[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Hogwarts.
...
...
The next day, Snape got up while sighing; he simply didn't know why he had bothered to accept this, but he got up and began to get ready quickly with his wand.
"Come on, Altas. Let's go for a walk today." He said, giving a small kick to the animal's butt, causing it to jump up.
"HOO!" Altas immediately complained about the aggression, while Snape shrugged.
"Don't be lazy, let's go." Snape said, having spent almost a week with the animal, so he was getting a bit used to it.
After complaining a little more, the Graphorn finally entered the bag, and Snape picked it up before leaving the room towards the house's common room, where someone was waiting for him.
"Greengrass." Snape greeted her calmly; he really didn't know why he agreed to help this woman when she asked for his help to enter the Forbidden Forest.
"Hello, Mr. Snape. I still appreciate you helping me with this." She thanked him.
"You still haven't told me why you want a special plant from the Forbidden Forest..." Snape commented as they left the place, heading towards the house exit.
"My O.W.L.s, I need to prepare something that can surprise Professor Slughorn and Professor Sprout." She said, after all, as a Greengrass, she would naturally have to be good in these two areas.
"You are a Greengrass... ingredients shouldn't be a problem for you..." Snape raised an eyebrow.
"I don't want to ask my parents for this; I want to do it on my own, to be able to surprise them in the end." Clarissa said, and Snape nodded in the end.
"Alright, let's go." Snape said and began to lead the way through the school before the sun appeared in the east.
"You walk around the school like this? Like, no one stops you?" She asked, surprised, seeing that it was forbidden for students to walk through the corridors at this hour; if the house prefects found out, they would be severely punished.
"They tried a few times, but they gave up after a week..." Snape shrugged.
"Why am I surprised, you enter the forbidden section, you know how students talk about it, about you having something that no one else in the school has, many students were complaining that they would alert your family to talk to the headmaster, after all, he said you would continue accessing the place exclusively. That's really unfair..." She couldn't help but speak while Snape was already changing his opinion about the girl as someone talkative.
"I made a deal with the headmaster... so it's fair to me; about the complaints, it's the headmaster who has to deal with them, I'll just fulfill my part of the agreement." Snape spoke calmly as they were leaving.
No one bothered them while the portraits looked at the two walking to the final gate, leaving the castle. Heading north and entering the Forbidden Forest.
"I haven't been here since third year..." The girl commented, passing through the entrance with Snape.
Snape didn't respond while taking his bag and finally releasing Atlas, who started walking around the place.
"Hooo!" He made a sound while stretching his legs, seeming excited.
"You're fat, do you think you can do the same as before?" Snape mocked while the animal protested.
"Why do you treat him so badly?" Greengrass asked with some pity for the small Graphorn.
Snape shrugged and continued on the path, while the place got even darker as they went deeper.
Clarissa got scared when a branch broke by itself while Snape calmly looked at it, raising his hand and seeming to place it in the air as if touching something, as there was a Thestral in front of him.
"What are you doing?" She asked, not understanding, seeing nothing in front of Snape.
"They're Thestrals, only people who have witnessed death can see them." Snape commented while two adults and two foals were there. Graphorn started sniffing the small death horses.
"I know them..." Greengrass knew about the creatures; after all, many were used to pull carriages for students, but she was surprised by their presence here; unfortunately, she couldn't see them like Snape.
This also raised another question for the girl. "When did you see death?" She asked curiously.
Snape almost laughed at that, when he saw death... For Snape, it may not have been very frequent, but for Morou, the heir to the ring of the monarch of shadows, he had taken countless lives; death always accompanied him, but he didn't know if it followed him in this life.
"My mother..." Snape began. "She died in front of me." He admitted.
"Hm... I'm sorry." She commented in a sad tone.
"Don't be, that's my problem." Snape said, after all, he didn't want her pity.
She remained silent after that, and they continued on their way, with the Thestrals following them the entire time until they finally found what they were looking for.
Near a lake where the Night's Tear plant, which Greengrass was after, needed humidity and darkness, growing on the shore of that lake.
"These plants need to be harvested carefully; otherwise, they lose all their liquid upon contact with air." Snape couldn't help but comment, having worked with this type of plant before. If you pull from the wrong side, it loses its effect.
"Alright, I'll pay attention to that." She said and crouched down to pick them.
"You're pulling too high up. It's better to remove them straight from the ground." He couldn't help but say as she was about to do it wrong.
"..." She just nodded and ended up accepting his instructions, starting to pull them directly from the ground before putting the plants in her bag.
Snape turned his attention to the sound of water with the Graphorn splashing in it next to him, seeming like he wanted to take a bath while cleaning his thick skin.
"You really like water..." Snape couldn't help but murmur, seeing Atlas happily playing.
His gaze left Graphorn and Greengrass for someone approaching them, while he quickly prepared his wand and dagger. "Something is coming this way." He warned calmly as the sound of galloping began to be heard.
A moment later, a centaur approached, climbing one of the columns as soon as he noticed the presence of students in the area. They had remained at the edge of the Forbidden Forest to gather Clarissa's plants, so it was easy for the Centaurs to notice their presence, as it was a part of the forest they usually patrolled.
Snape was already prepared for battle in case the creature tried anything hostile against him. Clarissa Greengrass seemed cautious, stopping her plant gathering and grabbing her wand at that moment, while the Graphorn stopped bathing in the water and stared at the centaur on the hill with the Thestrals remaining by Snape's side.
The centaur analyzed them for a few seconds, a bit surprised to see two Hogwarts students from Slytherin House, according to their robes, with one of them wielding a dagger and in a stance that surprised him, recognizing a warrior. There was also a Graphorn, one the school's caretaker had been crying about a few days after the Acromantula attack, a week ago. It seemed the small Graphorn was alive after all. There were also Thestrals accompanying them, which was strange, although they were gentle creatures.
"What are you doing here? It's forbidden for students to enter the Forbidden Forest without a professor's supervision..." He asked directly.
"We're here to get some ingredients, and I have permission to enter." Snape said.
"I don't believe that. And I can't leave you here and will ask you to leave the Graphorn here." He demanded in a severe tone.
"What is this!?" Greengrass found this ridiculous.
"Why are you talking such nonsense, centaur?" Snape said after hearing all that nonsense.
"Watch your words, student." The centaur spoke in a dangerous tone.
"You want to get us out of here? You better leave." Snape threatened him.
"You are quite arrogant, child!" The centaur, who was quite arrogant and aggressive himself, saw that as a direct action against him and couldn't stand it, advancing as he descended the hill.
That made everyone alert, but before anyone could react, Snape simply jumped in the air, while the centaur looked surprised at that and couldn't react when he saw the boy dropping the dagger before closing his fist and punching him in the chest. If the attack had already left him surprised, what came next left him speechless as he flew in the opposite direction after the punch, before colliding with the ground and continuing to be dragged by the force of Snape's punch, ending up unconscious at a distance.
Snape landed on the ground while putting away his wand and went back to pick up the dagger he had dropped with his other hand. 'I'll have to clear some inventory space to start putting my weapons and wand there...' he thought, as he had a system that could make items appear and disappear with just a thought, much faster to act than pulling them out of his holster.
"What... How did you do that?!" Greengrass looked at Snape shocked, unable to believe what she had just seen.
Graphorn and the Thestrals seemed calmer, but the student looked at him, wondering how Snape could be so strong.
"The potion I took a few months ago gave me super strength." Snape commented with a shrug; his strength could destroy walls and send creatures flying with punches.
"..." She looked at him strangely and even cautiously still.
"Let's continue, I want to finish this before another group of centaurs comes here and I have to deal with a crowd of them." Snape said, and she nodded in the end, still looking at him from time to time while she started pulling more Night's Tear from the ground.
After a while, the centaur was awakened by shadows appearing over him. "Hey, what happened to you?" A new voice emerged, being two other centaurs who found him during their patrol.
"Hm..." The centaur on the ground began to wake up at that moment, groaning with a strong pain after being thrown like that, with the greatest pain concentrated in his chest.
"Who attacked you?" They immediately asked, surprised to find one of their kind here.
"I..." The fallen centaur began to get up while enduring the pain, trying to remember what had happened there until the memories came back, making him frown.
"I was attacked by a Hogwarts student..." He admitted frustrated.
"What? A student attacked you? They are strictly forbidden from using magic against us and from being here!" The other patrolman said, looking at him with disbelief.
"He didn't use magic, but he attacked me with his fists..." He admitted.
"You must be joking, right? What do you mean he attacked you with his fists?!" They wanted an immediate explanation for this absurdity.
"I don't know... I saw him jump three meters high before punching me. After that, everything went dark; it didn't seem human..." He admitted while the centaurs looked at each other.
Meanwhile, it was already mid-morning while the students were going to Hogsmeade, and Snape and Greengrass were leaving the Forbidden Forest after Snape said goodbye to the Thestrals, keeping Atlas inside his bag.
-------
Raccoon here:
I wasn't going to include any conflict here, but I don't see why the centaur would act this way with the students.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible moments. If you like my work and would like to support the continuation of this fanfic, consider becoming a patron with plans starting at $2!. As a token of gratitude, I offer access to more than 165 extra chapters with 8 active fanfics at the same time, along with other exclusive benefits on my profile, such as images and significant decisions for the stories.
Even if you are not a patron, I am making chapters available a few hours earlier here, so become a free member on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🌀 Naruto - Light Ninja! 20 extra chapters! (Complete fanfic chapter extras for any subscription level.)
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
🔮 Danmachi - Infinite Mana System!: 20 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 20 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 20 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! 20 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 10 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 times a week, there's just a pause in updating in the week, only to create drafts for the week's chapters.
In addition to the extra chapters, daily chapters are posted and 25 chapters per week!
Your support is very important and makes all the difference in keeping these stories alive.
Thank you very much for being part of this journey! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and that it brings even more joy to your life!
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆