Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 41 The Chess Piece House on the Mountain Top
Severus and his group's plan to head directly north to Wales, then detour through Birmingham, and finally reach the Cotswolds fell through.

Having only recently arrived in Gloucestershire, Severus, being cautious, bought a British transport map from a newsstand, and then discovered...

If they wanted to find the editor who would agree to publish Wolpe's masterpiece, they should head southwest of Bristol, to Devon, not northeast to Gloucestershire.

Fortunately, they didn't waste much of the journey. After realizing they were going the wrong way, Severus immediately turned the carriage around and returned along the original route.

Immediately afterwards, they passed by a group of police cars with sirens blaring.

Severus did not see Kingsley sitting in the back with the police chief, nor did Kingsley see who the driver of the station wagon was.

The two cars passed each other, and at their closest point, they were less than 9 feet apart!

However, after they passed by, only Harry curiously turned back to look at the group of police cars.

"Is it possible that these police officers are here to arrest us?" he wondered.

The girl in the back row, who was holding Patty, kept shaking her head.

"Don't say such unlucky words!"

Severus used his wand to tune the car radio to the wizarding radio channel, where a wizard named Wigwarts, who claimed to be an employee of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Law Enforcement and a legal columnist for the Daily Prophet, was rattling off the various charges Severus would face if caught.

Severus, who was involved in the incident, listened with great interest, while Harry, bored, knelt on the passenger seat and turned to look at Bloody as he carefully helped Patty in his arms to fix her long hair.

"You've fallen in love with her, haven't you, Bloodny?" Harry asked curiously.

Harry, being a child, spoke without thinking. When Bloodny was suddenly asked this question, his originally pale face instantly turned red.

He stammered.

"We...we are friends, very, very good friends."

Wolpe, who was scratching his head with a quill pen, glanced at him sideways and said sarcastically.

"So you were friends? I thought your only way of treating friends was to keep borrowing money from them!"

“If you become destitute and homeless, I will borrow money from Patty to support you, Elder,” Bloodny said earnestly.

Volpe yelled.

"What right do you have to talk about Dudley like that! Don't say such unlucky things to me. I will never be poor and homeless!"

"That's terrible, Eld! If that happens, you'll be a creditor to Bloodny for the rest of your life!" Severus laughed loudly, gripping the steering wheel with one hand.

Bloody was so uncomfortable by their teasing that he looked down at Patty's Sleeping Beauty-like face and couldn't help but hug her tighter.

"I will get better, and so will she. We will both have a very, very good future."

“A bright future requires us to take steps to reach it.” Severus opened the sunroof of the van. “Don’t be too nervous, Bloodny. Now listen to me. Although it’s a bit unsafe, vampires are different from ordinary people. You’ll be fine. Put Patty down for now, then stand up, open your arms and shout what you want to shout, okay?”

Bloody shook his head awkwardly; he had clearly never vented like this before.

First, he encountered Patty, then he conspired with Wolpe to steal Patty, which escalated into a major incident, and finally, he was captured by Severus and they began to flee together. This kept the already timid vampire in a state of constant tension.

He hasn't slept well for several nights in a row, not just last night.

“Come on! Stand up, Bloodny! You need to vent!” Harry encouraged him.

By this time, Volpe had already helped him straighten Patty from his arms.

"Hurry up, you still owe me a ton of money! Don't let the pressure drive you crazy! Stand up, shout it out, say whatever you want! Curse whoever you want! Like whoever you want!"

Urged on by them, Xue Ni finally stood up hesitantly.

This station wagon originally didn't have a sunroof. The glass sunroof on it was something Severus secretly modified after arriving at the hotel last night. If Arthur saw it, he might even excitedly share his thoughts with him.

As he leaned his upper body out of the car, the strong winds sweeping backward constantly blew up Xue Ni's curly black hair, making it difficult for him to open his eyes.

But then he noticed that the sky was an extraordinary blue! The tall fir trees on both sides of the road swayed in the wind, as if the whole world was surrounding him!
He breathed in that fresh air and instinctively opened his arms, letting the cheerful, leaping air flow through his body.

Xue Ni did not hurl insults, nor did she confess her feelings to anyone.

He relaxed and enjoyed the freedom of the moment, then shouted loudly.

"ah-----"

After exhaling all the air from his lungs, he took another deep breath and exhaled again!

When passing cars lean out and yell at him that he's crazy, Volpe will retort and defend his friend.

Blood Nymph kept shouting like that for a very long time, until finally, with tears streaming down his face, he sat back in the car.

He was greeted by cheers from Harry, Wolpe, and Severus!

Around 1 p.m., they had driven more than 70 miles.

We arrived in Devon, on the banks of the River Otter, at a village called Otter-Saint-Catchpol.

This is not just a Muggle village; it is home to several wizarding families, including Diggory, Fawcett, Weasley, and Lovegood.

When he arrived, Severus deliberately avoided the road on the south side of the village.

Because there's a crooked little house there called the Burrow, where the Weasleys stayed when George Fred invited Harry to visit.

Their destination was easy to find; it was on a mountain in Autri-San Cachipol.

At the top of the mountain stands a strangely shaped cylindrical house pointing straight to the sky, with a huge, black, ghostly moon hanging behind it. The whole structure looks like a giant chess piece!

They parked the car on the side of the road, and Severus led Harry and the others out of the car. They didn't leave Patty behind either, and she was still carried by Bloody.

“Mr. Snape, this friend you mentioned, his, his relationship with you.” As he approached the door, Wolpe became nervous, and like Henney, he began to stammer.

Severus patted him on the shoulder to reassure him.

"Believe me, let's put aside our relationship for now. As long as we tell him the truth and hand over what you wrote, he'll dare to report it, even if it's something outrageous! And there won't be any embellishment."

Seeing Severus's confident words, Volpe nodded in agreement, his worries subsiding.

As they approached the house, they could see three hand-painted signs nailed to the gate.

[Editor-in-Chief of Quibbles: X. Lovegood]

Please choose a bunch of mistletoe yourself.

【Don't touch the airship Li】

"Singing a different tune?!" Volpe stared in surprise.

Harry looked at the incomprehensible signs and then looked up at the even stranger house. He thought the occupant must be a strange wizard like those in children's stories.

At this moment, Severus had already pushed open the courtyard gate and led them through a courtyard full of all sorts of strange plants, with two old crabapple trees bent by the wind guarding the front gate on either side.

He reached out and knocked heavily on the heavy black door, which was studded with iron nails and had an eagle-shaped door knocker.

About four or five seconds later, the door was opened from the inside.

Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of Quibbles, stood behind the door with long, messy, cotton-candy-like white hair and wearing a sloppy set of pajamas.

When he saw who these people were, he was stunned.

Behind Lovegood, a little girl with light blonde hair, about the same age as Harry, peeked over.

(End of this chapter)