"You're supposed to be a seasoned professor at Hogwarts, and yet you lost to a dog? This wound's been festering for two weeks and still shows no sign of healing... All this blood—looks like it'll be another fortnight before it's better." Qin Yu grumbled as he helped Snape change the bandages on his leg, his tone half teasing, half exasperated.
The two of them were in the staff lounge on the first floor. Snape's calf was, as Qin Yu described, a grisly mess—raw, bloody, and enough to make anyone wince just looking at it.
Once the wound was freshly wrapped, Snape let his robes fall back into place and shot Qin Yu a sideways glare, his voice cold as ever. "In your mind, does a three-headed dog still count as just one dog?"
At that, Qin Yu pictured Fluffy, the infamous three-headed beast, and had to nod in agreement. "Fair point. That thing's at least three dogs—maybe more. If I didn't hold back, I'd probably have ended up as chew toy."
"Hagrid wasn't keen on the idea from the start," Snape added curtly.
That, of course, was the other reason for his injury—and why Qin Yu couldn't "go for the kill." After all, the three-headed dog belonged to Uncle Hagrid.
As Snape had explained, when they first decided to have Fluffy guard that all-important item, Hagrid was anything but agreeable. It was only after Professor Dumbledore reasoned with him—and tugged at his heartstrings—that Hagrid reluctantly allowed his precious pet to be used as a guard dog.
Because it was "one of their own," Snape hadn't been as cautious as he should have. Even when attacked, he couldn't bring himself to use any truly dangerous magic.
It was like sending a glass-cannon wizard into the wilds, unable to use spells and forced to rely on basic attacks—if you made it out alive, it was sheer luck.
The image in Qin Yu's mind was vivid, almost comical.
"Ah, those days battling in the Rift... Maybe I should pitch George and Fred on inventing a 5v5 board game. That'd be way more fun than Wizard Chess," Qin Yu mused, his thoughts drifting far afield.
He stood, waved goodbye to Snape, and, without ceremony, snatched a book off the professor's desk.
The cover was embossed with ornate, old-fashioned script: Adorable Toads.
That was the title.
Frankly, there couldn't be more than five people in all of Hogwarts interested in such a book.
Qin Yu certainly wasn't one of them.
Snape pretended not to notice, busying himself with a pile of potion ingredients. As Qin Yu reached the door, Snape remarked, out of nowhere, "The arrogant are always the first to die."
Qin Yu paused, eyebrow raised. "Sounds philosophical. Let me guess—Merlin again?"
"You can go," Snape replied coolly. "And take that wretched book with you!"
Qin Yu just shrugged, dropped the banter, and left.
...
Thud!
A green-covered book landed squarely on the table in the Gryffindor common room.
On the cover, a magical gif of a toad hopped endlessly. Harry, Neville, and Ron all lit up with delight.
It was their long-lost, confiscated copy of Adorable Toads.
"Qin, you're incredible! You actually managed to steal the book back from Professor Snape!" Harry exclaimed, eyes wide with admiration.
Qin Yu's face fell instantly. He rolled his eyes and snapped, "Steal? I retrieved it, thank you very much! Please choose your words more carefully, Mr. Potter."
Harry Potter gave a sheepish grin and apologized for his slip.
Then, together with Neville and Ron, he eagerly flipped through the recovered book.
Adorable Toads—the name said it all. It was a book about toads.
And Neville had a toad—though "adorable" was a stretch.
Lately, as the weather had turned colder, Neville's not-so-cute toad had grown sluggish, spending most of its time dozing in a candy tin, only emerging every few days to eat—and even then, only when Neville woke it up.
Neville had heard toads hibernated, but this was his first time caring for one. He had no idea what temperature triggered hibernation, or how to prepare for it.
So, he'd borrowed the toad book from the library, determined to study up and help his pet through its first winter.
While reading in the corridor, he'd run into Harry and Ron. Hearing about Neville's dilemma, the two had instantly offered to help.
The three of them were huddled over the book when Snape appeared from nowhere, confiscated it for "unauthorized removal of a rare library volume," and docked five points from Gryffindor.
When Harry told Qin Yu and the others about it, Qin Yu felt both surprised and not at all surprised.
Surprised, because in the original timeline, the confiscated book should have been Quidditch Through the Ages, borrowed from Hermione. Now, it was Adorable Toads—and Hermione, busy with Qin Yu, hadn't even been at the "crime scene."
Not surprised, because for someone as perpetually annoyed by Harry as Snape—especially after the Halloween "incident"—this sort of petty "gotcha" behavior was only to be expected.
As for Qin Yu, all he could do was "retrieve" the book during his next meeting with Snape.
"Don't spend all your time fussing over that toad. The Quidditch match is coming up—you need to get your head in the game," Qin Yu warned, giving Harry a nudge of pressure, lest he get too comfortable.
Sure enough, at the mention of the upcoming match, Harry straightened up, nerves kicking in. He quickly promised to prepare and give it his all.
No wonder Harry hadn't been worried about the match—he'd been hearing Ron brag about Qin Yu's performance in the last game for weeks.
"...As long as you don't make any big mistakes, Qin alone can win the match—that's what George and Fred said!" Ron had told him more than once.
His aim was to ease Harry's nerves and keep him from choking during the match.
It worked—maybe too well. Harry had gotten so relaxed he'd found time to help Neville research toad hibernation.
In any case, after much fussing, Neville's toad was finally ready to hibernate in peace—the book recommended a stable, not-too-cold place, and the candy tin was perfect.
So, in the end, all that effort was for nothing.
...
When Neville returned Adorable Toads to the library, there was only one day left before the Quidditch match.
That afternoon after class, Hermione pulled Qin Yu aside, her eyes wide with excitement. She whispered that Harry had uncovered a shocking secret.
"...During lunch, Harry passed by the first-floor corridor near the Great Hall and overheard Professor Snape talking to Hagrid. Professor Snape said, 'Just say I was passing by and got bitten by that dog.' So Harry thinks that on Halloween, Snape tried to steal something and was bitten by that terrifying dog... It must be the same one we saw that night!"
Staring at the anxious girl, Qin Yu was so stunned he almost didn't know what to say.
He could picture the scene: Hagrid running into Snape in the corridor, apologizing (again) for Fluffy's overzealousness, and Snape brushing it off with a cool, "Just say I was passing by and got bitten by that dog."
But if Harry happened to overhear only a snippet, it was no wonder his imagination ran wild.
It just goes to show—if you're always suspicious of someone, you'll find plenty of "dirt" to confirm your suspicions.
Just like Harry with Snape.
And honestly, Qin Yu had to admit, it was perfectly reasonable.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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