Epilogue: Snape

Snape and Harry stood by a neatly trimmed hedge, not far from a very picturesque manor house. Behind the two men were a few Aurors and a dozen Hit Wizards, which was less than the number of people on the other side from what they had learned from their intel, but all those present looked very relaxed without even a hint of worry.

"I really don't want to find Draco Malfoy in there." Harry whispered.

"Maybe he is not a part of the group." Snape said.

"But when I went to the hospital this morning, his assistant said he had gone home." Harry said in an anxious voice. Snape gazed at him coldly, "I don't know when you got this extra indecisive nature."

"Oh, well, I think it's because I'm busy taking care of my little girl." Harry said without a second thought, "She is getting too naughty, more rowdy than the other two when they were younger, and Ginny and I are getting a bit overwhelmed." Not surprisingly, when he finished this sentence, he noticed that Snape's expression became quite inscrutable.

"Ginny and the children are on the island." Harry added.

"I will visit," Snape said with a grimace, "with presents."

As Snape made his way toward the cast iron gate, Harry was still thinking about the relationship between the two. Their contacts should have been totally cut off after graduation. In the next few years after graduation, as he had expected, they had only met a few times on the floating island, but he had no idea what had gone through his mind when his third child was born, that he had to choose a professor with whom he never had much of good relations when he was at school as a godfather for his youngest daughter - in this manner, each of his three children got to have one godfather respectively.

Perhaps he did this because he ran into him when he visited his family's grave.

It was then that Harry realized that Snape had never let go of his past, even though he had achieved such great accomplishments he still stubbornly continued to stay at the school rather than choose to give up the teaching duty or take a short break, because nearly all the memories of his life were there, whether they were good or bad.

Even Hagrid would leave Grawp behind every summer and disappear for a month or two, and likewise, the whereabouts of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic Headmistress were also unknown during that period. But Snape remained all alone. According to Neville, Professor McGonagall seems to have intended to set him up with Emmeline Vance, but history always goes round and round, and both of them have inherited the desire to win glory from their Snake and Lion Houses, and have fought very hard for the House Cup in recent years, with no chance for any sparks at all.

Young Rosalie is going to enrol in school next year. But Harry was thinking of Sirius' second child, the one who nearly stole the name "James". Fortunately, his and Ginny's first child was born two months prematurely, to which Sirius held a grudge and eventually insisted on being a godfather of "James".

Harry waved his hand and the Aurors and Hit Wizards assumed their positions.

...

At the moment, the drawing room of Malfoy Manor is bustling with activity.

A group of people in black robes sitting crookedly at a long table, complaining about the injustice they have suffered over the years, such as the difficulties of daily necessity (extravagant needs), etc… The lighting in the drawing room was deliberately dimmed to the lowest level, to make the atmosphere similar to that of a gathering of Death Eaters back in the day, with the fireplace blazing in the background, though the seat right before the fireplace was left unoccupied.

Lucius Malfoy sat with a stiff expression on the left-hand side of the main seat, looking at Selwyn who was sitting across from him and chatting with two large, stout, pudgy male wizards.

"What, Lucius?" Selwyn called out, "There has to be fresh blood brought in, or else the whole community will become rotten, and none of us here are looking for personal gains, we are here to discuss something as important as the fate of all pureblood families, so won't it be better if more people join us? Isn't that right, Vincent, Gregory?"

Lucius looked at his son's former best friends with a complicated look and simply nodded his head.

Thus, Selwyn looked smug.

"Let the young ones see the big world. Old friend, so why can't we see Draco?"

"He had something to do and couldn't make it." Lucius said. "Something to do," Selwyn repeated so that everyone could catch it, and then he gave a puzzled look, "What's so important than our cause? Let's see - oh yes, he's a 'Big', influential man now, with a busy work schedule, and countless people are counting on him to conquer one or two more muggle diseases so that those dregs who can't even use magic can live as long as wizards ... while some of our loved ones and friends are left to die rotting in Azkaban ..."

Crabbe and Goyle's naive faces immediately burst with hatred.

Lucius narrowed his gray eyes and said coldly, "I think you have a part in all of this, Selwyn." "Oh, don't be ridiculous," Selwyn immediately shot back, he was obviously well-prepared, "Let's not mention the best concealed Snape, how many hidden secrets have you revealed just by yourself Lucius, ah, compared to you two, what I did was really insignificant."

He stood up and walked around, his body close to the back of the chair facing the fireplace as if he was going to sit down, all eyes widened - that seat has remained unoccupied for twelve years, did Selwyn intend to lay his hands on it?

All eyes in the drawing room were darting and panicky.

But Selwyn just stood next to the chair, raised his volume, and said: "Twelve years ago, we made a deal with Mr. Hap in gratitude for freeing us from Voldemort's enslavement," he said while bending slightly toward the chair, "and over the years we have tried to keep our presence as low as possible and stay out of trouble. But what was the result? I have seen a look of contempt too many times ...everyone looks at us as if we are the outcasts of the wizarding world. ... Now it is time to unite and make an impact! Gentlemen, more than one Dark Lord (Archmage level wizards) have existed and perished, nevertheless, the Pureblood families have survived and lived at the top, all ages!"

Lucius smelled some kind of danger signal and quietly leaned his body against the back of his chair.

Selwyn's speech poked a lot of people's sore spots, and they couldn't help but recall their past glories, at that moment Selwyn placed his hands down a little loudly on the main chair and the crowd immediately quieted down. He smiled in satisfaction.

"Pureblood families are above the reach because we have signed one magic pact after another over a long period of time, of course, now most of it has been transferred to the Ministry of Magic, and I do not intend to ask them to be returned, there are many other ways to get rich ...," he said vaguely. "But using this to negotiate with the Ministry of Magic, to ask for a piece of the pie will not pose much of a problem. I'm going to talk to Kingsley about it ..."

"Also, there's something more--"

"I managed to establish a connection with one of the Queen's stewards, and Mr. Edwin revealed that the Queen has been thinking about re-establishing the Court Mage system lately - I suppose I don't need to tell you what that means, gentlemen?" Selwyn swept his eyes around, and at that moment even Lucius' eyes blazed a little, that is symbol of knighthood, noble status, and unique position.

But immediately after that Lucius recalled the conversation he had during breakfast, his heart calmed down instantly as if a scoop of cold water had been poured on it. While Selwyn was still making his speech, his mind wandered elsewhere. He seemed to hear the faint sound of footsteps, his eyes turned to the heavy wooden door, and he rubbed his eyes as the bronze handle seemed to be turning to open bit by bit.

"Click."

A gust of wind flowed in, and Selwyn looked up in confusion as he spoke. There was a figure standing in the doorway, the hem of his black robe fluttering along with the wind that just blew. The figure did not move, as if he was adapting himself to the dim light of the room, but all the people in the drawing room could immediately recognize his face, and there was a flood of murmurs.

"I never except that Snape would show up!"

"Isn't he teaching at the school, and researching muggle potions ..."

"I heard that he had defected to Potter."

Snape walked in with big strides and gazed all around before looking at Selwyn. Selwyn snapped back and put away his surprised look as he posed a smiling face and greeted, "Severus! Severus! Haven't seen you in a while, I heard that you became someone's godfather, haha!"

Snape's face remained expressionless, without a trace of a smile on his face. Other people in the drawing room also did not smile, their gaze moved between the two, and then they all collectively looked at Lucius Malfoy, he seemed equally surprised by Snape's arrival, but they were not sure if it was an illusion, the face illuminated by the fire was actually turned a little pale.

Snape walked in front of Selwyn. To be precise, he stood in front of the chair that had its back against the fireplace. He pulled out the chair and sat down. The drawing room instantly fell silent, some people were frightened, and their mouths widened slightly as they made unconscious hissing sounds.

Snape sat upright on the main seat, and looked at the expressions on everyone's faces for a while, before he spoke, "I have brought a message."

"What is it?" Selwyn asked subconsciously.

Snape's eyelids lowered as he said, "It has nothing to do with you."

"How come it has nothing to do with me?!" Selwyn exclaimed, and then he saw something from Malfoy's pale face, fear soaked through his body gradually as if a drowning man kept sinking down, he eventually could not control his lead-like legs and stumbled back to the seat next to him.

"Are Aurors waiting outside the door, or ..."

Snape did not make any response.

Selwyn stared with wide eyes, his lips trembled for a moment, and he violently sprang up and knocked the chair down to the floor. Then he turned on his heel and ran towards the door, with several people following Selwyn in a panic as he bolted across the long table.

"If I were you guys, I wouldn't choose to run." Snape's eerie voice spoke. But in his current state Selwyn was not able to listen to these words, he was the first to rush out of the drawing room - he did not use the fireplace, because the fireplace may be under surveillance of the Ministry of Magic, he rushed out of the drawing room and dashed towards the rear of the manor, where there is a fountain, the vicinity of the fountain can be used by people to Apparate.

A few of those who followed Selwyn paused at those words, the expression of a short fat man who was currently a few steps away from the door started to change repeatedly, his mind was in a mess, not knowing whether to listen to Snape's words or not, with all those things he had done, he would be locked up for at least ten years.

Then the entire drawing room atmosphere seemed to have frozen, including the short, fat man with a desperate face at the door, beads of sweat on his forehead solidified all over his face, then a circle of silver light passed through his body, and brushed over everyone present like a silver veil, who immediately felt a throbbing headache.

"Do not resist." Snape's voice stated.

Lucius was the first to obediently give up resistance, no matter who is coming, whether it is Auror or Hap, he does not have any desire to resist, and that is not something he is good at. Not to mention he still has to think about Narcissa, Draco, and little Scorpius's future if he were to resist. The next thing he knew, he was like a drowning man surfacing and taking a breath of fresh air, slumping back in his chair, panting heavily, realizing as an afterthought that his clothes were already drenched in a cold sweat.

Silver ripples spread like a tidal wave, and Lucius' heart inexplicably flooded with courage, but this courage is not to resist and fight, but to work together with the owner of the silver aura to fight evil ... what a strange task, the Malfoy family does not need to do something like that.

When the fourteenth wave of silver ripples swept through the drawing room, the door was rudely pushed open from the outside, and three Aurors who were bracing up a shimmering magical barrier carried away the man at the door, leaving no word from the beginning to the end.

"Is that ... Potter outside?" Someone asked warily.

Before Snape could speak, the door was pushed open for the second time, and everyone sucked in their breath when they saw the man's face clearly, it was Harry Potter, and surprisingly, he was personally leading the team. A silver solid Patronus loomed behind the Auror squad, and then they seemed to hear the "da da da" sound of hooves.

Harry was slightly relieved when he didn't see Draco's face, then he spoke calmly: "By the order of the Minister of Magic, Selwyn, Parkinson, Nott, and Rowle who reportedly committed serious violations of the law, will be brought back to the Ministry for further questioning."

All of them lowered their heads in fear.

After an unknown amount of time, with a "bang", the door closed from the outside, and everyone showed the expression of surviving a disaster.

Snape said calmly: "The Slytherin snakes should not crawl in the gutter, but fly in the sky. In case you don't understand--" He paused and pulled out a few sheets of parchment from the pocket of his black robe.

"I have prepared some materials."

With that, he dryly read the contents on the parchment, as if he was reading a lengthy report. Despite the fact that his mind was no longer here, Snape found in a trance a hint of familiarity, many years ago he once read a few boring reports like today, but then it was in the drawing room of Black's old mansion.

No one interrupted him. The fire in the fireplace behind him burned brighter, the woods cracked occasionally, and sparks burst out to illuminate the area behind him. Everyone sat upright, trying their best to hear something useful from the report without a hint of emotion.

For some of them, the scene was equally familiar.

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