Snape, You're Running Away—Running Away from Lily's Death!

Upon hearing that, Lyon looked at the unfinished steak in front of him, pursed his lips, and stood up.

The moment he rose, all the Slytherin students around him immediately stood up as well. A rustle swept through the hall, while only a handful of older students stared blankly at their classmates.

The Great Hall fell silent once more...

"What do you think you're doing? Sit down!" Snape frowned, a trace of danger in his low voice.

But to everyone's surprise, all the Slytherin students present acted as if they had not heard Snape at all. Instead, they turned to look at Lyon.

The students from the other Houses stared at the scene in shock.

Was Slytherin House rebelling?

They were openly defying their Head of House as a group?

That gutsy?

At the staff table, every teacher's gaze fell on Snape.

Snape, meanwhile, fixed his eyes on Lyon.

Lyon coughed twice. "Ahem. Sit down."

Rustle...

Every Slytherin student sat down at that exact moment.

Snape: ???

Students from the other Houses: ???

The teachers at the staff table: ???

Dumbledore: ...

The entire Great Hall fell quiet at the sight.

The Slytherin students around them showed neither fear nor embarrassment.

Instead, their faces were filled with... pride.

The pride of being members of the Razor Gang.

The students of the other Houses had not received proper guidance. Only those who had joined the Razor Gang were the future hope of Wizarding Society.

Watching this unfold, Lyon put on the black gloves resting on the table and walked over to Snape.

Still, he really did want to leave this place.

Before coming here today, he had told all the Slytherin students to keep a low profile.

Mm, they had indeed been very low-key.

Look, they had not directly shouted things like "Long live Godfather Lyon!" or "The Razor Gang is eternally great!" in the Great Hall. That was fucking low-key indeed.

Snape's mouth twitched at the side. After a long silence, he waved Lyon over.

The two left the Great Hall and made their way to the Black Lake. Dawn had only just broken, and the morning sun had yet to rise.

Snape looked around. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he turn to Lyon.

"Lyon, what did you do last night?"

Lyon calmly met Snape's gaze. There was no panic on his face, only that steady composure in his eyes.

"I merely gave a perfectly ordinary speech."

Snape's mouth twitched again. "You call that a speech?"

"If you told me that Slytherin House had become the Razor Gang's training base, I'd believe you!"

Lyon shook his head and turned to look at the pitch-black Black Lake as though admiring a work of art. After a long while, he spoke.

"Slytherin is indeed the Razor Gang's training base."

"Because this is Slytherin—the continuation of Salazar Slytherin's will!"

"The Razor Gang was not founded because of me. It emerged in response to the times."

"Wizarding Society has already rotted beyond repair. It needs a force like the Razor Gang to break the rules and reshape them!"

Lyon paused before looking at Snape.

Snape felt as if a wad of ancient phlegm had lodged in his throat. He wanted to refute him, but he did not know where to begin.

"Professor Snape, I know what you're worried about."

Lyon's voice was soft—so soft that it would have been inaudible if it had been any quieter.

"You're worried that the Ministry of Magic will notice. You're worried this will bring trouble to you and Hogwarts."

"But what I want to tell you is that this is all a necessary process. Hogwarts must help me withstand the pressure."

Lyon looked supremely confident. Listening to him, Snape felt an inexplicable sense of calm rise within him.

"Lyon, do you know what you're doing? You're trying to become the third Dark Lord."

Influenced by Lyon's emotions, Snape regained his composure and spoke.

"I don't want my students sent to Azkaban. You need to lie low and adapt to the rules."

"No." Lyon interrupted Snape.

"All of this is a necessary sacrifice. I will make Wizarding Society greater!"

"The Razor Gang is a specter haunting the skies above the magical world. The magical world has rotted away now. Too many wizards have been persecuted, falsely accused, and killed without cause!"

"Snape! Think about it! If the magical world had an invincible ruler presiding over a new order, would Voldemort have ever appeared? Would Lily have died back then?!"

"Do you know how many fellow wizards are being persecuted by those idiots at the Ministry of Magic? Do you know how many Muggle-borns have been innocently murdered by pure-blood wizards?!"

Snape's eyes widened. He suddenly turned and met Lyon's gaze.

At some point, a wand had appeared in Snape's hand. Furious, he pointed its tip at Lyon.

"How do you know about that?! How do you know about Lily?!"

But Lyon suddenly laughed. With his chest pressed against Snape's wand, he showed no fear at all. "Let me tell you, Snape. You're wrong. You're running away!"

"You're running away from Lily's death!"

"But have you ever considered this? If I replaced the Ministry of Magic and became the supreme ruler of the entire world, would Lily still have died?!"

"My father, like you, was killed by people who appeared to be Death Eaters. I don't even know whether they truly were Death Eaters! How many tragedies like that are there?"

"Wizarding Society needs a new order!"

As he spoke, Lyon used his left hand to seize Snape's wand hand and turned the wand's tip toward his own throat.

"If you think I'm wrong, then cast a spell."

"But you must understand—the Razor Gang will never disappear! Because the magical world needs the Razor Gang!"

"Lily was innocent!"

"The magical world needs a new order!"

"This is the Razor Gang's command!"

Lyon's words exploded in Snape's mind. Snape felt the hand Lyon was gripping begin to ache.

Lyon released Snape's wand hand and looked toward the rising sun in the distance.

"The Razor Gang will rise over the magical world like that morning sun!"

"This is Slytherin's glory. If Salazar Slytherin knew in the afterlife, he would feel honored, because it is the Razor Gang that has made Slytherin!"

"I am not wrong. All of this is for a greater order!"

"Every sacrifice is worth it!"

Snape's hand dropped weakly, and the wand in it fell to the ground.

He felt Lyon's words lingering in his mind, impossible to dispel.

If such a new order had existed back then—if there had been a ruler whom even Voldemort could not defeat—then perhaps Lily would not have died.

He even felt that if he had not joined Voldemort back then, perhaps he could have had Lily.

The magical world truly did seem to need a new order.

Lyon seemed to be truly right.

"Alright, Professor Snape. I need Hogwarts to help me withstand the pressure."

"I'll go to class first."

With that, Lyon swept his black robes aside and silently headed toward the castle.

Only Snape remained where he stood, lost in a daze.