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Chapter 65 - A Bold Idea

"You haven't visited me in one hundred and fifty-three days."

As Severus Snape pushed open the door to the second-floor girls' lavatory, ignoring the worn-out "Out of Order" sign, Moaning Myrtle floated out from behind a tap without warning. Her pearly glasses were fogged, her expression wounded as she blocked the doorway.

"You said you'd come see me... I waited right here... all this time."

"Myrtle!" Snape flinched, taking half a step back. "Well—I'm here now, aren't I?"

He squeezed past her into the lavatory, pulling the door shut behind him with a sharp tug before any passing student could witness him slipping into the girls' toilets. As he passed through her ghostly form, a chill sank into his bones like he'd just dived into a cauldron of ice water. He shivered, teeth clicking softly.

"Actually," Snape muttered, warming his hands with his breath, "I was wondering if you'd like to move. Somewhere better than this. And—I've got someone new I'd like you to meet."

"A new place?" Myrtle's eyes lit up with faint hope, only to dim again as she drifted lower. "I don't want to be laughed at again… or driven away."

"This place is hidden. Very hidden," Snape said gently. "You don't have to decide now. Just come take a look. If you don't like it, you can always return."

Myrtle hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I'll come see."

Snape explained where they were going, but before he could take more than a few steps, Myrtle simply drifted straight upward—right through the ceiling.

"I'll wait up top, Severus."

Snape ran through the winding corridors, breath catching in his throat, heading for the eighth floor and the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. Sure enough, when he arrived, Myrtle was already floating in place, gently bobbing in the air.

"No one saw you, did they?" Snape asked.

"No one," Myrtle replied, scanning the corridor. "Not a soul nearby."

"Good," he exhaled, pointing at what appeared to be an ordinary stone wall. "Myrtle, could you float through this wall for me? Tell me what's inside?"

She gave him a curious look but obeyed, gliding smoothly into the wall that marked the entrance to the Room of Requirement.

Moments later, she emerged, her face puzzled. "Nothing. Just stone. Solid stone."

"Perfect," Snape said, satisfied. "So it's not just people—ghosts can't enter unless the room chooses to let them."

"What is this place?" Myrtle asked, even more confused now.

"You'll see soon," Snape replied.

He stepped forward and knocked three times, then clapped slowly three times with both hands, and finally knocked again—fast, three sharp raps.

A large oak door shimmered into existence, creaking open. Pandora poked her head out. "Quickly. Come in."

Snape slipped inside and beckoned Myrtle in after him. Once she floated in, he pulled the door shut.

"Step one confirmed," Snape said to Pandora with a triumphant grin. "Even ghosts can't get in if someone's already inside."

"Oh! Right," he turned to Myrtle. "Do you know Pandora?"

"I do," Myrtle whispered, circling Pandora slowly. "A girl who was mocked, like me…"

"It's a good place for us, isn't it?" Myrtle beamed, excited. "Somewhere Peeves won't find!"

"I doubt he can enter, Myrtle," Snape said. "And we need your help with a few more things."

Delighted, Myrtle flipped through the air, her misty body glowing. "So… I can live here now?"

"I don't see why not," Snape looked to Pandora, who nodded with a warm smile.

"Anything I can do to help?" Myrtle asked politely, bowing.

"The room's rules are specific," Snape explained. "If someone is inside, the door can't be opened from outside—unless a specific condition is met."

"Which means," Myrtle pushed up her glasses, which gleamed faintly, "you need to leave me inside and test it."

"Smart," Snape said approvingly. "But first—try phasing through the wall from inside. Just to be sure."

Myrtle vanished into a wall and returned moments later, frowning. "Same as outside. Endless walls."

"Good," Snape muttered, attaching a strange device to the door handle. "This mechanism—crafted with an Erkling vocal cord—responds to loud noises. Specifically, a sound pattern."

He looked to Myrtle. "Remember my knock? Three short, three long, three short. You only open the door if you hear that."

He repeated the rhythm twice more, Myrtle nodding solemnly. Then he pressed his ear to the door, listening. When all was quiet, he gave Myrtle a nod.

She inhaled deeply and released a piercing, bone-shaking scream.

"Enough!" Snape winced, motioning frantically. The door cracked open—just enough—as Pandora's device responded. "The door's open! No need to scream more!"

He and Pandora stepped outside, watching the door vanish into the wall behind them.

They tried several other methods of entry—all failed. Then, after sealing the corridor with a Muffliato charm, Pandora reproduced the knock sequence.

The door opened again.

"Brilliant!" Snape and Pandora high-fived, flushed with excitement. "This place is safe for us now. Myrtle, if you ever want to go out for a float, just let us know in advance."

"Go out? No, no," Myrtle said happily. "I like it here, all this sunlight. Just promise you'll come visit often."

Then she let out a girlish giggle. "What an odd little trio we are… Moaning Myrtle, Mad Pandora, and Severus the Bottom-Watcher…"

"Oi!" Snape barked, cheeks flushing. "You were supposed to stay in the bathroom!"

"Sometimes I sneak out," Myrtle grinned mischievously. "I've seen yours too…"

"How many people have you seen, exactly?" Snape instinctively tightened his robes around himself.

"Oh, a few in the past," Moaning Myrtle said with a wicked little glint in her eye. "But recently? Just you."

"Ugh, you creepy ghost girl," Snape grumbled, lifting a golden cauldron off the table and setting it firmly on the floor. "Am I supposed to feel honoured?"

"I haven't seen yours," Pandora piped up suddenly, stepping closer with a grin.

"Want a look now?" Snape shot her a sharp glare and waved his wand, casting Aguamenti.

A clear stream of water flowed steadily into the cauldron until it was full. Snape gave a small flick of his wand and conjured a blue flame beneath it—ethereal and cold, dancing like ghostlight.

"No thanks," Pandora giggled, sticking her tongue out before darting back to the workbench, where she began absently fiddling with jars of ingredients and scrap bits of parchment.

Neither of them spoke again. Myrtle floated up to the chandelier, settling herself with her arms folded, watching like a queen atop her throne.

"First, the base ingredients," Snape murmured, drawing a deep breath. From his bag he took two chilled eggs, misty with frost. "Fire ash snake eggs, from Professor Kettleburn's vault. Shell removed. Diced into one-inch cubes…"

After carefully preparing the pieces, Snape began the actual brewing.

He poured in a vial of gnome wax. The potion roiled instantly, sending up thick curls of inky green vapour. Nine minutes and thirty-two seconds in, he dropped the fire ash snake into the bubbling mix, stirred three times clockwise, then seven times counterclockwise.

As the potion boiled for another seven minutes, he added dried billywig stings, garlic bulbs, devil's root, fairy petals, honey, powdered ginger, and crushed calamus root—stiff and gray after petrification.

The mixture gradually shifted from deep green to a soft, cloudy pink, and stayed that way for a few minutes before Snape dropped in two bay leaves.

A pale lilac vapour began to curl upward in spirals, and a sweet, faintly floral fragrance filled the room.

"Smells lovely," Myrtle said dreamily, now hovering directly above the cauldron, her nearly invisible hair dangling dangerously close to the potion's surface. "I haven't smelled anything in years…"

"Ah!" Snape nearly knocked the cauldron over in shock. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I don't make noise when I move," Myrtle said, pouting with exaggerated innocence.

"Then at least make some noise when you get close!" Snape growled, clutching his chest. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

The potion would need to simmer overnight on a low flame.

By early next morning, Snape and Pandora returned to the Room of Requirement. They stood in front of the blank wall, repeating the knocking sequence several times until Myrtle finally opened the door, drifting dreamily inside.

She flew straight to the cauldron and hovered there, a blissful smile plastered across her face.

The potion inside had transformed—its colour now a soft mother-of-pearl beige, shimmering slightly, with fragrant steam spiraling upward in lazy twists.

"I know what this is," Pandora murmured, leaning over to inhale deeply. Her eyes half-closed. "It's Amortentia."

Myrtle turned her head, eyes narrowing curiously. "Why does it smell like you, Severus?"

Snape jolted back into focus. He'd just been caught off-guard by a swirl of his own favourite scents wafting from the potion. "That's… alarming."

"Why?" Myrtle asked, still floating far too close. "What is this stuff?"

"Amortentia," Pandora said knowingly. "The most powerful love potion in existence. And it's banned at Hogwarts, Severus. Why are you brewing it?"

"It's not for me," Snape replied, carefully decanting the pearlescent liquid into a small crystal bottle. "Just a… bold idea I've had. Besides, since when do you care about school rules?"

"I don't," Pandora grinned. "As long as we don't get expelled."

After bidding Pandora and Myrtle goodbye, Snape left the castle with the vial tucked securely in his robes. He walked across the frosty lawn toward the Quidditch pitch.

The air was clear and biting, a crisp winter morning deep in Quidditch season. Cheers echoed from the stands—today's match was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw.

Snape wasn't there for the match, nor to mimic Quirinus Quirrell's attempted jinxing of Harry Potter. And certainly not to replicate James Potter's obnoxious trick of catching a stolen Snitch mid-dive just to show off.

But strangely, James wasn't playing. Snape watched the pitch for nearly an hour but didn't spot him. None of his friends seemed to be in the stands, either.

After the game ended and the crowd dispersed, Snape still hadn't seen Black.

Wandering the grounds aimlessly, he finally spotted Sirius sitting alone beneath a tall beech tree by the lake. The shadow of the ancient tree cloaked him like a curtain.

Snape approached slowly, his footsteps crunching frost. Sirius looked up, startled. His black hair hung dishevelled around his face, his eyes dark and guarded.

"It's you," Sirius said sharply, springing to his feet, wand already in hand. "What do you want now?"

"Relax," Snape said, raising both hands. "I come in peace."

"In peace?" Sirius's voice crackled with fury. "You nearly ruined James. If you think you can threaten me again with the Animagus thing, I swear—"

"Calm down," Snape cut in gently. "I admit—I went too far. I'm sorry for what happened to James. Truly. That's why I came to find you."

He slowly pulled the crystal bottle from his robes. The potion inside gleamed faintly, like moonlight caught in glass.

"I think… this might help."

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New translation : Naruto : I Got "Return by Death" Kind Of Cheat

New story translated ! This one is interesting, give it a try ! 

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