Fleur closed the door of the carriage, and Harry was still holding on to the place where Fleur had just been kissed, staring in amazement at the golden wand crossed on the door, and for a long time, he didn't come to his senses.

"Humph!"

"What's wrong?"

Suddenly, Harry heard Hermione snort angrily, and he turned his head to look at her blankly.

"It's a lot of aftertaste, isn't it?"

Hermione looked puffed up, she glared at the carriage fiercely, and in a sarcastic tone,

"If you can't help it, you can knock on the door and ask if she's willing to kiss you on the other cheek!"

"Oh-"

Harry, who came to his senses, blushed and was full of grievances, this was not what he asked for, besides, who reacted when Fleur suddenly came.

"Are we going to see Professor Bryan again?"

The girl's mind was strange, Harry thought to himself, but he sensibly didn't continue the question, and now that his relationship with Ron was at an impasse, he cherished his friendship with Hermione even more, so he clumsily changed the subject.

"Why?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Go back and tell Professor Bryan that we're done—" Harry said as he should, "and Fleur didn't ask us to pass on our thanks to Professor Brian."

Before he could finish speaking, Harry immediately knew what was going to happen, and he blamed himself for not mentioning Fleur again, although he couldn't figure out where Fleur had provoked Hermione, and Hermione ran towards the castle in a huff after whispering the word 'incorrigible'.

For Harry, the way back was more difficult than when he came, because Hermione was angry that he didn't want to walk side by side with him, and he had to hold up the invisibility cloak for the two of them, so it meant stumbling forward with Hermione behind hermione with her hands outstretched and holding the invisibility cloak.

However, just as they walked into the glow of the castle's unlit rooms, Harry, who had accidentally stepped on a small puddle, suddenly lost his balance and let out a strange scream and fell forward, knocking Hermione to the ground.

"Who's there!"

Before the two of them could exclaim, on the left side of the marble staircase, behind a prismatic side of the castle, a cold voice suddenly came, instinctively, Harry and Hermione immediately curled up their bodies into a ball, allowing the invisibility cloak to cover their bodies completely, and then, each covering their mouths and not daring to make a sound.

Professor Bryan has made it clear that if they get caught by the other professors and prefects, he won't help him fight a dozen times!

"Who's eavesdropping there!"

The angular building suddenly lit up with a milky white glow, and the light reflected a dark face on the ground, but before they could see this face, Harry and Hermione had already confirmed through their voices who were hiding there, and the owner of this voice was the one Harry hated the most among the staff of Hogwarts.

Severus Snape!

Looking at Snape, who looked wary with his wand pointed ahead, Harry and Hermione looked at each other in horror. Although the slippery grass and dirt on the ground were cold and biting, the two of them still did not dare to make a sound, but curled up their bodies even smaller.

"Don't try to hide it from me, I've seen you!"

Snape slowly approached, raising his wand and waving around, trying to figure out who had just made the noise.

Harry saw through Snape's words that he was just bluffing, it was true that his invisibility cloak was not flawless, and he did meet someone who could see through the disguise of the invisibility cloak, but thankfully, Snape did not have this ability.

"Don't look for it, Severus--"

At that moment, a voice sounded again from the darkness that almost startled Harry and Hermione to jump.

It's Durmstrang's headmaster, Igor Karkarov!

His silver-fur robe glistened in the firelight of the foyer, but his expression was impatient,

"Maybe it's just a fox that ran out of the woods and accidentally broke its leg--"

Karkaroff said as he walked up behind Snape.

Harry saw that the corners of Snape's mouth twitched obviously, and he squinted his eyes uncomfortably and walked around the lawn, trying to find something to make a move, but maybe it was Harry, who had walked too much bad luck today, finally transferred, and Snape never came to him and Hermione, otherwise, he would have found the footprints he left on the lawn.

"Don't waste time, Severus, what the hell are you calling me for?"

Karkaroff said impatiently again.

Hermione blinked, and from Karkaroff's words, she realized that it was Professor Snape who had sent out the invitation first, and then the two would meet here again, but how could the two of them know each other, and besides, the relationship was so familiar that Professor Snape was willing to let Durmstrang's headmaster call him by his first name?

The moment the doubt arose, Hermione's face changed, and she suddenly realized a possibility - Sirius told her today that Durmstrang's headmaster was a Death Eater, and Professor Snape himself had some bad rumors

Unable to find any clues, Snape seemed to resign himself to his fate, extinguishing the glow of his wand and standing up to face Karkaroff.

"I have something to ask you, Igor, for the sake of my friendship, I want you to tell me the truth, and you know that a lie does not hold up in front of me."

"What do you want to inquire about?"

Harry craned his ears as he struggled to overcome the whistling wind, he was equally curious about the question, but when he actually heard Snape's question, his heart paused for a moment, and he looked at Hermione and saw that Hermione was just as shocked.

"Hermione Granger, the silly little girl who was chosen as the second Hogwarts Warrior, Igor, is this your doing?"

Harry was so desperate to know the answer to this question that he couldn't help but look up at Karkaroff who was facing them by the faint light of the fire, and what he saw was a face with a ridiculous face.

"Is this a joke, Severus?"

Karkarov's mouth was extremely exaggerated,

"You're doubting me, it's ridiculous, I threw that little girl's name into the Goblet of Fire, why, why would I do this, in order to add competitors to myself?"

Snape was unmoved, his eyes sharp,

"Don't you think Bryan and Moody's arguments were funny when we were discussing this that night?"

It can be seen that Karkaroff has thought deeply about the inferences of Bryan and Moody, and he does not find Snape's problem abrupt, but he still vehemently defends himself.

"It's stupid, Severus, it's stupid!"

Karkaroff walked around in front of Snape angrily, and then at some point, he suddenly froze and glared at Snape angrily,

"You think I'm going to do it"

Probably realizing that his reputation may not be too good, Kakaroff interrupted his original explanation and changed it,

"I stayed with my students that night, Severus, they can testify for me!"

"You must have taken the time to leave, did you?" Snape said coldly, "And then you stopped by and walked around the castle?" ”

Harry had never felt Snape so hard, even if Snape had his back to him, Harry could feel Snape's sharp eyes at the moment, and he pressed on Durmstrand's headmaster step by step, trying to break through his mental defenses. But at the same time, Harry felt a hint of confusion in his mind.

Judging by these questions, Snape was indeed not the murderer of Hermione, but why should he be keen to investigate this matter, on the orders of Professor Bryan or Professor Dumbledore? Because they knew that both Snape and Durmstrang had served Voldemort and had an unusual relationship, so they ordered him to ask?

Karkarov was almost laughed at,

"Could it be that the comfortable life at Hogwarts has made you lose your old sharpness, Severus, what should I do to just swagger into the foyer and throw in the name of a little girl I've never seen before?"

"Of course you don't put your own face on your face, Igor--"

Snape stepped forward, he stared at Karkaroff's eyes, and the cold light radiating from his own eyes even made Karkaroff subconsciously dodge,

"By a strange coincidence, on the night you and the Beauxbatons arrived at Hogwarts, I lost something in my pantry, the powder of the bicorn, the skin of the African tree snake. You know what it's for, Igor. Of course, it's true that the boiling time is relatively tight, but if you plan ahead, it's not without tips to speed up the time."

(End of chapter)