115: Chapter 115 Snape Raises the Bargain

"Mr. Potter, your essay format is incorrect. Three points from Slytherin."

Ten minutes into Potion Class, Snape threw the parchment back onto Allen's desk, the bubbling sounds in the Dungeon instantly stifled by his words.

Draco looked up, "Professor, the publication year is not a strict requirement for second-year essays."

Snape turned to him, "Mr. Malfoy, for explaining the rules of point deduction for a classmate, another point from Slytherin."

Draco bit back the rest of his words, while Adrian Pucey in the front row swallowed the laugh he was about to let out.

Snape walked to Allen's desk, his black robes sweeping across the stone floor, "Stay after class. Everyone else is to leave immediately when class ends; anyone waiting in the corridor will also be deducted points."

Ron muttered on the Gryffindor side, "Did he eat the wrong slugs today?"

Hermione nudged him, though her gaze remained fixed on Allen.

Harry frowned. The silver shadow that had blocked the green light for him in the underground stone chamber last year emerged from the fog again. His memory was blurry, but his body remembered the danger first.

After class, Draco paused at the door.

Snape raised his eyes, "Mr. Malfoy, does your hearing require treatment?"

Draco gripped his schoolbag strap, taking one last look at Allen before leaving.

The door closed, leaving only the shadows of the brazier and the Potion cabinet in the Dungeon.

Snape stacked the assignments on the desk, "You have been excessively busy lately."

Allen stood by the student desk, "The assignments are still on time."

"I am not talking about the assignments."

Snape's wand slid from his sleeve, "The second-floor corridor, the Girls Lavatory, the portraits, reflective objects, Granger's investigation, the collective avoidance of danger by the lower-year Slytherins... Mr. Potter, how much are you prepared to tell me?"

"The whole school is talking about the Chamber of Secrets."

"The whole school is talking about it, so you are able to prepare mirrors in advance, so Malfoy and the others avoid the water stains, and so you stand outside the Girls Lavatory at dawn?"

Allen lowered his head, "I am afraid of death."

Snape stopped two steps away, "Those who are afraid of death stay far away from danger."

"I am learning."

"You are provoking me."

He raised his wand, the force of the spell striking straight at Allen's forehead. Legilimency.

The interdimensional layer opened silently, swallowing the probe into an empty wall with no entrance.

Snape saw the orphanage bed, the school platform, Potion Class notes, fragments of Draco reciting lines, Allen leaning against a wall, exhausted, and Filch shouting beside the water stains on the second floor.

It was clean—so clean that all fear had been cut away, leaving only the edges that could explain his behavior.

Snape increased his magical power; the probe became a fine hook, attempting to drag something deeper out from the blank gaps.

The layer did not resist, merely leading the hook into layers of folded space, where the end was still just white walls, old beds, textbooks, and drowsiness.

Snape retracted his wand, his expression darkening.

Allen did not retreat; his palm, hidden by his sleeve, pressed against his blackthorn wand, with Spatial Displacement ready at his wrist.

Snape stared at him, "Have you practiced Occlumency?"

"I have heard the name."

"Who taught you?"

"No one."

"Lying."

Allen looked at the desk, "If I knew it, my essay format would not be incorrect."

Snape's face tightened. Ultimately, he did not deduct more points, but instead took a list out of his drawer.

Allen Potter, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott.

Allen only scanned to his own name before withdrawing his gaze.

Snape pushed the paper forward half an inch, "Did you see clearly?"

"I only saw my own name."

"Then explain why there are traces of you or your friends near every incident related to the Chamber of Secrets."

"Because we live at school."

"Do not mistake me for Gilderoy Lockhart."

Snape slammed his hand on the desk, causing the glass bottles to rattle in unison, "The avoidance of danger before and after the cat was petrified, the route records after the incident with Finch-Fletchley, the portraits shouting when Granger was wandering at night, and last night on the second floor... give me an explanation."

Allen was silent for two beats, "Hermione is smarter than us; she found out about the Basilisk, and we were afraid, so we followed along."

"Granger told you?"

"She had paper tucked in her book; I saw it during Charms Class."

"You admit to knowing about the Basilisk?"

"Harry can hear voices in the walls, there is water on the ground, the victims were petrified, and a girl died fifty years ago. The answer is not difficult to find."

Snape stared at him, not responding for a long time.

This explanation was too perfect—perfect enough to cover up the source.

Hermione was indeed investigating, Harry could indeed speak Parseltongue, and there was indeed water on the second floor.

A smart, cautious, death-fearing student carrying a mirror and hiding on the second floor—it made sense.

But Snape did not believe it.

"You pushed Granger to the front, made Malfoy play dumb, had Nott keep records, and had Zabini inquire about the Board of Governors."

Snape's voice dropped, hovering near the firelight, "You are only in your second year. Second-year students do not live like this."

Allen looked up, "Children from orphanages do."

Snape's fingers paused on the edge of the desk.

This sentence reminded him of another person from an orphanage—smart, polite, and skilled at saying exactly what the teachers wanted to hear.

The one in front of him was quieter, and even more detestable.

"Do not use your background as a fig leaf."

Snape took back the list, "If I find out you know things you shouldn't, or that you are pushing students into danger, I will personally take you to the Headmasters Office. At that time, those clean memories of yours will not save you."

Allen lowered his eyes, "I understand."

"You had better truly understand."

Snape pulled open a drawer, "From today on, you will submit an extra Potion essay every week. I will set the topic. Late submission means point deduction, incorrect format means point deduction, and shallow content means point deduction."

"Professor, is this a punishment?"

"This is education."

Snape raised his voice, "Mr. Malfoy, eavesdropping outside the door. Two points from Slytherin."

Draco, who was outside the door, pushed it open and entered, forcing himself to maintain the dignity of the Malfoy Family, "Professor, I was just waiting for a classmate."

"Your friendship is touching. Now take him and leave."

Draco grabbed Allen's sleeve and dragged him out of the classroom.

At the corner of the corridor, Nott had already retreated to a safe distance, and Zabini poked his head out from behind a suit of armor, his face full of relief.

Draco suppressed his anger, "Did he use Legilimency on you?"

Allen nodded.

"What did he see?"

"Blankness."

Draco's shoulders relaxed for a moment, then immediately tensed up again, "He will be even more suspicious."

"He is already more suspicious."

Nott opened his small notebook, "The extra essays are a surveillance tactic. Regular contact every week, regular status checks, and it also gives him an excuse to make you stay."

Zabini added, "Professor Snape has hooked you."

Draco kicked the stone crevice by the wall, "Then what do we do? Continue to let Granger lead the way?"

Allen looked toward the top of the stairs, "Hermione will continue to investigate fifty years ago, Myrtle will reveal the location of the death, and Harry will hear the snake. We just need to obtain the patrol schedule before the diary does."

Pansy walked over from the Common Room entrance and handed him a piece of paper, "Ginny went to the second floor again this afternoon. She almost fell when she came out, and the diary in her schoolbag was exposed. Hermione saw it, but didn't follow because she was called away by Percy."

Allen finished reading and folded the paper, "Tom is speeding things up."

Draco frowned, "Why?"

"It senses that someone is approaching the entrance. Hermione found Myrtle, Snape asked about the water stains, Dumbledore will be watching the big picture from the Headmasters Office, and the Board of Governors is pressing as well."

Allen tucked the paper into his sleeve, "It needs a greater panic to push everyone in the direction it wants."

Nott wrote down 'greater panic', his pen pausing, "Who could the target be?"

Inside the Portable Space, the cracked pocket watch made a faint sound.

The tip of the void tail slid from Ginny to Hermione, then toward Harry, and finally stopped on the entrance map next to Myrtle.

The sound of water inside the walls came from afar, briefly rushing toward the second floor.

Allen looked at the group, "From now on, no one is to let Hermione go to the Girls Lavatory alone."

Draco said, "Will she listen to us?"

"No."

Allen turned around, "So don't let her find out it's us."

Zabini lowered his teacup, "Bribery for the portraits again?"

"Portraits, Filch, Percy, Gilderoy Lockhart—anyone who can block the way is useful."

Draco followed, "Does Gilderoy Lockhart even count as a person?"

Nott noted it down seriously, "To be confirmed."

In the Dungeon, Snape spread out the list again and added a line next to Allen's name.

Defense without a trace, suspected non-standard Occlumency, high level of mastery over clues regarding the Chamber of Secrets; continue surveillance.

He then wrote next to Hermione's name.

Granger is approaching the answer; needs protection, needs restriction.

Deep in the pipes above, the sound of water slid by, short and heavy.

Snape gripped his wand, "Basilisk."

Outside the Dungeon, Allen stopped at the stairs and looked up toward the second floor, the drowsiness fading from his face.

Inside the Portable Space, the golden patterns on the north side lit up completely, the void slid along the ground, silver eyes locked onto the pipe map, and the blue light of the cracked pocket watch stretched into a straight line, pointing to the area beneath the Girls Lavatory.

Peter in the cage covered his ears and curled into a ball; the silence spell sealed his mouth, but could not stop him from trembling.

Allen tightened his sleeve, "Next time, it won't just be a patrol."