Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

"Please come in, Snape…"

Not long after Charlie left the office, Severus Snape was also summoned there by Dumbledore.

"Is there something you need, Dumbledore?"

Snape asked in a low, indifferent voice.

He did not sit in the chair that Charlie had just occupied, but stood aside, stiffly asking Dumbledore the reason for summoning him.

"It's nothing too important."

As if he didn't notice the alienation and impatience in Severus's words, Headmaster Dumbledore sat in his office chair, still smiling.

With a kind smile on his face, he gently waved his hand, and then continued casually,

"Charlie just told me the whole story… Did you know about it?"

The expression in Severus's eyes changed slightly. After a moment of pause, he shook his head.

"No… I haven't had time to ask him yet."

"Quirrell came to steal the Sorcerer's Stone."

Without further ado, Dumbledore crossed his hands in front of him and slowly said.

"Ha…" Hearing this, Severus's expression finally changed slightly.

The gloomy and indifferent look on his face slightly diminished, replaced by a faint, mocking sneer at the corner of his mouth.

"I knew it…"

"But he's not doing it for himself."

Dumbledore hadn't finished speaking, he slowly shook his head, and continued as such,

"Voldemort…"

"…All of this is probably Voldemort's conspiracy… and Quirrell is just his puppet, an executor."

As soon as these words came out, Severus's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinholes, and the expression on his face could no longer maintain the calm he had just displayed, his face filled with horror and disbelief.

"What did you say?!"

His brows furrowed into a knot, he couldn't help but stride forward, leaning down, his hands directly on Dumbledore's desk, then staring intently into the other's eyes, as if trying to see a hint of a joke in his eyes.

But unfortunately, Dumbledore's gaze was calmer than he had imagined, as if he had already accepted this fact.

"Although it's hard to believe… but the fact is indeed so… Charlie fought him in the Forbidden Forest. To be precise, it was him possessing Quirrell…"

Severus's breathing quickened a little, but he didn't speak, but pursed his lips and continued to listen silently to the story Dumbledore hadn't finished telling.

"Although he was defeated, he still escaped, and used an evil dark magic to absorb Quirrell's life force, making him much stronger than before…"

"…"

Severus's eyelids trembled, and his lips also kept shaking, opening and closing, as if wanting to say something.

Dumbledore looked at him, also quietly waiting for his words, wanting to know what he thought about this matter.

Finally, after a long period of hesitation, Severus didn't say a word in the end. His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly turned around and walked straight towards the door.

With a "bang", Severus closed the door of the headmaster's office, leaving only Dumbledore alone, looking at the newly closed door, and sighing softly.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Mr. Black, do you… do you remember me? I'm Ron! Ron Weasley!"

Inside the school infirmary, Charlie Black's sudden visit undoubtedly gave the young wizards a great surprise.

Ron, who was originally by the bed陪着陪着 Harry, became stiff when he saw the man slowly walking in from the door.

So he completely abandoned his close friend beside him, jumped up from the bed, and ran to Charlie first, staring at him with burning eyes, and then asked stutteringly.

"Of course, Ron… dear, Draco mentioned your name in his letters to me."

Charlie smiled warmly, reached out his hand, and shook Ron's small hand. Perhaps because he was too happy, his palms were already sweaty, making the handshake feel damp.

And in Ron's eyes, there seemed to be stars, and for a moment his mind went blank, and he had no other reaction except for silly laughter.

In the end, Hermione couldn't stand his embarrassment, and forcibly pulled him away from Charlie, making way to Harry's side, while pulling and scolding him harshly,

"He's here to see Harry, what are you doing standing there and laughing stupidly?!"

And Charlie also turned his gaze towards this little girl with fluffy hair.

"Hermione Granger?"

Hermione was startled when her name was suddenly called, but it should be said that her good upbringing since childhood did not make her as失态失态 as Ron, but she quickly gave Charlie a standard British curtsy, and then blinked her eyes, asking curiously and with a bit of inquiry,

"Do you know my name?"

Charlie smiled, and didn't say anything, just replied with a profound sentence,

"I know all of your names, and, perhaps, I understand you better than you understand yourselves… … …"

Hermione frowned slightly, not understanding what Charlie meant, her eyebrows lowered, and she began to ponder secretly.

Finally, Charlie's gaze finally met with Harry's on the sickbed.

"Mr. Black!"

Harry subconsciously clenched the bed sheet, his face flushed, and he struggled to sit up halfway from the bed, leaning against the wall of the bed, stuttering.

"How are you feeling, Harry?"

Charlie wasn't too distant, he directly sat on Harry's sickbed, skillfully reaching out his hand, stroking his curly hair, just like that day in the alley.

Feeling Mr. Black's warmth, Harry gradually let go of the original tension in his heart, and smiled sincerely.

He nodded and replied,

"Much better! I thought I was fine, but Madam Pomfrey insisted that I rest for a while longer and go to class tomorrow."

"You should rest for a while longer."

Listening to Harry's words, Charlie nodded in agreement, casually saying,

"After all, health is more important than anything else. Anyway, Hogwarts' first-year classes aren't difficult, you can learn them by just taking a look, you don't need to worry too much."

"… … Yeah, that's true… …"

Harry's smile remained, but in the eyes of the other two partners who had been together day and night, it was easy to see that the smile clearly had a hint of bitterness.

Suddenly, as if thinking of something, Harry's eyes dimmed a little, and he whispered to Charlie

"I heard from Draco that you were dueling Quirrell at the time, Mr. Black... I'm sorry I couldn't help, and I even fainted at the critical moment, causing a lot of trouble for Ron and Hermione."

Hearing this, Charlie couldn't help but chuckle. After all, facing such an enemy, even if the four young wizards and Hagrid teamed up, they probably wouldn't be of much help. Instead, they might overdo it and cause even greater danger... for example, if Voldemort decided to go down in flames, giving everyone else a 'Krucio' before he left.

If that kind of thing really happened, the consequences would be unpredictable...

Thinking back to what happened yesterday, even he felt a lingering fear... You know, if it hadn't been for the Fire Shield, he might have really had a chunk bitten out of him by Voldemort... At the same time, this incident also reminded Charlie that he seemed to lack powerful offensive means when facing enemies like Voldemort... You know, there isn't always a chance to cast a Fire Shield while conveniently being in the Forbidden Forest.

With this thought in mind, Charlie didn't say anything, but simply changed the subject and asked Harry a question that was closer to ordinary conversation:

"So, are you planning to go home for Christmas?"

"Go... home?"

Hearing this, the smile on Harry's face faltered, as if he had thought of some bad memories, and he quickly shook his head.

"No... I think I'll just stay at school."

Charlie didn't say much about this, but just said casually, "That's a pity. If you went back, maybe your uncle, Dursley, would give you an unexpected surprise."

"A big surprise..."

Harry repeated Charlie's words, his thoughts drifting back to his last Christmas, and the Christmas before that, and the Christmas before that...

In fact, there was no difference at all, because the normal routine was that he would be in the cupboard, peeking through the cracks, vaguely glimpsing the bright Christmas tree outside, and the happiness of the Dursley family.

However, just as Harry was about to say something more to Charlie, a voice suddenly interrupted his words before he could speak them.

"I'm looking for Charlie Black."

The familiar voice instantly plunged the originally harmonious and warm atmosphere into the abyss.

"Glug."

As if as a subconscious reaction, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all swallowed their saliva, and then twisted their necks to look towards the door.

Sure enough, Severus Snape, wearing a black robe and with greasy long hair, had arrived at the door at some point... and was looking at their bed with his deathly gaze.

For a moment, the three little wizards were so frightened that they turned their heads back in unison, as if they hadn't seen him.

If it were normal times, Severus would definitely seize on this point, questioning why the two Gryffindors hadn't greeted him, and would not hesitate to give each of them five points of detention, and then order Slytherin's Harry Potter to copy the Hogwarts Student Code of Conduct...

But this time, because he had a particularly big matter weighing on his mind, Severus ignored everything else and looked straight at Charlie.

Without saying anything else, he simply said,

"I need to speak with you."

After speaking, without waiting for Charlie to react, he walked out of the hospital wing in one go, waiting for him in the corridor.

Charlie raised an eyebrow, but didn't refuse. He just said goodbye to the three sympathetic little wizards and followed Severus out of the hospital wing.

"Oh, my god..."

Once the door to the hospital wing closed, Ron couldn't hold it in any longer. The expression on his face was full of inexplicable worry, and he said,

"What does Snape want with Mr. Black!??"

"Could it be that he has a grudge against Mr. Black?? Did you see his expression? It looked like someone had stepped on his face with a size 43 shoe!"

Hearing this, Hermione and Harry also began to think in a bad direction.

"Do you think, if they really fight, will Mr. Black be a match for Snape? Should we go and help?" Harry looked at the two of them, clenched his fists, as if as long as Ron and Hermione nodded on the spot, he could jump off the bed and run out to join Mr. Charlie in a righteous beatdown of Snape.

"Of course, that's Charlie Black!!"

Hearing Harry's lack of confidence, Ron widened his eyes, and while speaking, he took out a stack of Chocolate Frog cards that he carried with him.

After rummaging through them, he eagerly took out the one with Charlie Black's name on it, and confidently declared,

"See! It says on it that Mr. Charlie Black's attack stat is A! How could he not be a match for Snape!"

"But..." Hermione then immediately put forward her own idea, "Mr. Black just had a fierce battle with Quirrell... Don't you remember what Draco said? When he saw Mr. Black, he couldn't even walk anymore, he could only be supported by Hagrid."

"How despicable! Snape!"

.........

While the three little wizards were discussing without regard for others, and denouncing Snape's evil deeds of taking advantage of others' misfortune, in the distance, Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, who was tidying up medicines and equipment, secretly curled her lips.

To say that there was a feud between these two young men would be a huge joke.

After all, as a nurse who had worked at Hogwarts for nearly thirty years, Madam Pomfrey naturally knew more about the friendship between these two than the four young wizards.

She couldn't help but think of what happened more than a decade ago... Until now, she still remembered it vividly.

At that time, Charlie and Severus were also regulars in the hospital wing. From time to time, there would be a few minor accidents on their bodies, or they would keep spitting out toads, or their eyelids would become transparent.

And whenever she asked them the reason, the two of them would always vaguely prevaricate, and never told her directly why.

Interestingly, also regulars at the school hospital were four other Gryffindor students.

Whenever Charlie and the two left the school hospital, it wouldn't be long before the four of them would lie down because of similar situations...

Madam Pomfrey was not really interested in the grudges and relationships between them.

She just couldn't help but sigh, she didn't expect that at that time, the two most rebellious little snakes of Slytherin had now become the Head of Slytherin and the most prestigious wizarding merchant in the wizarding world...