Snape Takes You to Hear Ghost Stories

Cedric pulled a sheet of parchment from his pocket, covered in dense writing.

"Here, this is the Hogwarts map I put together."

The contents on the parchment were all conclusions he had drawn from his own experience and long observation.

Memorized thoroughly, it was enough to handle most of the staircases.

For old veterans who had been around for years, it was of little use, but for the newbies in the lower years, it was tremendously useful.

Because their daily life was either getting lost or being on the way to getting lost.

William took it and looked it over carefully, then said, "Thanks a lot. I got lost this morning, luckily I ran into Mrs. Norris."

"Ran into who?" Cedric wore a face full of black-person-question-mark.

William quickly recounted what had just happened.

"Incredible." Cedric clicked his tongue. "Your family's Bobocha, couldn't it be Mrs. Norris's long-lost child?"

William glanced at Bobocha, who was eating dried small fish, and laughed. "How could that be? Hogwarts is so far from my home. If Mrs. Norris had given birth to a kitten, do you think Filch would throw it away?"

"No!" Cedric said with certainty.

Filch, though strict, doted on Mrs. Norris especially.

He suddenly laughed. "If the twin brothers knew, they'd definitely be envious.

I'm telling you, last year they got caught by Mrs. Norris loads of times during their night wanderings. The two of them wanted to slip rat poison to that cat more than once!"

"I'd bet Mrs. Norris won't eat anything a stranger gives her." William recalled the cat's earlier expression.

Cedric nodded. "That's right. Mrs. Norris only eats Filch's food, nothing else at all..."

He suddenly stood up and walked off in a certain direction.

Cho, wearing a sky-blue wizard robe, was slowly walking into the Great Hall.

Cedric pulled out another roll of parchment, which looked more refined than the one in William's hand, with a staircase structure diagram thoughtfully drawn on the back with a quill.

His face flushed red, his movements furtive, his smile sleazy, his gaze shifty... (William's perspective)

The joy of a simp is just this dull.

William held the parchment, deep in thought.

He had suddenly spotted a business opportunity!

Even a wizard as clever as him could get lost, let alone anyone else?

Why not make a Hogwarts map that could include all the changes in the routes and also quickly show the shortest path to any given place!

This was the Hogwarts version of Amap!

Once the two sat down, William told Cedric his idea.

Cedric pulled his attention back from Cho. He thought for a moment and said, "That's hard. It would need very advanced Transfiguration, plus help from many other subjects."

William nodded. "The two of us alone definitely can't do it. We'll need to find others to help. Right, where are George and Fred?"

Cedric gave a wicked grin. "Last night Professor McGonagall dragged them to her office and chewed them out for a long time, then they got other punishments too. They're probably still not up yet."

"Are you going to notify them about making the map, or should I?" William asked.

Cedric said, "I'll go. First period is Herbology, and our Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students have it together."

Cho sat beside the two, silently eating her breakfast.

She didn't chime in.

As a first-year young witch, her knowledge of magic was almost zero, and she couldn't help much with this sort of thing.

But she would learn quickly.

That was Ravenclaw.

The three finished breakfast and walked toward the classroom together.

At a certain junction, William and Cho parted ways with Cedric.

Before leaving, he gave William a look that said "best of luck to you."

"Greasy," "old bat," "black underpants," "Mudblood"-these words were all Snape's taboos, and last night at the Sorting the hat had actually said two of them in a row.

Today Snape was sure to give William trouble.

And if it were only that, it would be one thing, but afterward Snape had been "face-splashed" by milk, and he was surely nursing a wicked fire right now, urgently needing someone to vent it on.

As the wizard earliest in his class today, William would inevitably bear the brunt and endure a storm of blood and rain!

The Potions classroom was in a basement, much colder and damper than the castle's main building.

Glass jars lined the walls, soaked in formalin with all sorts of animal specimens. Anyone who didn't know better would think they'd walked into a medical school.

Bobocha, strutting with a gait that recognized no kin, wobbled along behind William to the doorway, and came face to face with a floating Persian cat corpse.

With a "meow," every hair on its body stood on end, and it turned and ran!

Bobocha squatted in the distant corridor, absolutely refusing to go in. William had no choice but to leave it where it was, and he and Cho walked into the classroom together.

Before long, Snape, in a billowing black cloak, strode quickly into the classroom, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few more degrees.

He narrowed his eyes and swept a look around, picked up the register, and began calling names.

When he reached William's name, he dragged out the sound and gave him a death glare, as if he wanted to pour formalin down his wizard robe!

The wooden door was suddenly pushed open. William's roommates Bradley and the others were late.

Marcus Belby stammered, "Sorry, Professor, we got lost..."

Snape cut him off coldly. "I would think that anyone with an IQ higher than a Troll's wouldn't get lost! It seems I overestimated Ravenclaw's students.

Perhaps I should suggest to the headmaster that he raise the admissions standards a bit."

No one spoke. All around was only the sound of torches burning.

Bradley and the other three stood where they were, not knowing what to do.

Snape barked angrily, "Hurry up and find a seat. Don't just stand there like idiots-you're lowering the IQ of the whole classroom."

Amid the clatter, Snape looked at William. "Stark, why didn't you help your classmates find the way this morning? Does their being late make you look good?

One point from Ravenclaw, because of you!"

William and Cho exchanged a glance. Both were speechless.

Snape gave a satisfied hum, then raised his eyes to the whole class. His eyes were cold and empty.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making."

His voice was barely above a whisper, but everyone caught every word he said.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.

I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.

I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

William suddenly realized that Snape had the potential to tell ghost stories.

If he started a "Snape Takes You to Hear Ghost Stories" radio station, he'd definitely be a success!

------I am the divider of Snape's radio station----

Professor Snape: This is your sun, my lungs. The good wizard is me, and I am Snape. The first ghost story I bring you today is a story about voting for recommendation tickets!