Moody's eyes only stayed on the stairs for a few seconds before moving back to Snape.
"Filch was on patrol in the middle of the night, what about you? Snape..." he said hesitantly, "how did you hear it?"
"That doesn't matter," Snape said coldly.
"On the contrary," growled Moody, "it is very important!"
"Hmph - I just want to go to my office, what's the problem?" Snape snorted coldly, turned around and left.
"Wait!" Moody yelled, "let me see your shoes!"
Snape paused, without even looking back, and continued walking forward.
"stop!"
Moody took a few steps forward, stretched out his crutch, and stopped Snape unceremoniously.
"What on earth do you want to do?" Snape, holding back his anger, suddenly turned around and lifted up his trousers to reveal his shoes, "You want to see my shoes? What's so good about me? Could my shoes be black?" Magic items?"
Under Snape's lifted trousers, a pair of clean boots were exposed, but the slight trace of mud had disappeared.
"I just couldn't find my slippers when I got out of bed. Is that a problem?" Snape asked.
Moody stared at his boots for a while, then raised his head and said, "You don't have anything else hidden in your office, do you?"
At this time, Snape's gray face had turned an ugly brick red, and the vein on his temple was beating faster.
"Are you done? You know I have nothing to hide, Moody," he said in a low voice. "Didn't you personally search my office?"
Moody's face twisted into a smile.
"This is an Auror's prerogative, Snape. Dumbledore asked me to keep a close watch—"
"Dumbledore happens to trust me," Snape said through gritted teeth, "I don't believe he ordered you to search my office!"
"Of course Dumbledore believes you," shouted Moody. "He's a very gullible man, isn't he? He always believes in giving people a second chance. But I-I think some stains can't be washed away, Snape Pu. Some stains can never be washed away, you know what I mean?"
Snape suddenly did something very strange. He suddenly grabbed his left arm with his right hand, as if his arm suddenly ached unbearably.
Moody laughed.
"Go back to bed, Snape."
"You have no right to make me go anywhere!" Snape hissed, uncrossing his arms as if annoyed with himself. "I have as much right as you do to patrol this school at night!"
"Then just go ahead and patrol," Moody said, but his voice was full of threats. "I already knew that one day I would meet you in the dark corridor... By the way, your things are missing... "
Snape and Filch both subconsciously looked down and found a piece of parchment.
Snape reached out to pick it up, and a terrible, enlightened expression slowly appeared on his face -
"Parchment is flying!"
The map swooped into the air, slipped through Snape's open fingers, flew down the stairs, and landed in Moody's hand.
"I made a mistake," said Moody calmly. "This is mine—I think I must have lost it earlier—"
But Snape's dark eyes looked at the box in Filch's arms, and then at the parchment in Moody's hand - and he connected the two things.
"Potter," he said softly.
He still remembers it clearly - there is no way, it is difficult not to remember it! Because the time he discovered that this parchment belonged to Harry was the night he caught Maka and Hermione face-to-face "affectionately".
"What do you mean?" Moody asked calmly, folding up the map and putting it in his pocket.
"Potter!" Snape said angrily. He suddenly turned his head and looked straight at the position where Moody's eyes had just stopped. "That box belongs to Potter, and that piece of parchment belongs to Potter too." Yes, I've seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here! Potter, wearing his invisibility cloak!"
Snape opened his hands like a blind man and walked up the stairs.
"There's nothing there, Snape!" shouted Moody, "but I'd love to tell the Headmaster how easily you suspected Harry Potter!"
"What do you mean?" Snape turned to look at Moody again. His hands were still open, but his movements slowed down.
"I mean, Dumbledore is very interested in knowing who is up to no good with that boy!" Moody limped a few steps closer to the stairs. "And, Snape, I'm... very interested. interest… "
The light of the torches passed over his twisted and mangled face, making the scars and the gaping hole in his nose appear deeper and more sinister than before.
Snape looked down at Moody, his brows furrowed.
For a moment, no one moved or spoke... Then, Snape slowly lowered his hands.
"I just think," Snape seemed to be trying to sound calmer, "that if Potter wanders around in the middle of the night again... it's a regrettable bad habit of his... he should be stopped. In order to— For his own safety."
"Ah, I see," Moody said softly, "You have Potter's interests at heart, don't you?"
A moment of silence.
Snape and Moody were still staring at each other, and Mrs. Norris meowed loudly, still poking her head next to Filch's legs, as if sniffing something.
"I should go to my office... There is still a potion waiting for me to prepare." Snape said suddenly.
"This is the most reasonable idea you have tonight," said Moody. "Now, Filch, could you give me that box—"
"No!" Filch said, hugging the box tightly as if he were his own son, "Professor Moody, this is evidence that Peeves stole something!"
"He stole this from a warrior. It belongs to that warrior," Moody said. "Take it here."
Snape hurried downstairs without saying a word, walked past Moody, and headed for the basement. Filch made a smacking sound to Mrs. Norris, and the cat stared blankly at something for a few seconds before turning around and following its owner down.
Filch handed the box to Moody, and then left, murmuring to Mrs. Norris in a low voice: "It's okay, dear... we'll go find Dumbledore early in the morning... and tell him what Peeves has done... "
Not long after, a door banged, as if someone had closed it.
Until then, Moody put his crutches on the bottom of the stairs, struggled to climb up the stairs, and walked towards the edge of the seemingly empty stairs. Every step he took, he made a hollow sound: thump... thump... thump.
"It's dangerous, Potter," he whispered.
…
On the other side, Snape's office.
"boom!"
The door to the office was violently pushed open and slammed shut, and the oil lamp in the room was lit.
"Is anyone here today?" Snape was not surprised at all by Maka sitting behind the desk, he just asked with an irritated look on his face.
"Come on, it's tonight." Maka straightened her back, leaning on the chair, and said calmly.
"That's fine -" Snape didn't ask for any details about Barty Jr., he just said impatiently and sat down on the single sofa next to him, "You can go back to sleep."
"I'm afraid that won't work," Maka shrugged. "There's still magic potion brewing inside. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave until it stabilizes..."
"My place has almost become your private alchemy room..." Although Snape said this, he obviously had no intention of chasing Maka away.
Ever since Maka came back from her visit to Voldemort, the relationship between him and Snape had obviously become much closer. Now, if Maka wants to prepare some potions or do some research, she often comes to Snape to disturb him.
But Maka vaguely understood that the biggest reason why Snape had an attitude of approval towards him was probably not this relationship.
As for why... to be honest, he still hasn't figured it out yet!
"McLean..."
"What?"
Snape called Maka abruptly, but before he could get to the point, he shook his head slightly.
"...No, it's nothing."
Although Maka was a little confused, she didn't continue to ask - if Snape didn't want to talk, it would be in vain for him to ask. It's better to save some energy and wait until the other party feels it's time to say it, then they will naturally say it.
At least, Snape didn't have any conflict of interest with him, and he didn't have to worry about what other little thoughts the other party would have towards him.
After that, Maka casually chatted with Snape about potions. It wasn't until the sky was bright that he closed the lid of the cauldron and left Snape's office.
For Maka, staying up late is almost a common occurrence. He usually catches up on his sleep the next morning before moving on to other things.
But today, he did not do so.
As the start date of the second project approached day by day, he had to seize every moment to deal with various things.
The plan has been slowly unfolding, and progress in all aspects is very stable. At such a critical moment, he didn't want to miss something because he didn't pay attention to something.
"When everything is resolved, you must take a good rest for a while..."
As he spoke, he took out a bottle of magic potion and drank it.
"Oh!" He shook his head, and his sleepy face became shiny again, and his eyes became bright again.
"The effect of this formula is really good. You can try to push it on the market..." Maka held the empty bottle and thought about it, then nodded and said, "Since the formula contains the gallbladder of a bicorn, let's call it ' I’ve got the Rainbow Ox Potion... Anyway, the bicorn ① looks not much different from a bull... "