Where Was the Third One?

Snape did not believe a single word of Bell's nonsense.

What a joke. He was neither blind nor deaf—how could he have failed to notice such a huge commotion outside earlier? From here, all he had to do was look up to see the mountaintop with a bite taken out of it.

And normally, at this hour, everyone should have been sitting in classrooms attending lessons. Who in their right mind would come strolling to the school gate early in the morning?

At least put some effort into making excuses!

Unfortunately, if Bell did not intend to talk, there was little Snape could do about it.

He certainly could not punish Bell now. Embarrassing as it was to admit, he was still counting on the boy to put in a few good words for him before the Board of Directors and smooth over what had happened today.

He knew very well that McGonagall, that old witch, had filed no shortage of complaints about him with the Board of Directors. Now that such a major incident had occurred, who knew how she would spin things against him?

With so little support behind him, he urgently needed the help of Bell, his "good brother."

"Humph! Let's go back!"

Out of sight, out of mind. Snape turned and strode toward the castle, unwilling to look at Bell's foolish face any longer.

"Wait! Snape, we can't just go back like this! A battle must have broken out to the southwest just now. We have to investigate what happened and make sure the school is safe!"

As Dumbledore's most devoted supporter, Hagrid had always disliked Snape, who had pushed Dumbledore aside to become Headmaster.

And now, the honest Hagrid was even more dissatisfied with Snape.

Such intense Magic Power fluctuations had just erupted outside, yet