Silan rose from his seat and followed Snape out.
The other students turned to look, whispering amongst themselves.
"What happened?"
"Hehe, I bet Prewett's in for a rough time."
Hermione, sitting at the Gryffindor table, also craned her neck to look in this direction, her gaze following Silan's movements.
"Quiet! Quiet! The Sorting Ceremony continues."
Dumbledore's voice resounded throughout the Great Hall, silencing all the whispers.
Silan followed Snape out of the Great Hall.
Snape gestured for Silan to follow him, then skillfully hid in an inconspicuous spot.
Following Snape's gaze, Silan saw Harry and Ron, one after the other, clinging to the wall like little mice, trying to sneak into the Great Hall.
Snape, hiding in the shadows, gave a strange smile, his eyes fixed on Harry and Ron.
"Take the keys and go to my office."
After tossing a key to Silan, Snape gathered his robes and silently approached Ron and Harry.
The two of them were talking without knowing anything about each other.
"There's an empty seat in the faculty section... Where's Snape?" Harry peeked through the crack in the door and whispered.
Ron, looking quite energetic, peered through the crack in the door.
He leaned his head close to Harry's and replied expectantly, "Maybe he's sick."
"Maybe he left because he didn't become the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor again."
The two became more and more excited as they talked.
Ron speculated rather boldly. "Maybe he got fired, and everyone hates him."
Snape, who had been standing behind them, finally spoke.
He said in a cold, strange tone, "Maybe he's waiting to hear you two talk about why you didn't take the school bus."
Silan had already arrived at his office while Snape was bullying the children.
Nothing has changed here.
The walls were dark, and many shelves lined the walls, filled with glass jars.
Some strange shapes could be seen through the murky liquid.
"Since I'm just killing time anyway, I might as well go to the storage room and scavenge some unwanted stuff..."
With these thoughts in mind, Silan hooked the key ring with her finger, twirling the key around on her finger, and walked into Snape's private storage room with practiced ease.
Since the esteemed Professor Snape gave me the keys, he must have agreed, right?
Silan silently agreed on Snape's behalf.
In the deserted office, Silan began her zero-dollar shopping spree.
In the private storage room, shelves reached all the way to the ceiling, crammed full of glass bottles of all sizes.
Silan's gaze swept over the shelves, and her little hands brushed over them rather carelessly.
"Bicorn Horn? A little, please."
"Dragon Blood? Let's get some."
"African Tree Snake? I'd like some too."
Silan was very discreet when gathering materials.
He wouldn't take anything particularly valuable; Snape certainly knew what those things were.
Don't take the extremely rare ones; their scarcity will be very noticeable.
Don't take the really ordinary things; they're not worth much anyway.
Following the "three no-take" principle, he only took bottles that were stuffed full of materials.
For solid materials, he would fiddle with them after taking them, making them stick to the bottle wall or stack them up.
It still looks full from the outside.
As she held it, Silan's gaze was suddenly drawn to a bottle of Red Seeds.
"Seeds that can be used to Potions are quite rare..." Silan murmured to herself, looking at the bottle of Red Seeds.
Most herbs can only be used to make Potions from their leaves, roots, stems, or fruits.
She reached out and took the bottle of seeds, Silan opened it and glanced inside.
The seeds were bright red.
Holding it in your hand, you can immediately feel its warmth.
"There are still quite a few. Taking three shouldn't be noticed, right?" Silan pinched three seeds with her fingers, wrapped them in a piece of Parchment, and put them away safely.
"I'll have to check what kind of herb these seeds are; I've never seen them before."
He put the glass bottle back and twisted it to restore it to its original shape.
Then I heard sounds coming from outside.
"If Professor Dumbledore would allow it, I'd love to smash your skulls open and see if they're filled with slug slime."
"Sir, your place has the most slug slime in all of Hogwarts..."
"Shut up, Potter!"
Silan slipped out of the storeroom without a sound.
After quietly closing the door, he stood obediently in Snape's office, as if he had never been there.
Snape, clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet, pushed open the door and entered.
Harry and Ron followed behind him with their heads down.
Seeing Silan in the office, Harry asked in surprise, "Silan? What are you doing here?"
Ron seemed pleasantly surprised and asked with a grin, "Were you also...?"
"Enough!"
Snape flicked his robes, whirled around, and snapped, "I didn't call you here to listen to your idle chatter!"
He unfolded the newspaper in his hand and read the headline in a strange, cold tone.
"The Ford Anglia can fly, much to the astonishment of Muggle."
"Ha, six or seven Muggle saw you."
Snape rolled his eyes, his gaze piercing Harry and Ron like needles, and then he smiled maliciously.
"I remember your father worked in the Office for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, right? Oh dear... his own son..."
At this point, Snape glanced at Silan, who was standing obediently to the side.
"I can't believe it, you and Prewett are related..."
"He arrives at school on time, follows the rules, and is clearly a model student. It's fortunate he's in my house." Snape shook his head with some relief. "If he were in Gryffindor, I can't imagine what he would have become."
Snape's tone became light and cheerful.
"Slytherin gets 10 points for such a good student."
"Ha—" Ron quickly covered his mouth and winked at Harry beside him.
That roughly means, "Luckily, he doesn't have the House Cup in his office, otherwise Snape would definitely have given Silan an award."
Harry felt a chill run down his spine and nudged him in the ribs with his elbow, signaling him to tone it down.
Snape stared at Ron with the look one Troll.
"If you resemble your relatives even the slightest bit, I dare say your parents would be overjoyed."
His exaggerations became increasingly outrageous.
Silan found it increasingly strange.
Something's not right.
Why does it feel like Snape is praising someone else through me? Could it be him?
"Have I become a substitute?" Silan thought to herself.