Chapter 719 Snape’s Scar

As expected, after the last Potions class on Friday, the bottle of Felixir ended up in Kangna's pocket.

Her Polyjuice Potion was so perfect that even Slughorn couldn't fault it.

Although Kyle's was similar, the potion in his cauldron was darker than Kangna's.

This is because he put in the African tree snake skin a little late, and it had no effect on the potion itself. If there was no Kangna, the first place would definitely be his.

But to be honest, neither Kyle nor Connor were particularly interested in the elixir rewarded by Slughorn.

Both of them have blessed elixirs, and they also have channels to get them.

Needless to say about Connor, as long as she asked, Snape would definitely not mind getting her a few bottles.

As for Kyle, he already has a good relationship with Dean Sasia of St. Mungo's. Coupled with the basilisk materials he gave him before, it is not difficult to get some blessed elixir.

So this reward is naturally not that attractive to them. It doesn't matter if they can get the best or not.

And more importantly, since the last time he wore the Ravenclaw diadem, Kyle had stayed away from such things as elixirs.

The feeling of being able to control everything is really intoxicating. Kyle is afraid that he will not be able to resist the temptation...

If not necessary, this is fine for now.

…

On the first weekend of the new school year, it suddenly started to rain with mist and drizzle, and it was freezing. However, this day was also the day for the Quidditch team to select new players, and there were many people on the field.

In addition to those who really want to join the team, most of them come to watch the fun. If possible, maybe they can spy on the enemy's situation for their own college team and kill two birds with one stone.

Since it was Gryffindor time in the morning, Kyle did not go to the pitch. Instead, he and Connor walked across the field to Hagrid's hut.

He has been in a bad mood these past two days, always keeping a straight face, and he has not even gone to the auditorium to eat recently.

It happened to be the weekend and Kyle wanted to come see what was going on.

When they arrived near the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid was absentmindedly watering the pumpkin patch at the door.

Inside are pumpkins about the size of a wheel. When Halloween comes, they will appear in every corner of the castle as decorations.

But Hagrid seemed to be thinking about other things. All the bucket of water in his hand was poured on the same pumpkin, and it formed a small puddle on the ground.

"Hagrid, if you don't be serious, we will have to go out and buy pumpkins for Halloween."

Kyle shouted, and Hagrid came back to his senses.

"Oh, it's Kyle, and Kangna." He greeted with a bucket: "Hello."

"Hello." Kyle walked up to him and asked directly: "What's wrong with you recently?"

"I'm fine..." Hagrid's eyes wandered and he took two steps forward, preparing to water the other pumpkins.

"Come on, don't you know that you are very bad at lying?" Kyle said, "Besides, if you didn't have anything on your mind, why would you come out to water the pumpkins on a rainy day?"

rain?

Hagrid then noticed that his hair was completely wet.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me earlier." He quickly put down the bucket and tried to scoop up the puddles with his hands.

"Does anyone else need to tell you about the rain?" Kyle couldn't help but muttered.

However, seeing Hagrid's busy appearance, he still took out his wand and helped clean up the excess water in the pumpkin patch.

Although he felt that this was also unnecessary, since Hagrid must have his reasons for doing this, he just wanted to help.

…

"Tell me what's going on."

When they returned to the cabin, Kyle asked again: "What's wrong with you recently?"

"I don't know..." Hagrid said softly: "Maybe Dumbledore made a mistake in choosing me as Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"Why do you think that?" Kangna asked.

"Because only five people chose my improvement class this year." Hagrid said as if he was very determined.

"How many, five?" Kangna was a little surprised. This meant that only one person from each college chose Hagrid's class, and the number of people was a bit too small.

After all, even the divination class has more than a dozen people.

"Hagrid, are you setting the bar too high?"

"If 'A' is considered high." Hagrid sighed.

Kyle stopped talking. A just passed, and it was also the minimum standard for improving the class. There was really no way to lower it any further.

"Among these five people, are there Harry and the others?" Kyle asked tentatively.

"Harry, Hermione, and Ron, all three of them chose my class." Hagrid seemed to be somewhat comforted, but he couldn't laugh.

This meant that aside from these three friendship votes, only two people chose his class. Thinking of this, Hagrid felt even more sad.

"Dumbledore must have made a mistake in making me a professor!" His voice was trembling.

"Well... you can't say that..." Kyle said hesitantly.

He didn't know how to comfort Hagrid, even now this result was due to his help.

If it hadn't been for his insistence that Hagrid give up moving the Blast-Ended Skrewt into the classroom, I'm afraid there wouldn't even be these five people. After all, that thing is really unpleasant.

Kyle turned his head and motioned to Kangna for help with his eyes, but Kangna spread his hands and silently looked away.

"Well, um... don't be discouraged, Hagrid." Kyle said bravely: "I think it's just because most people don't know about magical animals."

"But when Professor Kettleburn was here, many people chose his advanced class."

Hagrid took out a dirty handkerchief and wiped his eyes, "Thank you Kyle, thank you for still coming to comfort me at this time, but no, I understand."

"No." Kyle shook his head. Another thing suddenly occurred to him. "Hagrid, do you know what's different about this year?"

"Different? What do you mean?" Hagrid was a little confused.

"Mysterious Man." Kyle said, "This year the Ministry of Magic announced the comeback of Mysterious Man. Therefore, when choosing courses, most students will subconsciously prefer subjects that can improve their strength, so they will ignore the Care of Magical Creatures course. .”

"Is that so?" Hagrid raised his head.

Thank God, there was no crying sound in his voice. Kyle was really not good at comforting a half-giant.

"Of course." Kyle said seriously: "Think about it, many people chose you last year. How could it be that you lack the ability?"

"But..." Hagrid was still a little confused, "Obviously magical animals are very useful. Dumbledore used Lu Wei to guard the Sorcerer's Stone. How could he not be able to help them?"

"Because you can't bring a three-headed dog to class." Kyle said, "Just think about what they learn, Bowtruckles, fairies, Nifflers, and even better, unicorns and fire Lizard, they can't expect to ride a unicorn to deal with Death Eaters."

Hagrid was a little impressed, and even Kyle and Kangna believed this argument, because there were really many people who chose Hagrid's class last year, almost more than twenty.

The only change during this period was that the Ministry of Magic publicly announced that Voldemort had been resurrected. Maybe this was the reason.

The divination class can also predict the future. Although it may not be accurate, it is at least a comfort. Only the Care of Magical Creatures class can do so.

Before fifth grade, you are only allowed to learn magical animals of XXX level or below. It is normal for them to despise them.

What's more, most wizards don't carry magical animals with them, and they still rely more on wands.

"It's their loss, Hagrid." Connor also said.

"That's right." Kyle nodded, "One day they will regret this decision."

"yes."

Hagrid was convinced and cheered up again, "Give up the Care of Magical Creatures class? They will never know what they are missing. I decided to let these five people see something different."

"Something different?" Kyle thought for a moment, "Wait Hagrid, you don't want to bring Lu Wei into class, do you?"

Don't tell me, with Hagrid's character, it is really possible for him to do such a thing.

What's more troublesome is that Kyle brought Lu Wei out secretly, and he hasn't had time to return it to the Forbidden Forest yet.

If Hagrid discovered this, it would be a bit difficult to explain.

"No, of course not."

Fortunately, Hagrid had no intention of doing this. He shook his head and said, "I haven't seen Lu Wei for a long time since he became familiar with the environment of the Forbidden Forest, and Dumbledore would not allow students to face it." Too dangerous magical beasts.

"So I plan to show them the Thestrals in the first class."

"Thestrals?"

Kyle was stunned for a moment. If he remembered correctly, they seemed to be learning Thestrals at this time last year. Umbridge was still attending the class at that time... Is there any difference?

Seemingly seeing Kyle's doubts, Hagrid explained: "This year, instead of watching from a distance, I decided to let them touch and understand the Thestrals up close. I will also teach these five students how to control them. they.

"This way, when they encounter danger at school, they can come to the Forbidden Forest to get help as soon as possible!" Hagrid clenched his fists, looking confident.

…

"Kyle, do you think Hagrid will succeed?" Connor couldn't help but ask on the way back to the castle.

"It's hard to say." Kyle shrugged, "To be honest, Hagrid's idea is good, but he doesn't seem to be good at using his brain."

Kangna couldn't help laughing, "Hagrid will definitely be angry if he hears this."

"That's why I didn't say anything just now." Kyle glanced behind him, "This is Hogwarts. If students need to come to the Forbidden Forest for help, it means that the Death Eaters have completely captured the school.

"Instead of running across the field to the Forbidden Forest, why not hurry up and go to the broom room to get a broomstick."

"And another thing is, not everyone can see Thestrals."

Kangna thought about it and found that it was indeed the case. Hagrid's decision could only be said to be better than nothing.

"Forget it, as long as Hagrid can cheer up again." Kyle waved his hand and didn't care.

He had no intention of making the Care of Magical Creatures class more meaningful. It was unrealistic, as long as it gave Hagrid something to do and stop thinking about only five people attending his advanced class.

…

By the time they arrived at the castle gate, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had just returned from the pitch.

"Hey, Kyle." Harry waved and came to Kyle's side. "By the way, I haven't thanked you yet."

"Why are you thanking me?" Kyle asked confused.

"Of course you asked us to buy the Potions book." Harry said, "Professor Slughorn insisted that I attend his class, and I don't know what I would do without the book.

"By the way, did you already know that Slughorn would teach Potions?"

"It's nothing." Kyle said matter-of-factly: "Slughorn is one of the few famous potions masters, and he is the best at protecting himself wisely. In any case, it is impossible for him to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "

"You should have told me earlier." Harry whispered, "If I had known, I wouldn't have taken the Defense Against the Dark Arts course."

Kyle smiled and said nothing.

The two returned to the castle.

"Kyle, hey, Kyle!"

Kyle turned around and saw that it was Susan Bones, running towards him in a hurry, holding a roll of parchment in her hand.

"It's for you." She pushed the parchment to Kyle and asked breathlessly: "Have you heard about Hannah?"

"Yes, I heard about it." Kyle nodded.

On the third day after school started, Death Eaters launched several attacks, killing many people, including Hannah's family, who had not been seen for many days.

"I hope she can hold on." Susan said worriedly: "And I don't think it is the right choice for her to go home. At this time, there is no safer place than Hogwarts."

"Yeah." Kyle nodded.

After Susan left, he opened the parchment and found a line of long, thin, slightly skewed words inside.

Dear Kyle:

Please come to my office after lunch. I hope you have a good start to school.

Yours faithfully

Albus Dumbledore

Also, the command is sour popcorn.

…

"Principal Dumbledore is looking for you?" Connor read the letter over Kyle's shoulder. "It can't be something dangerous, right?"

"Who knows," Kyle said, walking toward the auditorium.

The letter said it was after lunch, so there was no rush.

…

At the same time, the principal's office on the eighth floor.

There was something wrong with the atmosphere here. Dumbledore was sitting there, and Snape was standing in front of him, his face as gloomy as water.

"So this is your purpose, right?" He said in an indifferent voice, "Let Harry or Kyle find out the secrets in Slughorn's head."

"We have to know how many Horcruxes Tom made." Dumbledore knocked on the table. "You know, Severus, there's not much danger in this."

"Not dangerous?" Snape raised his voice unknowingly, "Slughorn has been hiding for this secret for how many years.

As far as I know, since the Dark Lord was resurrected, he has not dared to stay in one place for more than three months and can only live in empty Muggle houses... Is this what you said, not dangerous? "

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, "I can't believe, Severus, you would actually care about Kyle."

"Don't say anything stupid." Snape glared at him, "You know who I'm talking about."

"Yes, I know." Dumbledore said softly, "This guilt has tortured you for sixteen years, ever since Lily..."

"Don't mention that name!" Snape roared, so loudly that even Fawkes woke up, and it flapped its wings vigorously to express its dissatisfaction.

In the portrait, Phineas Black also opened his eyes a crack, and then continued to pretend to sleep.

But Dumbledore didn't seem to care. He rubbed the ring on his hand and asked softly:

"Do you want to see her again? Maybe you can get her forgiveness."

"Are you looking for fun with me?" Snape looked at Dumbledore indifferently, trying to suppress his anger, "She is dead, how can I see it again...wait..."

At this moment, he suddenly noticed the ring on Dumbledore's hand.

"that is……"

"Yes, it's the thing we found from Gaunt's old house." Dumbledore stretched out his hand and showed the ring in front of Snape.

"But... isn't there a curse on it..."

"It has been lifted," Dumbledore said, taking off the ring and placing it on the table. "Maybe you didn't notice, but I was wearing it at the opening party."

Resurrection Stone...

There was only one thought left in Snape's mind.

The resurrection stone that brought back the souls of the dead was right in front of him. Through this thing, he could see Lily again, talk to her, and... apologize to her...

Subconsciously, Snape walked over quickly.

But for some reason, the closer he got to the Resurrection Stone, the heavier his steps became.

When he finally came to Dumbledore and could touch the Resurrection Stone with his hand, he couldn't move a finger no matter what.

He is afraid.

He was afraid of seeing Lily, afraid that she would look at him with disappointment... or even hatred.

What if she doesn't forgive herself.

It was because he snitched and told Voldemort half of the prophecy he heard in the Hog's Head Bar, which led to the murder of the Potter family. It was normal for Lily not to forgive herself.

Snape never wanted to recall this incident. For more than ten years, all he had been thinking about was how to atone for his sins.

If the resurrection stone is used, it means that he must uncover this scar again.

Looking at the Resurrection Stone so close at hand, Snape's expression kept changing, and finally he struggled to take two steps back.

He hit a table and knocked over a lot of silverware.

"Take it away!" Snape shouted hysterically. "Take him away."

Dumbledore was not too surprised by this scene, or he had already thought of it.

"Severus..." Dumbledore picked up the ring and put it on his hand again, "Sometimes we all need a little extra courage. Although it will hurt to have the scar reopened, it also means that it has been healed. possible."

"Shut up, Dumbledore, shut up!" Snape gasped, unable to hear what he said.

Just at this time, there was a knock on the door.

"Sorry, I have something else to do." Snape walked towards the door. He walked very fast, without even glancing at Kyle who had just entered.