"Snap~"
The potion he had been hiding in his hand fell to the ground, the bottle shattered, and a puddle of strangely colored liquid flowed onto the floor, sizzling and emitting a sinister green smoke.
"Severus, you're being overly cautious." Dumbledore helplessly lowered his wand as Snape slowly descended from where he was pressed against the wall.
"There's been rats in the school and a murder occurred, do you think I wouldn't be vigilant?" Snape looked quite disheveled as he picked up his wand.
He realized he was being too sensitive.
Such powerful magic power, it's hard for anyone to impersonate.
"I will handle this matter." Dumbledore looked at Marcus Flint sitting on the chair, "I want to temporarily take this child away, if you can pretend you were attacked and couldn't complete the task I assigned you, I might be able to use him to lure out the rats hidden in the school."
Not at all the kind of words one would expect from a respected headmaster.
"He's a student at Hogwarts, an underage Little Wizard, you want to use him as your bait?" Snape looked at Dumbledore incredulously.
He seemed to be rediscovering the great White Wizard he had known for many years. Compared to this man who seemed to have gone mad, he felt almost as kind as a Unicorn.
"This is the quickest way to find clues, Severus, I obviously won't let Mr. Flint die because of this, under my watch, no one can successfully harm him."
Dumbledore spoke calmly.
"If the board of governors knew you were doing such a thing, they would definitely remove you immediately! If you lose your position as headmaster, would you still be able to carry out your plan to eliminate that guy?" Snape wasn't hostile enough towards Marcus Flint to disregard his life or death; he wanted to stop Dumbledore's somewhat crazy scheme.
"Besides you, no one will know." Dumbledore's expression showed some struggle, but in the end, he firmly lowered his gaze and spoke quietly to Snape.
"Hogwarts is no longer safe, we need to resolve the menace as soon as possible, Mr. Flint will not sacrifice because of this, he might just suffer a little."
"It's... worth it."
Whether he was convincing Snape or himself, Dumbledore did not wait for Snape's response and intended to take away the unconscious and bound Marcus Flint.
"What on earth is going on with you?" Snape wanted to stop Dumbledore.
Dumbledore sighed with a complex expression.
"I'm solving the problem."
He closed his eyes.
He looked very fatigued.
"I suggest you take Little Grindelwald directly, watch her memories, Ronnie Ehrlich is no ordinary Wizard, he wouldn't randomly consume potions or food given by strangers."
"Even at the Sorting Ceremony dinner, he ate only what he brought himself." Snape clearly placed the suspicion on Aurora Grindelwald.
This was not out of personal bias.
Rather, it was the most sensible and logical judgment.
"If Ronnie Ehrlich eats anything, it would be food or potions given by Little Grindelwald, no Saint can refuse care from their young master!"
Snape stared intensely into Dumbledore's eyes.
"I don't think it's Miss Grindelwald; if she wanted a Saint dead, she totally wouldn't need to resort to such behavior." Dumbledore shook his head without a second thought.
"She doesn't want to accept these Saints, I can feel her resistance towards them." Snape, being the head of Slytherin, naturally had some interaction and understanding of Aurora.
"Once things are clarified, the answer will naturally be revealed." Dumbledore did not refute, but used Wingardium Leviosa to pull Marcus Flint along with the chair towards himself.
"It's unconscious exclusion of the greatest possibility, I know, it's because of your... old friend." Snape was probably one of the few at Hogwarts who dared speak to Dumbledore in such a manner.
"Severus, you still don't understand me well enough." Dumbledore took out a Door Key, and with one hand grabbed Marcus Flint, who was floating with the chair in mid-air.
"I only want you to clearly tell me, if in the end it's found that the one who poisoned and took Ronnie Ehrlich's Magic Wand is Little Grindelwald, what would you do?"
Knowing he was powerless to stop it, Snape could only grit his teeth and stare at Dumbledore.
"In that case..."
Dumbledore's cold gaze made Snape feel chilled to the bone.
"You would see me more clearly."
His words sent a shiver down Snape's spine. This was no longer about fulfilling the headmaster's duty to protect the students, Snape couldn't comprehend what had led Dumbledore to become so alien.
Grindelwald?
Recently, Dumbledore shouldn't have left the school!
"I also need to remind you, Severus, if it weren't for Marcus Flint's confused state, he wouldn't have stepped forward to accuse Mr. Prince as the culprit."
"You should ponder carefully, when we find Professor Ronnie Ehrlich's body, discover he died from Sectemsempra, who exactly is the one framed."
Dumbledore left a statement filled with deeper meaning.
Activated the Door Key.
The figures of him and Marcus Flint disappeared from the basement.