Beware Dumbledore

Moonlight flowed like water over Hogwarts Castle.

Barton sat on a low stool, quietly guarding the Portkey before him without moving.

Suddenly, the domed hat before his eyes gave several bright, violent tremors!

Barton swiftly rose, picked up his wand, tapped the black hat with it, then gripped it firmly in both hands.

After roughly a few breaths, Li Wei and the others quickly squeezed out of the miniature hat, rapidly enlarging as they followed some illusory passage.

"Thud."

After landing lightly, Li Wei let out a quiet breath.

"Nothing unexpected happened, right, Barton?"

"No, Master."

The moment he finished speaking, there came a sudden knock at the door.

"Tap, tap, tap."

It sounded like a wand striking the door.

This was highly unusual—Li Wei had long since cast a Silencing Charm. No sounds from outside should have been able to reach the room.

Unless the magic placed on it had been lifted.

Li Wei glanced at Barton—it immediately understood and Apparated away with the Portkey.

"Relax. Put your wands away. This is Hogwarts."

Li Wei reassured his two assistants and told them to attend to their own affairs. He himself gripped his wand and went outside, ready at any moment to use the spell—Dragon Scale Protection.

The door opened, and Snape stood behind it, also holding a wand.

"Snape?"

Li Wei frowned, somewhat displeased—lifting the defensive magic on someone else's quarters without permission was far too presumptuous.

Seeing that Li Wei was unharmed, Snape put away his wand. A fold appeared on either side of his slightly fleshy chin as he drawled mockingly,

"I noticed several waves of extremely powerful magical fluctuations flashing through your room—Li Wei, if I were you, I would be more careful."

"What do you mean?"

Snape turned to look down the corridor—the Great Hall vanished at the end of his sight, dark and chaotic, as though it would swallow everything.

"Aren't you going to invite me in for a seat?"

"...Come in."

Snape entered Li Wei's office and casually surveyed the surroundings. Magical fluctuations still lingered in the air, clearly attempting to conceal something. The two assistants were pretending to read, but Snape could sense their furtive glances.

Sure enough, they must have just left to do something important.

"It's getting late. If you have something to say, say it quickly, Snape."

Rather than getting angry at Li Wei trying to send him away immediately, Snape felt a strange sense of pleasure. Are you really that afraid of exposing your secret?

"Aren't you going to offer me a cup of tea?"

Snape's gaze settled on the enormous floor-to-ceiling window. Before it stood a small round table with three chairs around it. Moonlight now spilled over the tabletop, quiet and beautiful.

Drawn in by the sight, Snape sat down in the chair on the left and invited Li Wei with the air of a host.

At that moment, he faintly regained some of his former bearing.

"Having tea under the moon with a middle-aged, pot-bellied uncle? You really came up with that?"

Li Wei shook his head, but still sat down opposite Snape.

"..."

Before Li Wei had even settled in, he had already attacked Snape's figure and age. Snape's mouth twitched faintly, but he stubbornly remained silent.

After a brief silence, the look in Li Wei's eyes changed slightly.

"...Do you really want tea? Drinking tea this late will affect your sleep."

"One small vial of Dreamless Sleep Potion would solve that. Why are you being so fussy?

You came to give a reminder to someone out of kindness, yet they begrudge you even a cup of tea. Is this how you treat guests?"

Li Wei sighed. He had no idea what Snape was trying to pull, but for the sake of maintaining relations with a colleague, he still gave the order,

"Barton, bring him a glass of iced lemon black tea."

The house-elf Barton appeared silently, though this time it did not add a lethal amount of sugar.

Snape gave a slight nod, somewhat satisfied, and finally said,

"You've been studying the Dark Arts recently, haven't you? You were forced into coming to teach at this school. You have no interest whatsoever in teaching students."

Li Wei looked out the window. A night crow had just landed in the woods, vanishing from sight.

"Dumbledore told you?"

"That isn't important. What matters is that I want to know why—you were once extremely opposed to the Dark Arts. Why have you set foot on this path now?"

"That was over a decade ago. Do we still need to talk about it now? I've found that you're quite nostalgic."

Snape pressed his lips together and fell silent again.

Moonlight fell over the side of his face, faintly revealing the melancholy air he had once possessed.

Perhaps the chain of events that day had left his taut nerves somewhat exhausted.

Or perhaps it was because of the perfectly measured silence filling the air at this moment.

Li Wei suddenly felt a profound weariness.

Fine.

Now that he was teaching at Hogwarts, there were some things he could not avoid forever.

With that thought, he spoke calmly,

"I was never opposed to the Dark Arts. I simply believed there was no need to come into contact with such things before building a solid foundation.

Besides, I wasn't particularly talented. Just trying to thoroughly understand the mysteries of spells and Transfiguration had already consumed all my energy.

I didn't study the Dark Arts back then because I had no prejudice against them. I simply didn't want to divide my attention, nothing more."

"Not enough energy? That was why you rejected me back then?" Snape seemed to recall some unpleasant memories. "With me teaching you, you could have easily mastered those simple spells! Even if you studied the Dark Arts, it still wouldn't—"

"That was different." Li Wei shook his head. "If I didn't learn it myself and derive the results from my own ideas, it would not only bring no benefit, it would also contaminate my body of knowledge."

Seeing that Snape did not seem convinced, Li Wei continued,

"Besides, you fought far too fiercely with James Potter and the others. Cooperating with you to study the Dark Arts would have been the same as taking a side—"

"So you were afraid?"

"—Afraid? Have you forgotten who helped you out when you were at your most miserable?

And you couldn't even fulfill your benefactor's one request—not to come bother me again."

"..."

Snape felt as though he was about to lose control.

Since Lily's death, he had never experienced such intense emotional turmoil.

His gaze unconsciously shifted to the iced black tea before him. He grabbed it and gulped it down in great swallows.

"So that was why you rejected me, why you refused to join Potter and the others? You were afraid that after joining them, you would inevitably have to oppose me?"

"No, that wasn't what I was afraid of."

"..." Snape drew a deep breath.

"I just found James and the others too noisy and childish. They bullied a withdrawn, gloomy little brat every day. Instead of studying magic, they only wanted to wander around causing trouble. I really didn't have time to waste on them."

Perhaps it was the effect of the ice. Although Snape did not believe he was pleased by Li Wei's explanation, the feeling in his chest was unbelievably open and refreshing!

"Li Wei, you left the school today, didn't you? I don't care what method you used. I only want to tell you one thing.

Since I could sense that magical fluctuation, Dumbledore certainly could too.

If you left the school to secretly study the Three Unforgivable Curses behind his back—"

Snape rose to take his leave. Before opening the door and leaving, he continued,

"Nothing that happens in this school can be hidden from Dumbledore. Whether it is the ghosts, the professors, the students, or the portraits everywhere, any of them could become his eyes and ears.

If you are doing something dangerous, then just as I said at the beginning, you should be more careful."

"This is the last warning I'll give you!"