HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Chapter 132 Professor Snape's Whereabouts

Theodore Nott was pleased to see the two red monkeys suddenly transform.

“Hey buddy,” Fred put his arm around Lyra’s shoulder, “George is starving. If we don’t get back for dinner soon, he might start eating the bushes by the roadside.”

George immediately made a funny face in response.

“Let’s talk about it another time,” George said sincerely. “Let’s schedule another day.”

Fred quietly gave George an approving look.

Good job, bro! Next time? There won't be a next time! Another day? That day will never come again!

“Uh…” Lyra hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded. “Okay, then we’ll change it—”

"Woof!" The swallowtail dog loudly objected as its walk was about to end.

“Oh, Belle,” Leila kissed the swallow-tailed dog affectionately, “would you like to continue your walk?”

"Woof! Woof!" the swallowtail dog responded to its owner with twice the barking.

“Alright, alright, I just can’t do anything with you,” Lyra said, feigning reluctance as she looked at the twins. “Why don’t you two go back and have dinner first, and Nott and I will take Bell for another walk—”

Fred: "......."

George: "......."

The red-haired twins looked at them with troubled expressions, but in reality, they agreed to the puppy's friend without even a second's hesitation, and then they became withdrawn.

After quickly weighing the pros and cons, George and Fred decided to go for the walk. Who knew what this Slytherin boy's intentions were? They had already had one of their friend's Slytherin ex-boyfriends; they didn't want to encounter another one.

If Merlin knew, he wouldn't have the heart to let them go through that torment again!

"Wang! Wang! Wang!"

The swallowtail dog barked happily, but George and Fred felt it was the victorious dog mocking them, the two losers.

The swallowtail dog ran happily back and forth between Lyra and Nott, their silhouettes resembling a happy and harmonious family of three.

Red-haired twins: An illusion! This is definitely an illusion!

Leila and her group were walking from the edge of the Forbidden Forest toward the Black Lake and the meadow.

Unable to bear watching their friend and the Slytherin boys walking their dog in harmony, Fred and George put their hands in their pockets and listlessly looked around at the scenery. Suddenly, George spotted a figure in the distance.

He nudged Fred, and the two of them examined the figure again and again, confirming that it was Professor Snape!

Fred and George immediately interrupted the conversation of the two people and dog walking ahead. At the twins' signal, Lyra also saw Professor Snape walking in their direction.

"!"

Lyra quickly picked up the swallow-tailed dog with one hand and pulled her dog friend with the other, hiding behind a big tree. Fred and George also hid behind another big tree.

"?" Theodore Nott, who was walking along when he was suddenly dragged away and hidden, looked at Lyra with a questioning gaze.

"Shh, Professor Snape is here!" Lyra whispered.

"?" Theodore Nott still looked at Lyra questioningly.

“Is there anything you don’t understand?” Lyra asked, puzzled. “This is Professor Snape! Professor Snape, who would create any opportunity to deduct points from Gryffindor, even if there isn’t one!”

Theodore Nott's reaction was to raise his eyebrows.

"So what if he's the dean?"

"Why don't you understand yet? It's Slytherin—" Lyra took a few seconds to realize that her friend was a Slytherin. "Oh—"

Professor Snape is the Head of Slytherin and never deducts points from Slytherin, so the dog-loving friend really doesn't need to hide with those three Gryffindors.

"Sorry, it was just a Gryffindor instinct—" Lyra sighed, "but—"

—What is Professor Snape doing near the Forbidden Forest so late at night?

*

Just as Lyra and the others encountered Professor Snape on their walk, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had already heard Lupin and Black's explanation.

"So, back then, my dad, Black, and Peter Pettigrew taught themselves to become illegal Animagus, turning into animals to accompany you on the night of the full moon?"

Harry and his two best friends listened in astonishment to their fathers' stories of their school days, but the explanations all seemed reasonable. Although Ron still didn't hand the mouse over to Black, he, like Harry and Hermione, was gradually beginning to believe Lupin's words.

“Throughout this year, I’ve been struggling with whether or not to tell Dumbledore that Sirius is an Animagus,” Lupin said painfully. “In the end, I didn’t say it. I was too cowardly. Headmaster Dumbledore gave me the opportunity to attend school when I was a child, and then, after I became an adult and couldn’t find a job because of my werewolf identity, he gave me the opportunity to teach again—”

“If I confess about the Animagus, it means I’ve betrayed his trust since my student days, and I can’t bear that. Dumbledore’s trust means a lot to me.” Lupin’s voice was filled with guilt and self-loathing. “So, in a sense, Snape was right about me; he thought I was untrustworthy.”

“It all stems from a joke I once played—” Sirius Black interjected, “I tricked him into going into the Whomping Willow’s hole, where he saw Remy’s transformation, but James pulled Snape back from the tunnel.”

“No wonder Snape doesn’t like you…” Harry said slowly. “He must have thought Professor Lupin was also involved in this dangerous joke…”

“Yes.” A cold voice hissed in Harry and the others’ ears like the tongue of a viper.

Severus Snape ripped off his Invisibility Cloak and pointed his wand directly at Lupin.

Everyone present reacted as if they'd been electrocuted: Hermione screamed, Black stood up, Harry jumped, and Ron flinched back.

Lupin was poked motionless by the tip of Snape's wand.

“Potter, you left the Invisibility Cloak under the Beating Willow,” Snape said coldly, “but it was useful and helped me get in here.”

“You didn’t expect this, did you, Lupin?” Snape’s eyes lit up. “When I delivered the medicine to your office tonight, I saw that evil map spread out on the table. How amazing that you and your wanted friend were both in the Shrieking Shack, and you even kidnapped Dumbledore’s precious savior, trying to commit murder again—”

“Severus, you didn’t hear me,” Lupin explained urgently, “Sirius isn’t a murderer, and he didn’t come to kill Harry—”

“Shut up! I’ll send you both to Azkaban tonight!” Snape roared. “I wonder what Dumbledore’s expression will be when he hears that his trusted Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has betrayed him—”

“Professor Snape…” Hermione hesitated, taking a step closer to Snape. “Please listen to their explanation; there’s more to this than meets the eye—”

“Miss Granger!” Snape said sternly, “You’ve been suspended! You, Potter, and Weasley! You’re all—”

"boom!"

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, sparks flew everywhere, and someone launched an attack spell.