Chapter 318: Snape and I are evenly matched

Watching Harry and Ron rush towards the seventh floor, Andy turned his head and winked at Hermione, "Come on! Let's go eat first."

"Mhm!" The young witch nodded.

Finding an unoccupied corner in the Great Hall and sitting down, Hermione said worriedly, "Andy, it looks like our suspicions were right, Voldemort most likely left some sort of spell on Professor Snape's body."

Andy smiled and teased, "It looks like Professor Snape didn't have a fun Christmas holiday."

"Andy, I'm talking serious stuff with you." The young witch said with some annoyance.

In Hermione's opinion, Snape, who had gone undercover beside Voldemort for peace in the magical world, was a well-deserved hero. So Hermione didn't want to see Snape end up in a miserable fate with his head on the ground.

Judging from the current situation, Snape's situation was undoubtedly very difficult.

"Alright, alright!"

Andy smiled helplessly and explained, "Snape must have discussed this with Dumbledore before he went to see Voldemort. That's the main reason I sent Harry to see Dumbledore."

"We all want to help, but we can't ruin Dumbledore's and Snape's plans just because we're kind enough to help."

At that, Andy raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure you've seen plenty of instances where good intentions have resulted in bad things, haven't you?"

"Oh! Well." Hermione sighed, "I have indeed seen quite a lot ... in films."

When she used to watch films, every time she saw such a plot, Hermione would get furious.

But she didn't expect that she had made the same blunder this time.

"Andy, you are always so calm," Hermione said in admiration.

Calm?

Andy was just trying to paddle around.

"Thanks ... Oh! George and Fred are here."

Andy got up and said, "Wait for me, I'm going to go borrow the Marauder's Map from them."

After saying that, Andy got up and walked towards the Weasley twins.

"Hi! George, Fred. Hello guys!" Andy smiled and greeted them.

"Oh! Andy."

George said with an exaggerated look on his face, "My mum's been talking about you all holiday, thanking you for saving Percy and Ron. If you hadn't been away from St Catchpole Village, she would have cooked you a big meal every day."

Fred chimed in, "Percy was so ashamed that he was about to kill himself, he kept himself locked up in the room."

George concluded, "So we had a good Christmas."

"It was nothing, Ron and I are friends."

Andy brushed the matter off lightly and got right to the point, "Do you still have the Marauder's Map with you? I think I need it now."

George's eyes lit up, "Andy, is something big about to happen at Hogwarts again?"

Fred also asked with interest, "Who do you suspect?"

Andy: "..."

What's so exciting about something like that?

"It's confidential." Andy didn't want to say more.

"OK!"

George made an 'I get it' face and said, "We're going to get the Marauder's Map now, you wait for us for a while."

"Thanks!" Andy said.

"It was meant to be for you. I think it would be more useful in your hands than in ours." Fred said sincerely.

"We all can use it." Andy laughed.

Having been able to borrow the Marauder's Map, Andy turned back to Hermione and gave an 'OK' gesture.

"With the map, we'll be able to keep track of Professor Snape's whereabouts." Hermione sighed in relief.

Andy thought for a moment, "Hermione, during this time, it's best if we don't get in touch with Professor Snape alone or mention anything about Voldemort in front of him."

"And ... you need to learn the Occlumency as soon as possible!"

Hermione froze, "Occlumency?"

Andy nodded and said in a serious tone, "If you really want to get involved, Occlumency is the magic you must master ... especially in front of Professor Snape."

Hermione frowned, "Are you saying that Professor Snape will use Legilimency on us?"

"We have to be on guard," Andy said with a straight face.

"Fine!" Hermione said with a nod, "It's good to learn one more magic."

"Occlumency is useful magic for protecting secrets in the brain. ... It's a very important magic. If you want to be the Minister of Magic in the future, this is a magic you must master." Andy said.

After lunch, George and Fred finally delivered the Marauder's Map.

After waiting in front of the great hall for a while longer, Harry and Ron came down the stairs with complicated looks on their faces as well.

"Andy!"

Harry greeted, "Let's go talk outside."

"Yeah!" Andy naturally had no problem with it.

Coming outside the castle, Andy first asked, "Harry, what did Headmaster Dumbledore say?"

Harry shrugged helplessly, "He told us to keep it a secret - oh, that doesn't include you, of course. On top of that, Professor Dumbledore told us not to do anything rash, it's best to pretend we don't know anything, and that he'll look into Snape's matter himself."

Andy and Hermione looked at each other. Sure enough, Dumbledore knew something.

Andy asked, "And what do you have in mind?"

Harry dwelled on it for a moment and straightened up, "I don't know, but I think we can secretly investigate Snape's secret."

Andy nodded and said, "Good then! From now on, we'll split into two groups and act, Hermione and me in one group, and you and Ron in another. We'll talk to each other when we have any information."

After a pause, Andy added, "Remember, we will only collect intelligence, other than that, no matter what happens, we can't get involved."

Hearing Andy say this, both Harry and Ron felt that there was no problem.

Only collecting intelligence ... In this way, it is possible to investigate Snape's secret, but also to fulfil Dumbledore's instruction - not to act rashly.

Ron spoke up more, "What if Snape attacks a young wizard?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "If you rush to the rescue, there will be two people being attacked."

Ron's face immediately turned red.

Andy said in a rush, "I will say it again, no matter what the situation is, we must not act rashly. If you see Snape attacking a young wizard, report it to Dumbledore immediately."

"As a matter of fact, I have sparred with Snape once, right in his office. Snape's magic attainments are very high and are not something we can deal with."

Harry and Ron shouted in unison at that, "What! You fought Snape?"

Harry revealed a stunned expression, "Andy, I'm surprised you made it out alive."

"Cool~"

Ron said with a look of admiration, "Dude, elaborate. Merlin's beard! You actually got into a fight with Snape in his office ..."

"Did something happen between you guys? Did he try to deduct your points, or make you disembowel Toad's stomach?"

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