From the fact that there was no concrete evidence to prove that he murdered Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic lifted the bounty on his wanted man, to being appointed as the headmaster of Hogwarts by the board of directors, Snape acted quite calmly throughout the whole process, as if all this was a matter of course.
When he returned to Hogwarts, he ignored Hagrid's murderous gaze and walked through the castle's oak door directly to the principal's office. During the short journey, Snape could feel the hateful gazes of his former colleagues. Although they were very careful to hide their anger and hatred, Snape knew that his former colleagues did not welcome him and even wanted to kill him to avenge Dumbledore.
However, the funny thing is, he was just doing what Dumbledore told him to do.
"Just as you wished, I'm back and have become the most unpopular person!"
After entering the headmaster's office, Snape came to the portrait of the former headmaster and said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Hogwarts School has completely fallen into Voldemort's hands," the sleeping old man opened his eyes, looked at his successor, and said calmly: "I hope you can fulfill your oath and do your best to protect the students of Hogwarts."
"This is not easy." Snape trembled his lips and said softly: "The Dark Lord asked me to expel all Muggle-born students. You know I don't have much choice."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "This is to be expected, isn't it? Just like Salazar Slytherin, they are all prejudiced against Muggle wizards and want to drive them out of Hogwarts."
"The situation is worse than you expected."
Snape couldn't understand Dumbledore's calmness, and took out a newspaper from a few days ago from his robe pocket: "Perhaps, you may not know that the Ministry of Magic now has a Muggle Wizard Registration Committee, and they are sending those Muggle-born wizards to Azkaban."
"Oh, that's exactly like something they would do."
Dumbledore's portrait said this lightly, making Snape extremely annoyed.
Sure enough, after death, people become indifferent to many things.
"As far as I know, the Dark Lord also intends to have Yaxley erase the Muggle-born registration records from 1985 to the present." Snape threw the newspaper directly on the table. The sound made many portraits who were pretending to sleep and eavesdrop open their eyes.
"Some things are no longer something I can accomplish with all my strength."
There was a hint of self-mockery in Snape's cold tone. In fact, he didn't care much about the situation of Muggle wizards. After all, it had nothing to do with him. But Snape was still willing to abide by the agreement between him and Dumbledore and protect the students of Hogwarts as much as possible. However, some things were beyond his control at the moment, and he was powerless to help even if he wanted to.
"You don't need to worry about these things. Mr. Anderson has predicted them in advance." Dumbledore looked at Snape with a smile and comforted him softly, "As for the Muggle-born registration records from 1985 to the present, they have long been removed from the Ministry of Magic by Albert and Scrimgeour. Even if the Death Eaters want to harm them, it is unlikely that they will find that list."
"I believe you have already found solutions to other problems?" Snape raised his eyebrows and looked at the old man in the portrait.
"You don't have to worry about that." Dumbledore said calmly, "As for the students born in Muggle families at Hogwarts, you just need to announce to the public that you are expelling Muggle-born students according to the requirements of the Ministry of Magic. As for those poor children, Mr. Anderson will provide them with help."
"Albert Anderson?"
When Snape heard the name, he suddenly sneered, "As far as I know, that guy is not that kind of person."
"Don't be prejudiced. Mr. Anderson has been helping them silently. It is precisely because of his help that many things have not gone to the other extreme and have not turned to a very bad ending."
Dumbledore still quite appreciated Albert's dedication and efforts, but some things did not go according to his will.
Now, with Albert as the bottom line guarantee of the plan, even the school deans have chosen to help those Muggle-born students. The situation of those children is much better than expected, and Dumbledore is not worried that they will be thrown into Azkaban.
Snape was too lazy to argue with Dumbledore. As long as Dumbledore could find a way to solve those problems, he was confident that he could make a smooth transition of Hogwarts under his control instead of letting Hogwarts be at the mercy of the Death Eaters.
There was a knock on the door of the headmaster's office, and Snape ended his conversation with Dumbledore's portrait.
Professor McGonagall, with a gloomy face, pushed the door open and walked in. She looked coldly at the murderer sitting in the principal's office, and asked with trembling lips, "Principal, what do you want from me?"
"I think you should have read the newspaper and know that the Ministry of Magic has recently established the Muggle-born Committee." Snape did not look at his former colleagues and continued: "According to the latest laws formulated by the Ministry of Magic, they believe that Muggle-born wizards have stolen wizards' magic..."
"This is ridiculous!" Professor McGonagall interrupted with a scream.
"This is an order from the Ministry of Magic. If you have any objections to this, I suggest you protest to the Ministry of Magic." Snape said indifferently: "What I want to say is that Hogwarts will no longer accept Muggle-born students starting from next semester, and those Muggle-born students studying at Hogwarts will also be expelled."
As he said this, he threw a letter onto the table.
"This is a requirement of the Ministry of Magic. I don't want Aurors coming to Hogwarts to take away those Muggle-born prisoners!"
Professor McGonagall bit her lip and clenched her fists, but she obviously knew that there was no point in continuing to argue. At least these things were completely within their expectations.
"There is one more thing." Snape looked at Professor McGonagall who almost slammed the door and left. "I have found suitable candidates for the vacant positions of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies."
However, Professor McGonagall had already left.
Snape didn't care about the other party's rudeness. After raising his wand and closing the office door, he turned his gaze back to Dumbledore's portrait.
"I wonder what they would think if they knew I was just following your orders," Snape sneered.
"You have done well, and I count on you to continue to retain Voldemort's trust for as long as possible," said Dumbledore.
"The Dark Lord wants the sword of Gryffindor." Snape said suddenly.
"That's what I expected." Dumbledore nodded and ordered, "Move my portrait away."
Snape frowned, but moved closer to the portrait of Dumbledore and pulled it out.
When the portrait opened, it revealed a hole hidden behind it, and inside it was a sword of Gryffindor.
"this… "
"The sword is a fake. You can take it to Voldemort," said Dumbledore.
"Fake?" Snape looked surprised.
"I dare say Voldemort has never seen the real sword of Gryffindor and cannot recognize it because the imitation is very realistic." Dumbledore explained: "In fact, except for goblins, most wizards cannot recognize the characteristics of weapons made only by goblins. So, you don't need to worry that Voldemort will recognize it as a fake."
"Is the sword of Gryffindor important?" Snape asked subconsciously.
"I need you to deliver the real sword to Harry at the right time." Dumbledore acknowledged the importance of the Sword of Gryffindor.
"What is its use?" Snape took out a replica of the sword of Gryffindor from it. "Do you expect Potter to use it to kill You-Know-Who?"
"Yes."
"This is not funny at all," Snape was very dissatisfied with Dumbledore's perfunctory response, "You won't tell me anything."
"I can't put all my secrets in one basket, especially one that spends most of its time hanging on Voldemort's arm." Dumbledore shook his head. "Besides, some things are better known by as few people as possible."
"What about Anderson? You even asked him to help you deal with Potter's will." Snape was puzzled and annoyed, and accused, "You obviously trust him more."
"I didn't tell Mr. Anderson a lot of things. He figured out a lot of things on his own. Don't forget, he's a master of prediction and smarter than most people, so I didn't have much choice but to trust him. Mr. Anderson also proved himself to be trustworthy, and sometimes neither he nor I had any choice."
Albert was a pleasant surprise to Dumbledore.
"That guy is not someone who will follow other people's orders." Snape reminded.
"I never ordered him, we were just... a partnership."
"It seems that everyone who has worked with Anderson has a bad ending." Snape said sarcastically.
"That was our own choice, whether it was me or Scrimgeour." Dumbledore shook his head. "It has nothing to do with Mr. Anderson."