Chapter 53: Snape: Hiss, can we reconcile?

As a half-blood wizard, Severus Snape's childhood could hardly be called happy.

Even after acquiring the power of magic and entering Hogwarts, Snape continued to live amidst misfortune.

Within Slytherin, because his father was a Muggle, he was not accepted by the house's upper circles—an era when pure-blood supremacy prevailed.

Outside of Slytherin, certain Gryffindors led by Harry's father, James Potter, took pleasure in bullying him.

Though a full-scale war had not yet broken out during Snape's school years, it was a time when Death Eaters and wizards from other factions in the magical world were at loggerheads across all sectors of society.

As the Slytherin house that produced the most Death Eaters, its relationship with the other students, led by Gryffindor, was like fire and water.

All manner of insults, abuses, and torment arrived unannounced...

A speck of dust from the era's dramatic upheaval, when it fell upon Snape, felt as heavy as a mountain.

And because of grudges formed as early as the train ride to school, James Potter and his cohorts targeted Snape with a malice that far exceeded ordinary inter-house student conflicts.

Fortunately, Lily Evans, Harry's mother and the dear friend he had made before starting school, was like a holy radiance illuminating his inner world.

She gave him the perseverance to keep moving forward no matter what setbacks he encountered.

Snape was never one to admit defeat. He was ambitious at the time, yearning for power, and when faced with problems, he would not cower but would find a way to solve them.

In his study of magic, he discovered that he had a particular talent for the Dark Arts... This was quite normal; rather extreme minds generally tend to develop a talent for emotional magic.

The various torments he experienced in life now transformed into a long stairway for him to ascend the heavens.

Empowered by the Dark Arts, Snape grew increasingly formidable and began to be accepted by the entirety of Slytherin.

Slytherin was a place that valued "nobility," and what could be called noble, aside from bloodline, was power. In fact, the very reason a bloodline was considered noble was because here, bloodline truly possessed power!

The descendants of prophets possessed a certain degree of prophetic ability, and the descendants of powerful wizards had a high probability of being stronger than ordinary wizards.

As Snape grew progressively more powerful, the once aloof and haughty aristocrats extended olive branches to befriend him. His reputation grew larger by the day, reaching even those outside the school, and even ancient, pure-blood sacred families like Lucius Malfoy expressed their affirmation of him.

However...

His success in his endeavors did not bring him the favor of "that beam of light."

On the contrary, Lily began to drift further and further away from him.

As a wizard capable of becoming a Hogwarts Head Girl, Lily's magical talent was no less than Snape's. Highly proficient in emotional magic herself, she was well aware of the terrifying consequences that could arise from the prolonged use and study of the Dark Arts—a magic rooted in extreme negative emotions.

The deeper one delved into emotional magic, the easier it was for one's mind to be warped by those very emotions.

She constantly urged Snape to give up the Dark Arts and stay away from the Slytherin students who also studied them, but to no avail.

Snape was an ambitious man. His talent in potions could not make him powerful in a short span of time; he would never abandon the Dark Arts, the only heavenly path capable of carrying his ambitions, nor would he relinquish the high-level connections he had worked so hard to acquire.

Besides, ambition aside, if he were to lose the path of the Dark Arts and become weak once more, how could he—a weak half-blood originating from Slytherin—establish a foothold in this world?

Snape craved the power to fight back, craving the grasp of authority.

The divergence between the two grew wider and wider, until... the day of the O.W.L.S. exams.

After that day, the two parted ways completely. She left him, moving step by step closer to the leader of the Marauders, the very person he despised the most.

Lily Evans, James Potter...

Two familiar names, along with various memories of the past, gradually blurred in his mind, transforming into the real Harry Potter standing right before his eyes.

Harry Potter said a great deal.

Yet Snape was in no mood to listen.

Apologies, whatever else might be said, or even the rights and wrongs of the past—Snape had not the slightest inclination to argue about any of it.

Snape simply stood there quietly, listening to Harry pour his heart out.

His longing for Lily had never ceased.

He certainly knew better than anyone that while James had done many wrong things back then, he himself had committed plenty of faults as well.

Lily had indeed abandoned him, but that was not Lily's fault.

In truth, what Snape hated most was not James Potter, but himself.

If he hadn't been deceived by that damned Sirius Black, if he hadn't approached Lupin on the night of the full moon, James—out of a belated sense of conscience—wouldn't have rushed in to rescue him.

If that full moon night had never happened, Lily would never have discovered another side to James.

The two of them would never have ended up together.

Perhaps Lily would still have left because he chose ambition, but at the very least... she would not have died!

The self-righteous and incompetent James Potter could not protect her.

The foolish and useless werewolf was of no help.

And that damned traitor, Sirius Black—traitor!

Every time he thought of him, thought of the fact that the traitor was still alive, Snape felt his body tremble.

"Enough... stop talking!" Snape raised a trembling hand, signaling Harry to speak no more.

Faced with those familiar eyes, devoid of the discomforting alienation and fear he used to see, and looking at this young wizard who had conquered his fear, confessed to everything fairly, and bravely faced it all, Snape suddenly felt a sense of listlessness.

In that instant, Snape could no longer catch a trace of James Potter in Harry.

He was Harry Potter, not James Potter, nobody's substitute.

...So be it.

Snape was weary.

Harry looked at Professor Snape's pale face and the anger that suddenly flared up in his pupils before gradually extinguishing, assuming that his apology had not only failed to make Professor Snape let go of that past, but had instead angered him.

After a moment's thought, Harry began, "Professor Snape, I know that even if I believe my father did wrong and am willing to apologize to you for his actions, it doesn't hold much meaning for you."

"No matter how I express my apologies as someone who wasn't involved in the events back then, it may still be difficult to extinguish the fire that has burned in your heart without stopping to this day."

"Yet, I am their child. Whether you want my apology or not, I have an obligation to do this."

At this, Harry paused, then continued, "I have seen a 'wrong,' and I will not simply ignore it."

"Nor do I believe that a mere few words are enough to wipe away that wrong."

"I will go find Lupin and make him apologize for the past."

"I will go find Sirius Black and make the traitor bear the fate he deserves."

Hearing this, Snape, who had previously felt rather listless, suddenly flashed a look of deep emotional stirring across his face.

Yet Harry did not stop there: "I will make my father realize that after doing wrong back then, he shouldn't have just drifted along as if nothing had ever happened. He should face his past mistakes like a man."

"I will let my mother know that you didn't ultimately choose the path of the Dark Arts, and that you weren't the kind of person she thought you were. You are a fine professor capable of leading your house to win six consecutive House Cups, a person willing to risk everything to protect others." As he uttered the final sentence, Harry recalled the glimpse of the future Roger had shown him.

If Roger had not appeared, Snape would have died because of him.

When Harry fell silent, the emotional stirring on Snape's face vanished, replaced by a sneer: "How do you plan to make James Potter realize his mistake? Dig him up from his grave and push him in front of me?"

He had thought Harry had changed, but it turned out he was just like his scoundrel father James—full of big talk and completely impractical.

Still that annoying, clueless 'Savior'!

Faced with Professor Snape's sarcasm, Harry replied in a calm tone, "I will resurrect them, and then—"

"Resurrect?!" Before Harry could finish, he was interrupted by Snape's raised voice.

"Who do you think you are?"

"You're just a lucky boy who escaped death at that man's hands thanks to Lily's love!"

"Do you really think that just because people flatter you a few times as the Savior, you're suddenly omnipotent? Absurd!"

If Snape's tone earlier was mocking, it had now transformed into fierce reprimand!

The subsided anger reignited, but this time it was directed not at Sirius Black, but at Harry.

"Now, get out of my office immediately. I don't want to see you again." At the final words, Snape's voice grew as dark and chilling as dripping water.

As a master of magic, Snape knew far too well just how difficult true resurrection truly was.

Had anyone from antiquity to the present ever succeeded? In any case, he had never heard of it.

"But... Roger said I might have a chance to pull it off." If it were before, being scolded by an enraged Snape would likely have left Harry too terrified to stand steady, but at this moment, he would no longer submit to fear.

"I believe him."

Following Harry's sonorous retort, the Head of House's office fell into a dead silence.

"..." Snape said nothing more, but the constantly twisting expressions on his face made it clear that his inner state was anything but calm.

After a silence lasting a dozen seconds or so.

Snape finally squeezed a sentence out from between his teeth: "That irritating... I mean, that powerful prophet in the archives whose prophecies have never once been wrong—did he really tell you that?"

"He said you have a chance to resurrect Lily?"