Chapter 83: Snape – "Your Student Gave Me a Birthday Gift, Not Bad, Right?"  

"Professor! I have a reason for being out here!" 

Malfoy yelped in pain as Professor McGonagall tugged on his ear. 

"I don't care what your reason is—you shouldn't be wandering around after curfew!" 

Professor McGonagall was furious and didn't give Malfoy a chance to explain. 

"I have to give you detention! And on top of that, Slytherin loses ten points. No, twenty! No, thirty!" 

"What? No, Professor! You can't do that! You don't understand—it's Harry! Harry Potter!" 

Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to tell me that Harry tricked you into coming out here?" 

"No! It's Harry Potter! He's sneaking into the Forbidden Forest tonight to send off a dragon!" 

Professor McGonagall let out a sharp laugh, utterly unconvinced. "What utter nonsense! You're making up stories to cover for your own mistakes! Slytherin loses another ten points!" 

"It's true, Professor! Everything I'm saying is true!" 

Seeing that Professor McGonagall didn't believe him at all, Malfoy's eyes widened in frustration as he repeatedly insisted on his story. 

"Enough! How could there possibly be a dragon at Hogwarts? I despise liars! Now, come with me!" 

Still holding onto Malfoy's ear, Professor McGonagall dragged him down the corridor. 

"You're going to disappoint Professor Snape, Malfoy—a liar like you! I'd love to see how he deals with you. Now, move!" 

--- 

### The Next Morning 

Dylan slowly woke up, still hugging his pillow. 

"For once, I didn't get woken up by Coal's tiny paws." 

It felt a little strange to him. 

There were classes today, but after trying to harness the power of Shadowwing and the dragon, Dylan's mental energy had been severely drained. Even magic couldn't fully restore it, so he decided not to wake up early. 

Because of that, he ended up sleeping in and waking up at the same time as Harry and Neville before heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

"Why are there so few Slytherins here today?" 

At the table, Harry looked puzzled. 

Dylan glanced over and blinked. "Didn't you guys tell Malfoy last night that you were going to send Arno away?" 

Ron froze. "Wait—are you saying that guy sneaked out last night to try and find us?" 

Dylan gave a slight nod. "It's possible. Notice how it's not just the Slytherin table that's emptier than usual, but even the professor's table has fewer teachers." 

Ron and Harry looked over and saw that he was right. 

Before long, another wave of students flooded in through the entrance, chatting excitedly. 

From their conversations, Dylan and his friends quickly pieced things together. 

"Hahahaha! That idiot actually fell for it! He thought we were really sending the dragon away, so he snuck out last night and got caught by Professor McGonagall!" 

Ron lowered his voice but couldn't stop laughing, his shoulders shaking. 

"I'd love to see Malfoy's face right now! It must be priceless!" 

Harry held back his own laughter. "And he even went to Snape beforehand to tell him about it. But when Professor McGonagall brought him to Snape, there was no sign of us at all! He must have been so disappointed." 

Neville stuffed a bite of a delicate crystal dumpling into his mouth and mumbled, "No wonder people kept staring at us on the way here." 

Just then, Hermione arrived at their table. 

She had clearly already heard the news from others. The moment she sat down, she turned to Dylan and the rest. "Slytherin lost sixty points because of Malfoy!" 

"Sixty points?!" Ron's eyes widened. 

He had expected Malfoy to be punished, but he hadn't thought Slytherin would lose that many points. 

Harry was also surprised. "How did they lose sixty points? Didn't Malfoy already get detention with both Professor McGonagall and Snape?" 

Normally, when a student was caught breaking the rules and given detention, the points deducted wouldn't be too severe. 

Hermione shrugged. "How should I know? I only heard that at first, Professor McGonagall planned to take thirty points. But Malfoy kept yelling that Harry had a dragon and was trying to send it away." 

She glanced at Dylan, who was quietly sipping his porridge without much reaction, then continued. 

"In the end, after checking the facts and finding no evidence of a dragon, Professor McGonagall concluded that Malfoy was lying and deducted another twenty points." 

"As for the last ten points, Professor Snape took those himself." 

Ron's eyes went round with disbelief. "Snape is such a hypocrite! If we make even the smallest mistake in his class, he'll take five or ten points immediately!" 

"But Malfoy sneaks out after curfew, gets caught red-handed, and Snape only deducts ten points?" 

Hermione shook her head. "Either way, Malfoy already cost Slytherin fifty points. That's more than enough." 

"Besides, Snape probably didn't want Malfoy to lose too many points. Otherwise, it'd be embarrassing for him too." 

Hermione's guess was spot on. 

After Professor McGonagall brought Malfoy to Snape, Snape simply stated that since McGonagall had already deducted fifty points from Slytherin, he would only take ten more. 

—He didn't want to deal with the weird looks from the Gryffindor students in his class later. 

Still, even with that, Malfoy losing sixty points became a hot topic of discussion that morning. 

"Good thing we only tricked Malfoy. If we had gotten caught along with him, even if we had a good reason, we'd probably have lost fifty points each," Ron said as he bit into a rib. 

Dylan tore his bread into strips, soaked them in milk, then poured the milk into his rice porridge and stirred it before taking a sip. 

Not bad. 

He didn't comment on Ron's speculation. 

At least, if he hadn't tamed Arno as a pet and stored him in his pet space, things would have played out very differently. 

If Malfoy had discovered that Hagrid was keeping a dragon, their only option would have been to contact Ron's brothers and have them take Arno away. But in that case, Malfoy still would have found out, and they still would have lost points. 

Ron's prediction was actually quite accurate. 

If they had been caught, each of them would have lost fifty points, bringing Gryffindor's total deduction to 150—while Malfoy would have only lost 20. 

But now, the tables had completely turned. 

After breakfast, Dylan and the others headed to class. 

He had slept well the night before. Even without Coal to cuddle, his pillow had been comfortable enough. 

More time passed. 

January 9th arrived. 

Dylan still didn't wake up early and instead went to breakfast with Harry and the others. 

 The Reason He Didn't Wake Up Early Today Was— 

*Swish, swish, swish.* 

Professor Snape strode into the Great Hall, his robes billowing as he made his way to the staff table with a dramatic flourish. 

His robes shimmered faintly under the sunlight. Unlike his usual tightly fitted attire, this new set featured intricate dark embroidery, slightly open at the front to reveal a deep-colored inner lining. The cuffs were also adorned with subtle, refined trim, adding a touch of elegance and ease to his usual all-black ensemble. This change did not go unnoticed—Dumbledore's sharp gaze lingered on him for a few extra seconds. 

After taking his seat, Professor Snape began eating at a deliberately unhurried pace. 

His movements seemed even more meticulous than usual. From time to time, he lightly adjusted the cuffs of his robe or subtly repositioned his collar. 

Although his expression remained impassive, Dylan couldn't shake the feeling that, in an almost imperceptible way, Professor Snape was… showing off. 

Sitting nearby, Professor Flitwick was the first to take notice. He pushed up his glasses and scrutinized Snape before speaking with curiosity. 

"Severus, is that a new robe? It seems… better than the ones before." 

Since Snape always wore the same unchanging black robes, most people never paid close attention to the specific details of his attire. 

But now that they took a closer look, something definitely seemed different. 

Professor Flitwick blinked and scanned Snape's robes up and down. 

"And this robe—there are quite a few enchantments on it. The magic is impressive, though… it doesn't seem like your own handiwork." 

Professor McGonagall also glanced over. Looking down, she remarked in mild surprise, "Your robes no longer drag on the floor." 

Snape's lips twitched slightly. 

He let out a soft huff and shot McGonagall a glance. 

Then, arching a brow, he maintained his usual cold expression, though his tone carried a trace of satisfaction. 

"Well, since it was made by one of your students, its rough craftsmanship is only to be expected." 

McGonagall paused. "One of my students?" 

She blinked, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes deepening. "You mean… Dylan?" 

Snape said nothing, merely continuing his breakfast. 

McGonagall turned to look toward the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore and Flitwick followed her gaze. 

Dylan was in the middle of eating an orange when he suddenly felt multiple sets of eyes locking onto him from the staff table. He froze mid-bite. 

Looking up, he gave the professors an awkward smile. 

Snape, however, did not spare him a glance and instead continued his leisurely meal. 

Then, lifting a glass of red wine, he took a slow sip, his posture composed and straight-backed. 

Dylan hurriedly finished his breakfast and quickly left with Harry, heading off to class. 

"What was that all about? The professors were all staring at you just now," Hermione asked as she turned back to look at him. 

Ron and Harry also cast him curious glances. 

Dylan opened his mouth but hesitated. "I'm not really sure." 

A flicker of concern crossed Harry's face. "You don't think they found out about the dragon, do you?" 

Dylan froze for a moment, then shot Harry a look. "As long as you all never mention the word 'dragon' again, I won't get caught." 

Harry scratched his head and grinned. "Good. That really scared me just now—when all the professors suddenly turned to look, I thought we were done for." 

Dylan scoffed internally. 

He was scared too! 

Both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had birthdays in October. 

Back when he had just started school, he had been entirely focused on his studies and hadn't yet formed particularly close relationships with the professors. At that point, he'd only known them for about a month and was still in the process of getting acquainted. 

So, he hadn't given them any birthday gifts. 

Could that be why they were all looking at him just now? 

"But I didn't even know their exact birthdays back then!" 

Dylan felt this wasn't his fault at all. 

After all, he could barely even remember that 1991 was the year Harry Potter started school! 

"I guess I'll have to wait until my second year to give them birthday gifts." 

After a full day of classes, Dylan went to visit Professor Trelawney for a study session on Divination. 

To Dylan, Divination was a profoundly intricate subject. 

However, its approach was entirely different from Transfiguration or standard spellcasting. 

When he arrived at the North Tower where Professor Trelawney resided, he found the door slightly ajar. 

Rather than entering outright, Dylan knocked gently a few times. 

A voice, carrying a mystical tone, drifted from inside. 

"Come in, dear child." 

As he pushed open the door, a faint scent of incense filled the air. 

Stepping inside, Dylan found the room bathed in dim, hazy light. The sky had yet to fully darken, and the remnants of sunset filtered through stained-glass windows, casting abstract patterns on the floor. 

His gaze quickly landed on Professor Trelawney. 

She was clad in a flowing purple robe adorned with symbols and constellations. Her tall frame was draped in countless crystal necklaces, which jingled softly as she moved. 

Beneath her exaggeratedly large hat was a pale face. 

At the moment, Professor Trelawney stood by a table, observing her student. 

Dylan was slightly taken aback by her new outfit. "Professor, you look stunning today." 

Trelawney's lips curled into a smile. "Thank you for the compliment." 

She circled around and sat at the table before adding, "I was inspired by you." 

"Me?" 

"Yes. New clothes bring new luck, don't they? So I thought, what if dressing more vibrantly could bring even better fortune?" 

Dylan blinked. 

He had no idea whether wearing new clothes truly brought good luck. 

So how was he supposed to answer that? 

Trelawney, however, didn't seem to expect an actual response. 

"I had a dream last night," she continued, "where I was dressed in purple and found myself surrounded by a vast galaxy of stars. I took it as a sign of good fortune." 

Dylan raised an eyebrow. 

"And then?" 

Trelawney smirked mischievously. 

"Well, today, Professor Snape kept strutting around in his new robe, but my dazzling and noble purple completely outshone him." 

Dylan: "(д)!!!..." 

(End of Chapter)