Chapter 48: Snape's Bribery Plan
When they emerged from the underground classroom, Hermione was still complaining to Ethan.
"That's so unfair! We were both late, so why did he only deduct points from me and not you?!"
Ethan grinned mischievously and offered a questionable suggestion.
"Well, he's our Head of House, after all. Why don't you try being late to Transfiguration next time? Let's see if Professor McGonagall deducts points from you."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Get lost! Don't you know what Professor McGonagall is like? She's nothing like Snape, that old bat. She wouldn't compromise her sense of justice just because someone from her own house made a mistake."
Hermione was resentful, but Ethan didn't dare speak ill of Snape behind his back. He still had something he needed to ask his professor.
"See you this afternoon," Ethan said.
Hermione went to class, but Ethan went back and knocked on Snape's office door.
The door opened, and Snape stared at Ethan coldly without saying a word, his dark eyes fixed on him.
After a few weeks of limited contact, Ethan had come to understand his professor to some extent. Although he didn't know why the man seemed to regard him with pitying fondness, it didn't stop him from taking advantage of it.
He grinned and said, "Professor, could you please sign a permission slip for the Restricted Section? I'd like to ask Madam Pince to help me find some theoretical texts on Dark Magic."
Snape stared at him until Ethan's smile began to falter, and then he spoke.
"This is not something you should know."
Ethan seized on Snape's passion for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
"Well, Professor, I just want to learn about Dark Magic. Professor Quirrell's course might be called Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it doesn't actually cover any Dark Magic."
Snape's eyes flashed, but he ultimately refused.
"No, you shouldn't be studying Dark Magic right now."
Ethan wanted to argue further, but Snape had already shut the door in his face, leaving him no choice but to give up.
After Ethan left, Snape sat in his chair, lost in memories of his school days, his eyes filled with pain.
"If only... if only I hadn't become so obsessed with studying Dark Magic back then, if only I hadn't said those words... would everything have been different, Lily...?"
Meanwhile, Ethan was still thinking about who else, besides Quirrell, could sign a permission slip allowing him to enter the Restricted Section.
"Professor Sprout is impossible, and Professor Binns can't even sign it, so he's an even more impossible option."
Professor McGonagall would definitely refuse. Professor Flitwick already had. And the remaining professors weren't options either. Did that leave him with only Quirrell?
However, the whole point of sneaking into the Restricted Section to research Dark Magic theory was to prevent Quirrell, or rather Voldemort, from feeding him flawed or trapped theories. If he asked Quirrell to sign the permission slips now, wouldn't that be insulting his intelligence?
Over the past few days, he had read through all twenty pages of parchment Quirrell had given him.
As for the spells, he still couldn't cast the four spells besides Confringo, but he had some ideas about the simpler ones. The problem was the ten basic theory spells.
He couldn't afford to fully trust Voldemort, so he was extremely cautious about the theories he recorded, afraid he might inadvertently be led astray.
"Oh dear! Am I doomed to spend my days practicing the Disillusionment Charm and my nights sneaking around the Restricted Section?" This was the only solution he could think of besides getting the permission slips signed.
He knew the spell for the Disillusionment Charm; it was recorded in Advanced Spells, and this spell was one of the main reasons he'd wanted to buy the book.
The book said it was commonly used by wizards working with magical creatures, but it was quite difficult, and he had never managed to cast it successfully.
He felt his magical power wasn't sufficient. Although his incantations and wand movements were correct, he just couldn't push the spell through at the last moment.
However, he couldn't find a solution for now. He searched through every book he could find, but couldn't locate any potions to increase magical power. He could only wait for his magic to grow naturally.
He stood in the corridor sighing for ages, hoping Snape would hear him and change his mind.
But he was definitely wasting his time. Perhaps the room was too soundproof, or perhaps Snape was too lost in his memories to hear anything.
"Ugh, what a waste of a performance." After about ten minutes, he couldn't keep up the act any longer and quickly went off to study Dark Magic in secret.
Once the week's classes ended, he noticed a clear change in Hermione.
Since their Thursday night outing, Hermione's strictness about school rules had softened slightly.
While studying in the library over the weekend, she frantically flipped through various books on magical creatures, trying to find information about the three-headed dog she had seen that night.
"Found it!"
"Let me see."
He took the book, which looked quite old, and Hermione pointed to a few short lines of text.
"The three-headed dog is a very rare magical creature, possibly originating from Greece. Its specific habits are unknown. It is huge and has three heads."
He whispered to Hermione, "That's it? It's practically nothing."
"No, this is enough. I think there must be some extraordinary treasure that requires such a rare and magical creature to guard it."
Hermione was no longer concerned about what secrets were hidden inside; she just wanted to understand a creature she didn't know and satisfy her curiosity.
"Whatever makes you happy."
They stopped talking before Mrs. Pince kicked them out of the library.
As they left the library, Hermione hurried away. "Ethan, I'm going now. I need to keep an eye on Harry and Ron to prevent them from making any more mistakes, and also keep an eye on Neville to prevent him from forgetting the password and getting locked out again."
Ethan opened his mouth, watching Hermione run hurriedly toward the Gryffindor Common Room.
Back in his dorm, he played with Little Black, which was growing bigger every day. It was now twice as long as when he first saw it and showed no signs of stopping. He wondered what its limit would be.
"It's time to get a bigger net for it; it's getting a bit cramped."
Watching the salamander enjoying his touch, Ethan remembered another way to get on Snape's good side.
"Using the blood of a mutated salamander like Little Black as a stepping stone, surely Snape, as a Potions Master, wouldn't refuse? Once we're on good terms with Snape, wouldn't we be able to get as many permissions as we want from the Restricted Section?"
"Little Blackie, Little Blackie, grow up quickly and have babies. Otherwise, even if we drain all your blood, we won't have much to give for use."
Perhaps sensing the malice in his thoughts, the black lizard, which had been enjoying being touched, crawled a few steps toward the metal mesh and trembled at the edge of the flames.
"Hey, you've got a pretty good sense of danger. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you now, but if you don't behave, then things might change," Ethan threatened, unsure if the creature could understand him.
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