After HP shared the dream, Lao Fu was conquered by me

“But that doesn’t mean anything,” Lamia said.

"No, that means too much. It means Snape might be a Death Eater," Ron said loudly. "Even if he is your head of house, it doesn't prove that he is a good person. There are too many bad people in Slytherin..."

"Ron! Shut up!" Hermione quickly covered Ron's mouth, and he also realized how inappropriate what he said was.

"That's not what I meant, Lamia. Snape is far too suspicious."

"If that's the case, then there's no doubt that Snape was exactly what you thought he was." Sirius said disdainfully, very pleased with the expressions of the children. "But he's not like that now. He's now—turned over a new leaf."

Sirius drew out his words deliberately.

Although Lamia didn't know what Sirius was thinking, she could tell from his words that he must dislike Snape very much.

"Ron, no one cares what you say, Dumbledore believes Snape—"

"So what, Hermione," Ron said impatiently, "Everyone knows how great and clever Dumbledore is, but he could be deceived by evil and cunning dark wizards. That's why we need to help him correct his mistakes."

"Then please explain to me why Snape didn't just kill Harry in the first year, but saved him instead."

"I don't know, but this is Hogwarts. Snape might be afraid that Dumbledore will find out and drive him away."

"Well, well, you both have a point," Sirius said, looking thoughtfully at Ron and Hermione, "Ever since I heard Snape was teaching here, I've been wondering why Dumbledore hired him.

Snape had always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, and he was famous for it at school, as a slick, polished, and unctuous little boy," Sirius added.

"When Snape first arrived at the school, he knew more spells than half the seventh year students, and he was a member of a Slytherin gang, and almost all of that gang later became Death Eaters."

Sirius raised his hand and began counting off names on his fingers.

"I'm leaving first." Lamia didn't want to listen to these people anymore. It was all nonsense. She thought she could hear something useful here.

"Don't go, Lamia, we still have to tell Sirius and the others about Karkaroff." Harry became anxious when he heard Lamia was leaving and said hurriedly.

Lamia glanced at Sirius, who had a guilty expression on his face. He took a bite of bread awkwardly and turned his head away deliberately.

"I think Snape and Karkaroff are very familiar with each other, and he doesn't want others to know it," said Ron.

"That's right. You didn't see Karkaroff's expression yesterday," Harry said quickly. "Karkaroff wanted to talk to Snape. He said Snape had been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked very anxious. He showed Snape something on his arm. I couldn't see what it was."

"He showed Snape something on his arm?" said Sirius, looking very confused.

"It's a tattoo," Lamia added.

He absentmindedly ran his fingers through his dirty hair, then shrugged. "I don't know exactly what it is, but if Karkaroff gets really worried and goes to Snape for advice..."

Sirius stared at the rock wall, then made a frustrated face.

"But Dumbledore believed in Snape. Sometimes Dumbledore believes in people whom many others do not believe. But I think that if Snape had ever worked for Voldemort, Dumbledore would never have allowed him to teach at Hogwarts."

"Then why were Moody and Crouch so eager to break into Snape's office?" Ron asked stubbornly.

"I imagine," drawled Sirius, "that when Mad-Eye came into Hogwarts he probably searched every teacher's office.

Moody took his Defense Against the Dark Arts class very seriously. He probably didn't trust anyone. After witnessing so many things, it was not surprising that he did so.

However, I have to say a fair word for Moody. He never kills innocent people as long as it can be avoided. He always tries to capture people alive as much as possible.

He was gruff, but he never stooped to the level of a Death Eater, and Crouch... he was completely different... Was he really ill? If so, why had he struggled to break into Snape's office? If not... what on earth was he trying to do? What serious matter had he been dealing with at the World Cup that he wasn't in the top box? What was he doing when he was supposed to be refereeing the Championship?

Sirius was lost in thought, his eyes still fixed on the rock wall. Finally, Sirius looked up at Ron.

"You said your brother is Crouch's personal assistant? Could you ask him if he's seen Crouch recently?"

"You could try," Ron said hesitantly. "But he'd better not get the idea that I think Crouch is doing something shady. Percy's in love with Crouch."

"You might as well ask if they've found anything about Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius, pointing to the second Daily Prophet.

"Bagman told me not yet," said Harry.

"Yes, he was quoted in the article," said Sirius, nodding at the paper, "and he was talking passionately about how bad Bertha's memory was.

I knew Bertha before, unless she had changed completely since then, but she was not at all forgetful to me—quite the contrary.

She's a bit of a dim-witted person, but has an excellent memory for gossip, which often gets her into a lot of trouble; she never knows when to keep her mouth shut.

I imagine she must be a nuisance to the Ministry... Perhaps that's why Bagman hasn't taken the trouble to find her yet..."

Sirius sighed deeply and rubbed his dark-rimmed eyes with his hands.

"What time is it?"

Harry checked his watch, then remembered the time his watch stopped working after he had been in the lake for an hour.

Harry looked at Lamia and Hermione and threw his hands up helplessly.

"It's half past three," said Hermione.

"Oh, I forgot the time. You'd better go back to school," Sirius said, standing up. "Now listen to me..." He looked at Harry very seriously. "I may stay here from now on, but I don't want you to sneak out of school to see me, understand?

Just send me a message here. I still want to know if there's anything unusual going on, but you must not leave Hogwarts without permission. If someone wants to do something to you, this would be a perfect opportunity."

"No one has tried to attack me so far, except for a fire dragon and a few Grindylows," Harry said, but Sirius glared at him disapprovingly.