Chapter 18 Snape, Touched in the Soul
"Before we were students of the House, we were students of Hogwarts."
"From Platform 9¾ to here, day and night, we made many friends."
"Some aspired to the valiant Gryffindor; some hoped to study in the wise Ravenclaw; some longed to be accepted by the tolerant Hufflepuff; some wanted to make a name for themselves in Slytherin." "
Before expressing our expectations for the House, we laughed and talked."
"But after everything became clear, we started fighting!" Basil said, his voice filled with anguish.
Hermione clasped her hands to her chest, conflicted.
She wanted to stop what she saw as outrageous behavior, yet she also wanted to support Basil.
Ron, Harry, and Neville looked at the victim, Draco Malfoy, with strange expressions.
Not far away, Draco, still somewhat weak from being in the water, was flushed with anger.
Professor McGonagall, unaware of the truth, no longer had a cold gaze; instead, her eyes softened.
From initially mistaking the students for trouble, it turned out they were just good students expressing their true feelings.
Basil noticed this as well.
"So, can we not sort houses?"
Many students who thought sorting meant fighting trolls, taking exams, and escaping dragon attacks nodded in agreement.
"Or, let's gather students who don't want to be separated from their friends together, and make them a fifth house."
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "Child, your idea is excellent."
"However, the sorting system is an intangible asset left by the school's four great founders."
"Different houses don't affect your relationships with your friends."
Meanwhile, Dumbledore, seeing that Professor McGonagall hadn't returned for a long time, sent Snape, who happened to be at the door.
In the instant he approached, he heard an almost angry rebuttal.
He immediately recognized who it was.
The boy who dared to cheat him, with the name Hufflepuff, the courage of Gryffindor, and a Slytherin background—Basil (Badger) Granger.
However, there was a strange persuasiveness in the boy's voice now.
"Won't it affect you?"
"No, it affects you greatly!"
"We're not blind or deaf."
"Ravenclaw thinks all the other houses are idiots."
"Gryffindor thinks they're the bravest."
"Slytherin considers themselves the noblest."
"Hufflepuffs stick together so tightly that no student from another house has ever set foot in their common room for over a thousand years."
Snape sneered upon hearing this, deciding to end the farce.
However, what followed made him stop in his tracks.
"Professor, if I go to Slytherin, Hermione will be in Gryffindor."
"Can you say that the other students won't think we're traitors and won't isolate us?"
"We can study in peace."
"Can we really still be friends?"
A female voice followed, tinged with tears, "Can we really be friends?"
These two questions pierced Snape's heart, which had long been deprived of sunlight.
"Lily." He staggered, his right hand resting on the wall.
In a daze, those two voices became his and Lily's voices from their younger days.
Their first encounter at the amusement park, the little girl on the swings.
Her features matured, her expression shifting from familiarity and intimacy to coldness.
It was the entrance to the Gryffindor tower, beside the portrait of the Fat Lady.
The girl's expression turned contemptuous. "Call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. What makes me any different?"
In the real world, Snape's eyes, which had been moist without his noticing, instantly dried.
His previously fragmented gaze became empty again.
He strode into the room, standing beside Professor McGonagall.
He ignored the ghost that had appeared in the room, the astonished gazes of Professor McGonagall and the students below.
He even ignored the treasure composed of the eyes of the person he loved most and the face of the person he hated most.
He stared intently at the boy and girl and said, "Believe me, if you're in different houses, you can't be friends anymore."
Then, he turned to the side and said, "Professor McGonagall, we've taken up a bit too much time. Please arrange the sorting directly."
He flicked his cloak and strode out of the room as he had come.
"Alright, children, please follow me. The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin." Professor McGonagall looked at Basil again. "Do you have any more questions?"
"No." Basil shut his mouth.
Hermione, her eyes red-rimmed, whispered beside him, "You really want to go to Slytherin?"
"Yes," Basil chose to tell the truth, "Now it's Gryffindor."
In his mind, the border of "Doctor of Pyrrhic Magic" in the [Spellbook] suddenly turned gold.
[Echo: Doctor of Pyrrhic Magic]
[Quality: Gold]
[All spells will open doors for you, learning difficulty reduced by 8%]
[Dark magic will not affect your mind, nor will white magic]
[The more spells you learn, the stronger your spells will be]
[Every 10 spells, increase by 1%]
[Maximum 20%]
At the far end of the Great Hall, on the table at the head of the dining room, against the wall, was a long table.
These were the teachers' seats, arranged facing the students.
In the center of the long table, Dumbledore, seated in a high-backed golden chair, occasionally glanced at Snape, who was also seated at the far end of the main table.
He remained aloof, completely ignoring Quirrell beside him.
Instead, his eyes were fixed on the first-year students, who faced the upperclassmen with their backs to them, awaiting their sorting.
Dumbledore was puzzled; Snape wasn't looking at Harry's backside.
So, he joined in the scrutiny.
Due to the earlier delay, the sorting process began immediately after the Sorting Hat finished its song, using only this list.
"Hannah Abbott!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Susan Burns!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Hermione Granger!
" "Gryffindor! "
Dumbledore noticed Snape's eyebrows rise slightly by half an inch.
"Basil Granger!"
Snape closed his eyes.
"Gryffindor!"
Snape's eyes opened, and Dumbledore saw undisguised excitement within them.
What puzzled Dumbledore even more was that Professor McGonagall beside him also let out a long sigh, a sigh that seemed both joyful and sorrowful.
Professor McGonagall noticed Dumbledore's attention and said softly, "Because of the rules, a child has given up his dream house."
She looked at the boy who had walked towards the Gryffindor table with the girl, looking slightly dazed, her eyes filled with heartache. The Riddler Dumbledore never expected that he would be the one being ridiculed today.
Basil Granger?
How come he's the center of attention today?
Where's Harry?
The cause of the incident, the source of all evil, was Basil.
He didn't know that someone saw a look of blankness on his face, a face that was both cute and handsome, mature and childlike.
It was as if his brain had crashed.
In reality, his reaction wasn't because things had unfolded unexpectedly.
It was because he simply hadn't expected that during the Sorting Ceremony, they would be facing away from the teachers.
Being seen from behind, especially by Dumbledore, was something Basil absolutely could not accept.
Even more outrageous, his gaze fell upon the Slytherin table adorned with green and silver decorations, and what appeared before him shattered his worldview.
Where was the nobility and elegance?
The little snakes who followed the "Slytherin Hundred Rules of Conduct" had all become giant pythons!
The pythons—a group of burly, muscular men, enormous female nobility , and a few smaller snakes: handsome, slender boys, beautiful, quiet girls— were nodding to the first-year students who were looking at them.
(I suggest searching for the Slytherin Rules of Conduct; this is a fanfiction by jingjiang Harry Potter titled "Born Noble." After reading it, you'll understand why Basil was so shocked.)
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(End of Chapter)