Sorimus left without waiting for Snape to respond.
He was convinced the terms he had offered were impossible for Snape to refuse. If Snape did refuse, then the man in that office just now had not been Severus Snape.
Today was Thursday, and in the evening Hermione and Neville were supposed to come to Sorimus's place for extra tutoring. But because of what had happened in flying class that afternoon, Sorimus had developed a few other ideas.
Truthfully, Sorimus did not care much for so-called "plot." This was a world of wizards and magic, not merely the world of Harry Potter. Sorimus's background had given him a far broader view than anything contained in the worldview of "Harry Potter." Voldemort? Hah. If he ever truly did something that endangered the interests of the real ruling class, he would be crushed in an instant, Horcruxes or no Horcruxes.
Whenever it was time to eat, Sorimus always finished very quickly.
Why, you ask?
Because this was Britain, and wizarding food was not much better than Muggle food.
"Draco, eat faster. Once you're done, come with me."
Sorimus said this to Draco, who was still working his way through a chicken leg.
Draco, his mouth full, threw Sorimus a puzzled look.
"Come with me to the Gryffindor table. And when we get there, don't speak."
Sorimus got to his feet.
"All right, hurry up and finish. If you're still hungry later, just go back to the common room and have a house-elf bring you some cake."
With Draco still looking completely baffled, Sorimus wandered over with him to the Gryffindor table. Hermione was drinking soup, so she was nearly done eating. Neville was occupied with a slice of cake. Not far from them, Ron's table manners were, frankly, rather difficult to look at. His cheeks were swollen as though a giant had slapped him, there was a chicken leg in each hand, and before he had even swallowed one mouthful, he was already cramming in the next.
"Good heavens. Does the Weasley family normally not feed their children?"
It was the first time Sorimus had ever seen Ron eat.
At the sound of Sorimus's voice, Hermione and Neville both looked up, and immediately saw Draco standing there with undisguised disdain on his face.
"Why did you bring him too?"
Hermione's impression of Malfoy was extremely poor. Especially after what had happened in flying class. By now, she also knew exactly what Mudblood meant.
"You'll see in a moment."
Sorimus shrugged.
"The two of you will bring Weasley and Potter to the old place later. There are some things I need to say to them."
He flicked another glance at Ron, who was still eating voraciously and had not noticed at all that two Slytherin students were standing right beside the Gryffindor table.
"You'd better be quick about it. Today is Thursday. Don't let them eat into your study time."
With that, Sorimus turned and left with Draco.
The moment Hermione heard that her and Neville's tutoring time at Sorimus's would be compressed, she sprang to her feet at once and dragged along Neville, whose mouth was still smeared with cream.
"Harry! Ron! Stop eating and come with us. Quickly."
Hermione's decisiveness, as always, was beyond question.
Sorimus led Draco along a corridor near the trophy room on the third floor, its walls lined with portraits on both sides. They stopped in front of a painting of a door. Sorimus reached out and touched the painted doorknob three times.
A real doorknob appeared.
"What is this?"
Draco had been watching Sorimus's every movement.
"A hidden room. Hogwarts has plenty of places like this."
Sorimus opened the door and stepped inside first. Draco hesitated for a moment, then followed him in. Once the door shut, the doorknob vanished from the painting and it became an ordinary picture again.
After entering, Draco immediately began looking around the hidden room. It did not resemble a classroom. The space he was standing in was circular, and around it were three doorframes without doors, leading into other rooms beyond.
"What is this place? I never knew the school had rooms like this."
Draco turned to glance back at the door that had just disappeared behind them.
"Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I come here to tutor Neville. Hermione too, while I'm at it."
Sorimus led Draco into another room that looked more like a sitting room. There were several chairs inside, and the two of them sat down naturally.
"What were you thinking this afternoon, causing such a scene?"
Sorimus propped his feet up on another chair.
"You're usually a fairly clever person. So why is it that the moment Potter is involved, you start acting stupid?"
He paused, then waved it off.
"Forget it. Once Potter and Weasley get here, don't speak. I'll handle it."
Sorimus saw the door to the circular room open. Hermione was leading the others in.
"Draco, I don't want to hear that word Mudblood again."
Sorimus lowered his voice as he said it to Draco, who was currently staring straight at Potter.
Clap, clap, clap.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Sorimus clapped his hands.
"Since you're all here, sit down."
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, then obediently sat. Whatever Hermione had said to them on the way here, the two of them were unexpectedly well behaved.
"Everyone knows one another, so I'll speak plainly."
Sorimus lowered his feet and sat up properly.
"First of all, Draco was indeed in the wrong. For that, I'll apologize to you on his behalf."
Sorimus shot Draco a glare just as he was about to speak.
"Doesn't he have a mouth of his own?"
Ron glared at Draco too.
"Harry, may I call you that?"
Ignoring Ron completely, Sorimus turned to Harry with a smile.
"Of course, you can call me Sorimus. I imagine you know who I am."
Harry nodded. "That's fine, Sorimus."
Harry's impression of Sorimus was actually fairly good. At the very least, he had not joined the other Slytherins in mocking him during Potions.
"The truth is, today you were caught in the middle. On the train too, for that matter."
Seeing that everyone in the room was looking at him, Sorimus continued his explanation.
"The terrible relationship between the Malfoys and the Weasleys is common knowledge. You simply happened to be standing between the two."
He lifted a hand and waved slightly, indicating that Harry should let him finish before interrupting.
"I think you've noticed this already. Nearly all pure-blood wizards have a bad impression of the Weasley family. At school, students from pure-blood families don't treat the Weasleys warmly, nor do they associate with them. The ones who tend to stay close to the Weasleys are usually half-bloods and Muggle-born students. Isn't that right?"
Then Sorimus turned toward Draco.
"And among them, the Malfoys and the Weasleys clash particularly often. Why is that? Draco, can you tell me why you hate the Weasleys so much? And you there, from the Weasley family, can you tell me why you despise Malfoy so much?"
"Do you even need to ask? Their whole family are traitors to pure blood, filth among wizards."
There was no need to say who had spoken.
"Hah! The whole Malfoy family are evil Dark wizards. Why do you think I hate Malfoy?"
Ron was still glaring at Draco.