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

Chapter 67 Opening of the Cure

"Severus, you go ahead and do your work. Just give me Ellie; I have time to take care of the kids."

?

Has Dumbledore finally gone mad?

Severus thought no normal person would say such a thing; how could someone so blatantly snatch a child? He couldn't help but hug Emeric tightly, afraid that if he put him down, someone would take him away with his entire body.

These past few days, he's taken Emeric with him everywhere he goes, and even then, there are always people who are envious and come to snatch the child away. They use all sorts of excuses to grab him and won't let go. If Emeric didn't dislike them holding him for too long, he might not even be able to get the child back into his arms.

"Hey Severus, are you going to class? The Potions classroom smells too complicated. Can I leave Ellie here? I don't have much in my office."

"Felius? How can you be like this too?"

"Isn't this because I'm worried you'll get tired?"

"Class is about to start, we'll take our leave now."

Professor Fairy stomped his foot in frustration after failing once again. He had tried to abduct McGonagall for three days straight without success. McGonagall's first attempt to kidnap her had taken too long, which had alerted Severus.

"Let's go, let's go to class."

Emeric nodded with a smile. He really enjoyed being with Severus, even just staring at him blankly. Besides, accompanying Severus to class was anything but boring; the quirky older students were always a lot of fun, constantly causing some outrageous commotion.

He sat in his special seat, looking down at the little wizards with a happy smile, his eyes full of excitement. His little face was flushed. Sometimes, if Severus didn't notice the little wizards doing naughty things in the corner, he would point them out.

"When will Emeric's side effects disappear? I can't take it anymore. This little rascal is so cute in front of the professor, but how come he's so awful to us?"

"Tsk, who knew Professor Flitwick would actually expect me to help him steal a child? If Professor Snape finds out, will I even be able to live?"

"This little rascal is so cute, I could kiss eight of them until they cry in a day."

"Ravenclaw, deduct five points for whispering during class."

A sinister voice came from behind them, and a dark shadow loomed over them. The person in question was right behind them. Neither of them dared to turn around, their eyes frantically searching for the other's attention.

"Two days of confinement, starting at 8 PM tonight."

Severus was pleased with the effect he had achieved; the trembling of the two young wizards pleased him greatly. He gave a soft hum and walked to the front of the stage.

"Put your results into bottles, and now we'll start scoring."

After scoring everyone, Severus took Americh back to the cellar, intending to try the petals he had received earlier, hoping that the power from his own body could repair Americh's losses.

"Airi, I'm brewing a potion now. Would you like to come and help me?"

"willing."

The job was supposed to be an assistant, but it really just meant having him play with some medicinal herbs. It didn't matter if he ate them; the main purpose was to prevent those unscrupulous adults who wanted to play with the children from coming to steal them. This specifically refers to Gellert.

"Drink it, then tell me how you feel."

"I feel warm all over and a little sleepy."

"Go to sleep."

The sweet potion made Emeric want to drink more. He didn't know that it was specially made by Severus, so when he heard other young wizards say that Severus's potion tasted terrible, he thought that they just didn't like sugar.

Severus felt they needed to go to Albania again, since they had gone there last time when they couldn't return to their original state.

"Severus, there is a letter for you. Come to the principal's office."

The silver-blue phoenix guardian flapped its wings and rushed to Severus, startling Emeric, who had just fallen asleep in his arms, awake.

"The old bee's brain is all smeared with syrup, just ignore him and let him keep sleeping."

"Severus to the principal's office, Severus to the principal's office."

"Let's go, just in case something urgent comes up?"

Severus pushed open the cellar door aggressively. He was being harassed by the old bees and Emeric also wanted to see what was going on, so he could only put on his robe and take Emeric to the principal's office.

The training over the past few days has made him even healthier. Not only does he have weights on his hands, but he also has to run back and forth between the classroom and the principal's office every day, making the muscle lines on his shirt more and more obvious.

"Dumbledore, you'd better have a letter."

"It really is there. Mr. Thaddeus sent it. See for yourself."

Severus was skeptical, but he took the letter from Dumbledore and glanced at the beginning; he knew it was genuine.

The note said they knew what Emeric had done, and that Severus didn't need to worry. This time they didn't need to go to Albania; once his body was healed, Emeric would slowly turn back on his own.

Along with the letter came a large quantity of rare magical potions and herbs, telling him to write back whenever he needed more and they would send more. Anything left over would be a gift for him, including several bottles of dragon's blood.

Calvin and Ambrose knew the moment the ceremony ended that Emerick was on another adventure, given their understanding of their son. They spent several days gathering a pile of things and writing this letter, just in case Severus complained that raising Emerick was too expensive; as fathers, they had truly sacrificed too much.

"Severus, Mr. Thaddeus said something's wrong; he's come all the way here looking for you."

"It's nothing, they just sent me potion ingredients. You didn't know I have a business relationship with the Thaddeus family, did you?"

However, he had terminated the contract some time ago, Severus silently added to his mind. But no one else knew about this except Emeric, so he could still use this excuse to fool Dumbledore.

"I have to go now, I still have class to attend. I would be very happy if you could cover my class."

"No, Severus, I'm too old. Professional matters should be handled by professionals."

Ever since his last Potions class, Dumbledore never wanted to step into the Potions classroom again. He was traumatized and couldn't imagine how Severus had endured it, only losing points each class and never being punished with detention unless it was excessive.

"Oh"

Severus left the headmaster's office without looking back. He took out the medicinal herbs he had just received, washed them casually, and stuffed them directly into Emeric's mouth. These were from a letter written by Kaven, instructing him not to brew them into a potion; as long as they weren't poisonous, Emeric could eat these blood-nourishing herbs raw.

I just fed him bloodcurrants. They taste bad but are non-toxic. They're a key ingredient in blood-boosting medicines, so I thought I'd let him try them and see how they work.

"Tell me if you feel unwell today, okay?"

"Okay, does it count if it tastes a little bad?"

"Have a candy."

The ring contained a lot of candy. Severus casually picked one up and gave it to Emerick, somewhat relieved that Emerick wouldn't cry from the awful taste, as some medicines can't be described simply as unpleasant.

After observing for a day and finding the results to be quite good, Severus sorted out some of the herbs that wouldn't counteract each other, added some candy, and gave them to Emeric to eat as snacks.