Chapter 34: Haggling
The philosophy in this statement is completely unlike what an 11-year-old child would say.
Snape looked at Vaughn and suddenly hesitated about his previous thoughts.
Vaughn noticed his hesitation and asked, “Professor, is there something you want me to do?”
Looking at that smiling face, for some reason, Snape was reminded of Dumbledore—that old man was always smiling at him too.
In fact, from the moment Vaughn arrived at the Quidditch Pitch and saw those Gryffindors, he knew what Snape wanted him to do. This eternally reclusive man only actively left his basement to watch a “foolish sport” in his eyes when it came to targeting Harry!
As expected, after maintaining his aloof persona for a while, Snape dryly asked, “What do you think of Potter’s Quidditch skills?”
“Excellent.” Vaughn looked up at the young lions already training, Harry’s slender figure darting through the wind and rain.
He looked at Snape and said with a touch of mischief, “Everyone says Harry inherited his father’s talent, and Gryffindor believes no Seeker on other teams can match Harry.”
*Crack!*
Vaughn seemed to hear the sound of teeth being ground together.
He saw Snape clench his fists, and a rare, intense emotion appeared in his dark eyes.
It was hard to say whether it was nostalgia or hatred.
But it was clear he was no longer beating around the bush: “Vaughn Weasley, if I let you join the Slytherin team, can you beat him?”
Vaughn feigned appropriate surprise: “Professor, why? You know, Harry and I are friends, and I’m not particularly fond of Quidditch.”
“Hmph, friends… just tell me, can you do it?”
“I… should be able to.”
Vaughn appeared confident yet innocent: “But Professor, I have many things to do, especially experimenting with medicinal herbs. It not only consumes a lot of my time but also requires a lot of money, and I have to brew potions to earn money…”
“I’ll provide the Materials!”
This sentence was almost squeezed out between Snape’s teeth.
“I also need to maintain my studies. You know I’m a studious person, and homework takes up a lot of my time every day…”
“I will contact Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick.” Snape’s expression grew colder. “With your skill in Transfiguration and Charms, I believe they will waive your homework, including my Potions class! But you cannot skip homework for other classes.”
“That’s wonderful.” Vaughn’s expression brightened, and he continued, “Also, I noticed that in the book you gave me this time, besides the Obliviation Spell, there are no Memory Magic spells, such as Legilimency…”
Snape’s face turned ashen.
He was now certain that this Weasley before him had a personality as vile as Dumbledore’s!
Insatiably greedy, and unforgiving when he had the upper hand!
Absolutely detestable!
But after taking a few deep breaths, he still dryly said, “Next summer vacation, I will send you a book… Don’t push your luck too far, Weasley!”
Vaughn was still unsatisfied; such a good opportunity to blackmail…
Unfortunately, judging by Snape’s demeanor, these demands had reached his limit.
But he still added one more request: “I hope Slytherin team gets a new Captain, Marcus Flint is an idiot.”
Snape instinctively wanted to swish his robe and leave.
But after carefully recalling Marcus Flint—he was a tall, burly fellow who looked like a gorilla, strong in limbs and decent in athletic ability, but his brain’s composition was unclear.
Dumber than a Troll.
He suddenly felt that Vaughn’s request didn’t seem to have any problems.
He had to dryly ask again, “Do you have a candidate?”
Vaughn’s expression was hard to describe: “No…”
By the time the two had finalized their deal and left the Quidditch Pitch in the wind and rain, they still hadn’t found anyone to replace Flint. Vaughn himself certainly wasn’t an option; no matter how much he wanted to thwart Harry, Snape wouldn’t ask Vaughn to waste too much time on Quidditch.
Pondering the candidate, before parting, Vaughn sighed to Snape:
“Professor, can the academy recruit more normal people next year? The requirement isn’t high, just a bit of common sense.”
Snape: “…”
…
Two mornings later, Vaughn, who had “visited” Gryffindor, received a package delivered by Owl.
He was eating with the trio at the time.
In the days that followed, although Vaughn had focused all his energy on learning new spells and potions, he was fully aware of Harry’s actions.
One of the trio was his brother, and the other was his informant.
Harry was also notoriously talkative, nicknamed “a leaky faucet.”
Even though Vaughn had never actively paid attention, he still knew that Harry was investigating the small package Hagrid had retrieved from Gringotts.
They had even found the room where Fluffy was located.
It was one night more than two weeks ago.
When Harry finished his last day of detention, Ron and Hermione went to pick him up, but on the way, they encountered Madam Pince and Peeves.
After Vaughn had taught Peeves a lesson, and since Vaughn had taught Hermione the magic that could control it, Peeves, feeling isolated, began to ally with Filch.
Of course, that’s what it thought.
In reality, it started acting with Madam Pince, with Peeves responsible for phasing through walls and obstacles to find young wizards out after hours.
Madam Pince was responsible for calling Filch.
Enemies seeing each other often led to intense anger. Peeves, who feared Vaughn, was not afraid of the trio at all. It shouted loudly in the corridor, cooperating with Madam Pince, chasing the trio all the way to the Fourth Floor and cornering them into a room.
“You’re dead, the three-headed dog will surely bite you to death!”
Peeves happily somersaulted in the air.
The trio met the three-headed dog in that room, and Hermione also noticed a trapdoor beneath the dog’s feet.
“The package Hagrid retrieved must be hidden beneath the trapdoor.”
Harry had confidently told Vaughn yesterday, “It’s Dumbledore’s item, it must be very important, but I don’t know what it is.”
So Vaughn mischievously egged him on, “Why don’t you just ask Hagrid directly?”
Harry, having been in the academy for a while, was now much more confident and no longer as shy as before. He questioned, “Hagrid is very tight-lipped, he won’t tell me.”
“That’s not necessarily true, just say you saw the three-headed dog.”
So this morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione excitedly found Vaughn: “How did you know to say that, and Hagrid would reveal the information?”
Vaughn smiled without speaking.
Where do you think Harry learned to be so talkative?
“Hagrid said the three-headed dog is named Fluffy, and he lent it to Dumbledore to guard something.”
Harry took a breath, and Ron continued, “It’s related to Nicolas Flamel.”
Hermione said finally, “I’m sure I’ve seen that name, but no matter how hard I think, I can’t recall it. I checked my notes last night, and there was no result. Vaughn, do you know?”
All three looked expectantly at Vaughn.
