"You know full well, and yet you still insist on asking."
Severus Snape’s forehead creased.
"Do you really think you didn’t ruin the most important decision of your life over some woman?"
What the hell was wrong with this guy?
"Professor Snape. I’d appreciate it if you’d retract the part about ‘some woman.’"
"What? You still haven’t come to your senses. You were chasing after a girl and ended up throwing away all the pure-blood connections Slytherin had to offer, and your only complaint is that you don’t like being called ‘some woman’? You made a choice you can never take back!"
"Ha! What, if I can’t get into Slytherin, am I supposed to die or something?"
"You still don’t understand how powerful the pure-blood supremacists in Slytherin are."
"Oh, so that’s why they all knelt and bowed their heads to Voldemort? If they’re only that much of a threat, I’m not exactly scared."
"Didn’t I tell you not to say that name? Have you already forgotten? You haven’t yet experienced the power of ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’!"
"If that bastard were really strong, he wouldn’t have been shaken by some prophecy! What, is a prophecy some kind of god? How little faith did he have in himself that he tried to kill a newborn baby!
And if the person involved doesn’t believe it, then a prophecy is just useless. Now apologize quickly. No one is allowed to insult my woman."
"You’ve only been at school a few days, and already your head’s gotten quite big. You demand an apology from me just because I called her ‘some woman’? Is Granger that precious to you? More than your own teacher?"
"Of course she is. She’s the woman I’ll spend the rest of my life with. That’s why you never got together with Lily Evans, Professor."
"How dare you bring that up to me?! What do you know, talking like that!! You know nothing!!!"
"What do you mean I don’t know anything? You know I know everything.
And I think I understand women better than you do.
Did you ever once tell Lily Evans you liked her? Ask her out? You were happy just standing next to her, weren’t you? Too embarrassed to even say it out loud, right?
That’s why James Potter snatched her away.
James Potter’s behavior is disgusting, sure, but at least the way he treated women was far better than yours.
If you really loved Lily Evans, if you truly wanted to spend your life with her! You should have thrown yourself at her with everything you had! You should have gone all in!!"
"Enough, enough, enoooough!!!!! Don’t ever bring that up to me again!!!!"
Ah... I lost my temper and shouted too.
Professor Snape was on his knees, bent over and crying.
"Hic... I... I... Lily... please... I was wrong..."
Oh no. This was bad.
I barely managed to help the professor up and hold him. Good grief, he was heavy.
Pat pat
"There, there. Just let it all out. Everything will be all right."
After crying his eyes out for a long while, the professor finally came to his senses and, perhaps embarrassed, shoved me away.
"Mm... are you all right?"
"You say whatever you want to your teacher, and then you ask, ‘Are you all right?’ Does this look all right to you?"
Fair enough.
"Let’s drop that subject now. You’re the one who called me here, Professor, but I have business with you too. I’d like to get everything settled today."
"... Fine. What is it you want to say?"
"You said you’d give me private lessons, right? We should set a date. And there’s one more thing I need to tell you, but it’s very important and very secret."
"What is it?"
"Before you hear it, I need to make an Unbreakable Vow. It’s something that absolutely cannot be spread."
"What? An Unbreakable Vow? Just how big a secret could you possibly have that you’d demand something so grand?"
"You’ll be surprised when you hear it. Want to bet?"
"Ha! You’re provoking me. Very well, let’s make an Unbreakable Vow. If I’m not surprised, you’ll assist in first-year Potions class as my assistant for the entire year."
"Then if you lose, you have to give me a bottle of Felix Felicis."
Professor Snape frowned.
"Felix Felicis? Do you have any idea how rare that is? Do you really think a year of assisting in class compares to Felix Felicis?"
"Sounds like you’re not very confident."
"Fine. Since I’ve already taken the bait, I’ll go all the way. But if you lose, I’ll make sure you work hard enough to regret it. Now, let’s make the vow first."
"Ah, I need to make the others who know this secret take the vow too. Is that all right?"
"Those stupid Gryffindor friends of yours? Do as you please. I have no intention of looking after Gryffindors too."
Good, I had permission.
"An Unbreakable Vow requires two contract parties and one witness. But if you use a little loophole, the witness isn’t necessary.
An Unbreakable Vow may look like a vicious contract at first glance, but it has more loopholes than you’d think. Do I need to use that loophole when making it with your friends too?"
"No, that’s fine. We can just witness it for each other."
"Then that settles it. The procedure is simple. First, extend your arms and clasp each other’s forearms."
We each extended our right arms and gripped each other’s forearms.
"The most important thing is how specific the wording of the contract is. You need to make sure the other side can’t get around it and break it by loophole. So think carefully about what you’re going to say. Now, begin."
Chains of magic sprang from Professor Snape’s arm and began wrapping around both of our arms.
"Now state the condition."
"Severus Snape, do you swear that if you hear my secret, you will not reveal it to anyone, by any means, of your own free will?"
"I swear it."
As soon as the vow was complete, the chains flashed and vanished.
"Why did you add the condition about your own free will? What if I were hit by the Imperius Curse or my [Occlumency] were broken?"
"It’s fine, Professor. In that case, you wouldn’t be doing it on purpose. I’m satisfied with that."
"Needlessly lenient... Fine. Now tell me what secret you’ve been hiding."
"I think I have a talent for prophecy."
"Prophecy? You? Pfft—ah, forgive me for laughing. That kind of talent doesn’t appear in just anyone."
I said nothing, only stared at him.
Confirming that my attitude was serious, Professor Snape’s expression also hardened.
"Really? You? Then show me proof that you’re a prophet. If you’re truly a prophet, you should be able to see my future."
Hmm... what scene should I show him? Right, that one should do.
I took out my wand and poured magic into it as I cast the spell.
"O magic wand! Tell me when Professor Snape will be injured!"
Then, as before, light flowed from the wand, drew a circle, and began to show a scene.
Looking at the feast hall decorated with pumpkins, it was probably Halloween.
Quirrell burst into the hall, warned everyone that a troll had gotten in, and then fainted.
All the students evacuated, and the professors went to deal with the troll, but Snape alone was heading somewhere else.
Snape went to the third-floor corridor on the right, which Dumbledore had forbidden at the start of term, and opened the only door in that corridor.
Inside was a three-headed dog named Fluffy, and Snape, clearly having never expected such a monster, made a poor first response to Fluffy’s attack.
He dodged around in the cramped space, and in the end got his leg bitten before barely escaping back out the door.
The circle of magic faded away as if it had shown enough.
"This is... impossible. How did you...?"
Professor Snape tried hard to deny what he had just seen.
"You just saw it with your own eyes. What’s impossible about it? What exactly can’t be done?"
"That’s because you don’t know what you’re talking about. In Britain, the bloodline of prophets died out long ago.
The most recent person called a great prophet was Cassandra Trelawney, and Sybill Trelawney, who currently teaches Divination at Hogwarts, is Cassandra’s fifth-generation descendant.
Sybill Trelawney is nothing more than a half-wit who has only succeeded in prophecy once in her entire life.
No, I’ve gone off on a tangent. In any case, what I’m saying is that you have no connection whatsoever to the Trelawney family."
"No, Professor. Do prophets only exist in Britain? There are others in different countries too. Isn’t thinking that if there aren’t any in Britain, there can’t be any elsewhere a bit too nationalistic?"
"You little—what kind of tone is that to use with your teacher?
Still, even if we broaden the scope to the whole world, the only known prophets at present are Natsai Onai, who graduated from Hogwarts and returned to her homeland, and Grindelwald, who was defeated by Professor Dumbledore decades ago.
Natsai Onai is from Africa, and Grindelwald is German. What do they have to do with you?"
Professor Snape scolded me.
Grindelwald was German... German... Germany...
"Professor? Isn’t Oppenbach a German surname?"
"Hmm? Ah, yes... Then perhaps your father’s bloodline has some connection to Grindelwald.
But the important thing is not whether you have a connection to Grindelwald. It’s more important to somehow hide the fact that you’re a true prophet.
You still don’t have the ability to protect your prophetic power. If this gets out, all sorts of riffraff will come swarming in.
You made the right choice in having me swear an Unbreakable Vow. Who else knows about this besides me?"
"Hmm... besides you, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom."
"You’ve certainly been bragging about it a lot. And every one of them is a Gryffindor too. You’re not the kind of idiot who’d blab about prophetic talent to just anyone, so what on earth happened?"
"I... well..."
"Stop hemming and hawing and say it quickly."
"I just tried it as a joke on the train to Hogwarts, and it worked."
"You succeeded in prophecy... as a joke? You pitiful fool! Why on earth would heaven bestow such a precious talent on someone like you..."
Well... how was I supposed to know it would work?
"Anyway, the next time you meet those kids, make them swear the vow immediately. The longer you wait, the more you lose."
"Yes, Professor. Then I won the bet, right?"
"What are you talking about! I wasn’t surprised!"
"Oh, come on, there you go again. You were surprised, weren’t you? How can a man say two different things with one mouth?"
"Ha... If you made it yourself, you’d understand how precious it is... Go squeeze blood from a flea."
With obvious reluctance, Professor Snape flicked his wand and summoned his bag from the cabinet.
Then he reached into the bag and took out another small bag. He reached into that small bag again and rummaged around for a while before finally producing a tiny crystal vial, sparkling brilliantly.
Seeing that dazzling golden liquid, there was no doubt it was a well-made Felix Felicis.
"You know the precautions for taking it, I assume? Use it wisely, where it’s truly needed.
Ah, and I have one question: what was that spell-like thing you muttered earlier? Since when did prophecy require a spell?"
Huh...?
"It doesn’t? I just muttered some random spell for fun. But it worked, so I thought that was how it was supposed to be."
"Of course it doesn’t. Prophecy, strictly speaking, is less magic and more a personal talent. Now then, try it once without chanting a spell."
Hmm... this time, should I try Hagrid?
I took out my wand, thought of Hagrid, and poured magic into it.
The magic rose through the wand, turned into light, and then became a prophecy, showing me a scene.
This was...
"A dragon? That idiot Hagrid has finally lost his mind. Bringing a dragon into Hogwarts? He never learns. I have no idea what the Headmistress is thinking, keeping a man like that at the school."
"Calm down, Professor. I’ll try to stop Hagrid before he causes any trouble."
"Do as you please. Just looking at that foolish face makes my blood boil. If you fail, I’ll kill the dragon myself, so you’d better succeed. Now get out of here, or we’ll miss lunch."
"Professor? I’m not done with my business yet."
"What? I haven’t had lunch yet either! Say what you need to say and get out, now!"
"You said you’d give me private lessons, remember? When would be good? I can’t do tomorrow, but I’m free on Sunday."
"Tomorrow is Saturday. Why can’t you do it again?"
"I have a date with Hermione tomorrow, heh heh."
"You ungrateful wretch! The student should fit the teacher’s schedule, not the other way around! Do you have any idea how busy I am? And do dates last all day?"
"No, it’s just that... we already made plans to meet after dinner. Come to think of it, if we meet in the evening, we won’t get to spend much time together. What a shame."
"Ha... To think I’d have a student like you... Come to my office right after lunch on Sunday."
"Yes! Thank you, Professor. Enjoy your meal~"
"Stop grinning and get out, you damned brat!"
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