Bargaining (Part Two)

The philosophy in those words was nothing an eleven-year-old child should have been able to say.

Snape looked at Vaughan and suddenly began to doubt his earlier thoughts.

Vaughan noticed his hesitation and asked, "Professor, is there something you want me to do?"

Looking at that smiling face, Snape somehow thought of Dumbledore—that old man always wore the same smug smile in front of him.

In fact, the moment Vaughan arrived at the Quidditch pitch and saw the Gryffindors, he had known what Snape wanted. This perennial shut-in would only take the initiative to leave his dungeon over matters concerning Harry, just to watch what he considered a "stupid sport"!

Sure enough, after maintaining his aloof persona for a while, Snape dryly asked, "What do you think of Potter's Quidditch skill?"

"Very good." Vaughan watched the little lions already training overhead, Harry's thin figure darting swiftly through the wind and rain.

He glanced at Snape and said mischievously, "Everyone says Harry inherited his father's talent. Gryffindor believes no Seeker from any other house team can match him."

Crunch!

Vaughan seemed to hear the sound of teeth grinding.

He saw Snape clench his fist, and a fierce emotion surfaced in those pitch-black eyes for once.

It was impossible to tell whether it was nostalgia or hatred.

But clearly, he no longer bothered beating around the bush. "Vaughan Weasley, if I let you join the Slytherin team, can you defeat him?"

Vaughan showed the appropriate amount of surprise. "Professor, why? You know Harry and I are friends, and I don't really like Quidditch."

"Heh, friends... You only need to tell me whether you can do it."

"Well... I probably can."

Vaughan looked confident and innocent. "But Professor, I have a lot to do. Experimenting with potion ingredients takes up a great deal of my time, and it also costs a lot of money. I still need to brew potions to earn money..."

"I'll provide the ingredients!"

Snape practically forced those words out through gritted teeth.

"I also need to keep up with my studies. You know I love learning, and my daily homework takes up a lot of time..."

"I'll speak with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick." Snape's expression grew colder and colder. "Given your ability in Transfiguration and Charms, I believe they will excuse you from homework, including mine for Potions! But you cannot skip homework from your other classes."

"That would be wonderful." Vaughan looked delighted and continued, "Also, I noticed that aside from the Memory Charm, the books you gave me this time didn't contain any other memory magic, such as Legilimency..."

Snape's face had already turned livid.

He was now certain that this Weasley in front of him had an equally vile personality to Dumbledore!

Greedy beyond measure, never letting up once he had the upper hand!

Absolutely infuriating!

But after taking several deep breaths, he still said stiffly, "Next summer holiday, I'll send you a book... Don't push it too far, Weasley!"

Vaughan still wanted more. Such a perfect opportunity for extortion...

Unfortunately, judging by Snape's expression, these demands had already reached his limit.

Still, he made one more request. "I hope the Slytherin team changes captains. Marcus Flint is an idiot."

Snape had instinctively been about to whirl away in a sweep of robes.

But after carefully recalling Marcus Flint—that tall, burly fellow who looked like a gorilla, with well-developed limbs and decent athletic ability, but an unknown substance where his brains should have been.

Dumber than a troll.

He suddenly felt that Vaughan's request did not seem unreasonable.

He had no choice but to ask stiffly again, "Do you have someone in mind?"

Vaughan's expression was hard to describe. "No..."

By the time the two of them, having settled the terms, left the Quidditch pitch through the wind and rain, they still had not found anyone who could replace Flint. Vaughan himself was certainly out of the question; no matter how much Snape wanted to strike at Harry, he would not ask Vaughan to waste too much time on Quidditch.

Still agonizing over candidates, Vaughan sighed to Snape before they parted.

"Professor, could the house recruit a few more normal people next year? My standards aren't high. They just need to have a little sense."

Snape: "..."

Two mornings later, while visiting Gryffindor, Vaughan received a package delivered by an owl.

At the time, he was having breakfast with the trio.

Although Vaughan had spent all his energy these past few days learning new spells and potions, he still knew everything Harry was doing.

One member of the trio was his younger brother, and another was his informant.

Harry was also famously loose-lipped, nicknamed "as tight-lipped as a wide-mouthed jar."

Even though Vaughan had never actively paid attention, he still knew Harry was investigating the small package Hagrid had taken from Gringotts.

They had even found the room where Fluffy was kept.

That had been one night more than two weeks ago.

When Harry's final day of detention was over, Ron and Hermione went to pick him up, only to run into Mrs. Norris and Peeves on the way.

Ever since Vaughn had taught Peeves a lesson, and then taught Hermione the magic that could deal with him, Peeves, feeling outnumbered and alone, began forming an alliance with Filch.

At least, that was what he thought.

In reality, he had simply started moving around with Mrs. Norris. He was responsible for passing through walls and leaping over obstacles to find young wizards sneaking around after curfew.

Mrs. Norris was responsible for fetching Filch.

Enemies were especially furious when they met. Peeves was afraid of Vaughn, but he was not the least bit afraid of the trio. He shouted wildly in the corridor, working with Mrs. Norris to chase the three of them all the way to the fourth floor and drive them into a room.

"You're dead! That three-headed dog is definitely going to bite you to death!"

Peeves happily rolled around in the air.

It was in that room that the trio saw the three-headed dog. Hermione also noticed a trapdoor beneath its feet.

"The package Hagrid retrieved must be hidden beneath that trapdoor."

The day before, Harry had sworn to Vaughn, "It belongs to Dumbledore. It has to be extremely important, though it's a shame we don't know what it is."

So Vaughn mischievously egged him on. "Why don't you just ask Hagrid directly?"

After spending some time at the school, Harry had grown much more confident and was no longer as shy as before. He questioned, "Hagrid's very tight-lipped. He won't tell me."

"Not necessarily. Just tell him you saw the three-headed dog."

So early that morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione eagerly found Vaughn. "How did you know Hagrid would reveal something if we said that?"

Vaughn merely smiled without answering.

Where did they think Harry had learned to be such a blabbermouth?

"Hagrid said the three-headed dog is called Fluffy. He lent it to Dumbledore to guard something."

Harry paused to catch his breath, and Ron continued, "Something related to Nicolas Flamel."

Hermione spoke last. "I'm sure I've seen that name before, but no matter how hard I think, I can't remember where. I looked through reference books last night and found nothing. Vaughn, do you know?"

All three of them looked at Vaughn expectantly.