15 Jan 1996

Teaching Potter occlumency was getting worse every day. How dared that brat cast the Shield Charm on him, look into his bad memories, and damage his belongings? Luckily, the homunculus vial was fine. He knew Potter would be suspicious that he had rushed to the vial first, even though the spiltion was in the back. But who cared?

Harry hated Snape, and he began to suspect that Snape must have done something wrong, even though several vials of potion had been broken and some of the potion had corroded the floor. Snape went back to check the potion that was not affected by the Shield Charm.

22 Jan 1996

"Do you have any brains, Longbottom?" Snape snapped at Neville, who was shaking with fear. "If you do, use them."

Neville's eyes were red, and he looked like he was going to cry. Snape continued to speak cruelly. "You should go to St. Mungo's to get your brain checked."

These words broke Harry's patience. How could Snape say such a thing? He knew that Snape knew how Neville felt about St. Mungo's. Was Snape inhumane or something? Before he could stop himself, he was shouting at Snape with foul language. He didn't hear Hermione stop him, didn't hear Neville's cry in shock.

""Detention, Potter," Snape said in a dangerously low voice. "Tonight in my office at 8:00 p.m. and 50 points from Gryffindor. Class dismissed." He swung his robes and left.

Harry had been in a bad mood all day, and when Defence Against the Dark Arts class arrived, Umbridge had the students reading from books again.

"Now," Umbridge said in a sweet voice. "Just read quietly and hope no one else says anything nonsensical about people coming back from the dead." She gave Harry a suggestive look.

Harry, who had been in a bad mood since Potions class, shouted back immediately. "I'm not talking nonsense. Voldemort is back. Anyone who pretends nonothing happened happenedappenedron."

"Detention tonight at 8:00 p.m., Mr. Potter. Just in case it sinks in that you must not tell lies," Umbridge said in a sickly sweet voice.

"I've already got detention with Snape," Harry replied curtly.

"You're really a troublemaker, aren't you, Harry?" I'm not surprised that Professor Snape is giving ygiving yoion, but you have to have detention with me first."

Harry went to detention with Umbridge at 8pm. Nothing was unexpected. He still had to use blood quill to write, I must not tell a lieieie repeatedly, until the scar on his hand became more obvious. It was 9pm when Umbridge released him. Harry hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione had prepared the healing potion. Harry felt a little better. He thanked Hermione before rushing to detention with Snape.

Severus was very upset. That brat dared to skip detention. No one had dared to do that before. Just you wait and see. He would

Before he could think of anything else, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said calmly.

It was Harry Potter. He walked into the room as if he wereee not late.

"I never thought the Boy Who Lived could not tell a clock. What time did I tell you to come here, Potter?" Snape said in a dangerously low voice.

"8pm," Harry replied harshly.

"And what time is it? You are as irresponsible as your father," Snape sneered.

Harry clenched his fists in anger. Snape did not seem to care.

"Go scrub those cauldrons over there." Snape flicked his wand, and the dirtiest cauldron Harry had ever seen appeared.

Snape handed Harry a sponge and a potion. "Use this to scrub; I hope you can do it, Prince Potter," Snape sarcastically said.

Harry took it without saying anything. He quickly squeezed the potion onto the sponge and scrubbed the cauldrons. The potion was stinging, but he would never tell Snape. The bat monster would never believe him and would mock him. Harry could only endure it.

Severus looked at the boy in surprise. Why did he have to look so pained just to scrub cauldrons? He must have never done any chores. Snape thought disdainfully, and he could smell blood. The smell of blood was very strong. As a snake, his sense of smell was much better than a human's. He quickly sniffed for the smell and was shocked when he realised it was Potter. Oh my god, don't tell me Potter has a cut on his hand. His potion was corrosive to the wound. Why didn't the boy tell him?

Harry gritted his teeth to suppress the pain. He definitely wouldn't groan. He would not allow Snape to get any pleasure. He was sure Snape would agree with Umbridge. Snape would want to do this to his students, but he could not because Dumbledore was watching.

Snape approached Harry. "Give me your hand, Potter," Snape ordered.

Harry flinched. "I'm not finished yet."

"Show me your hand, Potter," Snape ordered. He yanked Harry's hand roughly.

Harry cried out in pain. Snape squinted. Harry's hand was bloody, and there was a scar on it that said, "I must not lie."

"Who did it?" Snape asked. He couldn't control his anger. He knew what had caused it. A blood quill. Someone had dared to hurt a student at Hogwarts. Someone had dared to hurt Lily's son.

"It's none of your business," Harry replied.

Snape clenched his fists, shaking with rage. "It is, Potter. Someone has hurt you at Hogwarts. All students should be safe here. I am a teacher. It is my duty to protect all students."

Harry let out a disdainful breath. "Don't worry, your Slytherins areee safe."

"It's not about whether you're in my house, Potter. It's about someone hurting you," Snape said. "Tell me who it is."

Harry stared into Snape's eyes without looking away.

"Good," Snape said. "Since you won't tell me, I'll go check it out myself. "Legilimens," he said before Harry could react.

The image of Umbridge forcing Harry to write with a blood quill flashed through Snape's's's and Harry's mindsss at the same time.

Snape lifted the spell. He felt extremely disgusted with what he saw. How darehat toad do such a thing? And why didn't the Potter boy tell anyone about it? He could hardly believe what he saw. He had always believed that Potter would never miss an opportunity to shine, never miss an opportunity to seek attention. He would never let this happen again.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Snape asked.

"Why did I?" Harry retorted. "As if anyone could help me."

"At least Professor McGonagall and the headmaster could help you," Snape said.

"Professor McGonagall knows about this," Harry argued.

"I assure you, Potter, that Professor McGonagall doesn't know about this. If she did, she wouldn't have let this happen," Snape insisted. "I'll take care of this."

"What can you do?" Harry asked. "She's someone the ministry sent. If you're going to go looking for trouble, you could be fired or worse, you could be thrown in Azkaban."

"Fuck the fucking Ministry," Snape cursed. "They can't control anything. Fudge is a moron. Anyone who believes them is just as much a much a moron.".

"But everyone believes them," Harry said in despair.

"We have to destroy the credibility of the Ministry," Snape said slyly. "You must have heard about mass breakouts from Azkaban."

Harry was confused. What did this have to do with anything?

Snape smiled. "That moron Fudge said they were the reason for their breakout because of your dogfather. But if we can prove that this isn't true, the Ministry will lose a lot of credibility."

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked.

"I'm a snake," Snape said with a hidden meaning. "It's not that hard to catch a rat."

He stuffed Harry with a potion. "Apply it on your wound and leave." He waved it off.

After dismissing the boy, Severus thought about what he was going to do. "Nathee," he tried calling out.

Nathee appeared immediately. Snape almost fell out of his chair in shock.

"What can I do for you, your highness?" Nathee asked.

Snape told him everything. "I must catch that traitorous rat, but I don't know how."

"Don't worry, your highness," Nathee said. "Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Men die because of women, and women die because of men?' My Lord, that's easy to handle."

"The Dark Lord is not like normal humans," Snape said. "He never loves anyone."

"Who said I was talking about that guy, your highness?" Nathee said slyly. "We are snakes, so we have to go through snakes."

"You mean Nagini?" Snape said in confusion.

"Yes, your highness," Nathee nodded in confirmation. "She is a female snake, so she will definitely be pleased with men."

"But I still don't see how that will help," Snape said in doubt.

"The Dark Lord you called is very power-hungry. If you say that you can make him more powerful, he will definitely fall into the trap."

Snape was still confused, so Nathee explained in more detail. "I know a Naga from the Erapatha family. His name is Chon. He is a Naga who has great oratory skills and is is good with women. He was born on land and can transform himself on land. If you just take him to the Dark Lord, he will find a way to catch the traitor."

"Then, if I just give him to him, won't the Dark Lord suspect anything?" Snape asked.

"I will write a letter of recommendation for you, Your Highness." When he saw Snape's eyebrows raise, he quickly explained. "I will write it in the Naga language, which you know as Parseltongue."

Snape was stunned. Does Parseltongue have letters?

Nathee seemed to be able to read his mind. "Of course, Your Highness," he quickly confirmed. "I will handle this matter. When is your next meeting with these people?"

"Saturday at 10 o'clock," Snape replied without much enthusiasm. He did not look forward to being tortured. The Order had no idea how much pain he had to go through to find news, and no one appreciated his actions.

"Then I will prepare with Chon and write a letter. You must say something to convince him that Chon is useful to him. Can you do that, your highness?" Nathee said.

"I can," Snape replied confidently. Hadn't he always done this, deceiving the Dark Lord? "But I must speak in accordance with the letter you wrote."

"Don't worry about that, your highness. I will bring the letter written in English for you to see first," Nathee said. "I will take my leave, your highness." He bowed before disappearing.