In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 430: Eternal (2 in 1)

"That's the location you are giving?"

Lily gripped her wand tightly in her hand as if she wasn't satisfied with Snape's broad answer.

Snape, however, said without any concern.

"That's why I said it would be three questions, and telling you I wouldn't be out of Britain was my best possible sincerity, otherwise what did you expect? Let me just throw myself right in front of your feet?"

Lily just stared at him quietly, like she had no more retort to Snape's words, but was waiting for him to ask a second question.

Snape showed only his face in the flames now, but as Jon looked at the face that was just expressionless, he somehow always felt that he must be wriggling his fingers nervously and uneasily right now.

"I'm curious to know if you know about all that James did to me at the very beginning? And at what point did you two get together?"

Jon furtively covered his face from the sidelines.

Those two questions from Snape simply made all of his previous intrigues seem futile; a slightly more sane person could use their brain and figure out that if he really hated and resented Lily, then he wouldn't have even asked or cared about such questions.

It was unknown if Lily had thought of this, but the expression on her face remained unchanged even for a moment as Snape spelled the question out, just staring indifferently at the human face made of green flames.

"You actually still care about that? That's why I said that you never listened to anyone and never changed. Of course, I knew about what James had done to you, so I always had a bad opinion of him at that time, and even with all his attempts to get my attention and try to woo me, I never thought about any kind of future with him."

As Snape heard this he clenched his teeth as if subconsciously and said in a voice that tried to sound as calm as possible.

"Then why did you later ..."

"The best thing about him compared to you is that he knows what he has to do to change. No one is immune to making mistakes, but to know to change after making them, especially when such mistakes are pointed out by others. James changed, not just because he knew I didn't like it, but because he realised what he had done was wrong, he apologised sincerely and was willing to correct it, and it was because of that I accepted him at that point. Is my answer clear enough?"

Snape lowered his head and the flames formed by the Floo powder became somewhat blurred, making it impossible to see the expression that was showing on his face at the moment.

But what Jon could be sure of was that the expression on the face of the former Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, who was once a man below one and above most in Britain, was certainly not looking very pleasant.

No one would look happy to have the difference between him and his rival revealed so decisively and directly by his beloved.

After a long time, he raised his head again, his face showing no particular emotion, and he simply completed the second transaction he had agreed to.

"If you want to find me, I suggest that you better be quick, because my previous lord, has not discovered my importance yet, and if he does, you will not be the only ones who want to find me."

Lily's face turned dark as she heard this information.

"That's considered a piece of clue?"

Snape held his head high.

"Why wouldn't it count? How long do you think your side will be able to keep the news of my escape from prison under wraps? As soon as word of this gets out, then you won't be the only ones trying to find me, and isn't it an important thing to know in advance what kind of competition you'll have?"

Lily let out a deep breath as she didn't dwell on the matter for long, but continued to ask.

"And the third question?"

Snape didn't go silent either as he asked a question that couldn't have been any simpler in a soft voice.

"We're destined to be eternal enemies, aren't we?"

Lily didn't answer first, she simply gazed into those eyes and asked coldly in return.

"What do you think?"

That had given the answer, and Snape didn't need to ask any more follow-up questions.

He closed his eyes, then reopened them two seconds later.

"Come and get me, then."

He rose as if from his chair and did not give information on the location for Lily's third exchange as promised.

But the image presented by the Floo powder was expanding, revealing not just Snape's face, but several things around him as well as the background.

Then the flames suddenly went out, and the whole room fell silent, leaving only the ash from the fireplace still swirling in the air.

Jon stood up from his chair self-consciously, knowing that the time for munching popcorn was over, and it was time to get on with business.

"Damn, he actually didn't keep his word, he said three questions and three pieces of information about the location, but then he actually walked away on the last one without saying anything!"

He said that on purpose, he just wanted to test how Lily was feeling now and if she needed any more relief.

Lily just resumed her walk towards the fireplace.

"He didn't break the promise, the last piece of information was given to us, and I know where he is now."

Jon blinked and followed Lily's lead, this time they disappeared back into the fireplace's flames and by the time they reappeared they were inside a magic joke shop in a busy magical street.

Diagon Alley, is the busiest street in the British magical world, even in this era where Voldemort is ruling Britain, there is no way to change its status in the wizarding world.

And as soon as Jon and Lily stepped out of the fireplace, they found it to be the shop's storage room, the fireplace that was used to receive them hidden behind a pile of barrels and wooden crates.

This was the exact location that Dumbledore had given Lily before she left, a place where she could obtain legal identity in Britain

"If we get delayed here, then won't he get away for sure when we go back for Snape?"

Jon asked in a whisper.

Without alerting the clerks and shopkeepers who were busy outside, Lily searched right through this storeroom and soon opened a hidden secret compartment beneath with a tiny phoenix mark, which concealed a few simple pieces of parchment.

"As he said himself, there's no way he would throw himself at us after escaping from prison, and since he was so at ease with revealing his location to us, that means he's not afraid of us looking for him next."

Lily handed Jon one of the parchments, a legal and well-documented identity of a half-blood wizard in the British magical community.

Dumbledore had been so well-prepared that Jon even wondered if he had already intended for him to follow Lily to Britain, as even the identity information they had now been given indicated that they are a mother and son.

Jon memorised the contents of the piece of parchment and then asked.

"So we have to be prepared for a protracted battle?"

"He told us that his former lord would soon find out about his importance and come looking for him, so then it's best not to reveal our next move, or we'll only be left with more trouble afterwards."

Her words completely put Jon's mind at ease, now that Lily was at least in a state where she was not overwhelmed by hatred, and had been clear about what she wanted to do, as well as judging exactly how to go about it, he can just treat it as a game to relax.

So Jon didn't bother to interfere with the decisions she made, just doing as Dumbledore said and getting Lily back in case of absolute danger, the rest of the time he could just follow along and feel at ease as a spectator or at most act as a helper.

After getting the legal proof to move around Britain in this magic joke shop, they didn't stop, and then they left Diagon Alley and arrived in a grey city through an Apparition.

Wherever they looked in the city, they could see several large chimneys, giving the impression that black smoke was constantly billowing out of them at every moment.

The city is situated on the edge of a dirty river, the banks of which are strewn with wrappers of French fries and potato chips, and the water is so black that there is no sign of life in it.

A typical industrial city with an extremely bad living environment, simply by living here, one would probably not be in a good mood every day.

"Where is this place? Professor Potter." Jon asked as he breathed in the tar-filled air.

"Cokeworth, my former hometown."

Having heard that answer, Jon raised an eyebrow and didn't ask any further questions.

Then with Lily leading the way, the two soon arrived at a rundown muggle lane called Spinner's End.

The lane was lined with dilapidated brick houses with windows that looked dark and lifeless in the daytime.

The dirty river was right next to Spinner's End, and the fishy smell from the river was not so strong, as the lane itself was already stinky enough.

Lily led Jon to the very last two-storey house at the end of the lane, where the two stopped.

The house didn't look like anything special compared to the surrounding buildings, the front door wasn't locked, and you could walk in with a gentle push.

Noticing Jon looking around, Lily took the initiative and spoke up.

"This is Snape's home."

Jon couldn't help but subconsciously think about the meaning in that statement, although the very sound of Snape's home made it sound out of place, he hadn't popped out of some rock after all, this so-called his home was where his parents had once given birth to him and raised him.

After taking a fresh look at the filthy lane where the house was located, information about Lily and Snape came flooding back to Jon's mind.

If he remembered correctly, Lily and Snape would have lived in the same lane and grown up together as childhood friends.

But soon he didn't have time to think about that anymore, because Lily had already walked into the unsecured room, and Jon could only follow at a quicker pace.

The house was a mess, with various pieces of furniture that had obviously been deliberately rummaged through by someone and discarded randomly all over the place, even the murals on the walls hung crookedly as if they had been inspected by someone.

"Was this place searched by Death Eaters?" It was easy for Jon to guess what had happened here before, "Snape was taken away by us, and it would be normal for the Death Eaters to search the place where he used to live thoroughly, but if that's the case, is it possible that they still might have left Aurors around to keep an eye on the place?"

Just as Jon was looking into some hidden part of the alleyway suitable for hiding and making observations, Lily had finished examining the fireplace that was piled high with firewood that was only half burned.

"This is where he met us earlier." Lily looked in the direction directly opposite the fireplace, where Snape had last revealed the background before ending the Floo powder transmission feed.

"If he dares to re-enter here and not return to the side of the lord who abandoned him, that means there is no Auror left around to watch."

With that, Lily picked up a newly dated copy of the Daily Prophet, which was tossed just beside the fireplace.

The front page of the news had long since stopped featuring the Triwizard Tournament, and as the ultimate loser, it was only natural for the British side to try to play down the impact of their defeat on the Triwizard Tournament in Britain, and the easiest thing to do that was to try not to mention it so that one-day people would be drawn to other things and actively turn the page on it.

And the recent news has basically been some news about changes in positions within the Ministry of Magic.

Firstly, there was a change of head of the Auror office, and there was speculation that Draco's abysmal performance in the Triwizard Tournament had angered the gentleman and that Lucius had been removed from his position in the Ministry because of it, and was now sitting idle at home doing nothing.

Even Slughorn, who had been the "dedicated" Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation for the past two years, was transferred from his position as Head of the Department to the Secretarial Division of the Minister of Magic's Office.

These were extraordinary signs, and even more unusual were the vague rumours in the sub-page of the Daily Prophet that the great gentleman recently seemed to have wanted to set up a brand-new school of wizardry in Britain.

The newspapers reported the matter in such a verbal manner that it seemed as if the journalist who wrote the article had seen the new school of wizardry being set up with his own eyes.

But Jon, who read the article, didn't believe half the letters written in it.

The notion that Voldemort wanted to set up a new school of wizardry was nonsense, at best a pretext to appease the wizards in Britain.

Not to mention whether he had the energy to build a school of wizardry or not, and even if he did, what about the students?

Dumbledore had taken away all the purebloods and half-bloods who were fit to enrol in the school, to France!

Would Voldemort's new wizarding school have to begin again with first-year students?

This was obviously impossible, it was just that the supposed establishment of a new school of wizardry might have sounded exciting for a while, but wizards are not fools, and they could quickly react to the fact that the rumour was a joke.

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