HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 210 Extra: Seeking One's Own Death

"Professor Snape, please tell Thaddeus Jr. that our family is willing to offer a supply chain."

"This is a school. If you continue to cause trouble, I will call Dumbledore."

"Ha, how long do you think he'll love you? Snape, you'll end up like me one day."

Severus didn't even glance at them. He was busy going to class and didn't have time to deal with these lunatics. He was going to give Emeric a piece of his mind when he got back for not keeping an eye on them.

The young wizards noticed that Professor Snape was unusually irritable today, nitpicking and deducting points for the smallest things, which almost scared them to tears.

"Who offended the professor? He's never scolded me before."

"I don't know, oh no... I gave the wrong dosage..."

Despair filled Hufflepuff's eyes. He counted to three in his mind, and a familiar voice sounded behind him.

"Do you need me to teach you how to read numbers? You can't even get such a simple proportion right? Or are you unhappy with my class and want to blow up the classroom?" Severus stood behind the unlucky boy with a gloomy face, waving his wand to knock over the cauldron that was about to explode. "Report to the cellar at eight o'clock tonight. Hufflepuff deduct ten points."

As soon as the bell rang, the young wizards took off running, wishing they could disappear from Severus's sight immediately. Those who were locked up for the night looked miserable and silently prayed to Merlin that the professor would be in a better mood that night.

"Smack."

"What's wrong?"

Emeric, puzzled, gathered up the lesson plans Severus had tossed on the table. He wondered if some child prodigy had blown up the classroom during class, but that didn't seem right. Usually, when something like this happened, a man would at most curse a few times or take a nap in someone's arms; he wouldn't actually smash things.

"Ha, the all-knowing Mr. Emeric, there are things you don't know?" Severus's words were sarcastic. He was in a particularly bad mood, having been questioned about his feelings by the madman this morning.

"I really don't know. There's no such thing as some kind of supernatural power." Emeric sat down next to the man, pulled him into his arms, and even let him touch him to show that he hadn't caused any trouble. He couldn't figure out who could have angered him. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be anyone so bold as to do that at Hogwarts. Surely, someone from outside the school couldn't have barged in, right?

"Isn't this all your doing? A madman came over and said that one day you would despise me and that my end would be worse than his." Severus glanced at Emeric, not holding back in his insults. To better avenge himself, he even memorized the man's appearance.

"It's my fault, I've made you suffer." Emeric smiled as he carefully put away the portrait, then took out a small box of egg rolls and placed it in the man's hand. "How about some egg rolls with black tea this afternoon? I have to go out for a bit now. Is there anything you'd like me to bring back?"

"No." Severus chose to eat with great pleasure; the crispy egg rolls with sesame seeds were especially delicious. He was immersed in the deliciousness of the snack, completely unconcerned about what Emeric might do, since it was all about avenging him anyway.

Seeing that the man wasn't so angry, Emeric kissed him and got up to leave. It seemed he hadn't done anything personally in a long time, which disgusted Severus.

"Apparition".

He appeared in the studio, where the floor was piled high with various documents. Garian and Lyra were eating in the living room, looking like they had been busy all morning.

"What's wrong?" Garian put down his fork and looked at Emeric with curiosity. "Normally you should be having dinner with Professor Snape at this time. Why did you suddenly come today?"

"Some fools come to Severus begging for mercy, but they can't even speak human language."

"Which family is so bold?" Leila raised an eyebrow, a rare display of curiosity on her face. This was the first time she had ever seen someone courting death.

"This," Emeric took out the portrait and placed it between the two of them, "you need to investigate which family it belongs to. They're probably some kind of shady characters, otherwise they wouldn't be so disgusting."

"This," Emeric took out the portrait and placed it between the two of them, "you need to investigate which family it belongs to. They're probably some kind of shady characters, otherwise they wouldn't be so disgusting."

"If we find out by tonight, your salaries this month will double, and you'll each get a bottle of Felix Felicis," Emeric said calmly, the small, light gold bottle in his hand swaying, drawing the attention of the two men.

With the generous reward, Lyra and Galian were instantly motivated. They skipped lunch and rushed back to their seats to review the data, filtering out families on the verge of bankruptcy, while Emeric flipped through those that had already gone bankrupt.

The amount of data on the ground piled up, and their objective became increasingly clear. After all, they had done a good job of preparation, storing photos of each clan leader; all they needed to do was compare the similarities.

"I found it." Garian pushed aside the pile of documents in front of him, placed the folder in the center of the table, and looked at Emeric. "Is there anything we need to do?"

The economy was beyond repair, and their social connections seemed mediocre. Logically, they shouldn't have been able to contact Severus, and shouldn't even know that Emeric was behind it all.

"Interesting. Looks like this guy can't be touched yet." Emeric put the folder back. "Tsk, it's really unpleasant to be used as a fish by others. Keep up the work these next few days and don't let them find out anything."

Lyra rubbed her temples, feeling particularly annoyed. "I know, should we call Evelyn over? It's disadvantageous for us to be out in the shadows right now."

"Or should we bring Leander over? And his roommate too, those two always like to cause trouble," Garian suggested.

Emeric finally made the decision: "Bring Rayander over, and Evelyn will stay at the school." The school is under scrutiny from all sides, and the sudden loss of a professor would definitely attract attention.

He glanced at the sky, tossed the two bottles of Felix Felicis to them, and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I'm going back to cook now. You should go home early too."

Back in the cellar, Emeric went straight to the potion-making workshop, where, as expected, Severus was intently brewing a potion, with an empty plate on the small table beside him.

"How is it?" The man didn't even look up, continuing to stir the liquid in the pot. "For dinner, I want pan-fried steak and berry iced tea. The rest is up to you."

"Okay, how about I fry some asparagus in butter and put some sweet corn kernels on the side?"

"Okay." Severus didn't ask him the result; he would know once everything settled down.

Soon, the aroma of meat wafted through the living room, making the man, who had been busy all day, feel hungry. He pushed open the door and went out, where he saw two large plates on the table, the rich fragrance emanating from them.

"Severus, have a taste. There's no pepper sauce on it, but if you find it bland, dip it in the sauce. There's also sea salt here." Emeric placed a small dish next to the man.

"Eat up." Severus forked a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. When he got tired of it, he would eat a bite of asparagus and corn kernels, or drink a sip of fruit tea. He couldn't be more satisfied.