HP: For a better world

"Professor! Professor!" Malfoy rushed in, his pale face flushed with excitement.

"Calm down, Malfoy, if you want to sing with the mermaids, you should go to the bottom of the Black Lake to participate in their sacrifice, instead of breaking into your poor dean's office and yelling at him on the weekend - I don't think your father would teach you that." Snape said, putting down the quill he was writing with, and instructing Winston, who was sitting nearby brewing potions, to mark his papers for him.

Selwyn and Marcus are here too.

They were doing detention in the office for playing Dementors at a Quidditch match.

Although they both seemed to wish they were as far away from each other as possible, Snape had the evil idea of ​​having them sit together to work on the potion ingredients.

It was at this moment that Malfoy broke in.

He looked like he had just gone through intense exercise, with grass leaves still stained on the wet corners of his trousers. His chest was heaving violently as he tried to calm his breathing.

"You'll never imagine what I saw in Hogsmeade!" Malfoy might have really run all the way back. He took a hard breath and spoke impatiently.

Snape uttered an ambiguous "oh".

"What did you see?"

"Potter! Head!" He spat out the two key phrases, as if he had eaten a feast at once, "-I saw Potter's head in Hogsmeade!"

Snape's eyes suddenly lit up as if he had heard some good news, but then he reacted and his face darkened instantly.

"…You mean Hogsmeade? The empty head of our stupid, arrogant Mr. Potter showed up in Hogsmeade?"

His voice was low and deep, like a thread brushing against Draco's ears. He shuddered, knowing that Snape was angry, but he immediately became more excited.

"Yes, sir." He suppressed his desire to watch Potter's excitement and answered in a reserved tone, "I think my eyes are not so blind as to fail to recognize Scarhead - sir, right in Hogsmeade, I bet he must have used some kind of invisibility prop."

He then recounted the story of how he was pelted with mud by a half-Potter head in Hogsmeade.

Snape listened as quietly as a statue.

"Heh." After hearing this, Snape sneered from his throat, "Well done, Draco, five points for your helpfulness." He seemed to squeeze out the sound from between his teeth, "Let me see, let me see...how our great savior ignored the hard work of others, sneaked out and showed off his abilities!"

As he spoke, there was a hint of blue-black in Snape's eyes.

During this time, he was not only checking Lupin, but also checking Black who broke into the school.

He also had to attend classes, brew potions, and mark exams - he hardly had any free time.

"Winster, keep an eye on these two idiots, don't let them waste all the potion ingredients!" Snape said coldly, "I'll go and see Harry Potter - he is cut from the same cloth as his father!"

The portrait slammed the door shut.

……

Snape kept his furious expression and walked through the hall, kitchen, and stairs. The students who passed by him were so frightened that they trembled and crawled to the side to make way for him.

I was afraid that if I was a step slower, he would find fault with me and deduct some points.

But the further Snape walked, the calmer his expression became. He strolled along the fourth floor until he came to the statue of the one-eyed witch—just in time to run into Potter, who was suppressing his panic.

He gave a grim laugh.

"Potter." Snape appeared behind Harry like a ghost, and his voice slipped into Harry's ears as lightly and slidably as a snake.

Harry shuddered uncontrollably and quickly put his hands in his pockets. After a few seconds, he turned around as if he had just reacted and shouted calmly, "Professor Snape."

Harry's face was covered with thin beads of cold sweat, and he tried his best to maintain his calmness. He accepted Snape's scrutiny and tried not to look guilty.

Snape's eyes roamed his face, but he said nothing.

It felt like a century had passed before Harry was about to run away. He spoke.

"What a coincidence, Potter," Snape said softly. "I have just heard a strange story."

Harry's eyes were flustered for a moment but he quickly regained his composure. "What story?"

"Mr. Malfoy told me." Snape began to walk around him. Harry followed him cautiously, rubbing the mud on his hands into his pockets, and then secretly stretched out his hand to walk behind his back, pretending that he was hiding something.

"I'm not interested in Malfoy's story," he said clearly.

"It's okay. I'm very interested."

Snape circled around him, as if trying to find some flaw in him.

"Listen, Potter, I have a big question - you know there was a head floating in the air in Hogsmeade - guess whose head it was?"

Harry didn't dare to speak, for fear that he would be caught somewhere.

"Your head, Potter."

It seemed that she was too lazy to go around in circles with him in the corridor like an idiot.

Snape paused and spoke softly, his eyes fixed on Harry.

"What? I've never been to Hogsmeade -" said Harry quickly, stopping as he did.

"Oh, really? Then what is this--" He said it in a split second, taking advantage of the moment when Harry stopped and relaxed, Snape made a lightning move, grabbed Harry's hand behind his back, pulled it out forcefully, and turned out his palm.

"What are you doing?" Harry perfectly pretended to be confused, and also showed some dissatisfaction with being suddenly pulled.

Snape's face turned pale.

Harry's palms were clean, with only some mud between his fingers. However, that was because he had just touched something, so there was some residue between his fingers, which was considered "clean" within the normal range.

"See, it's nothing." Harry said, and couldn't help but smile. This wave is called prediction.

Snape caught a glimpse of his smile and sneered. He suddenly reached into Harry's robes and, before he could stop him, pulled out a folded parchment from his pocket.

Fortunately, Harry didn't buy anything from Zonko. "It's just a blank piece of parchment. Give it back to me," he said, struggling to free himself from Snape's grip.

Snape held the parchment and no longer cared about Harry's attempts to free his hands.

"A piece of parchment?" Snape whispered, his eyes moving from Harry's face to the parchment. "I'm afraid this parchment looks familiar to me -"

He extended his wand, pointed at the parchment and read.

“The true form is revealed.”

Harry's heart tightened.

But the parchment did not move.

"True form revealed," Snape repeated, a little more forcefully.

The parchment still did not move.

Harry's heart suddenly rose to his throat.

Snape's dark eyes twinkled, and he whispered, "One last try, if it doesn't work we can just burn it - it's just a blank piece of parchment anyway, Potter."

"Don't--" Harry stopped him immediately, and even impulsively wanted to rush forward and snatch the parchment.

But Snape snorted with pleasure, his eyes flashing with malice, and he just raised his hand slightly to avoid Harry's action as if he had expected it.

"Potter, why are you so excited - like you said, it's just a blank piece of parchment." He raised his voice. "I have plenty more in my office if you need them."

Harry couldn't refute it at all. He couldn't really rush over to grab the parchment back, because that would prove the fact that he had sneaked away.

He also had to lure Black to find him, instead of sneaking into the school and attacking innocent students - Ron was scared and supported him, which was why he was here.

Harry suppressed his anger, withdrew his hand, and replied stiffly: "Thank you for your generosity, sir. I really hope to see your kindness on my paper as well."

But when Harry put down his hands and turned his head away angrily without looking at Snape, the corners of Snape's mouth quickly rose, and he seemed to realize that he was too happy and quickly flattened his mouth corners.

"In the name of Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, I command you to reveal your true form."

To Harry's despair, words were actually beginning to appear on the parchment.

[…Mr. Moony greets Professor Snape, expresses surprise at his becoming a professor, and asks him to stop sticking his abnormally large nose into other people's business.]

……

"What are you writing?" Draco leaned over and tried to take a look at the letter Winster was writing.

"A verbal message." Winster moved sideways to block Draco's sight, with a hint of displeasure, "Don't move, Malfoy, I want you to know that I'm writing something private, and this is not something you should read."

Malfoy's head, which was about to come forward, retracted. He suppressed his restless heart that was waiting to see Potter's excitement, and sat back obediently, watching Marcus and Selwyn deal with the bubble pod with reluctance.

Peel one and cut the other.

"Lalo," Winster called, and the house-elf plopped down beside the desk and handed the letter over. "Take this letter to our old friend, and then come back and help me watch over them both."

Winster pointed at the two bumbling fools.

Lalo nodded loudly, reached out to take the letter, and disappeared with a snap.

"Who is it for?" After the elf left, Draco came closer persistently.

Winster rolled his eyes at him and continued correcting his homework without paying any attention to him.

Draco could only sit back in disappointment, hoping that Snape would bring Potter over to scold him.

He was willing to testify to that, even though it didn't look like Potter had sneaked out to play at the time.

Harry held his breath and continued to look down. The writing had not disappeared.

[Prongs laughs, wondering if Professor Snape's slicked-back hair would be a hit with the students, and expresses his difficulty imagining what he would look like in class]

Harry glanced at Snape fearfully - he was indeed very greasy.

Snape was in no mood to glare at him. He tightly grasped the parchment that still had words on it, as if he wanted to stare a hole in it.

[Padfoot gets on Prongs' back and says in all seriousness that maybe he's planning on teaching the students the Fire Charm, and that his slicked-back hair would be a good complement to that, and that his big nose might be the new generation's wand.]

Harry began to back away stealthily, praying madly in his mind that Snape wouldn't notice - but it was too late.

[Wormtail was kind-hearted and wanted to help Professor Snape refute it, but after thinking for a long time, he found that there seemed to be nothing he could refute, so he could only say to Professor Snape...]

Snape crumpled the parchment angrily and raised his flaming eyes to stare at Harry.

"I think you need more explanation, Mr. Potter -"

Harry stepped back just far enough to see the last two lines, and suddenly he felt hopeless.

"If I say this is just a prank toy... would you believe it?" Harry groaned with difficulty, his ears buzzing as if he heard footsteps approaching.