A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

"He succeeded," Harry murmured.

"Potter, come with me to the infirmary. You need a good rest," Professor McGonagall said.

"No, wait, Professor McGonagall. I know what Voldemort has done, what he's been planning all this time! It's the wand, a fitting wand," Harry exclaimed.

Professor McGonagall stared at him, lips pressed tight, before finally saying, "If you mean the 'Elder Wand,' Professor Snape has already debunked..."

"Not the one in the professor's possession," Harry said loudly. "It's too late. He got hold of a wand from beneath a serpent wood, one that looks extraordinary, like the legendary wand..." His voice trailed off as his mind raced. "It's the Serpentwood wand! He got Salazar Slytherin's Serpentwood wand."

A collective gasp swept through the group.

"The seventh among the top ten wands?" Ron asked.

"What? Oh," Harry said in a daze, still lost in his thoughts. "Right, that's Voldemort's aim. He doesn't care about the Elder Wand... or wait, of course, he does, but obtaining it from Professor Snape is too difficult, and it's still uncertain if it's authentic... so, he deliberately stirred conflict, caused trouble for the professor, to cover his tracks while investigating other wands..."

Snape regarded Harry with a complex gaze.

"He's been chasing similar rumors, and many have disappeared," Sirius said. "Like the owner of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. We suspect he was taken because of this. He—"

"He's a descendant of Dexter Fawley, former headmaster of Hogwarts, and has a family history tied to possessing powerful wands," Hermione said sharply, then cautiously glanced at Sirius. "I recently found out, right?"

Sirius smiled at her.

"All correct," Harry clapped his hands together. "He's put in so much effort and finally got the wand that suits him best."

"Where did the Dark Lord go?" Snape asked abruptly.

"I don't know," Harry shook his head. "I only saw a structure on a mountain, somewhat resembling Hogwarts... yes, the main entrance had two enormous statues."

"A mountaintop, resembling Hogwarts, with statues at the entrance..." Hermione racked her brain, trying to recall where she heard this.

"Yes, those two statues were a man and a woman, but I didn't pay much attention. No, it doesn't matter to Voldemort..." Harry looked expectantly at Hermione, hoping for an immediate answer. Seconds later—

"Eytmology!"

"Eytmology," Hermione and Neville said simultaneously.

Everyone turned to Neville, who scratched his head. "Byles and I discussed a lot about his school, including what you mentioned. You know, I'm interested in Herbology, so I asked a few more questions... but what I heard was different. Byles told me the school's two founders planted an unknown Serpentwood tree outside the school, uncuttable and indestructible. Later, they discovered the leaves of this tree had powerful healing properties."

"I'll inform Dumbledore immediately," Professor McGonagall said decisively. She drew her wand, and a silver guardian flew from its tip, vanishing in the blink of an eye as it headed outside the school grounds.

Harry felt a bit relieved.

"So, Potter—" McGonagall turned to Harry.

"I don't need to go to the infirmary," Harry hurriedly said. "I'm fine, this has happened before... I just need some rest or fresh air." He made up an excuse for himself.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Hmm... I'll take him for a walk, just around."

"Very well, I'll report all of this to Dumbledore as is," McGonagall said reluctantly, hurrying away.

Others prepared to leave, only to realize there was someone else present—someone other than Snape, whose presence was too imposing, scaring away other students—a person hiding behind Snape.

"Draco Malfoy!? What are you doing here?" Ron almost dropped his jaw.

Harry and Hermione's breaths hitched. Malfoy knows! He knows I (Harry) can see Voldemort's thoughts! He knows, Lucius Malfoy knows, what about Voldemort...

The remaining five simultaneously realized this. An unsettling silence followed.

Sirius silently drew his wand, Snape slowly said, "Hand him over to me, Black—"

"If you don't want to get hurt, back off. I'm not joking," Sirius said.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Is that so?" Snape's hand reached into his pocket where his wand lay, expressionless as he said, "You're still as impulsive and arrogant, completely disregarding consequences."

"I know what I'm doing," Sirius said coldly.

Draco paled, stepping back behind Snape.

Snape stared at Sirius, softly saying, "Oh? You know what you're doing... like back in school, in the Shrieking Shack?"

Muscles on Sirius's face suddenly trembled with excitement. He knew what Snape was referring to. They were arch-enemies in school; if given the chance to have the other expelled, they wouldn't hesitate. Snape had spent a considerable amount of time tailing him and James, even once coming close to revealing Remus's secret as a werewolf. Fed up with being followed, Sirius impulsively disclosed Remus's transformation spot to Snape. If not for James dragging Snape out of the Shack, who knows what could've happened.

There was a chance Snape could've escaped with the secret and publicly pressured Remus to leave school; or worse, Snape could've been torn to shreds by the werewolf's scent of humans...

Sirius hesitated for a moment, but he looked at Harry, his expression firm.

He had been wrong once in facing Peter Pettigrew's question, egregiously wrong; he couldn't leave any loose ends now.

"Just one Obliviate... Snape, Harry... I can't risk it," he bared his teeth, speaking softly, eyes gradually turning wild.

"It's best to wait for Dumbledore to return before making a decision," Snape tightly gripped his wand in his pocket, "If our Headmaster finds out you've attacked a student..."

"I don't care!" Sirius exclaimed frantically, a few hot sparks emitting from his wand.

Snape immediately drew his wand, the two pointing at each other, just like in the Shrieking Shack over a year ago.

"But I do, Sirius," Harry said.

Sirius immediately turned to look at him. Harry met his gaze firmly. After a moment, Sirius averted his eyes on his own.

"James..."

"I won't tell anyone," Draco suddenly spoke up.

Everyone looked at him.

Draco's face grew even paler, a few beads of sweat forming on his slender nose.

"You're lying!" Ron said. "If we let you go like this, you'll run straight to complain! He has a record, remember? Buckbeak—"

Draco glared fiercely at him, then turned to Harry. "Potter, I need to talk to you. It's very important... and only you can know." He added quickly.

Harry looked back at him, seeing Draco's expression fraught with anxiety, trembling all over.

"Alright," he said.

"Harry?"

"Harry!"

"It's fine, let's hear what he has to say first," Harry said, giving Draco a deep look. "Malfoy, even if you don't do this, I won't let Sirius cast the Obliviate charm on you, not because I trust you, but because I saw what happened that night... I just don't want Sirius to leave the school because of you, because... it's not worth it."

A faint blush spread across Draco's pale face, almost as if saying, I know your dad is a Death Eater, so I don't believe you can keep a secret at all.

"We'll stand aside too," Ron said. "Me, Hermione, and Neville."

Draco turned to glare at him.

"We'll stand far away, won't eavesdrop," Ron muttered under his breath. "Who knows if you'll curse Harry when you get the chance."

Draco replied with a mocking smirk. "Sure."

They descended the steps, Ron, Hermione, and Neville trailing behind them. Harry even caught Hermione clutching her own arm, Ron gesturing and talking to Neville. Farther away, Sirius and Snape stood on the stone steps, neither looking at the other.

As they walked a good distance, leaving the greenhouse and Hagrid's hut behind, nearing the gates of Hogwarts, the boar's wings on the cast iron gate faintly visible, Harry grew impatient. He felt like being here was a mistake.

"How much longer will you hesitate?" Harry asked.

Finally, Draco stopped. He glanced at the three trailing behind, making sure they wouldn't hear what he was about to say. His lips moved subtly, almost inaudibly. "I support Professor Snape."

"What?"

"I said, between that person and Professor Snape, I support Professor Snape." Draco tried to keep his tone even, but as he saw Harry's incredulous face, as if he was spouting nonsense, he suddenly felt furious, wanting to punch him.

But he didn't dare, with those three hangers-on behind them.

"Don't think I'll believe whatever you say, Malfoy," Harry said.

"Well, I can tell you a secret. You swear not to tell anyone," Draco reluctantly said, feeling extremely awkward.

Harry blinked. "Fine, I swear."

"You answered too quickly! You have no sincerity," Draco said, annoyed.

"I don't have time to waste," Harry retorted. "You can choose to believe or not. At least my reputation is much better than yours."

Draco's gray eyes were full of disgust as he measured Harry, encountering this situation for the first time. He had to force himself to consider one thing: was it worth giving the secret to Harry Potter?

Draco took a deep breath. "Alright, remember what happened in second year, the Chamber of Secrets and the serpent?"

"Of course," Harry said oddly. Draco wouldn't be about to say he knew about him and Ron using Polyjuice Potion on him, would he? That would indeed get them in trouble; they broke a lot of rules, and Hermione even snuck into Snape's private stash to get the bezoar and African snake skin.

"I once possessed that diary."

"What?" Harry paused, not because of what Draco said—he already knew, thanks to Dobby. He was puzzled why Draco Malfoy would disclose this; shouldn't he keep quiet about it?

Draco's expression also turned strange.

"I tracked you to an abandoned girl's bathroom, and later it was discovered... when I went back to investigate, you were gone. I only found a diary on the floor..."

"And then?" Harry asked, having discussed these things with Ron and Hermione.

"Some things happened in between..." Draco said vaguely. "Later, I handed it over to Professor Snape, and he destroyed it."

"You handed it to him yourself?"

"Yes, I asked him to keep it a secret. I couldn't be associated with this matter."

Harry stood stunned. He had always thought the professor had discovered something wrong, took the diary (a Horcrux) from Malfoy's possession, and they had mocked Lucius Malfoy for unwittingly endangering his son... but the truth was Draco Malfoy personally gave the diary (a Horcrux) to Professor Snape, thus causing the destruction of the first Horcrux.

It was just too absurd.

He felt dizzy; the surroundings blurred, his consciousness plummeting. His scar began to ache again.

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