HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 148 Discussion

"Knock knock, knock knock."

Emeric looked up at the doorway. Logically, everyone should be eating at this time, and no one would be so foolish as to disturb Severus.

"Come in."

Severus, however, was not surprised. He thought to himself: "What kind of monsters haven't I seen in all these years of teaching? No, except for people like Emeric who have the guts to take a liking to a professor."

Draco walked in front, having been pushed there by Ron. Harry noticed something was off about Severus's gaze and silently released their clasped hands.

"Huh? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eating in the Great Hall at this time?" Seeing Draco's bright eyes, Emeric immediately regretted asking that question.

"Brother Ellie, we haven't eaten yet~"

"Thank you, Brother Allie! Hermione, Ron, hurry up and thank Brother Allie!"

"Thanks!"

Forced into a corner, Emeric was put in charge without saying a word. His face was full of speechlessness. He hadn't been tricked in a long time, so his vigilance had dropped so much.

"Alright, let Fufu make you something. No picky eating, you hear me?"

The four men nodded frantically. Lyra, standing to the side, desperately wanted to distance herself from them; they were all too embarrassing. She wondered if Severus and Emeric could pretend they hadn't seen her today if she turned and left now.

"Laila, what are you standing there for? Come on, let's eat something delicious!"

"...Here it comes."

The five people stood obediently in a row in the living room. Severus looked at Emeric with schadenfreude, it was rare for someone to make this little brat lose face.

Emeric turned a book into a sofa and barely managed to squeeze them in, so they wouldn't be standing in the way anymore.

"Fufu, make 15 honey-glazed chicken wings, five servings of tomato meat sauce noodles, three servings of curry fish balls, three servings of steamed siu mai, two plates of garlic lettuce, and a pitcher of watermelon juice. That's all for now." Emeric was stern with them, but all the dishes he ordered were things they liked.

"Yes, young master, Fufu will try his best!!!"

"Bang."

After finishing their lunch, Emeric ignored the group and sat back down to continue picking fish bones and peeling shrimp for Severus, who hadn't even finished their meal yet.

after an hour

Severus tapped the table to indicate he was still there; Harry's hand was practically touching Draco's waist. "Ten points deducted from Gryffindor, Mr. Harry Potter."

The group, who had been somewhat relaxed, immediately sat up straight. Harry withdrew his wandering hands, Draco pulled his clothes tighter and sat up straight, and Hermione and Ron separated, afraid that Severus would find another reason to deduct points.

"What exactly are you here for?" After watching the monkey show, Severus was in a good mood and prepared to hear their reasons before considering how to punish them.

"Harry has a fragment of Voldemort on him, and he could very well become a Horcrux. Now the team needs to find a way to remove the fragment," Lyra stood up to report. "The Ravenclaw tiara is in the Room of Requirement, a room where things are kept."

"A Horcrux???" Emeric walked up to Harry, reached out and lifted his bangs, staring curiously at the scar. "I've never seen a living Horcrux before, Harry, you're the first."

"A rare animal," Severus remarked from behind, staring at Harry's scars with a hint of curiosity about whether it would be interesting to use Harry as a test subject.

"Don't look at me like that... I'm scared..." Harry felt a chill run down his spine from being stared at, and silently hid behind Draco to let him block him, trying to calm the two men down in this way.

"Young Master, we need to deal with the Soul Fragment as soon as possible. Now that Tom has been resurrected, no one knows what impact it will have on Harry." Lyra stepped forward to stop them from watching the spectacle. What if they make Harry withdraw into himself?

"Alright, alright, just kidding," Emeric patted Harry's head, turned around and went back to Severus's side, clinging to him like he had no bones.

"Let me think...this really seems to be outside my area of ​​knowledge," Emeric and Severus rubbed cheeks together, completely unwilling to rack their brains. "Albus should have a solution, right?"

"The principal said he'd ask his friends."

"I doubt even the principal could find his old friends," Ron said, his words faster than his thoughts.

"Shut up, Ron. It's not your turn to speak." Hermione, unable to bear it any longer, stretched out her wand and sealed Ron's mouth shut. Because of this mouth, people always suspected that he had something on her, otherwise why would she be with him?

"If all else fails, Harry, you and I can go to Albania during the summer vacation and try our luck. I wonder if there are any records there." This was the only suggestion Emeric could offer in the end. The spiritual realm was too profound, and many people could not touch it even after a lifetime of effort.

"Come over tomorrow and learn Occlumency from me."

Severus uttered this remark before they left. He didn't want to endanger Emerick due to an accident; no one could guarantee that Voldemort wouldn't be able to control the Shard.

"Yes, Professor." Harry agreed, though he didn't know why, but it was for his own good, and it was never a bad thing to learn more.

After everyone left, Severus reached out and pulled Emeric off his body. He had given him face and hadn't laid a hand on him earlier, but now that there were only two of them, he was going to teach this brat a lesson.

"Severus!!!"

"Oh."

Emeric was rebuffed and reached out to massage his shoulders to beg for forgiveness, since he had indeed gone a bit too far just now, almost putting his hand inside Emeric's clothes.

----------

After leaving the cellar, Hermione dragged Ron to the library to continue studying, Harry and Draco went on a date in the garden, Lyra floated away with a pile of documents, and only her wounded world was achieved.

Hermione took out a pile of books and placed them in front of Ron. She picked out a few books about souls for herself, thinking that she might be able to find some clues. Anyway, she had finished her final exam review, so she didn't care about the time.

Unfortunately, she couldn't find any relevant content after reading them; most of them were the authors' theories, with no practical application whatsoever.

"Hogwarts doesn't have any records of this?" Hermione propped her head up and looked at Ron, her face full of frustration.

"Maybe we should ask the professor for an autograph, or try looking in the restricted section?" Ron racked his brains and barely came up with a solution.

"I've looked in the restricted section, and the books there are even more pretentious and empty, many times more fake than those displayed outside." Hermione got angry when she talked about this. She thought that the books in the restricted section contained things that someone had actually succeeded with, but it turned out that they were all just empty talk.

Ron silently lowered his head to read, not daring to attract Hermione's attention for fear she would give him two more papers to write. His body, however, betrayed him by leaning closer to Hermione, making her more comfortable.

(Went to a concert today! The black metal vocals were so cool!)