In just half a month, the most popular professor at Hogwarts had changed hands.
The fierce competition between Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout had turned into Audrey Astley leading the pack alone.
The young wizards were all talking about their idol professor because Audrey was simply too wonderful. As long as the young wizards performed well enough, she would even sing in class!
This kind of benefit drove the lower-year students crazy, sparking an intense passion for learning!
All the lower-year students were looking forward to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class!
Until Christmas.
There weren't many students staying at school. Ron stayed because his mother had gone to Romania to see Bill, so he and his brothers remained at the castle.
Audrey didn't go home either.
She stubbornly believed that her status as a professor had cost her a lot of rest time. If she went home, she would just be treated like a concert machine by Mr. Waterman.
Instead of that, it was better to stay at school and get plenty of rest!
—This might be the most comfortable Christmas Audrey had ever had in her life.
She prepared several Christmas gifts—
Edmond, Isaline, Hagrid, her idiot brother, Mr. Waterman, Teacher Grindelwald, Grandma Vinda, the Weasley family, Draco, Momo, Tonks, and her two aunts, plus Sirius who was locked in the Ministry—these were all friends and family;
Harry, Hermione, and Tsuruko were all fans;
Professor McGall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout were all professors she had a good relationship with;
Snape and Dumbledore... were more like spending money to ward off disasters.
Compared to the gifts she sent out, the gifts she received were far more overwhelming.
Yes, overwhelming.
Waking up, Audrey felt as though she had fallen into an abyss of gifts.
Stack upon stack of gift boxes were piled up to the ceiling. The house-elves had worked very hard during the night to move all her presents into her room.
Audrey didn't even have space to get out of bed!
Well, she had seen how formidable fans were last school year, and this year it was even worse.
Audrey huffed and puffed as she searched through the ocean of gifts for Isaline's present. After obtaining the Slytherin inheritance, she had discovered Isaline was knitting a sweater! She had been looking forward to it for a long time!
Finally, she unearthed Isaline's exquisitely wrapped gift, but as soon as she picked it up, something felt wrong—
Did Isaline knit a sweater with gold thread? Why was it so heavy?
Opening the package, it was a glittering statue of 'The Birth of Venus,' both beautiful and expensive.
However, Audrey felt a bit disappointed. Isaline's sweater wasn't actually knitted for her. Who was it for? Who on earth was it?
Hmph, what a waste of her efforts to knit a pair of unicorn hair gloves for her!
Audrey huffed and pushed down the mountain of gifts.
With a crash, she was buried under the pile of presents.
Suddenly, a large gift box stamped with the Weasley family crest hit her on the head. Audrey sat up, holding the box in her left hand and waving her right. The boxes pressing down on her parted to both sides like the Red Sea before Moses.
Audrey opened the box. Inside, besides the usual Slytherin-colored sweater with the letter 'A' embroidered on it, there was also a complete set of formal robes, made with fine materials and exquisite craftsmanship.
Matching them was a full set of jewelry.
A greeting card was placed neatly on top of the clothes, reading:
"I wish dear Audrey success in her OWLs exams. These formal robes are a coming-of-age gift I prepared for you in advance. I hope you like them. Molly Weasley"
Audrey wiped her tears and started giggling foolishly.
Compared to Bellatrix, who was currently locked in Azkaban muttering "Dark Lord," Molly Weasley was more like a mother to her.
With love always by one's side, the heart does not fall into darkness.
She carefully tucked the robes away and grinnngly threw the mountain of gifts into her suitcase.
"Norberta! Ao! Jin! You three help me unwrap all the gifts and sort them out. I'll come check later!"
The phoenix mother and daughter naturally had no objections.
But Norberta was dumbfounded. She had now grown to over four meters long. Letting her breathe fire to roast some meat was no problem, but asking her to do delicate work like unwrapping gift boxes was just making things difficult for a dragon!
But Audrey, the Mother of Dragons, didn't care about that. I feed you well, shouldn't you share my burdens?
A dragon raised for a thousand days is used for a single moment!
...
...
Audrey emerged from the suitcase feeling refreshed. It was still early, so she might as well inspect her territory!
She closed her eyes and began to scan the half of Hogwarts that belonged to her.
Ron returned from outside looking dejected, not even bothered to shake the snow off his clothes. Harry and the Weasley twins followed behind him, seemingly trying to comfort him.
Audrey focused her attention on them and immediately heard their conversation.
She heard Harry comforting him: "Ron, don't be sad. Snape just borrowed Scabbers to do some experiments; nothing will happen!"
Ron shook his head: "No! Scabbers is already very old! At the beginning of this semester, I thought he was going to die!"
Ron lowered his head in regret: "I shouldn't have brought him out! I'm so stupid! It was just two laps around the Quidditch pitch; why did I have to bring Scabbers!"
Harry put his arm around Ron's shoulder: "You were just worried something would happen to Scabbers if he stayed in the dormitory alone!"
George, however, said with a smile: "Ron, what are you upset about? Snape borrowing Scabbers might not be a bad thing!"
Ron looked up, completely confused.
Fred jumped up beside George: "The way we see it, if Scabbers accidentally dies under Snape, you can make Snape compensate you with a new pet!"
Ron's eyes lit up. That makes sense!
...
Scabbers was borrowed by Snape?
Audrey suddenly felt that things were getting interesting.
She began to search for Snape and soon found him in his private storehouse.
Along with Peter Pettigrew.
After ten years disguised as a rat, this traitor almost looked like one himself—shifty-eyed, with his hands habitually curled up against his chest.
"Severus, Severus," Peter said with a fawning smile, "we've been old friends for years..."
"Shut up!"
Snape's face was grim as he looked at the wretched man before him.
"Wormtail, I don't recall ever being friends with you."
"No, no, no, Severus,"
Peter Pettigrew revealed the Dark Mark on his arm.
"Look, look! I'm like you, a Death Eater! We both serve the Dark Lord!"
Snape let out a sneer.
"You traitor, what right do you have to be compared with me!"
"No, I'm not a traitor," Peter Pettigrew cried, "I am loyal to the Dark Lord!"
Snape raised his wand.
"Whether you are loyal to the Dark Lord or not, I have no desire to know. All I know is that you betrayed your friends and caused Lily's death!"
Snape's eyes were bloodshot, clearly agitated.
His gaze toward Peter Pettigrew was filled with murderous intent!
But his heart was in a state of struggle—
He wanted to avenge Lily.
But if he killed Peter, then Sirius would suffer a grave injustice.
Yet another voice in his head told him that this was perfect. While avenging Lily, he could also send Sirius—who had once nearly killed him—to meet Merlin. It was killing two birds with one stone!
He hesitated for a few seconds, but in the end, he waved his wand!
Green light flashed in the basement!!
[For Snape's motivation, please refer to Chapter 121 "Let the News of the Arrest Fly for a While," "An hour later, Snape walked in again, holding a potion as clear as water." Veritaserum is colorless and odorless, just like clear water.]
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