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

Chapter 191 Small Gathering

"Severus, how much do you still have to look at?" Emeric put down his quill and turned to look at Severus beside him. They had been working all morning.

The man was furious when he saw the documents on the table. He threw down the quill pen, leaned back in his chair, and muttered, "They'd better never show their faces again."

When Severus received the package that morning, he thought Dumbledore had finally had a change of heart and was sending them a gift. But instead of a gift, he found a mountain of documents.

"I'll send them gifts." Emeric pinched the bridge of his nose and put the processed documents together, surprised that the Saints had so many other businesses.

There was also a considerable pile of documents nearby, suggesting that most of Hogwarts' work was done here; Dumbledore probably just packed it all up without even glancing at it. Several boxes of candy were mixed in, likely gifts from McGonagall to Dumbledore.

Severus picked up his teacup and took a big gulp. He hadn't dealt with this many documents in a long time, and his head was a little dizzy. He simply relaxed his body, leaned against Emeric's chest, and stretched out his aching right hand. "Give me a massage. My hand hurts from writing so much."

“Severus, let’s go on a trip too. If they can’t find laborers, they can always find work themselves, right?” Emeric kissed his cheek, picked up a plate of raspberries and fed it to the man. “Is there anything you’d like for lunch? I’ll make it later.”

The man shook his head, unable to think of anything to eat. "I don't want anything hot. Let's go to the orchard and pick some fruit." He suddenly had a strong craving for grapes; last time, he was caught by Emeric before he could even eat half of them.

"You can't eat fruit as a meal!" It seemed that Emeric had also remembered what happened last week, and he angrily bit the man's lips. "We'll have sashimi for lunch. A new batch of seafood just arrived today."

"Tsk." He'd rather eat sweet fruit than real food. Severus lowered his head to the ground, deliberately feigning sadness, and mentally counted down: three, two…

Before he could even count to one, Emeric spoke up, "What kind of fruit do you want to eat? I'll use it to make dessert after dinner, okay?" Even knowing that Severus might be lying to him, he couldn't bear to see the man's expression.

I want to eat green grapes.

"Okay, shall we have the green grape yogurt mousse, with a scoop of ice cream on the side?"

"Can."

As they were deciding on afternoon tea, an owl from Malfoy Manor appeared at the window.

"Draco or Lucius?"

"Lucius," Emerick opened the letter and recognized the salutation immediately; Draco wouldn't use so many honorifics in his letters. After reading the entire letter, his expression was somewhat strange. "Severus, Lucius invites us to Malfoy Manor."

"Has he finally gone mad?" Severus's expression was also strange after reading it. He didn't understand what Lucius was trying to say either, and could only piece together from the pile of fancy words to barely make out that it was an invitation. "Don't make lunch, let's go see what's wrong with him."

"Okay, I'll go find the clothes." Emeric had no objection; he hadn't seen Harry and Draco in a long time, so this was a good opportunity for them to get together.

Emerging from the fireplace, Emeric and Severus casually found a seat, making no attempt to be polite. Judging from the hall's decor, there was probably no one else invited today; Lucius likely had something to discuss with them in person.

"Severus, Allie, you're here." Narcissa came out of the kitchen carrying a bag of cookies. "I'm sorry to have called you over so suddenly. Little Dragon and Lucius are still in the study. I'll go get them. Have some cookies to tide you over." After saying that, she asked the house-elf to bring some dried fruit and tea, and even dragged Harry over in case the two got bored.

"Professor Snape, Brother Allie..." Harry didn't know what to say, so he pushed the plate on the table in front of them and started a conversation, "Brother Allie, are you going to be a professor next semester?"

"Come on, wherever Severus is, that's where I am," Emeric replied, clutching a biscuit. He was genuinely hungry; they usually finished eating by this time. "Lucius should know about your relationship with Draco by now, right? Didn't he scold you two?"

Emeric, eager for a good show, asked Harry a question that hit a nerve, causing his face to fall. It seemed things weren't going well. Severus, on the other hand, adopted a look of anticipation, a slight smirk playing on his lips, ready to hear their tragic tale.

"I didn't scold him... Uncle Lucius wants me to become a Ministry of Magic official, or I can forget about being with Draco, but I want to be an Auror..."

"Ah~ the conflict between ideals and love, so which one are you going to choose?"

"I don't know what to do..." Harry replied to Emerick with a pained expression, thankful that they hadn't graduated yet and didn't have to make a choice immediately. He didn't dare tell Draco, afraid that Draco would think he didn't love him enough to hesitate.

"Have you spoken to Draco?" Severus suddenly asked. Although he didn't like Harry, as a professor, he had to answer the children's questions. He planned to go to McGonagall and curry favor when school started, hoping she would give Dumbledore another dressing down.

"No... I dare not..."

"Then you can talk to him now." Emeric nodded to Draco at the bottom of the stairs. "Besides, parents can never win against their children. This is between you two; you don't need to worry about Lucius's opinion."

Harry looked towards the stairwell, his face turning deathly pale. The secret he'd been keeping had been discovered. Afraid of angering Draco, he quickly stood up and went over. "Draco, I didn't..."

Before he could finish speaking, Draco interrupted him, "Okay, okay, I'm not angry. I'm just wondering why you've been so unhappy lately. Like Ellie said, why don't you talk to me?"

He pulled Harry back to the sofa, so they could sit facing the two adults. "Godfather, Brother Ellie, what brings you here?"

"Lucius invited us to lunch, where is he?" Severus picked up a biscuit and put it in his mouth. Emeric usually wouldn't let him go hungry for this long. He couldn't bring snacks when visiting someone's house, and he decided that if lunch wasn't served soon, he'd drag Emeric away.

"He should be down soon. He was organizing documents before I came downstairs." Draco held onto Harry tightly, afraid that he would overthink things again. "We'll talk it over tonight. Don't keep everything bottled up inside, or we'll definitely argue."

Emeric was dazzled by the two little ones, so he reached out and hugged Severus, determined to appear even more affectionate than they did, and deliberately flaunted the ring on his hand in front of them.

"Godfather, why didn't you invite us to your wedding with Ellie?!" Draco was momentarily blinded by the light, then immediately noticed that the source of the light was Emeric's ring.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Severus rolled his eyes.

Draco and Lucius are truly father and son; their startled reactions are exactly the same. "I said yes to his proposal, but of course I'll invite you to the wedding, okay?"

"Severus, Mr. Thaddeus, I'm sorry I just finished. Let's go eat."

Lucius finally came down; if he had been any later, Emeric would have done it himself.