Snape waved his wand, and several ropes bound the old witch tightly, wrapping her multiple times. He then cautiously checked for any missed spots.
"That should be enough," he muttered to himself, but then frowned, his gaze falling on her cloudy eyes. This old witch was far more cunning than he'd imagined; who knew what other tricks she had up her sleeve.
"Tongue-Tying Curse!" he quickly added another spell. A flash of light, and the old witch's lips instantly sealed together. She widened her eyes in fury, a "gurgling" sound emanating from her throat.
Snape unconsciously rubbed his wand tip, pacing slowly around the bound witch.
"But," he mused, stroking his chin, a hint of doubt in his eyes, "what if you can still perform advanced wandless and nonverbal magic?"
At that thought, he didn't hesitate to raise his wand.
"Just to be safe," he said coldly, pointing his wand at the old witch's arm.
Crack! Two sharp snaps later, the old witch convulsed violently beneath the ropes, letting out muffled whimpers. Her arms hung at an unnatural angle. Now, she couldn't even wiggle a finger.
Snape nodded in satisfaction and turned to prepare to release the spell on the little girl.
Just then, a faint groan caught his attention.
The werewolf, still entangled by Nagini, was gradually regaining human form: coarse black fur receded, sharp claws retracted, revealing the pale face of a middle-aged man.
The giant snake had her maw wide open, venomous fangs gleaming coldly, aimed at the man's exposed neck.
"Nagini, don't bite!" Snape quickly shouted at her.
Nagini's slit pupils turned to Snape. With a flick of her tongue, she slowly loosened her coils, slithered to Snape's feet, and let out a soft hiss.
The little girl, startled by Snape's Parseltongue and the bizarre scene, stumbled back, tripping and falling to the ground. Her eyes were wide with terror, and her small body trembled uncontrollably.
"Thank you," Snape said gently, putting away his wand. "Don't be afraid, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."
When his wand pointed at the little girl, she still flinched in fright.
"Relashio," he uttered the spell as gently as possible.
The moment the ropes came undone, the little girl first looked at her hands in disbelief, then lunged towards the unconscious man on the ground.
"Daddy!" she cried heartbrokenly, her small hands frantically shaking the man's shoulders. "Daddy, please wake up! Please—"
Snape hurried forward, kneeling to examine the man's injuries. Nagini's fangs had left two vicious bloody holes on the man's shoulder; blood was seeping out, already soaking half of his clothes.
"Move aside, let me see." Snape waved his wand, the tip glowing with a soft blue light. "Vulnera Sanentur! Episkey!"
He cast over a dozen healing spells in a row, but the wound continued to bleed. Snape's forehead glistened with fine beads of sweat, and the light from his wand tip began to waver. He frantically searched his mind for all the healing magic he'd learned, only to find that none of them could counteract Nagini's venom.
"Nagini," he turned to the giant snake, asking urgently in Parseltongue, "can you stop the bleeding for him?"
Nagini flicked her tongue, seeming to ponder. A moment later, she turned and slithered into the depths of the dense forest, the rustling of her scales against fallen leaves gradually fading.
Snape could only continue to maintain the most basic healing charms, all while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. The old witch was still wriggling not far away, making muffled, indistinct sounds.
Time passed minute by minute. The last rays of the sunset were slowly swallowed by night, and the temperature in the forest began to drop.
The little girl's crying turned into intermittent sobs, finally dissolving into silent tears. She knelt beside her father, her small hands clutching the man's increasingly cold fingers, her face terrifyingly pale.
Snape's heart sank. If Nagini didn't return soon...
Just as the last sliver of daylight was about to vanish, familiar rustling sounds finally echoed from the bushes.
A pair of emerald green snake eyes gleamed in the darkness. Nagini returned, holding a peculiar plant in her mouth.
Snape took the plant from her mouth—it was an herb he had never seen before, with finely toothed, oval leaves, small yellowish-green flowers emitting a faint fragrance, and a red-and-green stem still bearing night dew.
He quickly used magic to crush the herb and gently applied the poultice to the man's wounds. Amidst the herb's fresh scent, the bleeding began to slow, and the purplish-black venom around the wound gradually faded.
"Thank you," Snape breathed a sigh of relief, patting Nagini's head. The giant snake quietly coiled at his feet.
When the man let out a faint groan, the little girl suddenly looked up, her lips trembling but unable to speak, tears welling up again.
Snape lit a bonfire and then transfigured a simple stretcher. He moved the man closer to the fire, carefully examining the wound—the herb was working, and the man's breathing had become more stable.
Just then, Snape's stomach uncooperatively rumbled. He suddenly remembered he hadn't eaten anything all day except that bit of charred fish.
Nagini heard the sound, lifted her head to look at him, then burrowed back into the bushes.
The little girl, who had been quietly holding her knees for a while, suddenly stood up and ran to the old witch, fumbling for something in her robes with her small hands. Seeing this, Snape went to her side and helped turn the old witch over—a movement that earned an angry grunt from the witch.
The little girl pulled a necklace with a blood-red canine tooth from the old witch's neck and pulled out a yellowed parchment from her robes, handing it to Snape.
"This is the paper she often writes things on," the little girl said, handing the items to Snape. "She uses this necklace to control werewolves."
Snape reached out and took the parchment and necklace. The unfolded parchment contained strange diagrams and mysterious incantations, seemingly the old witch's records of past experiments. His eyes quickly scanned the messy handwriting, and the more he read, the more horrified he became; the cruelty of these dark magic experiments far exceeded his comprehension. Looking at the canine tooth in his hand, a persistent scent of blood clung to it, and its surface glowed with an eerie luminescence. From its size, it could be inferred that this fang belonged to a massive werewolf.
"Thank you, little one," he said, carefully casting sealing charms on both items and tucking them into his inner pocket. "I'll keep these safe for now." Snape considerately turned the old witch back over, leaving her face down on the ground.
A while later, Nagini returned with a roe deer that had been squeezed to death. Seeing her return, Snape stood up and walked circles around them.
"Protego totalum! Cave Inimicum! Muffliato—" he chanted, wand raised. "Hmm, no need for Muggle-Repelling Charms, I'd practically welcome them now."
Next, Snape clumsily prepared the roe deer, removing its bloody scent.
"Can you roast meat?" he asked the little girl.
The little girl nodded softly, the firelight dancing on her dirty little face.
The fire crackled, and the little girl roasted the venison on a stick over the bonfire, fat sizzling as it dripped into the flames.
"Hey," Snape suddenly spoke. "What's your name? Can you tell me your story?"
"Ah!" The little girl startled, the wooden stick with the meat almost dropping into the fire. She timidly glanced at Snape, then at the old witch not far away—the latter was still wriggling slightly on the ground but couldn't make a sound.
"My name is Anna," the little girl whispered. "In winter... Mum and Dad brought me here for a trip... then that witch caught us—"
As she recounted her story, Snape learned that the old witch was a Dark witch who had been researching how to control werewolves. When she didn't have enough experimental werewolves, she started catching ordinary people to create new ones.
"After Mum was bitten by her last werewolf," Anna's tears dripped onto the ground, "she died during an experiment—Dad sometimes manages to control his transformation, but it's not always successful."
Snape's pupils contracted slightly; this was an astonishing breakthrough. He had never heard of werewolves being able to transform voluntarily, let alone obey human commands. The werewolf problem, which the wizarding world had been unable to solve, had made progress in this remote forest? He couldn't help but take a few more glances at the unconscious man.
"Do you want some?" Anna's fearful voice interrupted his thoughts. She held out a skewer of roasted venison, hesitantly standing in front of Nagini.
To Snape's surprise, Nagini actually bit gently into the meat pieces, pulled them off the stick, and swallowed them gracefully.
"You really don't like fish, do you?" Snape asked helplessly in Parseltongue, earning a disdainful shake of the head from Nagini.
Anna seemed startled by the Parseltongue again, freezing in place and not daring to move, the wooden stick thudding to the ground.
"It's alright," Snape said as gently as possible, bending down to pick up the stick, cleaning it, and handing it back to her. "I was just asking her if it tasted good."
Anna nodded softly, returning to the fire to continue roasting meat, occasionally glancing worriedly at her father.
"You eat the next piece," Snape said. "After you're done, teach me how to roast meat, won't you?" He recalled his terrible cooking skills, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
It grew late, and Snape let Anna sleep close to the fire, while he remained vigilant. Nagini coiled at his feet.
Just as dawn was breaking, a vague sound woke the lightly sleeping Snape; the bonfire had burned out. It sounded like someone was calling out nearby.
"Nagini, hide for now."
After a slight hesitation, Snape had Nagini hide in the bushes behind him, pulled Anna close, and cautiously lifted the protective charms covering their temporary camp.
As the spells lifted, he saw an owl circling above his head, a brightly coloured flying carpet trailing right behind it. Snape clearly saw the figures on it: Eileen, Lily, and Mr. Weasley.
"I'm over here!" he leaped out, waving and shouting.
The owl folded its wings and swiftly descended beside him, a small piece of parchment tied to its leg. Before he could even retrieve the note, the flying carpet swooped down.
"Severus!"
Eileen practically tumbled off the flying carpet. She ran over, almost falling, her hands trembling as she touched Snape's face, then his shoulders, checking every place he might have been injured. Her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she hadn't slept all night, her hair dishevelled over her shoulders.
Lily stood nearby, her green eyes full of concern, but quietly remained silent. She also looked much more haggard, with noticeable dark circles under her eyes.
"Merlin's beard!" Mr. Weasley panted. "We've been searching for you like mad! Those bureaucrats at the Albanian Ministry of Magic just gave us the runaround; after we registered, they just left us waiting—"
It turned out that in their search for Snape, they had tried all sorts of methods, even consulting local diviners, but those charlatans only spoke in a haze of riddles. In the end, it was Lily who thought of the ancient magic of sending messages by owl—because Snape would never refuse their letters.
"Yesterday, the owl hovered over a pile of rocks for a long time," Lily said, her voice tinged with fear. "Then it suddenly turned and flew this way—we followed it all night—"
A wave of warmth swelled in Snape's heart, and his throat felt tight.
"I'm alright," he said softly, then turned behind him. "But there are people here who need help—"
Hearing this, Mr. Weasley walked towards the old witch, who had been lying on the cold ground all night.
"Wait," Snape quickly stopped him. "She's an enemy, don't remove her curses."
With Mr. Weasley's help, Snape moved Anna's still-unconscious father and the old witch onto the flying carpet. Eileen continued to watch him anxiously, afraid he would disappear from her sight.
As they all boarded the flying carpet, Snape stood at the edge of the dense forest, calling into it in Parseltongue: "Come out, Nagini."
The giant snake slowly poked her head out from the bushes.
"Severus!" Eileen leaped off the flying carpet again, raising her wand to shield Snape.
"Don't worry, she saved my life, in a way," Snape said softly, pulling Eileen aside. "She's my friend now."
"Will you come with me?" he crouched down, looking Nagini directly in the eyes. "At least you'll have someone to speak to from now on."
"Yesss—"
After a long moment, a barely discernible hiss finally came from Nagini's throat.
"Then," Snape said to her, "don't be afraid. I'll cast a spell to make you smaller."
Nagini nodded gently.
Though they had known Snape could speak Parseltongue before, Eileen and Lily still watched everything before them in astonishment, while Mr. Weasley continually pushed his slipping glasses up his nose.
"Reducio."
Under the effect of the spell, Nagini's body rapidly shrunk from twelve feet to less than two feet. Then, she slithered up Snape's sleeve, a small head poking out from his collar, gently nuzzling his cheek.
"Let's go," Snape said, stepping onto the flying carpet. "We're going home."