The Dark Lord claimed he would temporarily halt his attack on Hogwarts.
But he demanded Potter appear in the Forbidden Forest—before the Dark Lord's eyes—within one hour.
Otherwise he would make trouble for everyone the savior knew.
And the trouble the Dark Lord made for others was typically a fate worse than death, families destroyed and scattered.
Lys gave Snape another bottle of potion, then quickly looked toward little Potter, speaking in a low voice: "You can't go! It's useless—no one can kill the Dark Lord. You must escape!"
If Potter didn't die, she and Fred wouldn't have to take the Black family path just yet.
Lys shook the blood from her hand somewhat irritably. The sticky blood contaminated by Venom made her left hand uncomfortable. Then she heard news that meant she could no longer waver or hesitate.
"Bellatrix discovered your secret, old wanted posters and... should run..." Snape's throat rattled, making him hard to understand, but he still wanted to finish: "It's you and your brother."
Lys's hand holding her willow wand, trying to heal his wound, paused for a moment, then she pulled out a large bottle of Dittany essence.
She blinked.
"Potter, you must run. Know why? The Dark Lord has Horcruxes. While the Horcruxes remain, he'll live forever. I know of at least three Horcruxes, and he's become such an ugly monster—so there are definitely more than three. You must run. As long as you don't die, you have a chance to grow, and he'll always fear you."
And that way, she would never be the priority target in any search, Lys thought with no small amount of selfishness.
The bushy-haired little witch suddenly covered her mouth. Potter also spun around sharply, while the red-haired boy blurted out: "How do you know too!"
But Snape's voice also came rattling at the same time:
"Potter, Dumbledore, eighth floor." He felt his condition was better than when he'd seen that world of white earlier.
But if Potter delayed any longer, he might just die of frustration.
Seeing Potter disappear into the tunnel, Snape finally looked directly at Lys.
At this moment, Lys also drew her gaze back from that opening, solemnly raising her willow wand.
The Dark Lord had gone to Hogwarts'Forbidden Forest to wait for Potter—this place was temporarily safe, for Lys.
Going all out, Lys's healing charm created magical fluctuations so strong they nearly matched the small explosions when the castle was bombed.
The bleeding speed from Snape's neck visibly slowed, but only to that extent—the blood still couldn't be completely stopped.
And the Dittany essence had long been washed away by the continuously flowing blood, unable to perform its healing function.
More embarrassingly, a large area around Snape's wound had turned silver.
Even that silver was expanding.
"Starlys, the Dark Lord wants me dead... I... I just don't have..."
Lys interrupted him. "Ha! What he wants, I don't want! Shut up. Who knows, you might even keep Potter company on the escape route."
Another gush of black blood poured from the corner of Snape's mouth. He seemed to want to say something, but he had no strength left. He closed his eyes and let his head fall to one side.
For that instant, Lys thought he was dead. Gritting her teeth, she slapped Snape hard across the face, trying to wake him up.
The blood on Lys's hand and Snape's face splattered far with the forceful strike—CRACK!
Fred, packing up Lys's bag behind her, couldn't help but wince.
But fortunately, Lys discovered Snape had only fainted when the Blood-Replenishing Potion took effect and drained his physical strength.
Lys grimaced as she stuffed Snape into the tunnel. The potions in his body were still working—Apparition would disrupt the potions that were temporarily stronger than the toxins with magical fluctuations.
Which meant if Snape was brought along for Apparition, he would very likely die.
Nagini's venom was far stronger than Gabon's—even now, Lys didn't know exactly what species Nagini was.
Thinking this, Lys dug out a pile of earth from the tunnel, using Transfiguration to transform it into Snape's corpse and tossed it there.
To avoid any slip-ups, Lys even used more precise Transfiguration to create all the internal organs and bones.
Even if someone bombarded this fake corpse with spells now, Lys was confident there would be no problems visible to the naked eye.
Digging out that earth also helped widen the space in the tunnel where the three could hide.
Lys curled up in that tiny underground bend, repeatedly pointing her willow wand at Snape's neck while chanting healing spells.
She also used Snape's robes to wipe the sticky, blackening blood from her hands.
Fred rummaged through his bag for ages before pulling out a bottle of liquid that shimmered with silver light.
"Lys, look—unicorn blood."
Unicorn blood could sustain life, even with just a breath remaining, but ordinary people dared not use it.
Because unicorn blood obtained through harm often contained curses.
"Might that be a bit too aggressive?" Lys still hesitated, but Fred directly shoved the bottle into Lys's hands:
"What time is this? We're waiting to flee! Lys!"
Lys glanced at Fred, hesitated briefly in her heart, then poured the unicorn blood into Snape's mouth.
Fred quickly tried to stop her: "Lys! That's too much..."
Seeing that entire bottle of blood mixed with the blood Professor Snape had just vomited being poured back in by his sister, he could only give up.
"Never mind... what do we do now, Lys? Go straight back to Germany, take Mother and Father to Africa and hide?"
Lys thought for a moment. "Do you think those kids' reaction to hearing about Horcruxes was normal?"
Fred shook his head. At the time, he'd been watching that red-haired boy's wand—only his wand had stayed raised, which made Fred a bit tense...
"Hiss... wait, Lys, that Weasley said: 'too.'"
"So they know about Horcruxes, but they still went back?" Lys suddenly thought of Gellert Grindelwald. He'd said things would end, and Fred seemed better than herself.
And that line—
"Child, if Albus were before you now, though he might not say it, he would certainly be clear in his heart."
And Snape had told Harry Potter: "Eighth floor, Dumbledore..."
"I want to go back and look, Fred. I'm leaving Snape with you." Lys pulled out all the Blood-Replenishing Potions and various medicines Snape could use from her pockets, then stuffed half back—she was afraid she might need them too.
Lys felt around Snape's body and indeed found several potions in his robes. But aside from one bottle of Veritaserum, Lys couldn't identify the rest. Fred pointed out the general effects of each potion—he'd been studying with Snape these past two years.
Lys took two of them.
She recognized them as the potions Snape had given her the first time she played with Fiendfyre.
They had excellent effects for replenishing and stabilizing magical power.
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