The Prisoners of Hogwarts

Chapter 14 The Name of the Hangman

Dumbledore turned from the window, looked at the gloomy-looking young man before him, and gave a gentle smile.

"Severus, you've come." His voice had a comforting hum. "Have a seat."

With a slightly sallow face and a tense expression, Snape walked to Dumbledore's desk and sat down.

"What do you want from me?" The voice was deep, getting straight to the point.

Snape never liked Dumbledore's riddle-like way of speaking.

He wished Dumbledore could be more straightforward.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore never granted him this request.

"I remember...you're from Kirkworth," Dumbledore said. "Spider's End, right?"

"Yes," Snape replied slowly and deliberately, his eyes slightly narrowed. He noticed that the picture frames of all the past headmasters in the headmaster's room were empty, and there was no one else in the entire room except for himself and Dumbledore.

"An industrial town in northern England, surrounded by a filthy river, a run-down, squalid place." Snape slowly uttered the rest of his words, looking at Dumbledore and observing his expression. "Why do you ask that?"

Dumbledore's face was calm. He stood by the window and looked at Snape with a peaceful gaze: "I remember when he first entered school, he only had two friends, both five years older than him, one a Gryffindor and the other a Slytherin. They were friends from the same community as him, friends he had known before entering school."

Snape sat bolt upright, staring intently into Dumbledore's eyes, and slowly uttered a name: "Jim Lynch!"

"If you want to know his story, then I suggest you ask him yourself. If I remember correctly, he was locked up in the Forbidden Forest by you, in your own words—until he died."

"Yes, I could ask him directly, but I'm asking you now," Dumbledore said. "From your perspective, I'd like to know why your friendship has drifted apart."

Snape's voice rose slightly: "You were the one who told me the answer to that question later. I didn't know it at the time, but he had already begun secretly hunting down dark wizards and Death Eaters!"

He then added, "In case you forget, I happened to be a Death Eater and a dark wizard at that time!"

Looking up and meeting Dumbledore's almost soul-piercing blue gaze, Snape knew this was no illusion; Dumbledore was using Legilimency to read his memories.

Dumbledore is the wizard with the most profound mastery of Legilimency in the world. Almost no one can hide their thoughts from his gaze. However, due to his high moral character, he almost never uses this ability on people.

But he was definitely not among them, because he was a traitor. Once betrayal happens, it will happen again. That's why Dumbledore would use Legilimency on him without hesitation, which was also the basis of Dumbledore's trust in him.

But Snape himself was the world's top Occlumency master, even though he lost more often than he won in this contest of spear and shield.

But this time, they finally managed to preserve that scene deep in their memory.

That scene that filled him with endless regret, shame, and pain.

That day, the dark-haired boy walked up to him, his dark eyes fixed on him, and calmly made his final prediction: "If you don't turn back, Snape, you will lose Lily forever."

He had been advised and warned, but his incurable blindness and stupidity made him ignore this important warning, which led to Lily leaving him and ultimately even causing his own death.

Countless times in the dead of night, Snape longed to return to that moment and heed that warning.

So perhaps none of this will have happened, perhaps...

My heart is roaring and bleeding.

But Snape maintained a calm facade.

Dumbledore withdrew his gaze, turned around, and continued looking out the window.

"Why did you suddenly call me here and ask about Jim Lynch?" Snape sneered from behind, "Has he escaped from the cage you set for him?"

Dumbledore didn't turn around: "He didn't escape from the cage."

"I released him."

"What have you done!" Snape jumped up, knocking the chair he was sitting in to the ground with his violent movement.

Dumbledore finally turned around again, looking calmly at Snape.

That calm gaze also calmed Snape down.

Dumbledore spoke up, "Severus, you've lost your composure. Is there something I don't know?"

Snape didn't reply immediately. Instead, he took a deep breath and exhaled before slowly saying, "You may know that Jim Lynch killed hundreds of dark wizards."

"But you are not a dark wizard, nor a Death Eater, so you don't understand what the name 'Mist Hanger' means to a dark wizard."

"People I know are being systematically hunted down one by one. I feel like a pig waiting to be slaughtered on a farm."

"One night later, the person who spoke to you yesterday was silently hanged in some open space. This was an experience that every dark wizard had at the time."

"No one knows his height, weight, or gender. All that is known is that he appears and disappears without a trace. Even though the mysterious person himself has been out on the scene several times, he has not been able to find him."

"He was so powerful that he was invincible; this was the reputation he built with the corpses hanging in the air."

"He lingers in the night like death, watching your life."

"You might not believe it, but some dark wizards, out of fear of him, have actually broken free from the mental distortions caused by dark magic and returned to the righteous path."

"Later on, out of fear of his name, many Death Eaters would not go out at night, for fear of losing their lives if they did."

"He even got the Dark Lord to abandon his attacks on the Ministry of Magic and turn his attention to him instead."

"Until finally, in that place you know, Glencoe Valley, the Dark Lord finally lured him into the trap. He had his henchmen keep the hangman surrounded to prevent his escape, and then he took matters into his own hands, vowing to hang the hangman's body on the Tower of London himself."

"But the Dark Lord miscalculated. The power of the hangmen was beyond his imagination. Their battle almost leveled the valley. The battle only ended when the Ministry of Magic arrived and the Dark Lord retreated."

"Afterwards, the Dark Lord told the Death Eaters that he had defeated the Mist Hangman."

"But the Death Eaters still fear him, because the battle in Glencoe Valley is one that anyone who witnessed it will never forget."

Snape stopped speaking.

Silence fell over the principal's office.

"Very good." After a long pause, Dumbledore praised, "Now the odds of winning this risky gamble have become even better."

"Why release Jim Lynch now?"

With his dark eyes fixed on Dumbledore, Snape's voice became hoarse.

Dumbledore looked back at him: "I think you've already guessed the reason behind this. Has there been any unusual movement on the mark on your left arm lately?"

Snape's worst fears were confirmed, and he uttered in a harsh voice, "It's still the same, pale, blurry, and occasionally a little burning... but lately the burning has been more frequent than before."

After truthfully reporting the Dark Mark on his arm, Snape pressed further, "Are you sure he's back?"

Dumbledore replied, "Yes, he has returned. Mr. Lynch has provided conclusive evidence, and I have verified it; he has indeed returned."

With his arms braced on the table, Snape took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down: "What do you need me to do?"