Snape stood rooted to the spot, seemingly caught up in some painful memories.
"I didn't expect you to know so much, senior." Dumbledore had an amused expression, and even he, as one of Lily and Snape's professors, didn't know as much about the situation.
Vivi chuckled lightly and said, "Lily was my student. Ever since she reached fifth grade, she developed a habit of night adventures. You knew about this, right?"
Dumbledore recalled briefly and nodded to Vivi, saying, "That's true. I remember Minerva once told me about this, but she wasn't angry at the time. She was actually quite pleased."
"Why?" Vivi asked, puzzled.
Dumbledore chuckled and said, "A Gryffindor that doesn't go on night adventures leads an incomplete life—oh, but you mustn't let Minerva catch you. She's an unyielding professor and never shows leniency to students caught out at night."
"Then why did you say she was pleased?" Vivi was still confused.
"Happiness and punishment aren't mutually exclusive, senior." Dumbledore smiled as he said this, but then he added, "Although Lily was your student too, Severus..."
"What about him?" Vivi asked.
"It's nothing." Dumbledore picked up a candy and handed it to Vivi, "This is what he deserves, senior."
It was quite a while before Snape snapped out of his memories.
"Sorry, Miss Grindelwald." Snape turned around and said, "I have some personal matters to attend to. If you don't mind, please find your way back to the common room."
With that, Snape swished away from the Headmaster's Office, not taking a single cloud with him.
"How should I describe him?" Vivi's expression was complex, her mood even more so: "My goodness, I can't imagine that Lily could have a friend like him, enduring him for so long..."
"Perhaps that's the reason why Lily ultimately didn't choose him?" Dumbledore said with a smile.
"No," Vivi said, "Lily once told me she didn't dislike Severus's personality, but she couldn't accept that a friend she had always relied on secretly looked down on her."
Dumbledore's gaze flickered for a moment, but he remained silent.
"Think about it like this, Professor," Vivi said softly, "like Gellert—if you knew that Gellert always looked down on you, even genuinely thought you were just an English country girl..."
Dumbledore paused his action of reaching for candy, then grabbed a large handful from the jar.
"Right?" Vivi chuckled, seeing the old schoolmate seemed a little unhappy from the mental image she conjured, and began to describe today's events in the Magical Creatures Protection Class.
Dumbledore's beard trembled with laughter; he truly hadn't expected that Gellert would suffer such a setback in the Magical Creatures Protection Class.
No one could have anticipated that the students would discuss who was stronger between him and Voldemort, right in front of him—even comparing Voldemort losing to an infant and him losing to a Sniff.
Regardless, the always proud Grindelwald couldn't tolerate everyone saying he lost to a Sniff...
Yet he couldn't retaliate, nor could he refute it; it was even harder for him to accept than being locked up in Nimongard.
Especially with some naive, pure-hearted children, such innocent mockery was the hardest to defend against.
"Oh, by the way," Vivi added, "Harry gave him the nickname 'Nifflet,' and we're all quite satisfied."
"And what about Gellert?" Dumbledore asked.
Vivi recalled Gellert's expression at the time.
"Gellert... Gellert didn't object either."
Dumbledore laughed again, his mustache quivering, but suddenly his expression turned serious.
"However... senior, there's a question I want to ask you."
"Go ahead," Vivi said softly.
Dumbledore's half-moon glasses gleamed.
"I'd like to ask you what your true attitude towards Harry is?"
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(Forgot to mention, yesterday's third update was the second part of the additional chapter for the chief)
(There are still four thousand words during the day)