Snape's initiation ceremony into the Black Eye Society concluded.
Since the beginning of the school term, after nearly three months of painstaking effort, he finally succeeded in infiltrating the Black Eye Society as a half-blood, taking the most crucial and solid step towards his plan of harvesting experience!
To Snape's surprise, the Black Eye Society possessed a far richer and more diverse collection of Dark Arts books than he had imagined!
In the wizarding world, knowledge was the most precious commodity.
And the books carrying this knowledge—as long as they involved some true heritage and foundation—naturally couldn't be easily bought like textbooks.
Especially since this knowledge was often passed down from generation to generation only within the most exclusive noble families. Outsiders, let alone reading them, couldn't even know of their existence!
If not for the purpose of attracting and cultivating those pure-bloods coming from declining families—
Lucius wouldn't have been generous enough to use these magic books, which used to circulate only within pure-blood families, as bait. This gave Snape a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
At the same time, the Christmas atmosphere was increasingly approaching.
Students often showed restlessness and excitement during class, whispering to each other and discussing where to go for fun during the holiday.
The professors were obviously long accustomed to this situation.
Except for occasional verbal reminders when things went too far, they allowed this joyful atmosphere to spread in Hogwarts, diluting the tense atmosphere that originally existed between Slytherin and other houses.
After signing the Christmas departure form—
Snape, who had been bewildered recently and spent all his energy reading Dark Arts books, gradually felt the reality of the upcoming holiday.
During this period, he was like a thirsty sponge, absorbing the heritage of those pure-blood families at a speed unimaginable to others, swimming freely in the vast ocean of Dark Arts!
Under the blessing of a full 2.6 times learning speed in the field of Dark Arts—
The originally LV5 Dark Arts skill rapidly leaped to LV7, only one step away from Potions, which had always maintained the forefront position!
In order to maintain this astonishing learning progress, Snape's stock of Concentration Potions was consumed shortly after, finally making him walk out of the Room of Requirement with slightly unsteady steps.
The world seemed exceptionally quiet.
Snape narrowed his eyes slightly in the brilliant sunlight, watching the excited little wizards brushing past him one by one.
Their faces wore a visible longing for the holiday to arrive quickly, simple and pure enough for Snape to see through at a glance. It also made him finally realize where the faint unaccustomed feeling he had felt all this time stemmed from.
Without Lily, without that noisy red-haired girl by his side.
Snape's life should have returned to the right track, back to the cold calculations and mechanical planning he had been most familiar with for the past few years.
But he didn't know when it started, Snape found that he was actually somewhat unaccustomed to this loneliness!
I've become weak.
Snape had never realized this point so clearly, subconsciously pursing his lips tightly.
While he changed Lily, Lily seemed to have unintentionally exerted a fundamental influence on him through their interactions, making Snape no longer that Eric Horne who first came to this world!
Whether this change was good or bad remained to be seen.
But there was one thing Snape could be sure of: he himself did not reject this change.
Even though Lily's reckless and impulsive behavior occasionally disrupted his plans, Snape was already used to calculating this part of the changes, always ready to clean up the mess for Lily.
Threads of longing surged from his heart.
Snape realized in a trance that since the day he joined the Black Eye Society and came into contact with the dream Dark Arts knowledge, he and Lily had never met again.
With a slight thought, Snape immediately knew that this was because Lily deliberately restrained herself to avoid interrupting his studies.
But perhaps tonight, he could put down his books and proactively find Lily, whom he hadn't seen for a long time?
During ordinary classes, the two never communicated again, not even sitting together.
Making Snape rarely feel an urgent impulse, unable to wait to see those emerald eyes gazing seriously at him again!
He indulged his weakness.
After all, Christmas is coming!
...
Night fell.
The door to the Slytherin common room opened silently, and a figure completely invisible in the night stepped out naturally.
It was just the Disillusionment Charm.
As long as Snape wanted to learn, such a spell wouldn't hinder him for long.
Previously, just to let Lily have a wonderful experience participating in night wandering, Snape deliberately bypassed this spell and didn't actively master it.
The loose black wizard robes fluttered in the darkness.
If someone could see through the effect of the Disillusionment Charm, they would find Snape like a cold and ruthless black bat, majestically patrolling his territory after nightfall.
Hurried and chaotic running sounds were heard.
Snape frowned imperceptibly, then familiarly stepped aside.
He saw the familiar Marauders sprinting in the corridor again, and Filch's angry reprimands could be heard behind them.
"..."
Snape understood speechlessly why the sand representing points in the Gryffindor House hourglass was always so scarce.
These little lions seemed to always lack a string in their brains.
They never thought about what to do if they were discovered during night wandering. They even regarded the battle of wits and courage with Filch as part of the fun. Even Professor McGonagall's scoldings and detentions couldn't stop their suicidal footsteps.
Under Snape's observation, the unaware Lupin also ran past with an excited face following the other three.
Obviously, he was gradually infected by the unique reckless style of the Lion House. While harvesting happiness, he was no longer as cautious as in the past, incidentally throwing away his brains like the others.
Watching this farce go further away indifferently—
Snape was about to move on when a soft, confused meow sounded from his feet.
His figure paused.
Snape followed the sound and saw Mrs. Norris staring blankly at his position.
Even though she couldn't see his body, she still came up and circled around Snape as if she knew him well, finally simply lying on the ground and rubbing against him.
"...Sorry, the person who fed you dried fish isn't here today."
Hesitating for a moment—
Snape stroked Mrs. Norris like Lily used to, then hesitantly took out a candy from his pocket and held it out to her.
But this recently fattened orange cat obviously wasn't interested in candy. She just sniffed it for a while and turned her head aside.
Stroking Mrs. Norris a few more times—
Before Filch arrived, Snape embarked on the path to the Gryffindor common room again.
Silently rubbing the two-way mirror hidden in his cuff; this was an alchemical item used for communication.
Before every night wandering in the past, the appointed time written by Lily would always appear on it. Tonight was the first time Snape proactively wrote on it.
When he arrived at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, Snape's footsteps paused involuntarily.
That fiery red figure was lowering her head.
Under the portrait of the Fat Lady, she was boredly kicking a stone that came from nowhere. The dim light made her usually flame-like gorgeous hair look much dimmer.
Canceling the Disillusionment Charm, Snape didn't know what to say for a moment.
In these days when the two sides had never been so distant, what was Lily doing?
Did she feel lonely? Did she make more friends? How did she explain it to others?
Did she... also resent him for drifting away?
Even knowing that the mark he left on Lily could not be erased so easily—
Various thoughts that he would have judged as foolish and ridiculous in the past still uncontrollably surfaced in his mind, making Snape hesitate to move forward.
But this stiffness didn't last too long.
Perhaps feeling the complex gaze from not far away, Lily unintentionally looked over.
The moment she saw Snape, her glistening, translucent eyes widened silently!
A thick surprise visible to the naked eye slowly spread, as if a grand and wonderful firework was blooming unreservedly within them, endowing Lily's eyes with brightness and joy!
Before Snape could continue to worry about gains and losses—
The soft and tender body rushed straight up and hugged him. The strength bursting out with longing even made Snape step back uncontrollably!
"Wah—I missed you so much, Severus!"
<><><><><><>
Read Advanced Chapters on: patreon.com/Anna_N1
~Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]