days at Hogwarts

Chapter 582 Autumnal Equinox
Thursday, Potions class.

Prefect Parvati sat down next to Hermione holding a stack of parchment papers. She glanced at her as she counted the papers and said in surprise, "Hermione, why are you wearing a turtleneck sweater? Is it very cold recently?"

"..."

Hermione's cheeks flushed, and she pulled at her collar with an unnatural expression: "Well... I'm a little afraid of the cold."

"Then be careful and don't catch a cold."

"I know, thank you, Parvati."

"Oh, things have been terrible lately. The weather is bad, there is a lot of homework, and the difficulty of the course papers is also increasing..."

"To prepare for the exam."

"I don't know what grade I got for the last paper I submitted, but I'll be satisfied if I can get an A."

"You'll be fine!"

"Thank you for your blessing haha..."

Parvati counted the Gryffindor roster and found that all the homework was collected. She did not stay any longer, stacked the parchment, walked up to the podium, and reported to Professor Snape.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and turned to meet Loren's smiling gaze. The residual warmth on her cheeks turned red again, and even her neck under the high collar felt congested and a little hot.

"Be careful not to catch a cold, Miss Granger."

"You still said that!"

Hermione thought of the embarrassing red marks on her neck and became so angry that she couldn't help but punch him.

Not far ahead, Professor Snape walked down from the podium and began to return the last homework. It was interesting to note that he could have given the papers to the class leaders to help distribute them, but he insisted on handing them out to the students one by one and closely observing the students' first expressions when they saw their grades. I wonder what kind of evil taste he had.

"As you can see, if someone submits such an answer sheet in the OWLs exam, the grade I give you will be the grade on your certificate... This should make some of you have a clear understanding of yourself."

With a hint of sarcasm on his lips, Snape slapped a scribbled paper on Harry's desk and pointed his slender finger at the long, pointed, black "P" on the top corner.

Harry observed him walking towards the next classmate out of the corner of his eye. Just as he was about to lower his head, he quickly noticed the gaze from the next table. Looking up, he saw Malfoy turning his head so quickly that his neck almost left an afterimage.

"..."

Harry seemed to hear a few sneers. He silently moved the ink bottle next to him to cover the glaring "P", and then began to read the comments on the paper.

Although Snape's teaching attitude was bad, his overall professional level was good. His comments were always able to point out the omissions and errors in the papers, put forward targeted revision suggestions, and even list recommended reference books at the end of the paper.

The wording is a bit vicious.

Loren and Hermione received a cold look from Professor Snape. It had nothing to do with their grades, but mainly because they only cared about themselves and did not help some of the students who were lagging behind. Professor Snape, who always valued unity and friendship, was deeply dissatisfied.

Loren pleaded innocent, saying that he had given Harry suggestions for revising the paper, but Harry was unwilling to adopt them.

"Looking at the overall level of the class, this homework is terrible. If it were an exam, most of you would fail... I hope that in this week's theme paper, you can spend more time studying different types of antidotes and analyze their similarities and differences, otherwise I will have to give those idiots who got a "P" detention!"

Snape's tone was cold and Harry felt his face burning. He pretended to cough twice and turned his head away, but found that Ron, his deskmate, was winking at him, which he found a little strange.

"He only said that those who got a "P" would be put in solitary confinement, right? Then I'm lucky!"

Harry caught a glimpse of the "D" on his paper and fell silent.

As we all know, the grades at Hogwarts are ranked according to OEAPD, which is excellent, exceeds expectations, pass, fail, etc. It's terrible...

He thought that his "P" was the worst, but he didn't expect that Ron was at the bottom of the list.

You are really my good brother!
Harry silently made up his mind to study hard in this class and never let Snape catch him and judge him badly. He read the instructions on the blackboard at least three times before starting to operate. When he encountered a step he was unsure of, he asked Loren and Hermione for help in time, and prevented Ron from directly touching the crucible. Although the prepared enhancement potion was not a clear green color like the one at the next table, it was at least blue.

At the end of the get out of class, with a feeling of showing off and relief, he brought a bottle of enhancement potion sample to Snape's podium.

"Did you see that? Snape didn't curse anyone in this class, nor did he curse anyone by standing next to them. He didn't even get angry when Seamus handed him a bottle of pink potion. It's incredible!"

Harry was talking in a daze to some of his friends as they left the dungeon and went up the stairs and through the corridor to the Great Hall for dinner.

Loren put his hand on Hermione's shoulder and turned to say, "Maybe he is relieved and happy to see you studying hard."

"Really?" Ron exclaimed in surprise, and solemnly warned Harry, "From now on, the job of pacifying the old bat will be handed over to you. It's a serious mission. Just think of it as a mission for Gryffindor, Harry, and study Potions with all your strength!"

"..."

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Hermione, carrying her small cloth bag, was still immersed in the joy of being the only one in the class to prepare the enhancement potion normally. Her eyebrows were curved: "It's not as bad as last week, right? The homework is not too bad. We have written similar papers before. This is a good thing, right?"

She suddenly changed the subject: "You don't have to worry about the paper grade. What I mean is that it is graded according to the standards of the OWLs exam. Don't expect to get the highest score. It's good enough to pass at this stage... There will definitely be a lot of changes between now and the exam. We have enough time to improve and progress..."

Harry and Ron were startled by what he said and looked at Loren in tacit understanding.

Loren spread his hands.

"Hermione!" Harry sighed, his tone resentful, "If you want to know what grades we got, just ask directly."

Hermione's voice paused, and she said unsurely: "I don't...that's not what I meant, but if you are willing to tell me..."

"And you said you didn't want to know!" Ron rebuked righteously.

Hermione was a little embarrassed. Feeling guilty, the little witch pulled Loren away dejectedly. The excellent student with a bad temper was only fit to sit at the end of the long table to eat lunch.

Harry and Ron breathed a sigh of relief and found a seat next to Ginny.

"There's no class this afternoon, Harry. Let's go to the stadium early after lunch, okay? How about you practice with me before the weekend training? You know, I've got some ball sense..." Ron said as he ladled the soup into his bowl. He muttered for a long time without getting a response, then turned around and looked over -

Harry was seen standing very close to his sister, both with their heads down. Their way of communicating was very strange, and they stammered for a long time before they could utter a single sentence.

"Hello...Ginny." Harry said politely.

"Oh... hello." Ginny's face was slightly red, and her eyes were fixed on the shiny disk. "You came a little late, so I left a chicken drumstick for you..."

"Oh..." Harry was dazed by the aroma of the food or the scent of the girl, his mind was in a mess. He tried his best to think of something interesting and humorous, but the long and pointed "P" that Snape had made kept flashing before his eyes.

"It's a nice day today... huh?"

He was so embarrassed that he scratched his toes in his boots. The weather, he was actually talking about the weather. Was this some old-fashioned gentleman's novel from the last century...

"Yeah, just in time for Quidditch. I only have one class in the afternoon. What about you?"

"Well, I...we don't have classes this afternoon."

"Then...we..."

Harry suddenly had an idea and blurted out, "See you on the Quidditch pitch at three!"

"Okay, Harry."

Harry happily took a bite of the chicken leg, turned around and nudged his good friend with his elbow: "Ron, how about we go practice basketball this afternoon?"

Ron snorted and dragged a large piece of bacon and eggs in front of him: "I don't want to play ball!"

"Why?" Harry felt strange. "Today is a good day for playing Quidditch. I can also practice goalkeeping skills with you. You need my agile and flexible hitting to help you develop a sense of the ball, right?"

"Because I have to write my Potions paper this afternoon!" Ron took a bite of bacon viciously and took a big sip of pumpkin juice.

Harry: "..."

He was not allowed to touch the crucible, so how could he have drunk the wrong medicine?

……

September 9rd, Saturday morning.

In an ancient Eastern calendar, this day is called the Autumnal Equinox, which means that autumn has officially arrived.

The sky had just brightened and the castle was still surrounded by the silence of a deep sleep. Only the chirping of industrious birds could be heard in the forest. The ray of sunlight shining through the window of the principal's office seemed to have just been created, and the dust was swirling and dancing in the golden light.

Fawkes the Phoenix looked up at the golden light dust. The morning sun outside the window was reflected in its bright black eyes, sparkling. Dumbledore was standing in front of the window, looking at the village in the distance:
"Have you really thought this through, Severus?"

"I never hesitated..." Snape spoke in a very soft voice, as if afraid of disturbing the floating light dust. "For more than ten years, I have been eager to make up for my mistakes, or to repay the life debt I owe. Now, I have grasped this opportunity..."

Dumbledore's silver hair and beard shone with golden light, as if melting in the morning sun. He sighed and said, "You overestimate the mistakes you have made, Severus. Sometimes we are just a choice of fate. Without you, there would be other choices."

"Fate has its own choices... but I also have my own choices."

"..."

After bidding farewell to the nagging old headmaster, Snape returned to his basement office, put on a hooded cloak, and carefully checked to make sure that he did not have anything with the Hogwarts logo on him. He then sat behind his desk and waited quietly.

A few minutes later, the sound of hard-soled, low-heeled leather shoes trotting on the ground came from the corridor outside. The wooden board of the office was knocked unceremoniously. Umbridge, wearing a pink cardigan, pushed open the door and looked around the basement office while pinching her throat and saying:

"Professor Snape, your office is too simple, with dim lighting and shabby decorations. When this is over, I will ask Hogwarts to allocate a tower to you as an office in the name of the Ministry of Magic..."

Snape glanced at the man. If Dumbledore had hoped that those words would more or less shake him, now Professor Umbridge had completely wiped out the impact of those words and even made him more determined.

Looking at the toad's ostentatious and complacent appearance, Snape hummed without commenting: "It's better to change into a more low-key outfit, Professor Umbridge. You know, there are some places where it is not convenient to show your identity."

"Don't worry, I had it ready during the last ambush..." Umbridge patted her pink leather bag, "I'll put it on when we leave Hogwarts."

"Then let's set off."

The two of them went out together, walked out of the castle hall and came to the road outside. It was still early, and most of the little wizards were reluctant to leave their beds for the weekend, so they didn't meet anyone along the way.

"Professor Umbridge, may I ask, how many people know about this transaction?"

"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone. Not even Minister Fudge knows." Umbridge's eyes flickered with cunning. She was ready to take all the credit for this investigation. As for what Snape wanted...

Anyway, they haven't signed the contract, so there's still time to fulfill it after she becomes the minister.

"Really? Madam Umbridge is very careful and attentive..."

"Of course!" Umbridge smiled delicately. It was with these careful little ideas that she was able to successfully advance from the Improper Use of Magic Office to the Department of Law Enforcement, and from a clerk with no background to a senior deputy minister.

After walking along the main road for more than ten minutes, you will step out of the gate carved with a wild boar, and the road ahead will suddenly open up.

Umbridge deftly took out her cloak and put it on. The black cloth covered her short and fat body, making it look better to the eye.

"We've finally left the area where Apparition is prohibited." Umbridge's voice was still sickeningly sweet. She looked up and saw Hogsmeade in the distance, with smoke rising from the roofs of some houses. "Can you tell me directly where the transaction is? It will be more convenient for us to Apparate there..."

It would be best if there was a chance to get rid of this Snape.

"Of course..." Snape's voice was filled with sneer, "The place of transaction is-Malfoy Manor."

The smile on Umbridge's face froze. She was acutely aware that something was wrong. Before she could think about it, a red spell light had already rushed towards her -

"[Fainted]"

(End of this chapter)