HP: Hogwarts Snake

Professor Snape is truly a typical single man.

Della, who was looking for a fruit stall in Spinner's End, couldn't help but feel sad when she thought of the furnishings in Snape's storage room. It was full of lettuce, bacon, bread slices, canned fruit and vegetable juice and some wine, with only a few poor little tomatoes using their little red to support the store.

Although there aren't many fruits in the Masons' refrigerator, they are usually small and exquisite fruits such as raspberries and blueberries, but they are frequently updated.

The Weasleys filled their storeroom with lots of fruit, mostly apples, but often they just ate big, juicy tomatoes picked from the fields by rubbing them on their bodies.

Even at the Lamp House, there was a quota of fruit for every meal, so Della was not able to adapt to Snape's eating habits at first.

So even though today was the 22nd, she still told Snape with a blushing face that she wanted to buy some fruit. Then, amid the professor's strange gaze and indifferent response, she ran out the door with the simple map provided by Snape.

It should be said that this was also Della's first time to a place like Spider's Tail Alley.

She had reached the second row of houses now, and to her left was the garbage-filled, weed-covered river, the mist rising from the water even more ominous than the steam in the Forbidden Forest swamp.

Most of the houses here are low and dilapidated, and the people here are also extreme.

Near Snape's house, everything was desolate. If it weren't for a few people opening the windows occasionally, Della would have thought it was an abandoned street.

The road we are walking on now reveals an uncomfortable chaos. There are still not many people here, but the faces of everyone who appears are either numb or angry, and occasionally there is an uncomfortable expression. The sounds of slapping flesh and crying are just fuel for this chaos.

Della never denied the existence of chaos and malice, but she had never seen it so undisguised.

If she hadn't been able to feel the gaze following her secretly as soon as she left the house, Della would have turned around and ran back to the professor's house.

In a world where magic cannot be used, she is just a little girl.

Although he still has the ability of his eyes, he obviously cannot use them in front of Snape. Fortunately, he brought Maggie out with him.

But still...it seems that practicing wandless magic should be put on the agenda.

Perhaps sensing Della's uneasiness, Maggie, hiding behind Della's black hair, gently rubbed her neck to comfort her. Della also responded gently, took a deep breath and continued forward.

Snape was not as cold as he appeared. Several times when Della felt unfriendly gazes falling on her, those gazes disappeared after a while. Perhaps the professor used some spell to confuse them.

Even so, Della felt uneasy. She was not yet able to trust and rely on others wholeheartedly.

Thinking of this, Della quickened her pace. Even though she didn't know how far she would go if she kept turning left as the professor said, as long as she could get out of here first, it would be fine.

As she walked faster, she inevitably neglected to pay attention to her surroundings. As she was passing through a gloomy alley, Della was hit by a figure that suddenly jumped out, causing her to scream in pain.

"oops!"

"I***!"

Della only heard the man who bumped into her swear a few dirty words, and then she fell to the ground with him. Before she could recover, a large shadow was cast in front of her eyes, and five or six boys who looked fifteen or sixteen years old surrounded them.

"Run, run, Leah, run again!" The tall freckled boy in the lead had a blush on his face from exercise. With a sinister look on his face, he kicked down the boy who had just stood up halfway beside Della.

"What are you doing!" Hearing the muffled groan beside her, Della, who was still sitting on the ground, raised her pale little face and questioned the freckled man who was committing violence. Her sharp tone seemed to vent out all the confusion and fear she had felt along the way, which startled everyone present.

"Pfft." I don't know who reacted first, and laughed. The others also laughed. The high and low ridicule soon drowned out Della, making her even more confused about this place.

"Little girl, what you said is really funny. There is no reason. He has money on him and I want it. That's why."

Looking at Della's exquisitely crafted dark blue dress and the crossbody bag on her body, the freckled man raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Are you lost here? Innocent little girl, if you give me the bag, I can consider taking you out."

As he spoke, the freckled man slowly bent down and reached out his hand towards Dela, as if he wanted to pinch her delicate, thin and still flustered face. However, Leah, who was stepping on him, suddenly exerted force upwards, pushed his foot hard, and while he lost his balance and everyone was in a panic to help him, she picked up Dela and ran away.

"ah!"

The feeling of being in mid-air made Della scream a little. She subconsciously put her hand on the chest of the brown-haired boy. As soon as she grabbed his clothes, she quickly withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted. Della stared in surprise at the angles on Leah's face and her short hair that kept jumping as she ran.

Curses continued to be heard from behind, but they were visibly fading away. Della thought that this must be Professor Snape's credit.

However, Leah, who was holding her, did not stop. The extra weight in his hands did not slow his movements at all. He led Della to a small lake in twists and turns and then put her down, panting.

"There is such a place here." After looking around at the clean water sources and lush flowers and plants, Della looked at Leah who was still holding onto a tree and gasping for breath, and said softly.

"Hehe, you are such a naive little girl?" Leah laughed, stood up with the help of a tree, raised her hand to smooth her sweaty hair, and her wide sleeves slid down with her movements, revealing the firm and tight muscles in her hands.

His handsome face with injuries showed a wicked smile, and he approached Della step by step, "I'm not a good person."

"Della Riddle, hello, Leah." Della raised her signature smile on her face, looked up at Leah who was two heads taller than her, and stretched out her hand.

"Um... Leah Abend," Leah curled her lips and held her hand, seeming a little dissatisfied with Della's reaction, but added, "Honestly, you should be scared."

"I think it should be, probably, Leah Abend."

"Ah...hahahaha," Hearing Della's tone, Leah leaned against the tree trunk and laughed softly. Even with such a lazy movement, her body still showed full of strength.

At the end of the laugh, Leah wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Della with a half-smile, "What a pity, I thought you fell in love with me, but it turns out you found out that I'm a girl."

"You are very handsome, and your voice is very charming. If it weren't for..." Della paused and gave Leah a look that you understand, "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Hmm..." Leah bent over the tree and raised her eyebrows at Della's obedient smiling face. Her hands moved faster than her mind and rubbed it. "Your smile is really weird. If you don't want to smile, don't smile. It's like those adults I've met."

"Hey, what are you doing!" Della raised her hands to pry Leah's big hands apart, and finally saved her face. She covered her face and glanced at her, "I really want to laugh!"

"That smile is so weird, aren't you happy?" Leah picked up a leaf beside her and started playing with it, glancing at Della.

"I," Della paused, as if she was deflated, and slowly continued her words, "It's not like I can only laugh when I'm happy."

Hearing this, Leah whistled and shrugged nonchalantly. She did not continue the topic with Della, but looked at the delicate clothes on Della and asked nonchalantly, "Where are you from? Why did you end up in Spider Alley? This is not a good place."

"I live in Spinner's End with my adoptive father," Della straightened her skirt and added after noticing Leah's momentary strange look, "He is a professor at a boarding school and only comes back to his home during long vacations."

"Oh, I thought so." Leah squinted her eyes and stretched her body, then looked at the setting sun. "I'll take you back later. Crich and the others don't dare to come here. It's haunted."

"Haunted? How?"

"Hey, huh, I really can't figure it out." Leah glanced at Della, who had only curiosity on her face, with a bit of confusion on her face. "I thought you were just naive, but I didn't expect you to be this natural."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Della didn't quite understand what Leah said.

"Nothing, don't worry about it, Della," Leah laughed again, with a hint of interest flashing in her deep brown eyes, "There's a strong wind blowing here for no reason, especially for hooligans like Krich, it's strong enough to blow them away."

"Don't worry, good kids like you and me won't be found." Leah tilted her head and smiled at Della.

"Good girl?" Della glanced at Leah who was not serious and laughed, then quickly pursed her lips and returned to normal. "Why did they rob you of your money? Is your home safe?"

"Oh, I saved up the money for the train ticket again. Maybe they targeted me when I went out to buy something a few days ago."

Leah pulled the corner of her mouth indifferently, and she showed Della the muscles in her hands, "They don't dare to come to my house at night. It's dark, and they're afraid that I'll kill them."

"Your home..." Della looked at the beautifully shaped muscles and wanted to ask something, but finally stopped talking. She just raised her head and blinked at Leah's cheeky face, "Where are you going?"

"Of course it's L-town. I won't stay here forever." Leah spotted a hint of gray in Della's black hair. She frowned and stretched out her hand to lift Della's hair to see, "What's that?"

Seeing that he could no longer hide, Maggie came out by himself. He deftly circled around Della's shoulder, then stood up with his tongue out and looked Leah in the eye.

"Wow!" Leah took two steps back suddenly, obviously frightened.

"Don't be afraid, Leah, Maggie is very docile." Della rubbed Maggie affectionately, showing her harmlessness to Leah.

"Wow, I can't believe you keep a snake as a pet," Leah said in surprise, looking up and down at Della, who seemed very weak to her, and hissed softly, "You don't look like someone who can tame a snake at all."

"Tamed? Why do you say that? Nowadays, some people keep reptiles as pets." Della tilted her head slightly as Leah looked at her from head to toe.

"No, no, that's different. Your snake is not like a pet snake. It has a kind of blood. Can you understand that?"

Leah came closer and looked at Maggie, as if she was not the one who had just retreated in fright. She even boldly stretched out her hand to Maggie. After the snake's head rubbed her palm, Leah withdrew her hand curiously.

"You're not like the snake trainers in the circus. You don't have any fierceness in you, but this snake is very smart."

"Maggie is really smart, and you are really brave."

"Hey, can you let me play with it? I quite like it." Leah looked intently at Maggie on Della's shoulder and widened the smile on her face.

"You have to ask Maggie if he's willing to play with you." Seeing the ruffian look on Leah's face disappear, Della smiled maliciously.

Leah gave Della's smiling face a look and muttered, "You look much prettier when you smile like this." Then she stretched out her hand to Maggie again, with the innocence of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old child on her face.

Maggie paused, then politely moved up along Leah's arm, circled around her neck like a show of skill, and stood up on her shoulders.

"Wow~" Leah exclaimed, opening her brown eyes wide to look at the blue-gray pattern on Maggie's body, and subconsciously raised her hand to touch Maggie's slippery snake head.

"He's more attractive than me."

Della smiled as she looked around at the bright scenery and the dry green grass under her feet. A strange sense of ease crept up her body, making her want to lie down. She did so. When she faced the blue sky above her head and the slanting branches of the big tree, Della realized that she had really lay down.

Leah also smiled and half sat next to Della, still teasing Maggie on her shoulder.

Della felt lazy and didn't want to move. She glanced at Leah's unclear figure against the light and said casually, "Do you want me to tell you about the L Dun I met?"

"Oh? Have you been there?"

“Only near the station.”

"Then tell me about it. It just so happens that I have never been to the station either."

They started chatting, and as they chatted, Leah also lay down with her hands under her head. They were aimless and talked about whatever came to their mind.

When the setting sun brought out a large patch of clouds, Leah stood up and extended her hand to Dela. The light red glow added a touch of warmth to her short brown hair.

"Come on, little girl, it's time to take you home."

When Della returned to Snape's house and faced the professor's vague sarcasm and a large bag of fruit on the table in the living room, she suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do today.

But she didn't care at all. She was only thinking about whether Professor Snape would let her go out to see Leah tomorrow.