"Do something!"
Snape reminded loudly.
"Oh, okay, okay, I know." Hermione's magic wand was already in her hand, but her mind was still in a state of paralysis. She was still recalling the process of returning to Hogwarts with Snape. The protective magic of Hogwarts was the result of millennia of accumulation; it couldn't possibly be broken easily by a mysterious man who looked like a student.
Unless... it wasn't ordinary magic... Hermione was about to start another conspiracy theory.
"Granger!" Snape's roar pulled her back to reality, "If your book-stuffed brain still functions, you should realize I need to be let down!"
Hermione suddenly became aware and raised her wand, but she had no idea what to do, "I... I don't know how to break this spell! I don't even know what this magic is!"
Her tone was full of helplessness and panic.
"You don't need to know! Just figure out how to break this spell!" Snape roared angrily, his face flushed, veins bulging on his forehead.
"But..."
Hermione wanted to say something.
"Levicorpus! The name of the magic is Levicorpus!"
Snape was really anxious.
He was constantly observing the surroundings.
Fearing someone would jump out of nowhere.
"Alright, what's the counter curse for Levicorpus?"
Hermione continued to ask.
"You don't seem as excellent as you claim to be!"
Snape's expression twisted even more dramatically, whether from anger or the rush of blood: "Golden Bell Fall! But obviously, that phony student has modified this spell—"
He struggled to wave his magic wand, but due to the hanging position, his spell casting form looked very awkward, "Damn it! Golden Bell Fall! Golden Bell Fall!"
And the casting had no effect.
Two red lights shot out from Snape's magic wand, but they vanished like they hit an invisible barrier—his magic power certainly couldn't shake a spell cast by a super legend.
Regarding this.
Not only Snape couldn't understand.
The little witch couldn't either.
Hermione had never seen Snape fail in casting a spell—it was even more unsettling than seeing him hanging upside down.
"If you can't do it, I definitely can't either."
Hermione had the self-awareness.
"Maybe it's just me being restricted, do as I say, remember this magic well." Snape forced himself to calm down, his voice trembling with suppressed anger.
"The wand movement is a hook upwards, then a gentle flick while clearly enunciating 'Golden Bell Fall'." This wave of instruction to Gryffindor students was truly from the heart.
"Okay, Professor."
Hermione nodded.
Focusing entirely, she mimicked the actions Snape described.
"Golden Bell Fall!"
A beam of light burst from the tip of her wand, shooting towards Snape. However, the moment the spell touched his body, a ripple spread across Snape's form—then nothing happened. Snape still hung there, but now his expression had shifted from anger to one of near disbelief.
"Again!"
He commanded.
There was an edge of panic in his voice that Hermione had never heard before.
"Harness your emotions! You need to concentrate, use your magic power to feel the spell!"
Snape continued to instruct.
"With more force!"
He was even desperate enough to rely on the metaphysical.
Hmm.
In the wizarding world, metaphysical means miracles through sheer force.
"Okay."
Hermione tried three more times, each time the glow of the spell grew stronger, but the result was the same. Hermione gritted her teeth, further increasing her magical output, sweat dripping from her forehead, her face turning pale, but the spell still had no effect. Snape himself was also stubbornly contemplating.
He endured the discomfort of hanging upside down, trying to use his knowledge to unravel the spell. Yet, it was all in vain, Snape's face grew increasingly sour.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, as large as beans.
Not just from the rush of blood, but also the worry of being seen by others, and even more so from realizing a terrifying fact—that he, Severus Snape.
A professor of Hogwarts.
Was trapped by an unknown entity posing as a student with the most basic prank spell.
What kind of person could that be?
Mysterious Man?
As he speculated like that.
How could Snape not feel terrified.
"This isn't just Levicorpus."
Snape muttered to himself, his voice so low it was almost inaudible, "Who on earth is that guy? No, a normal wizard shouldn't have such strong magic power!"
"Damn it! Dirty! Despicable! Vile bastard!" Snape suddenly burst out with a string of vulgar curses, his voice echoing in the empty corridor.
"I'll pull out his guts to brew a magic potion! I'll soak his eyes in toad bile! I want to—" Snape didn't care anymore whether the other party was his former master.
This kind of thing just touched his most real scar.
Even if it was Voldemort, he had to curse him.
"Hiss, Professor, your vulgar language..." Hermione's eyes widened. Today she not only learned a new spell, but also a lot of... creatively insulting vocabulary. Snape's anger was like a volcanic eruption, with each curse more maliciously exquisite than the last, some even involving magic potion ingredients she didn't understand.
What can you say?
Isn't this also a kind of learning and improvement?
"Professor!"
Hermione finally mustered the courage to interrupt him, "It's almost dawn, the students will soon get up."
This sentence was like a bucket of ice water pouring over Snape's head.
As time went by, the sky gradually lightened. Snape indeed also became anxious, afraid that the students would see him in this disheveled state when they woke up.
His cursing stopped abruptly, his face turned from angry red to fearful pale. Just imagine—how happy would Peeves be to discover him like this?
How gleeful would those Gryffindor students be seeing him, and what would the Slytherin students think seeing their head of house hanging from the ceiling like a piece of dried meat?
"Miss Granger."
Snape's voice suddenly became frighteningly calm.
"I cannot stay here."
He stared hard at the little witch.
"But your spell—"
Hermione was helpless too.
"Use physical methods!"
Snape said through gritted teeth, "Find a rope, drag me to my office!"
Hermione blinked, somewhat taken aback.
"Dr-drag you there?"
Is this still the magical wizarding world?
"Have you suddenly lost the ability to understand English, or do you need me to repeat it again?" Snape raised his voice, "Quickly! Before those fools find me!"
This was the professor's order.
Hermione frantically searched for a rope, Snape conjured one for her. So, she tiptoed and tied one end of the rope to Snape's ankle.
She even tied a secure sailor's knot.
"Sorry, Professor."
She quietly maintained her politeness.
Then started moving down the corridor, pulling the other end of the rope.
Snape floated behind her like a human-shaped balloon, his black robe draping to form a bizarre silhouette. Hermione tried to be gentle, but every time they turned a corner, Snape's head would dangerously approach a wall or door frame.
"Granger, if you let my head hit something hard," Snape's sinister voice came from above, "I promise you'll be cleaning up Flubberworm mucus every night for the next seven years."
Hermione swallowed, taking even more care to control the rope's angle.
They successfully descended to the third floor, then the second. Each time they encountered stairs, Hermione had to slow down, controlling Snape's 'landing' like a kite. Just as they were nearing the entrance to the basement, disaster struck. Peeves' familiar cackling suddenly echoed from the distant corridor.
"Hurry!"
Snape urged harshly.
In her panic, Hermione gave a hard pull.
Snape shot forward like a fish being reeled in.
Thud!
A dull thud. Snape's forehead smacked solidly against the door frame of the basement entrance.
A dreadful silence.
"This— is— not— Le— vi— cor— pus!" Snape felt like a balloon, he roared word by word, his voice distorted by pain and anger.
Hermione was terrified.
But she still quickly dragged the still cursing professor into the cellar office. When the door finally closed behind them, she slumped to the ground, exhausted but unable to help breathing a sigh of relief.
Snape was still hanging upside down in the center of the office, like an unfortunate bat caught, but his fury seemed to have burned out, replaced by a contemplative expression.
"Just don't let me find out who that guy is!"
Snape's resentment could probably fill all of Hogwarts.