HP: For a better world

"...!"

"--Stop right there." Snape crossed his legs and put them on his knees, with a newspaper half-opened and placed on his legs. He sat on a chair diagonally opposite the door and called out to Winster, who was trying to sneak away and pretend that he had never appeared, without even looking up.

Winster, who was tiptoeing with his back to Snape, stopped, stood up quickly, coughed, and turned into a serious expression.

"Did you go to the banquet at noon?" Snape's low voice came from the living room.

"...Yes...?" Winston answered hesitantly, turned around and began to walk back to Snape step by step.

It was like he had never left.

"Should I thank you for leaving me breakfast before you left?"

Snape looked up from the newspaper. His brows had been furrowed since he saw the Daily Prophet on the table today.

"…Is this what I should do…?" Winster answered tentatively.

His eyes dropped down to the same copy of the Daily Prophet that Winster was holding behind his back.

He could know it earlier than people like him who are involved! Snape looked at Winster's completely innocent blue eyes blinking at him, but Snape knew that he couldn't just look at Winster's deceptive face - last time, he had such a face and a sad expression, and he got into trouble and got involved in the Dark Lord's affairs, so that Dumbledore suspected that there were still sequelae.

A little closer, he used this face of a good student to suddenly leave the team when fighting against the werewolves and fell into the danger of transforming into a wolf.

He still hasn't learned his lesson this time. He dares to approach Malfoy even though he knows he has bad intentions. Does he think that Malfoy is a good person just because he smiles shamelessly?

Maybe it was because he thought everything was alright because he hadn’t had any trouble with leaving the team!

Snape sneered suddenly, closed the newspaper and rolled it into a small tube with anger. He held it in the air for a moment before throwing it aside as if giving up.

Winster was silent for a moment - he immediately tried to change the subject.

"Speaking of which, I just happen to have something I want to discuss with you, teacher--" Winster smiled politely.

Snape took a deep breath, suppressed his anger and squeezed out a word from between his teeth: "Speak!"

Winster secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stated his plan: "I want to make the potion formula public after the experiment is completed."

Snape's anger paused for a moment and he narrowed his eyes. The words on his lips paused slightly, and doubts flowed out smoothly. He chewed on the word: "--Disclose the formula? What do you want to do? If you want to show your success in werewolf-related potions, you have done it."

He said this expressionlessly, deliberately not thinking about what benefits revealing the formula would bring to these werewolves.

"That's not enough, teacher -" Winster said ambitiously. He stretched out his hand to Snape excitedly: "I racked my brains to reduce costs just for promotion, teacher -"

For the first time, Winston completely confided his inner thoughts to Snape, and described the blueprint he had described to Lucius to Snape again, "...after the formula is made public, he will cooperate with me only because of the remaining cost of Scamander and the patent -"

His cheeks were slightly red, and his fair face was full of excitement. According to the plan, he would explain to Snape the benefits of this series of plans, and persuade Snape to accept him and provide him with help.

But he paused, torn between following the plan and obeying his heart.

Snape, who treated him sincerely and genuinely, had become someone Winston was willing to trust... He didn't want to hide anything from Snape anymore - if he asked.

But anyone who can analyze rationally after hearing these words will immediately see how this plan, this idea can help the werewolf group - or in other words... win it over.

This is what Lucius ignored because he didn't dare to think about it. Or maybe it was because the pie had hit him so hard that he completely ignored the danger hidden underneath.

Apart from anything else, even if Voldemort came back and saw Malfoy doing this, he would be afraid of him, not to mention Dumbledore who is now keeping an eye on the British wizarding world.

Snape stared at Winster intently, and for the first time Winster looked back at him without fear.

After a while, Snape looked away and whispered, "You are trying to control the werewolf."

He spoke quickly: "Do you know who was the last person who wanted to control a werewolf?" His voice became more and more intense, and by the end he was almost spitting out of his throat:

"—It's You-Know-Who! It's the Dark Lord!! It's Voldemort—!!!"

magic.

He fell silent all of a sudden. The fear that had been engraved in his bones for a long time made him bite the name and swallow it back when he blurted it out.

There was a moment of silence before he continued, "He controlled them, as well as many more dark magic creatures, forming his reign of terror..."

"You want to help the werewolves and improve their status... That's what the Dark Lord promised them."

Snape sneered, and lowered his voice, "What would Dumbledore think?" He asked, "Have you ever thought about it!"

"After the Dark Lord fell, Slytherin was walking on a precarious balance beam! Slytherin is home to many dark wizards. Do you think this is all compliments? When it comes to dark wizards, they say it was done by Slytherin. No one thinks there is a problem! This is the reputation of Slytherin." Snape hissed.

Winster couldn't help but lower his voice: "Of course I have thought about it - so we can let Dumbledore's people participate - so that he won't suspect us..." Winster suggested.

"We can also borrow Dumbledore's reputation. People will believe me."

"…What do you want to do?" Snape squeezed out the words from between his teeth.

"Isn't it good to change Slytherin's current reputation?" Winston said, covering the scar on his shoulder blade, and said in a low voice: "...Because I have been hurt by werewolves and almost became one of them, so I want to change all this..." He stared at Snape with burning eyes, "I want to change the status of werewolves...let them break free from the margins of society and no longer have to be hated."

Then, Winster lowered his gaze and said calmly, "Since I woke up, I often wondered what would happen if I turned into a werewolf."

He spoke slowly, looking at Snape: "My future will collapse, my ideals will die, and everything in my life will come to a dead end... I have no parents, no family, no relatives... nothing, no one will come to support me."

He said quietly, "I am very grateful that you did not stop my gamble...Teacher."

"Without that gamble... maybe I would still be alive, maybe I wouldn't die from such a large amount of blood loss. But my life would be ruined. I'm not sure that a werewolf student with his identity exposed can survive in the wizarding world." He said, "My student status would be cancelled. Without the orphanage to take me in, where would I go? Would Hogwarts confiscate my wand? Or break it."

"No..." Snape managed to find his voice again, "Hogwarts will not break your wand or confiscate it. There is no such law!"

"Really?" Winston said softly, "That's great.

He was silent for a while, then continued the previous topic as if nothing had happened, "I can make further concessions and give up holding Lupin accountable. Isn't he one of Dumbledore's most trusted men? Then let him get involved and set an example for all werewolves to accept our help. In this way, there will surely be more werewolf wizards willing to join us and reveal their identities."

Snape, who was weak, stood up again when he heard the name of "old friend". He sneered: "Are you a madman or a saint, White? I never knew you were so tolerant, enough to release this kindness to forgive someone who hurt you -" He said aggressively: "Doesn't the wound on your shoulder hurt?"

He stared at Winston with a lightning-like gaze and forced him to recall the pain of being bitten.

Winster instantly recalled the pain of dying and all the reluctance he felt.

"Of course," Winster gritted his teeth, the bloody smell of that night seemed to float through his teeth from his memory again, "Of course it hurts!"

He raised his head suddenly, "But if I want to achieve something, I must give up something!" Winster's tone suddenly turned cold, and his voice was almost whispering: "As long as I can achieve my goal, I can give up everything, because I don't have anything in the first place - I can give up this pain, as long as he can make Dumbledore believe that I have no desire to control werewolves."

"You never had such a strong desire to change before." Snape said word by word, "You just want fame, want to be remembered by your name. Tell me why, what prompted your desire to change immediately."

There was an awful silence for Winster.

"Hmm?" Snape snorted in doubt. "Why are you hesitating? If you want me to help you, you have to tell me why. You can't convince me by saying that you made the decision because you sympathize with the werewolves."

"Okay..." Winster took a breath and said with courage, "I'm not sure...it's just a feeling - you can't scold me!" he demanded immediately.

Snape figured out something was wrong: "...Okay, I won't scold you." He narrowed his eyes and made a promise in a long voice.

Winster then slowly took out his wand and explained, "...when he taught me the Patronus Charm," he omitted the name, "he once told me that a firm ambition can also cast a Patronus. This is why the Patronus Charm was difficult a long time ago. At that time, all those who learned the Patronus Charm were great wizards with noble careers."

Snape said calmly: "And then?"

Winster rubbed his toes: "Then I tried it."

"Just for a moment!" Winster tried to measure the distance. "I tried it because I had this feeling!"

Snape didn't care, Snape remained calm.

He should have realized long ago that his student was a character who appeared to be a human being on the surface, but was actually a Potter behind the scenes.

"You should know that you can't use spells during this period."

Winster lowered his head in guilt.

I listened to Snape's scolding in an eerily calm tone.

Looking at Winster, he seemed to be just making perfunctory responses with a few "hmm"s.

Snape sighed silently and leaned back. He leaned back in his chair, picked up a piece of black tea that was placed next to him while he was reading the newspaper, and took a sip.

The tea is a little cold.

"Tell me what happened."

"It was a feeling... an indescribable feeling... that made me sure I was right—"

Winster stretched out his wand and softly chanted the Patronus Charm.

He didn't seem very excited, nor did he seem to be concentrating on recalling happy memories. It was just a light, ordinary thought.

...the wolf...the black wolf--Snape had seen it once in the Forbidden Forest, in the moonlit hours when he was filled with fear.

It was now silver-white. It leaped out from the tip of Winster's staff, light and agile, with wisdom in its eyes. It closed its wolf mouth tightly and did not speak. Its larger body than ordinary wolf beasts seemed to be reflected in this spell, almost half the height of Winster.

As if to tell Winster that it was not an illusion, its beautiful fur was like silver satin, attracting the two men's eyes to linger. It glowed slightly, and seemed to dim the surroundings in the bright daylight.

But the beautiful elf only circled the room once before jumping into Winster's wand and disappearing.

Snape was a little speechless. He opened his mouth and said, "...What is this?"

"My patronus," Winster replied, "Do you remember the white wolf I asked you about? Maybe it wasn't an illusion. When I was dying, I promised it that I would change the world. I'll start from now."

"teacher,"

Snape stood quietly, wondering what he was thinking.

In this atmosphere, Winston's voice rang out clearly, "Go and convince Dumbledore for me."

Winster's voice became more earnest, with a smile on his lips and hope in his eyes. That was the look that flashed in Snape's eyes when he was obsessed with power:

"Convince him for me, make him agree to my plan and join us...for a better world."