Hogwarts: What wicked thoughts could a little wizard possibly have?

Chapter 17 Dumbledore

Hogwarts at night is empty and quiet.

Any sound in the deep corridor can be heard very far.

Snape's professor's robe trailed long behind him, and his leather shoes echoed hollowly on the ground.

His cold face and slightly mean-looking hooked nose could scare any little wizard caught out at night.

However, he was not here to inspect the place today. He walked up the spiraling staircase, through a corridor filled with portraits and armor, and finally arrived at the eighth-floor tower.

Then an incredibly ugly, dripping stone beast blocked the way.

Behind the stone beast was a movable spiral staircase, at the end of which was his destination: the principal's office.

Snape, his face expressionless, stared at the stone beast with his dark eyes as if it were a pile of garbage: "Password: Cockroach Pile!"

The stone beast turned, and Snape climbed the steps and pushed open the office door.

The round, luxurious, and spacious office was filled with portraits of past headmasters. It was late, and they were all snoring. Snape's entrance woke several of them, and he gave them a good scolding.

"Ah, Severus." Dumbledore, who was sitting behind the enormous table and looking at something, looked up and greeted him warmly, "Good evening. Would you like some cockroach swarms? Or some honeydew honey?"

A plate full of candy floated to Snape, who impatiently brushed it aside.

His voice was almost squeezed out through clenched teeth: "What is it? Hurry up and say it, I don't want to waste time."

Dumbledore, still smiling, beckoned the candy bowl over, picked up a lively cockroach, tossed it into his mouth, and waved, "Come and take a look, Severus."

Snape walked up to the large table and saw a letter spread out in front of Dumbledore, signed Ollivander.

"After the dinner, I wrote a letter to Mr. Ollivander, asking him some questions. I was glad that my old friend was still willing to talk to me, but his lifestyle is not healthy. I thought I would not receive his reply until tomorrow morning..."

He kept talking on and on.

Snape had no interest in listening to this nonsense. His gaze quickly swept over the writing on the parchment, where Ollivander was explaining the details of a wand to Dumbledore.

"...I must admit, it was an extremely powerful wand, one that only the most powerful wizards could win the favor of. I never imagined it would belong to a child, Vaughn Weasley, it was beyond my wildest dreams..."

"...But Dumbledore, in response to your question, I must still say that no one is born unchanging, nor is any wand unchanging. The wand and the wizard grow and complement each other. I cannot provide concrete evidence for your concerns, but I hope you will be more cautious—"

"Your faithfulness, Garrick Ollivander"

Snape spotted Vaughn Weasley's name with pinpoint accuracy. He glanced at Dumbledore, a hint of mockery flashing across his cold face.

"What, yet another little dark wizard has been added to your blacklist?"

Dumbledore's smile faded. He pondered for a moment, then said, "I believe in Arthur and Molly."

Snape interpreted this as meaning he only trusted Arthur and Molly, and as for that guy named Vaughn...

"snort……"

This answer was exactly what Snape had expected. He let out a cold, ambiguous laugh and scoffed, "So what? I have a new task? To keep an eye on our dear savior while also keeping an eye on his wicked classmates?"

"I did not say he was evil, Severus."

"Hmph..."

Dumbledore sighed. "The timing isn't right, Severus. We need to focus on Harry's development and make sure he's as prophesied. This isn't me shirking responsibility, but we don't know what the consequences would be if fate were twisted—better, or...worse?"

He stared into Snape's dark eyes. Of course, he wouldn't use Legilimency on Snape; he just wanted to make sure the other man saw his honesty.

"Help me, did you see that? Harry's eyes, and Lily..."

"That's enough!"

Snape raised his voice in a moment of irrationality.

His nostrils flared, and immense emotions surged through his chest, making it almost impossible for him to maintain the brain shut-off technique.

It felt like poison!

It tormented him for a full 10 years.

A moment of silence fell over the office. After a long while, Snape, his voice regaining its coldness, slowly said, "Nothing else. I need to go back and prepare my lesson plans. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I hope your savior won't be outshone by his wicked classmate."

Having said that, he flicked his robe and strode away.

"Thank you, Severus, sweet dreams..."

After watching Snape leave, the office fell silent once more. Dumbledore looked back and forth at the letter, his thin fingers tracing over each word, as if trying to imprint them in his heart.

After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke again: "Armando, have you ever thought about what would have happened to Tom if we had paid more attention to him from the beginning?"

An old wizard, who had been pretending to sleep in a portrait, rolled over and muttered, "Who knows!"

"Yeah, who knows..."

……

The next morning, Vaughn, who had eaten and drunk well the day before, woke up normally under the influence of his biological clock.

The other two roommates were more pragmatic than he expected. They only came back once last night to pack their luggage and then moved to another room.

It feels really comfortable to have the whole dorm room to myself.

I got out of bed at 5 a.m., before dawn.

After washing up and changing into a robe, Vaughn left the dormitory with fruit tea.

When I passed by the common room, I didn't see the prefect who had fainted last night. He was probably dragged away by his roommate!

The fireplace was still burning brightly, thanks to the house-elves.

Vaughn didn't linger; he pushed open the stone door and walked out of the Slytherin common room.

It was too early, and the students, lacking self-discipline, hadn't even gotten up yet.

After wandering around the empty corridors and courtyards for a while, Vaughn finally found a path leading to the Black Lake.

Bringing the fruit tea to the Black Lake, Vaughn patted its head: "Go play!"

Guoguocha hopped and skipped around on the lakeside grass, while Vaughn sat down, lazily gazing at the mirror-like lake and breathing in the fresh morning air.

This is a great place to relax. I'll come here more often when it's not too crowded.

After relaxing with Guoguocha for a while, voices gradually came from the castle behind them. When Vaughn took Guoguocha back, the auditorium was already filled with many early-rising students.

He spotted Hermione's disheveled figure at the Gryffindor long table from afar. Fruit Tea recognized the two-legged creature he had seen on the Hogwarts Express and walked over.

The girl paused for a moment, then seemed to recognize Guoguocha, quickly turned her head, and her eyes lit up when she saw Vaughn.