HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 22 The Pampered Professor

"Coo coo coo"

A giant owl flew over the Slytherin table and dropped packages at the young wizards below.

"Hey, Ilim, do you want to change masters? This height almost killed me." Emeric barely caught the airdrop and tossed a piece of raw beef upwards as payment.

"Emerick, what is this that requires such a large owl to deliver?"

"The documents my father gave me, and the carrots that I used to work with."

Emeric steered the conversation away, and the other man tactfully changed the subject. He couldn't very well say it was a birthday present for Severus, since he wanted to sleep in the cellar again, even if it was just the floor.

He specifically asked his father how he had won over his father, and after contributing his labor for a week, he exchanged a set of potion-making tools with his father. Based on his observations of Severus's little habits, he had his father make a special custom-made set.

The entire set was extremely expensive, so expensive that he was even willing to trade it for a month. Every item was made of mithril. On the handle of the stirring rod, a small silver snake coiled upwards, its eyes were two obsidian stones, and its head fit perfectly at the top. It was slightly longer than normal, suitable for Severus's grip. The set included a set of silver knives with blades ranging from a few millimeters to four or five centimeters in length. The backs of the blades were specially widened to prevent fingers from pressing on the back of the blade and injuring oneself. Each knife was inlaid with dark green jade at the tip. The three pairs of dragon skin gloves were in three colors and were made to be extremely thin, almost translucent. The palms were engraved with numerous protective magic runes, and the fingertips were protected. To better fit the user's hand shape, they were made to be one-to-one replicas. No one but Severus could use these three pairs of gloves.

In addition to these common tools, a fully automatic stirring crucible is more precise than those currently available on the market.

Since realizing his own feelings, Emeric has been like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, wearing almost never the same outfit twice. His long flaxen hair is held up with a hair clip featuring a small dark green snake, a strand of hair hangs down beside his face, his smoky purple eyes are gentle as water, and below one ear is a small bat that sways and attracts attention when it moves.

Draco suspected Emerick was up to something. He noticed that Emerick was dressed differently every day after school started, so whenever Harry wasn't in class or training, Draco would take Harry and follow Emerick.

The two little dogs crept around in the corner, eavesdropping on Emeric and Severus's conversation.

"Harry, move over a bit, you're pressing down on me, I can't hear what they're saying."

"Sorry, Xiaolong, they'll spot me if I go any further."

Harry wasn't curious about what was wrong with Emerick, but he still came over and gave him a big hug. Draco usually wouldn't let him get this close, at most just holding hands.

From the barely audible sounds carried on the wind, and through a combination of guesswork and deduction, Draco came to a conclusion: Eli probably wouldn't want to be another godson of his godfather. Harry, completely uninterested, rested his head against Draco's neck, contentedly inhaling the scent emanating from him.

In a sense, Draco guessed half of it correctly.

"Alright, Xiaolong, we have Potions class later, so we should head to the classroom. If you're really curious, you can ask Ellie sometime, okay?"

Upon hearing that Potions class was next, Draco immediately snapped out of his reverie and found Harry hugging him, sniffing him incessantly like a pervert. Blushing, he pushed Harry away, straightened his clothes, and left without looking back.

"Mr. Longbottom, five points are deducted from Gryffindor for your carelessness."

"Mr. Petit, why didn't you remind your classmate that the mixing wasn't done properly? Are you trying to show off your intelligence? Deduct five points."

Parvati Petit felt incredibly unlucky; he shouldn't have sat next to Harry Potter.

After deducting more than ten points from Gryffindor, Severus was very satisfied with today's results. He hummed softly and walked to the front row to start scoring each student.

"Mr. Avery, if you know what blue is, then you also know this is black, right? You deserve it."

"Miss Derry, have you become all hairy lately? Otherwise, I can hardly imagine why there would be so much hair in the potion, P."

The aria, delivered with exquisite elegance, struck the young wizards below. Severus was once again awestruck by Gryffindor's courage; to be able to turn such a simple potion into poison was quite an achievement.

Emeric listened and chuckled to himself. His Severus was so adorable. Where did all these adorable descriptions come from? Even though he was very angry, he could still be so elegant. It was so cute that Emeric wanted to hug him, pat his angry head, and kiss those mean lips.

Harry received an E under Hermione's coercion and Draco's enticement, while Ron, who was next to him, was also managed to get an A.

Severus reluctantly gave Harry E. Even though he disliked Mr. Potter, he couldn't go against his pride as a Potions Master.

Draco naturally received an O. He had studied potions with his godfather for a period of time before starting school, and with the inherent rigor of Slytherin, obtaining an O was a breeze.

Emeric watched the farce unfold with amusement. The failing wizard looked pale and had to go back to the cellar to try again until he could do it. The successful wizard couldn't hide his smugness and exchanged glances with the person next to him.

"Brother Ellie, let's go for a walk now, we still have herbalism class later."

As soon as get out of class ended, Harry grabbed Draco and ran off. Slytherin and Gryffindor had many classes together, and their schedules were roughly the same.

"Be careful, don't run too fast."

After the students left, he went in to greet Severus and helped clean up the mess. The next class was for third-year students, so he helped clean up in advance and also tried to curry favor with him.

"Severus, let me help you. Lyra made some cookies to tide you over, she still has a class to attend."

"Um"

Severus nodded reservedly. The matcha-flavored cookies suited his taste perfectly. After eating them and taking a sip of hot milk tea, he couldn't help but sigh at the hardships he had endured in the past.

After tidying up the classroom, Emeric suppressed the smile in his eyes, respectfully added some other flavored cookies, and when he saw that Severus had almost finished eating, he handed him the packaged cookies and gestured for him to put them in the buttonhole.

In the next class, Severus, who had been well-fed, was in a rare good mood, not to mention that he had Emeric's help.

The entire school knew that the Thaddeus family had a partnership with Professor Snape, so no one found Emeric's actions strange; it was normal to try to win over a partner.

Only one Gryffindor student lost 10 points in this lesson—an epic improvement. Emerick, on the other hand, gained 10 points because he stopped a reckless Gryffindor from blowing up the classroom.

After class, all the young wizards except Emeric rushed to the Great Hall. It was lunchtime, and the Hogwarts menu had changed a lot this year, with many new and unusual dishes. Even the little snake from Slytherin couldn't resist the temptation.

Emeric specifically asked Fauci to teach him, so as to avoid other professors staring at Severus's food and making him unhappy while eating.