Dudley, who was far away at Hogwarts, had no idea that he had inexplicably taken the blame for someone else. Nor could he imagine that before he even had a chance to deal with the beetles, he had already been resented by them.
All he knew was that today, which is Friday of the second week since the semester started, was the day set by him and Dumbledore for the construction of the maze in The Forbidden Forest. It was also the day of suffering for Eris and Voldemort's main soul.
After lunch at noon, Dudley, Dumbledore, the heads of the four houses of Hogwarts, and Eris, whose body had recovered more than half but still looked pale, went to the front of Hagrid's hut outside the Castle and beside The Forbidden Forest.
They joined Hagrid, who had returned early to make preparations.
The journey from the Great Hall to Hagrid's hut was quite a "torture" for Snape.
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that Dudley had attacked Snape again. Instead, Eris, half - pretending, got close to Snape and pestered him, begging him to support her as she walked.
This really grossed Snape out.
He wanted to ask the other professors in the group for help. However, Professor Flitwick was too short to support an adult person. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, who were looking forward to enjoying the romantic interaction between Snape and Eris, very consciously kept away from the two and ignored Snape's pleading looks. As for Dumbledore, he seemed helpless and walked far ahead with Dudley, not caring about what Eris was doing at all.
As for Dudley, whom Snape never considered asking for help, he not only had no intention of helping Snape out of trouble, but also laughed all the way and encouraged Eris to just grab Snape's elbow.
Snape was furious.
But among this group of people, except Dudley and Dumbledore, no one could understand Snape's plight.
Even so, Snape had no intention of touching Eris. He dodged Eris's hand as if avoiding a venomous snake and told Eris to behave herself.
But Eris had thrown caution to the wind. She didn't show the slightest bit of self - respect and acted like she was under the influence of a love potion, throwing herself at Snape.
Snape really had no normal way out.
In the past week, Eris almost dragged her still - injured body to Snape two or three times a day.
Snape couldn't avoid her no matter how hard he tried.
Because many female professors were Eris's love wing - women.
Snape had to face the reality and clearly told Eris that he didn't like her. But Eris said that she would wait until the day when Snape fell in love with her.
Snape had no choice but to say that he already had someone he liked. But Eris said that she was willing to compete fairly with any woman for Snape's love.
Snape then tried to smear himself by saying that he actually liked men. Eris still didn't give up and said that she could dress up as a handsome man.
Snape further smeared himself by saying that he had kidney problems and was infertile. Eris wasn't sad but happy instead. She said that what she pursued was a spiritual love and that she didn't like children.
Snape was driven crazy. He asked Eris what exactly she liked about him and said that he could change.
As a result, Eris adored every single bit of Snape. She loved Snape whether he was alive or dead.
No matter what Snape was like, Eris could perfectly fit in.
Snape had been using Legilimency, but he couldn't find any thoughts or memories in Eris that contradicted her words.
What could Snape do?
He couldn't leave Hogwarts for Eris, so he just went crazy.
He even thought that this kind of mental torture was far worse than when Dudley cast the Cruciatus Curse on him.
Now, let's go back to the present.
Today, at Dumbledore's invitation, Snape had to go with Eris to The Forbidden Forest.
He expected that Eris would pester him relentlessly.
He couldn't just keep dodging her by nimbly moving around.
In sheer desperation, he reluctantly used the trick he had prepared in advance.
He put on a nose plug and sprayed a self - made stinky potion on his clothes, creating a stinking no - go zone within a 100 - inch (2.54 - meter) radius around him.
This move finally made Snape get a little farther away from Eris.
The reason was not that the stink defeated Eris, but that it defeated Voldemort's main soul, which had no nose but shared senses with Eris.
Voldemort could force himself to endure hardships, but he couldn't force himself to endure unnecessary pain.
In this regard, Voldemort was no match for Eris.
Eris received a secret mental message from Voldemort's main soul and had to give up the act of sticking close to Snape. Instead, she turned a silk scarf into a light long stick. She held one end and poked the other end near Snape's hand.
Then she said to Snape affectionately and pitifully that she didn't dislike the smell around Snape. Instead, she was afraid that Snape would dislike her for being contaminated with the stink.
She only hoped that Snape could hold the other end of the stick to give her some support while walking, so as not to fall behind and delay the important business of the headmaster and the professors.
Snape retorted venomously, "If you're not fully recovered, don't be so self - deluded as to participate in this kind of action and drag others down."
But Eris easily interpreted this as Snape's concern and love for her.
Her pale face blushed, looking shy and delighted.
Snape was speechless and on the verge of collapse. To make Eris be quiet on the way, he reluctantly held the other end of the stick and trailed far behind the group.
Hagrid, fully armed and leading the big dog Fang, with all kinds of raw meat feed hanging on him, was waiting in front of the house. What he saw was such a scattered and strange group.
He didn't dig deeper but happily greeted Dumbledore and Dudley at the front.
"Professor, I've talked to Aragog successfully. We can go to the Acromantula's territory now," Hagrid said to Dumbledore naively. "I've moved a lot of huge trees and stones there in advance. They can be used to build the maze!"
After that, he smiled at Dumbledore and Dudley.
"That's good!"
Dumbledore nodded with a smile. Then he turned to several professors and arranged, "Everyone, we need to build the prototype of the training maze today! It's better to speed up and try to finish it before dinner.
The work of refining the maze details can be left to be completed on the next two weekends.
Please work hard. I'll give you special allowances as compensation for delaying your rest time."