Twenty minutes ago, in the principal's office on the eighth floor of the main tower.
"Severus, do you suspect that it was Professor Dracula who instructed Quirrell to steal the Philosopher's Stone?" Dumbledore asked with interest, chewing a Honeydukes candy.
"That's right. Among all the professors at Hogwarts, only Dracula is new. Even Quirrell has taught Muggle Studies for quite some time. So, we know nothing about him." Snape said seriously. "Besides, just before school started, I had a brief spiritual encounter with Dracula at the entrance of the Great Hall, and I could sense how powerful he was. So I'm sure he has the ability to steal the Philosopher's Stone!"
"You watched very carefully, Severus." Dumbledore nodded with a smile and handed Snape a candy.
"No, you should keep these things for yourself." Snape said coldly.
Dumbledore didn't care, stuffed the candy back into his mouth, and said in a vague voice:
"Severus, I can only tell you one thing about Professor Dracula - he has no motive to steal the Philosopher's Stone and is worthy of our absolute trust. You can rest assured."
"But I saw Quirrell enter the restricted area on the fourth floor with my own eyes!" Snape said unwillingly, "If it wasn't Dracula who ordered it, could it be that Quirrell, the coward who couldn't even speak clearly, wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone from under the nose of the most powerful wizard?"
Dumbledore stood up, walked around the desk in front of him and came to Snape's side.
"Sometimes we can't just look at the surface of things, Severus." He said to Snape, "What if Quirrell came to Hogwarts for the Philosopher's Stone? He could have acted like a coward from beginning to end and let everyone let down their guard against him."
Snape frowned tightly, turned sideways to look at Dumbledore and asked:
"Have you confirmed that Quirrell is the one who covets the Philosopher's Stone? If so, why don't you just kick him out of the school?"
Dumbledore shook his head, sighed deeply, and said, "It is said that a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you cannot guard against thieves for a thousand days. The best way is not to expel Quirrell from the school, but to completely eliminate this hidden danger."
"Severus, you know I told you - the Dark Lord will return, and when he does, Harry Potter will be in terrible danger."
As he listened to Dumbledore's words, Snape's eyes gradually widened and his face turned very pale.
"what do you mean… "
"Yes, Quirrell has been controlled by the Dark Lord. He came to Hogwarts to help his master steal the Philosopher's Stone."
Dumbledore's eyes were sharp as he stared at Snape.
"Shouldn't we expel Quirrell from the school? The Dark Lord will bring danger to this school!" Snape questioned. Then, he widened his eyes again, "You want to use the Philosopher's Stone as bait to lure the Dark Lord into the trap? So you let us make the level so simple, so who can go in and stop him? It's Potter, right?!"
Snape took a step forward and stared intently into Dumbledore's piercing eyes behind his spectacles.
"You are worried about the child?" asked Dumbledore.
"I didn't!" Snape roared. "He is just as mediocre, arrogant, and disobedient as his father! How could I possibly worry about such a nasty brat?"
"You saw only what you expected to see, Severus," Dumbledore chuckled. "And you did a pretty good job of that before, didn't you? Chanting the counter-curse at a Quidditch game."
Snape's face showed embarrassment for a moment, and then his expression became indifferent.
"Tell me, what should I do?"
"Fight Professor Dracula, using your suspicion of him as an excuse," Dumbledore said softly.
"Professor Dracula's behavior during this period has made him a great enemy of the Dark Lord. The worse your relationship with Professor Dracula is, the easier it will be for you to gain his trust when you return to the Dark Lord's team as an undercover agent in the future..."
…
While Snape was recalling what happened in the headmaster's office, he walked towards the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
With a creaky sound, the door opened before him.
A tall and thin older witch appeared at the door, followed by a large group of professors of various subjects.
"Great, great! I never thought two professors would fight privately in our classroom?" Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and she looked very angry. "Do you know that the noise of your fight can be heard by the whole castle? What kind of example do you want to set for the students? Are you encouraging them to duel privately?!"
She waved her wand heavily as if to vent her anger, lighting the oil lamps and candles in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the classroom became brightly lit in an instant.
The next moment, Professor McGonagall saw the desks and chairs in the classroom smashed into pieces. She became even angrier and almost got sick from anger.
"Both of you will be placed on probation!" Professor McGonagall clenched her fists and angrily shouted at Dracula and Snape, "If you don't perform well within a year, I will definitely expel you, even the dean!"
Snape shrugged indifferently, as if he didn't care about the punishment of probation.
He just glanced at Quirrell who was huddled among the professors with the corner of his eye, and seeing that Quirrell was indeed looking in this direction, he pretended to cast an angry look at Dracula, as if the two of them had some irreconcilable hatred.
Dracula felt Snape's malicious gaze and felt a little puzzled, but he was never one to suffer losses, so he glared back fiercely.
Seeing the two people staring at each other, Quirrell secretly took out a blank diary and wrote a line on it with a feather pen:
"Dracula and Professor Snape have a very bad relationship!"
After glaring back at Snape, Dracula said to Professor McGonagall calmly, "I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall. I have objections to the decision to keep you on probation and need to appeal to the principal."
Professor McGonagall and Dracula came to the headmaster's office together.
Dumbledore was flipping through a copy of "Transfiguration Today", listening without raising his head as Professor McGonagall told him about Dracula's "crimes".
"Well... Minerva, since this is Professor Dracula's first mistake, why don't you not punish him for now?" Dumbledore raised his head helplessly when he heard Dracula's name.
It's not that he doesn't respect Professor McGonagall's opinion, it's simply because Dracula still holds the deed to Hogwarts!
…
…