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It was getting late, and he had promised Huang Xi he would take her out for a late-night snack.

Not far from the principal's office, Zicomo bumped into Karkaroff and Snape at a corner.

At that moment, Karkaroff was excitedly showing Snape the Dark Mark on his arm.

He exclaimed excitedly, "This is a signal, Severus! You and I both know what this means!"

Zicomo's footsteps drew the attention of the two men.

Upon noticing that the two men had spotted him, Zicomo greeted them, "Hey! You two, showing off your tattoos?"

However, Karkaroff ignored Zikomo's witty remark.

He pulled down his sleeves and left without saying a word.

Snape asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zicomo said, "Harry dragged me to the headmaster's office, where he found out that Mr. Crouch had died in the Forbidden Forest."

Snape remarked sarcastically, "Ha, he's still as nosy as ever."

He decided that he must never let Lillian have any contact with Harry again, lest she pick up all of Harry's bad habits.

Just then, Harry's voice suddenly came from behind Snape: "Professor, it's not a good habit to talk badly about others behind their backs."

Snape was somewhat embarrassed when he was caught red-handed talking badly about someone behind their back.

He changed the subject, saying, "Congratulations on your excellent performance at Black Lake. Gill-filled grass, right?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes."

"A good idea. Those are rare medicinal herbs that ordinary people can't get their hands on."

Before Harry could speak, Snape continued, "But that's no excuse for you to steal from my private storeroom."

Harry thought to himself, "I knew Snape praising me was never a good thing."

Meanwhile, Harry was also surprised by Neville.

He hadn't expected Neville, who was usually quite timid, to be so bold this time, daring to steal from Snape's inventory.

Thinking of this, Harry felt a little moved and decided to take the blame for Neville.

He said to Snape, "I'm sorry, Professor."

After receiving Harry's apology, Snape's expression softened considerably.

“The gill grass is harmless,” Snape said.

After all, ever since he learned about Zicomo's "Zen Garden," he has never lacked herbs.

"But African tree snake skin, and lacewings—you're not going to be mixing compound decoctions with your friends again, are you?"

As he spoke, Snape looked at Zicomo.

He knew that Harry had stolen these things last time to use them to make Polyjuice Potion for Hermione.

Zicomo shrugged and said, "It has nothing to do with Hermione. She stopped using such low-level formulas a long time ago."

Snape knew that Zicomo had no reason to lie to him.

Besides, given Zicomo's wealth, Hermione wouldn't need to steal materials from him.

He turned to Harry and asked, "Is that you and that Weasley kid?"

Harry shook his head and said, "I really didn't steal this!"

Snape looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Really?"

Harry nodded firmly and said, "Really!"

Snape frowned. If it wasn't Harry who stole it, then did that mean there was someone else at Hogwarts stealing his things?

He waved his hand and said, "Alright, it's curfew now, you should go back."

Seeing Snape telling them to leave, Harry, filled with curiosity about who had stolen Snape's things, left.

After Harry left, Snape asked Zicomo, "Who do you think stole my things?"

Instead of answering directly, Zicomo asked in return, "Guess what 'Moody' drinks every day?"

Snape's eyes widened as he asked, "You mean he drank Polyjuice Potion? And 'Moody' was a person in disguise?"

Zicomo nodded: "Hmm, I could tell from the first day of school that 'Moody' was made by Barty Jr. [The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentences.]"

Snape frowned and asked, "But what about Barty Jr.? What about...?"

Zicomo countered, "Have you heard the news of his recapture? He was most likely bailed out by old Crouch, but he escaped again."

Snape thought it was highly likely that Zicomo was right.

If that's the case, then old Crouch is quite pitiful. He went to great lengths to protect his son, only to be killed by his own son in the end.

Snape then asked, "Then why don't you expose him?"

Zicomo waved his hand and said, "Why would I expose him? It wouldn't do me any good. Besides, if I expose him now, how am I going to draw out the person behind him?"

Only after Zicomo's reminder did Snape realize that Barty Jr. was...

This was also someone he had once served—Voldemort.

Snape asked, "So you're planning to take action against that person?"

If that's the case, then he has nothing to worry about.

With Zicomo's strength, taking down a Dark Lord would be a piece of cake.

Zicomo nodded and said, "Hermione has made great progress recently. I plan to find her a sparring partner to hone her combat skills."

Snape had a look on his face that said, "Are you kidding me?"

He said, "Are you sure she can handle Voldemort?"

Zicomo said nonchalantly, "How do you know if something will work if you don't try it? Besides, I'm here to back you up."

Snape thought so too; given how much Zicomo valued Hermione, he couldn't possibly let Hermione get into danger.

Chapter 231 "Hogwarts is the safest place in the entire wizarding world"

After learning that Zicomo was plotting something, Snape decided to ignore the matter.

He suddenly remembered what Zicomo had told him a while ago about turning Muggles into wizards.

He had already made preparations for this matter, but unfortunately, last winter in England was always snowy.

There were hardly any stars in sight, and even clear skies were rare.

So the matter was left unresolved.

It's springtime now, the weather outside is nice, and it's a night with a galaxy of stars.

Snape asked Zicomo, "By the way, I've made preparations for converting the soul into Sourcestone. What do you think of the weather tonight? Is it suitable for the conversion ritual?"

Zicomo walked to the window and looked at the night sky outside. Countless stars hung high in the sky, forming a Milky Way.

Zicomo withdrew his gaze and turned to say, "Sure, why don't you... invite Leah along?"

Snape asked, "Won't this take up too much time?"

He had already told Leah about this, and Leah, worried about his safety, suggested that she wanted to be present during the ceremony.

However, Snape was worried about something going wrong and did not agree immediately.

Zicomo nodded and said, "Of course, it's just a matter of taking a knife. If all goes well, we can also convert Leah along with her."

Snape was speechless. Although it was true that he had been stabbed, the problem was that the stab was aimed at his heart!

Don't speak so casually, as if you're just lightly cutting your finger with a knife!

Snape wanted to complain, but that didn't fit his character.

He said, "Okay, I'll go back and bring her over."

Zicomo said, "I'll be waiting for you on the open-air balcony on the west side of the castle."

Snape nodded and walked out of the castle.

Hogwarts has a spell that prevents Apparition, so he can only Apparate home from outside the school.

Zicomo watched Snape leave, then turned to Huang Xi on his shoulder and said, "Sorry, you might have to wait a while for the midnight snack."

Strangely enough, neither Harry nor Snape asked about the origin of the Phoenix Light on Zicomo's shoulder.

Perhaps they've become so used to the magical creatures that always perch on Zicomo's shoulder.

Huang Xi replied, "It's alright, you go ahead and do your work."

She wasn't actually hungry; she only said she wanted to eat because she hadn't tasted human food in a long time and wanted to satisfy her craving.

Zicomo said, "Okay, let's go call Hermione and Lani, and we'll go get some late-night snacks together later."

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was already dozing off from waiting.

Lani was still quite energetic, after all, she often stayed up late to look at the moon, but she was also getting a little bored while waiting.

They didn't expect that after Zicomo was dragged away by Harry, he wouldn't return until curfew.