Sean left the storage room under Keith's terrified gaze.
Keith had no idea what punishment awaited him. Just imagining Snape's cold, expressionless face filled him with despair.
Keith's thinking was extreme—but he was far from the only extremist in Hogwarts, or even in the British wizarding world.
Some people were obsessively devoted to power, while others fanatically defended the idea of pure-blood supremacy.
Sean knocked on the door of Snape's quarters.
He had already prepared himself for the icy glare that would follow.
The small hatch on the door slid open, revealing Snape's sharp, hostile eyes.
"Grylls," Snape said angrily, "I believe you know what time it is. How dare you wander the corridors after curfew!"
"Professor," Sean replied calmly, "you should come to the third floor with me first. Compared to my wandering, Keith Brent will make you much angrier."
"Brent?" Snape frowned.
"The one who attacked me that night was him," Sean explained. "Tonight he tried again, but I subdued him."
He spoke as though being ambushed were nothing remarkable.
The door opened.
Snape stepped out wearing the same robes he had worn during the day. Apparently, he hadn't gone to bed yet.
"Who else knows about tonight's incident?" Snape asked.
Sean considered it.
Keith obviously wouldn't tell anyone about his failed ambush.
That meant only three people knew.
"No one else," Sean said. "I came straight to inform you."
The two of them quickly arrived at the third-floor storage room.
Sean pointed to the half-closed door.
"He's inside. I used the Body-Bind Curse on him."
Snape strode forward and pushed the door open.
The room was completely empty.
There was no Keith.
"Grylls," Snape said slowly, his eyes filled with suspicion,
"you'd better explain this."
Sean was surprised himself.
"Professor, please believe me. He was clearly immobilized by the Body-Bind Curse. There's no way he could have escaped that quickly."
Snape looked at him sharply.
"What were you doing here after curfew?"
Sean suspected that Snape definitely knew about the Ouroboros Society.
But he couldn't expose it—and might even be protecting it.
The group was likely supported by Death Eaters. As a double agent, Snape might have received orders from the Death Eater side to ensure Ouroboros continued to exist within Hogwarts.
Sean decided to take a risk.
"Keith told me Kurt wanted to meet me here," he said.
"Kurt is the president of the Ouroboros Society."
After saying this, Sean carefully watched Snape's face, hoping to catch even the slightest reaction.
But Snape remained expressionless.
"I expected you would join them," he said calmly.
The two stayed in the storage room for a short while before leaving.
Snape warned Sean to return to his dormitory immediately.
The next day, Snape deducted five points from Slytherin.
The reason: Sean had violated school rules by wandering after curfew.
Sean was also assigned detention—copying the school rules ten times.
At lunchtime in the Great Hall, the Weasley twins approached Sean again.
Standing behind him, they began performing their usual comedic routine.
"George," Fred said loudly, "I bet our clever friend here must have been sleepwalking."
"No, Fred," George replied seriously, "Sean is our good friend. How could you say that?"
"I think he simply noticed Slytherin had gained too many points recently and decided to give the other houses a chance by losing some on purpose."
Suddenly the twins clapped their hands together and shouted in unison:
"What a true son of a traitor!"
They burst out laughing and ran out of the hall.
The other Slytherin students who heard them began looking at Sean awkwardly.
If Sean had truly lost points on purpose, then he would indeed look like he had betrayed Slytherin.
Even though he had earned many of those points himself, people always remembered the bad things more clearly than the good.
Chris and Cassius wanted to say something, but neither knew how to start.
At that moment, Keith walked in through the hall entrance.
He wore a smug expression.
Sitting beside Sean, he leaned closer and whispered:
"Professor Snape called me in this morning."
"But judging by your punishment, I suppose he believed me more than you."
Keith chuckled.
Seeing Sean punished and whispered about by the other students filled him with immense satisfaction.
Sean lowered his voice, sounding angry.
"Listen carefully. Don't think your petty tricks scare me."
"Tonight at 10:30, the second-floor girls' bathroom."
"If you have the courage, come and duel."
Keith looked at Sean's apparently furious expression and felt even more pleased.
"Gladly," he said with a grin.
"I'll keep playing with you until you're expelled from Hogwarts."
Keith stood up, flicked his robes dramatically, and walked away triumphantly.
Sean watched his departing figure.
A faint, almost invisible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Sean, what were you talking about with Keith?" Chris asked.
"Nothing," Sean replied casually.
"I just said I'd give him a warm welcome tonight."
Cassius leaned forward eagerly.
"Sean, do you have something delicious prepared?"
Sean only smiled.
After lunch, Sean found the Weasley twins lounging on a bench in the courtyard, enjoying the sunshine.
His shadow blocked their sunlight.
Without opening his eyes, Fred said:
"Not bad acting earlier. Everyone was giving you strange looks."
"The effect was good," Sean replied.
"Why would you deliberately spread news about your punishment?" George asked.
"That'll make the Slytherins isolate you."
Sean didn't answer directly.
"Thanks for helping," he said instead.
"Consider the four Sickles you owed me as payment for the performance."
Originally, Sean had planned to brew the Muggle Experience Potion tonight.
But before that, he needed to deal with Keith.
Otherwise the boy would keep causing trouble again and again.
Sean had no patience for that.
On the way back to his dormitory, Sean encountered Joseph from Hufflepuff.
Just like Slytherin, Hufflepuff's common room was also located in the basement.
They exchanged greetings.
Then Sean suddenly remembered something and stopped him.
"Joseph, there's something I wanted to ask."
"What is it?"
"Why was Tonks so worried that I might reveal your relationship?"
"Hogwarts doesn't forbid dating, does it?"
Joseph hesitated before answering.
"Tonks comes from a pure-blood family," he said quietly.
"I'm only a half-blood."
"Her family would never allow a half-blood to date her."
"I see," Sean said.
Now it made perfect sense.
For families obsessed with preserving pure bloodlines, forbidding relationships with half-bloods was hardly unusual.
Back in his dormitory, Sean thought for a moment.
Since Joseph had already returned to the Hufflepuff common room, Tonks was probably no longer in the Room of Requirement.
"Guess I'll go practice magic there," Sean muttered.
His dormitory wasn't a suitable place for practicing spells.
The wide, empty Room of Requirement would allow him to practice freely.
Sean headed to the eighth-floor corridor.
After pacing back and forth three times, the hidden door appeared.
He entered the Room of Requirement and scanned the room carefully.
No one else was inside.
Only then did Sean raise his wand—
and prepare to practice Ghoul's Kiss.
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