Before the Quidditch match began in the afternoon, Snape found Madam Hooch, using the excuse that his players' mental and physical health had been affected, and requested to postpone the match.
Madam Hooch seemed to know about the incident that took place at noon, so she agreed without much thought and prepared to have Ravenclaw replace Slytherin.
"Madam Hooch, I don't think Gryffindor is suitable for the match today either."
Snape glanced in the direction of the Gryffindor team and said, "I have a few matters to discuss with those two Weasleys."
"Can't it wait until after the match?" Madam Hooch frowned.
If both teams were to be replaced, it would completely disrupt the event, making rescheduling very troublesome.
Snape drawled, "It's urgent, Madam Hooch."
"Well... alright." Although reluctant, Snape was, after all, a legitimate professor of the school and the head of a house, so he had the right to interfere with the Quidditch match.
Madam Hooch had no choice but to agree.
However, she still reminded, "Professor Snape, I hope this situation won't happen a second time. Rescheduling the match is really troublesome."
"Believe me, I don't want this to happen either, but I just don't know what they're thinking..."
Snape turned and walked towards Gryffindor, taking Fred and George with him without any explanation.
Charlie wanted to step forward to stop him, but as soon as he opened his mouth, ten points were deducted.
"Contradicting a professor, Weasley. Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said coldly, "If you don't step aside, next time I'll deduct twenty points."
Charlie was so angry his face turned red, his fists clenched tightly, the veins on his arms protruding. He took a deep breath, raised his legs, and... moved aside.
"Professor Snape, have a good day."
Only then did Snape slightly relax the hand holding the wand. He let out a cold snort and left the Quidditch pitch with Fred and George.
However, just after Snape left, Charlie stormed off, muttering curses as he headed to Professor McGonagall's office.
Slytherin had no sense of honor, not only framing them but also calling for back-up, utterly disgraceful.
It's just a big deal, isn't it? Who doesn't have one?
The big shot of Gryffindor is the Deputy Headmistress... in terms of rank, much higher than Snape.
On the other side, after returning to the castle, Snape brought Fred and George to the Potion Office.
Yet, the twins weren't nervous at all; instead, they looked around the office's setup with interest.
It was quite ordinary.
Narrow aside, the style of the furniture was very old-fashioned, and the floor creaked when stepped on.
If they ignored the potion materials, they might have thought they had entered a second-hand furniture store.
It was far from comparable to Professor McGonagall's office.
"Professor Snape, what do you need us for?" Fred was the first to speak.
Snape said slowly, "The package you received this morning, what's that about?"
"We don't know either, Professor." George said calmly, taking a slip of paper from his pocket and placing it on the desk.
"It had no name on it, we thought the owl had delivered it incorrectly."
"Yeah," Fred nodded, "We searched for the owner for a long time, and just when we were about to hand it over to Professor McGonagall, the package disappeared."
George continued, "Professor, do you know who sto... took the package?"
George emphasized the word "stole" and paused for a moment.
But Snape acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing to ask, "So, it wasn't a package you bought?
Don't think about deceiving me, I know it came from Zonko's Joke Shop, and I will inquire in Hogsmeade later."
"Of course, that's your right, Professor." Fred's expression remained unchanged.
"But if you find out who sto... took the package, please let us know. After all, it was lost in our hands, and we can't explain it if the owner comes looking."
Snape's eye twitched, pretending not to have heard once again.
"Weasley, you..."
"Knock, knock, knock~"
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door from outside.
Professor McGonagall entered from outside.
"Severus, I heard you took Fred and George away," Professor McGonagall said, pursing her lips with a serious expression, "Did they do something wrong?"
"We didn't, Professor McGonagall." Fred immediately cried out in grievance.
George followed immediately, "Professor Snape called us to inquire about the package."
Professor McGonagall pondered, "You mean the package with no name you mentioned to me earlier?"
"Yes, that's the one," Fred replied, "But it was lost, we suspect someone might have taken it."
"Stealing? At Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagall's lips tightened even more, "If I find out who it is, I'll deduct one hundred, no, two hundred points."
"Ahem..." Then, Snape suddenly coughed and said, "In fact, it was taken by one of our Slytherin students after he saw it."
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, "Someone from your house?"
"Yes, from our house." Snape said, his face slightly green, clenching his teeth, "I just wanted to confirm the situation with the Weasleys."
"I see..."
Professor McGonagall's expression softened notably as she cast a displeased glance at Snape, "Such things can be addressed on the pitch; there's no need to disrupt the match."
Snape said nothing, though inside, he cursed Rosier for being a fool.
Afterward, Professor McGonagall left, taking Fred and George with her.
Snape made no attempt to stop them.
In truth, he never suspected the two Weasleys from the beginning.
The style was too different.
His intention for calling them over was nothing more than to extract some information, and maybe dock three to five points simply to ease his mood.
He hadn't anticipated that Professor McGonagall would arrive so quickly, and those two seemed prepared, framing the matter as "theft" right in front of her.
Even making it impossible for him to find any faults.
Because it was indeed the truth; if the Slytherin student hadn't stolen the package, none of this would have happened.
"Rosier, the fool, is just a close relative of a troll!" Snape cursed inwardly once more.
However, after the recent incident, he became even more convinced that the Weasleys had little to do with the matter, or at least they were not the masterminds.
The Weasleys weren't clever enough for that.
Snape pondered for a moment, and inexplicably, an honest and sincere (strike that), sly and deceitful face flashed in his mind.
"Kael Chopper..." Snape muttered to himself.
Even though Kael ostensibly had nothing whatsoever to do with this incident, not even at the fringes, Snape's intuition told him that Kael was certainly not innocent.
Yes, it was a gut feeling, having nothing to do with him leading Conna astray.