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

Chapter 53 has been discovered!

Emeric carried the radish in his arms, taking a few steps and looking back, then a few more steps and looking back again, trying to soften Severus's heart and have him take him to school. He really didn't want to take the train; once school started, he wouldn't have much time to be alone anymore, even the cellar would be full of people in solitary confinement.

"Severus, I don't want to go to the train station. Can't I really go to school with you? I promise I'll be good."

"Of course not, Mr. Emeric. If you dawdle any longer, you'll be late. I think you can imagine the consequences of not arriving at school on time."

Emeric lowered his head dejectedly and walked with Severus outside Spider's End Alley. In order not to attract the attention of the homeless people on the ground, they could not use Apparition in front of their house.

Hold my hand tightly.

"Apparition".

Having experienced too many Apparitions last month, Emerick is now numb. Just as he landed and was about to feign weakness to get a hug from Severus, Draco rushed over.

"Brother Elie, Godfather, I've sent Harry to save some seats. We'll sit together later."

"Okay, thank you Draco. I brought some snacks; we can eat together."

Seeing Draco and Emeric start chatting, Severus walked over to Lucius and watched together. Lucius and Draco, true father and son, shared the same desire to see the spectacle. Seeing Severus standing there silently, they couldn't suppress their curiosity any longer.

"Severus, what's Thaddeus doing at your house? I remember you two were just business partners. And I was just thinking of asking yesterday, when did your skin get so good? Did you develop a new beauty potion? Severus, you really are my best friend. Do you have any more medicine? Give me a bottle."

"You don't have to face a bunch of trolls during your vacation, and you don't have to clean up their messes. Instead of potions, you should get your head checked."

He didn't want to pay attention to his crazy friend next to him, but this guy was definitely capable of letting Draco harass him. Back in school, he would pretend to bump into Draco and follow him around until Draco was willing to brew the beauty potion for him.

"Alright, let's go back now, they've all gotten on the bus."

Without waiting for Lucius's reply, Severus left the train station and went home.

Back home, he sat on the sofa and suddenly didn't know what to do. A few years ago at this time, he would have been upstairs brewing potions or sitting here reading, instead of pondering a sense of emptiness that came from nowhere.

Looking at the clean, tidy, and bright living room, Severus felt a sense of defeat for the first time. He felt that the house was too empty. Just because there was no one and no rabbit missing, he actually felt that the house was too empty.

Longing is like a wisp of smoke, invisible and intangible, yet it can entwine the whole body. The man sitting on the sofa didn't want to admit it, but he just missed Emeric. There was still some of Emeric's cat hair stuck to his cuffs.

Before Emerick left, he prepared lunch and put it in the refrigerator so he could just heat it up and eat. In case he forgot to eat, he even put an alarm clock on the dining table, the kind that would go off at the appointed time and the sound would carry throughout the whole house. There was also a glass of water on the small table next to the sofa, so it wouldn't matter if he forgot before he left.

Once he calmed down completely, the anomaly that Severus had previously overlooked came to light. He pondered the significance of Emeric's kindness to him, and as time went on, an almost terrifying thought emerged in his mind.

He pulled a parchment and a quill from the bookshelf behind him and began to test the idea, writing lines of text on the paper.

1. Emeric's parents were both men, which may have led him to have a stronger affinity for men from a young age.

2. Dumbledore and Grindelwald are also two men together, intimately interacting without the children's presence, which could be misleading.

3. She twice turned back into a child and lived with him for a period of time, showing signs of a chick fetish.

4. The Animagus breed issue may have affected human morphology.

5.…

In the end, Severus came to the conclusion that it was all Dumbledore's fault for having a twilight romance without the child's knowledge, which led to Emerick developing distorted tastes and a preference for older men.

The Potions Master clearly had some misconceptions about himself and about Emeric. He had no idea just how alluring he had been, making people want to unbutton his shirt and kiss the neck hidden inside.

Not to mention now, it would be a problem if Emeric didn't like him. Besides, Emeric himself is a fun-loving person who enjoys watching the excitement, and the mystery surrounding Severus is already enough to attract his attention.

Plus, this kid is a bit of a looks-obsessed person. He liked Severus's face the first time he saw him, and he also liked the smell on Severus. It's a good thing he was well-mannered that he didn't stick his head over to smell him at that time.

"Damn old bee."

Severus cursed Dumbledore. He began to struggle with whether or not to bring this up, but he was also afraid that Emerick was unaware of his feelings, and if he brought it up, how would they get along for the remaining three years?

The man, who had never encountered anything like this before, frowned. He didn't know how to deal with these feelings, or even who to ask. As before, he chose to run away, pretending that nothing had happened, hoping that time would dilute Emeric's thoughts.

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Emeric had a bit of a toothache. Draco and Harry sat opposite him, their hands never separating since they got on the train, even while eating. Hermione and Ron next to them were enthusiastically recommending Lockhart. He missed Severus; everyone in this carriage was bullying him. The wicked little cat planned to run down to the cellar that night to tell him, hoping he could stay and sleep there.

He had no idea that Severus already knew about his feelings, and the days ahead might not be easy for him. Thinking that out of sight, out of mind, Emeric took a blanket, covered his head, and went to sleep.

"Brother Ellie, wake up, we've arrived at our stop."

"Thank you, Draco."

Following the flow of people, Emeric helped the four children into the carriage before going to find Lyra and Garian.

"Garian, how's the investigation going?"

"It's about 80% certain. I used some connections to ask Slughorn. He had previously shown our poor senior Tom a book on soul splitting. That snake should be the main soul. We couldn't find any Horcruxes made from it."

"Um, Layla, what about you?"

"The Master has already contacted all the active Death Eater families recently, and these people won't cause any trouble for our operations in the short term."

"Okay, you guys continue searching for the Horcruxes. I'll try to get Lockhart out of here. Gellert would definitely be happy to be a professor."

He couldn't stand the sight of that peacock, and Garian and Lyra shared the same unbearable expression; clearly, Lockhart's secret wasn't a secret among them.