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

Chapter 205 Extra: The Original Timeline 2

"Then let's go, Mr. Snape." Thaddeus transformed his pajamas into a suit, casually waving his wand in his hand.

Severus's brow twitched as he watched, wondering what he would encounter on the way back. But he had no other reason not to take Thaddeus to school, and could only hope that everything was peaceful there.

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"Mr. Snape, I might need you to take me with you. After all, nobody knows me, and it wouldn't be good if I were mistaken for a Death Eater." Emeric stopped just before leaving the cellar. He didn't want to be watched by McGonagall, and he needed to be hidden in the shadows to know what was going on here.

"?" Snape thought the person in front of him was crazy. What did he mean by taking him away? "You can get lost." He had no time to chat with Emerick and pushed open the door to walk straight out.

"Meow~" Emeric transformed into a kitten and darted to the man's feet, rubbing his head against him. This trick always worked, and he refused to believe it wouldn't work here.

As expected, Snape stopped and felt the warmth on his leg. The kitten's soft paws hugged his leg, and its fluffy head tilted to look at him.

"It really is you." Snape said out of the blue. His suspicions had largely disappeared. He reluctantly tossed the cat into his pocket and prepared to take it with him.

If they really wanted to harm him, they wouldn't have saved him in the first place. Snape felt that no one would go to such lengths for him, especially since he was so disliked among the students that no young person would want to get close to him.

Walking through the broken corridor, Snape spotted Harry in a corner of the castle, still lively and energetic as he packed his armor. His worries completely subsided. There was an unidentified creature in his pocket, and he feared that getting close to Harry would bring danger.

Turning to walk towards the other end of the castle, he wanted to keep the danger as far away from the students as possible. On the way, he saw other students and felt puzzled as to why these giants were looking at him with pity. If it weren't for the fact that deducting points now was useless, he would definitely have deducted dozens of points.

"Meow!!!"

Emeric was thrown to the ground and silently rolled over, trying to elicit the man's sympathy. But Snape's experiences over the years had made him incapable of being softened by such a small creature; in fact, it only heightened his vigilance.

"How do you want me to repay you?" Snape decided to get straight to the point, feeling that being entangled with this would be troublesome, and wanted to get rid of this uncertain factor from Hogwarts as soon as possible.

"Meow~" The cat wants to see you live.

"I don't understand. If you have no requests, you can leave. Hogwarts doesn't welcome outsiders." He decided to play dumb, pretending not to know that Emeric could turn into a human.

Seeing the man's demeanor, Emeric understood perfectly. He transformed back into a human and stood a meter away from Snape, Severus's favorite distance, hoping it would work on the gentleman. "Mr. Snape, I've come here to accomplish something, and I'll need to stay by your side for the time being."

"Of course, I'll pay for the accommodation. This should be enough." Emeric took out a bunch of mutated plants. He believed that the Potions Master couldn't refuse them, not to mention that these were of much better quality than those on the market.

"Okay." Snape took the bait as expected. Keeping him by his side was the safest option, and he could also get a bunch of materials—a sure-fire way to make money.

And so, Emeric followed Snape for three days without finding a reason to be there. But he discovered many little brats who were disrespectful to Professor Snape, which displeased the cat, so he decided to do something mischievous.

"I still can't believe that Old Bat was actually a good person."

"Who knows? If our savior says so, then it is!"

"Ouch, who threw this stone here? It hurts so much!"

The Gryffindor kids felt really unlucky lately. They would often fall down while chatting, or the person they were talking badly about would be right behind them. Nothing they did went smoothly.

Snape returned to the cellar, picked up the cat from his pocket, and held it up to him. "Did you do the right thing?" After all, there had been no one else at school these past few days, only this little rascal. He was considering whether to throw Emeric out.

An arm reached out from behind and made the decision for him. The cat in his hand fell into the hands of another version of himself. The two men with similar faces looked at each other, and there was a young man with flaxen gray hair beside them.

"Take him away quickly, he's caused me a lot of trouble." Snape exhaled, particularly disgusted by the other's taste, that he would actually take a liking to such a brat.

Severus raised an eyebrow and shook the cat in his hand. "What have you done now?" Emeric's destructive power has always been strong, and he was used to it.

"Meow~" The cat didn't do anything bad.

"Don't understand? Turn back into a human, or you'll be sleeping on the floor." Severus waved the cat in his hand, openly threatening Emeric, acting as if no one else was around.

Emeric obediently transformed back to normal, recounted everything that had happened in the past few days, and then stood next to the man, pressing his entire body against his back.

The two remaining people in the room huddled together. Thaddeus thought Snape was handsome the moment he saw him, so he made up an excuse to go over and stand next to him.

"Mr. Thaddeus, if there's anything you need to say, you can stay where you are. There's no need to get so close," Snape couldn't help but say, feeling that his territory had been offended.

Thaddeus stopped in his tracks, recalling the information about the Potions professor in his mind. His interest in Snape grew stronger, and coupled with the pleasant scent of herbs, he wished he could take the man back to his den right now.

"Excuse me, Snape... Professor, I have a collaboration I hope you might be interested in." Thaddeus handed over a design plan for a herb garden, and continued, "Our family needs to expand our business in England, which happens to be related to potions. I wonder if I would have the honor of asking you for guidance."

He pretended to be discussing business seriously, but in reality, he was testing Snape's limits little by little, preparing to find a way to bring him home.

Emeric pursed his lips, but didn't expose "himself." He pulled Severus aside to avoid disturbing them, or rather, to prevent Severus from remembering that he had been tricked in the same way before.

Unfortunately, he was too slow. A hand landed on his waist, and Severus narrowed his eyes and said softly, "So you were hiding something from me. Explain that contract from back then."

"Hey, Severus, let's talk at home. There are outsiders here." Emeric gestured for him to look at the two people next to him; he didn't want to be the butt of the show.

"Heh, I'll deal with you when we get back." Severus rolled his eyes at him, then let him hug him. The two of them looked to the right, curious about what their other selves would choose.

Judging from the current situation, it seems that the cat has gone to great lengths to bring the human home again.