As she moved, almost everyone in the classroom turned their eyes toward her.
A Gryffindor boy even got so excited that he cut his hand.
Umbridge clearly enjoyed being the center of attention.
So she deliberately slowed her pace, savoring every bit of it, before finally smiling and speaking languidly to Snape's back, "Oh my, this class seems to be studying at quite an advanced level. But I question whether teaching them something like Polyjuice Potion is really appropriate. I believe the Ministry would prefer to see that removed from the curriculum."
Snape turned around, his expression blank.
"And now… how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?"
Umbridge continued, lifting her notebook and quill again, clearly preparing to take notes.
"Fourteen years," Snape said in an icy tone.
Not a flicker of expression crossed his face. Even his lips didn't move, it was as if the voice came straight from his throat.
Many students were watching, but unlike those who only dared to sneak glances while pretending to continue their potion work, Link and Emily stopped what they were doing completely, smiling and watching openly.
That made Snape's facial muscles twitch slightly, but he couldn't act on it, not now.
"You originally applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, correct?" Umbridge asked, not even looking up.
"That's right," Snape replied.
"But didn't get it?"
Snape's mouth twitched. "Obviously."
Pfft!
A muffled laugh burst out somewhere in the classroom.
Snape immediately turned to look, but before he could say anything, Umbridge quickly followed up, "You've applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position several times since joining the school, haven't you?"
Snape was forced to turn back. "Yes."
"And do you know why Dumbledore has always refused to let you teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"I suggest you ask Dumbledore that yourself."
"Oh, I certainly will," Umbridge said sweetly. "But I'd still like to hear your thoughts. For instance, do you think Dumbledore refuses to appoint you because you're not qualified enough? Or perhaps… because of your past as a Death Eater?"
"I refuse to answer that question," Snape said, enunciating each word.
His once-calm face had twisted; his Occlumency was cracking under the pressure of emotion.
Umbridge, pretending not to hear him, flipped a page in her notebook and said cheerfully, "So that means Dumbledore rejected your application because he wanted to put his own people in the position."
She lifted her eyes to look at him expectantly, as though waiting for confirmation.
But Snape had already regained his composure. He shut his mouth and said nothing.
Umbridge stared at him calmly for a moment, then, unbothered, began scribbling rapidly.
Using his heightened senses, Link could roughly tell from the movement of her quill that she was writing things like 'Snape bears resentment toward Dumbledore' and 'Snape tacitly admits to bias-related accusations.'
After finishing her notes, she smiled, bid farewell to Snape and the students, and strutted proudly out of the classroom.
She certainly had reason to feel triumphant, this public humiliation of Snape had won her considerable prestige.
At least now, no student would dare take the so-called "Senior Investigator of Hogwarts" lightly.
Only when Umbridge's figure had completely disappeared from view did Snape's expression finally come alive again.
He stepped forward into the crowd, and when he passed the student who had snickered earlier, he slammed his hand down on the boy's desk and said coldly, "You ruined a perfectly good batch of flobberworms, zero marks. Also, you'll write me an essay explaining how to handle that ingredient properly, where you went wrong, and why. Bring it to me next class. Understood?"
"Y-yes… understood," the Ravenclaw student stammered.
The classroom, which had been buzzing after Umbridge left, immediately fell silent again.
In that heavy quiet, Snape slowly walked to Link and Emily's table.
Unlike the others, the two of them looked completely relaxed, even smiling as they met his gaze.
"Not pleasant, being interrogated by that pink toad, is it?" Link said softly, his voice low enough that only Snape could hear. "But you had it coming. Who told you to side with Dumbledore?"
Snape's dark eyes widened slightly, flashing with emotion.
He lowered his head, scanning their workstation for errors, but found none. Finally, he straightened and hissed, "You think you'll keep enjoying yourself? Dumbledore already knows what you're plotting. He's been too busy hunting Horcruxes to deal with you before, but now? Umbridge is here for you!"
Link's brow lifted. "Wait, you're saying the Death Eaters are digging around for Horcruxes? Where exactly have they gone?"
Snape's emotions began to cool again.
He gave Link and Emily one long, meaningful look, then threw a small roll of parchment onto the table, turned back to the podium, and announced loudly, "Class dismissed."
———
[Inside the Room of Requirement]
Link quickly set up several layers of protective wards before unrolling the parchment Snape had given him.
It was covered from top to bottom with writing, a copy of reports that Order of the Phoenix members submitted to Dumbledore, detailing their status and accomplishments. How Snape got his hands on it was anyone's guess.
But more importantly, through these reports, Link could piece together exactly what the Order had been doing recently.
They had first investigated major ancient sites across Britain, looking for signs of Death Eater activity.
Then they'd engaged in several small-scale battles.
Using guerrilla tactics, the Order usually managed to harass large Death Eater groups effectively, though there were exceptions.
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, Harry's godfather and former professor, had both been injured during one such skirmish due to a mistake.
Unable to go to St. Mungo's, they were recovering at home using potions provided by Snape.
That was definitely a bad idea.
Given Snape's relationship with the two, he probably wouldn't kill them outright, but making them suffer for a while was almost certain.
If Hermione or Cedric saw this "report," they would likely be moved to tears by the Order's sacrifices for the sake of the wizarding world.
But Link was different.
He focused entirely on the locations and dates.
When he confirmed that "Gringotts vault" wasn't mentioned anywhere, he finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Link, what's wrong?" Emily asked softly.
Watching his tense, alert manner, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Link turned to her, his tone suddenly serious.
"You know that Voldemort was able to resurrect because he has Horcruxes, fragments of his soul that make him immortal, right?"
Emily nodded. That much, Link had already explained to her before.
It wasn't exactly a secret anymore, not among the Order or other small circles.
"Then do you know how many Horcruxes Voldemort made?" Link asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he said, "Six."
Emily's mouth fell open in shock.
As the future head of the Flamel family, she had read Advanced Dark Magic Revealed and understood how Horcruxes were made, which was precisely why she was so horrified.
Creating a Horcrux meant slicing one's soul through a dark ritual, placing one fragment into an object while the rest remained in the body.
That way, even if the main body was destroyed, even the soul obliterated, the fragment hidden in the Horcrux would survive, allowing resurrection.
It sounded simple, but in practice, the agony of splitting one's soul was beyond what any human could bear.
Most people who could make even one Horcrux already had inhuman willpower.
And Voldemort had made six?
That was… monstrous.
In fact, Link hadn't even told her that Harry was also a Horcrux. If he had, Emily probably would've jumped in shock.
After all, the way Harry Potter became a Horcrux was so bizarre that even in the magical world, it bordered on miraculous.
After giving Emily a moment to process this, Link waved his wand, scattering a shower of silver-blue light.
The sparks formed six three-dimensional models, each representing a Horcrux.
"The first Horcrux we encountered was Tom Riddle's diary," Link said. "The fragment inside it once kidnapped you, I destroyed it in the Forbidden Forest."
A deep slash appeared across the diary model, and then it vanished.
"Next was the Gaunt ring. The gemstone on it was the famed Resurrection Stone. Dumbledore and I found it together at the Gaunt family home and destroyed the fragment inside."
The ring model trembled, cracked apart, and the stone slowly faded away.
"Finally, the Slytherin locket. You know about that one, I eliminated the fragment and kept the locket afterward."
A skull-shaped wisp of gray smoke shrieked and dissipated from the locket.
"So," Link continued, "of Voldemort's seven soul fragments, three have already been destroyed.
As for the others…" He pointed with his wand at the remaining models. "Nagini, a giant snake. She's a living Horcrux, always kept near Voldemort, so her whereabouts are impossible to track."
"Then there's Ravenclaw's diadem. Voldemort tricked the Grey Lady into giving it up decades ago and made it a Horcrux. It used to be hidden right here in the Room of Requirement, but it's gone now. I suspect he sent someone to retrieve it."
"And finally, Hufflepuff's cup, the one he gave to Bellatrix for safekeeping. It's most likely in her Gringotts vault."
He paused, his tone hardening.
"That cup is the only Horcrux whose location we know for sure."
"Originally, I planned to gather enough power to crush the vault in one decisive move. But now that Voldemort's people are also searching for Horcruxes, even if they haven't found the cup yet, my time is running out."
"Then let's strike first," Emily said firmly. "It's only Gringotts! Those goblins brag a lot, but their bank isn't truly unbreakable."
Link nodded. "That's what I was thinking too. But with Dumbledore, the Ministry, Voldemort, and that mysterious force behind him all in play, too many variables could cause things to go wrong. That's why I've held off until now."
"But at this point, we don't have a choice anymore."
"I'll write to Beckman and old Krett soon, have them quietly transport fighters and supplies to Britain."
Seeing Link finally make up his mind, Emily relaxed.
But after a moment, she straightened again, her face serious.
"Since you've decided," she said, "there's something else we need to talk about."
"Link, how do you know all this?"
"The exact number and locations of the Horcruxes, even Dumbledore can't possibly know everything."
Link had already prepared for that question, but when it actually came, a strange nervousness still flickered inside him.
He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I was born knowing."
"You… you just don't want to tell me, huh? Hmph!" Emily huffed, glaring at him before turning away, clearly unwilling to talk to him for a while, unless, of course, he came to coax her.
But what she didn't know was that Link's expression at that moment was full of helplessness.
Because sometimes, when you tell the truth, people only think you're being ridiculous.