn't so hard, was it~" Harry rolled his eyes at him in disgust; the insincere old tsundere really did need some discipline.

He used the iodophor cotton swab to disinfect the upper arm muscles of both of Snape's arms, then plunged a needle into each side directly.