Snape did not disappoint.
Everyone who had failed to turn in their howork found themselves "rewarded" with three days confined to their rooms. Not only were they expected to complete their assignnts late at night in the cold dungeon, but they also had to deal with the entire wooden bucket of potion ingredients piled in the corner. Although Snape hadn’t specified what it contained, judging by his sinister smile and the overpowering fishy sll that filled the classroom, it was bound to be sothing awful.
Mikel and Ryan exchanged relieved glances, grateful to have narrowly avoided punishnt. Just ten minutes earlier, they had finally completed their potion assignnt.
"Today we will be learning a new potion: the Shrinking Solution," Snape intoned in his usual drawling voice, each syllable stretched out. "I’ve written out the steps. Everyone, pay close attention, and then go gather your ingredients. What are you waiting for!”
Imdiately, the students left their seats, swarming around the cupboard by the wall.
Kanna’s table, as usual, had all the ingredients she needed, but this ti, unlike before when there had been a generous supply, there was only enough for one person. Kyle, who often borrowed from her, was now out of luck.
Kyle glanced over at Snape, who was watching him with a look of mocking satisfaction.
“Stingy!” Kyle muttered, pouting as he stood and headed toward the cupboard. By the ti he got there, however, only a few broken daisy roots and two or three squashed shrivelfigs were left.
“All materials are finite,” ca Snape’s voice from the lectern. “So I suggest you get it right the first ti, because there will be no second chances if you make a mistake!”
“By the end of class,” he added with a pointed look in Kyle’s direction, “whoever produces the worst potion will lose twenty points from their house. Let that serve as motivation to take this seriously and do it right.”
Kyle felt his heart sink. Without ingredients, he was sure to end up with the worst potion.
“Careless…” Kyle sighed, realizing he’d taken for granted his habit of borrowing Kanna’s ingredients. He hadn’t expected Snape to catch on and manipulate the situation.
“Didn’t get your ingredients? Here, take these.”
At that mont, a hand appeared before him, and in Kyle’s eyes, it seed to glow with a warm, hopeful light.
Mikel placed a tray on Kyle’s table. “You know how my potions always end up wrong, so I always take extras, just in case.”
“Thank you,” Kyle said, surprised and grateful. “This really helps.”
“It’s no big deal,” Mikel replied, pointing to a parchnt on the table. Without Kyle’s help, they would never have completed the potion assignnt on ti. For Mikel, this was simply returning a favor.
Seeing that Kyle had found a solution to his lack of ingredients, Snape’s expression darkened. He was about to say sothing when Kanna casually rearranged her cloth bag and tray.
“This leech juice looks great. Can I use it?” she asked.
“Sure,” Kyle nodded.
Visibly, a vein throbbed on Snape’s forehead. Better quality leech juice? Really? The ingredients in the cupboard were from students’ detention batches; they couldn’t possibly compare to the materials he had ticulously prepared himself!
But since Kyle and Kanna were already busy slicing the daisy roots, he had no choice but to take a few calming breaths to suppress his anger.
Yet Snape was in a foul mood—and he was determined to share it.
“The daisy roots are far too large. That’s two points from Hufflepuff…”
“And these shrivelfig skins—practically useless. Three more points from Hufflepuff…”
After his round of deductions, Snape, still simring, walked up to a Slytherin student who was proudly holding up a potion of light green, very close to the correct color. Normally, such work would have earned extra points. But this ti...
“A little leech juice is sufficient—why did you add so much? Two points from Slytherin!”
Yes, Snape’s irritation was such that he was even deducting points from his own house.
By the end of the lesson, the entire class was in a miserable mood.
...
“What’s wrong with Professor Snape!”
Kyle overheard a group of students discussing it at dinner.
“He actually deducted 20 points from Slytherin… twenty points!” one of them said, still in shock.
At first, no one believed it. Everyone knew that Snape, the Potions professor, was as loyal to Slytherin as anyone could be. Even if a Slytherin blew up a cauldron, they’d typically just end up in detention. Losing points? Unthinkable.
“That’s not even a funny joke,” Fred muttered from the Gryffindor table, glancing at Lee Jordan, who was animatedly retelling the story. “Or maybe you’re still half-asleep and heard ‘bonus points’ instead of ‘penalty points.’”
“I’m not joking!” Lee Jordan insisted, looking deadly serious. “This is real. Haven’t you heard about it yet?”
“Wait, you’re serious?” George set down his cup, intrigued.
“I swear!” Lee pointed toward the Slytherin table. “If you don’t believe , go over there—they’re talking about it, too.”
Fred’s curiosity was piqued. “When did this happen?”
Harry and Ron, sitting nearby, stopped eating, their attention now fully focused on Lee’s story. The thought of Snape docking points from Slytherin was as wild as Hermione forgetting the password to the Gryffindor common room.
“It was during Potions class this afternoon,” Lee explained, his voice full of excitent. “I was walking by a few third-year Slytherins when I overheard them talking about it. At first, I thought I’d misheard, but then I checked Slytherin’s score—it was down by 20 points. And they only had Potions this afternoon!”
“Huh…” Harry exhaled, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.
“Third years, you said?” Fred asked, frowning. “Who was in class with Slytherin?”
“Hufflepuff,” Lee answered, shrugging. “They were the first ones spreading the news.”
“Kyle!” Fred and George exclaid in unison.
They didn’t know exactly what had happened, but their instincts told them that Kyle had to be involved sohow. After years at Hogwarts, they’d learned that if sothing out of the ordinary happened, it was usually Kyle’s doing. Maybe not every single ti, but eight out of ten? Definitely.
“If only we’d been born a year later…”
“and then been sorted into Hufflepuff…”
Fred and George exchanged wistful glances across the hall toward the Hufflepuff table, where Kyle sat. Their biggest regret was not being in the sa year as him. Hogwarts would have been so much more thrilling with Kyle as their classmate.
Reviews
All reviews (0)