HP: Those Years Sleeping with the Half-Blood Prince

The harsh punishment and Mrs. Hooch's still-angry supervision made the following flight lessons dull and oppressive.

James and Sirius had grim expressions, especially James, who frequently glared fiercely at the Slytherins.

Ian appeared focused on controlling the rise and fall of the broom, but the corners of his mouth were pursed into a straight line.

Kevin, on the other hand, was sulking and deliberately made a lot of noise every time he hovered.

Severus lowered his eyes and was even more silent than before, but the knuckles gripping the broom handle never regained their color.

When the bell rang, Mrs. Hooch gave them a warning glare before dismissing them.

The students buzzed with discussion about the earlier conflict and left in twos and threes.

"Just you wait, Burke," James said menacingly as he passed Ian, broom in hand, in a voice only they could hear.

Ian handed the broom back to its place, dusted off non-existent dust from his robe, and looked up at James. His face was expressionless, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"Always at your service, Potter, but next time, remember to choose a more spacious spot, lest you 'accidentally' bump into someone again."

Sirius stopped James, who was about to speak, glanced at Ian with his gray eyes, then at Severus, who was whispering to Lily not far away. He smirked and dragged the indignant James away.

Lily walked over quickly, her gaze lingering for a moment on Severus's tightly clenched hand, her green eyes filled with concern and unease.

"Severus, are you alright?...That was really dangerous." Her voice was soft, clearly tinged with lingering fear, then she turned to Ian and Kevin, "And you guys...are you all alright?"

Her tone was tinged with anger, "James just... was outrageous. No matter what, he shouldn't have done that. It was too much."

"It's alright, Lily," Severus said softly, finally loosening his grip.

"Potter and Black always start trouble first! It's so annoying!" Kevin rolled his eyes.

Ian let out a breath, rubbed his wrist which he had strained a bit while trying to steady the broom, and smiled at Lily: "We're alright, thank you."

He looked at Severus. "Shall we go?"

Severus nodded, ignoring Lily's hesitant expression, and turned to walk towards the castle.

Ian and Kevin followed, and Aris, who had come over at some point, walked silently beside them.

Back in the dorm, the atmosphere strangely relaxed.

"Merlin's stinky socks! That Potter, he definitely did it on purpose!" Kevin threw his backpack onto the bed as soon as he walked in, then angrily flopped onto the covers, his brown curly hair standing on end. "And that Black, look at him! 'Caring about classmates'? Pfft!"

"But Mrs. Hodge's punishment was really harsh," Ian put down his things, walked to the window and looked at his flowers, feeling a little better. "A fifteen-inch paper... but at least he wasn't put in solitary confinement."

He turned around, leaning against the windowsill, his gaze naturally sweeping over Severus, who was silently packing his old flying gloves into a box.

Ian’s gaze lingered for a moment on Severus’s hands, which hung at his sides and were still tightly clenched, before shifting away as if it were just a casual glance.

"They're just showing off now," Ian said, his tone becoming nonchalant again. He walked to his bedside and rummaged through the drawer of his bedside table.

"Let's see who's laughing when the exam actually comes. By the way, Kevin, are you really not going to write your history of magic paper? Professor Binns won't give you extra points just because you have a problem with Potter."

"Ugh, don't mention this!" Kevin wailed, burying his face in the blankets.

Aris was already sitting at his desk, his book open. Without even looking up, he said, "Judging from their behavior today, Potter and Black probably won't stop now."

"Especially Severus, and you, Ian." Aris finally looked up at him.

"Next time this happens, you'd better think carefully about your strategy and not give the professor any leverage against you."

"The strategy is that next time they talk nonsense, I'll..." Kevin lifted his head from the cushions and made an obscene gesture, but his voice trailed off under Aris's calm gaze, "...I'll tell the professor."

"A wise choice, though not very efficient." Aris nodded and immersed himself back in his book.

Severus never participated in the discussion.

After he finished packing, he picked up "Potions and Magic" and sat on his bed, but Ian noticed that he turned the pages more slowly than usual, and his left hand would unconsciously clench slightly from time to time.

As night deepened, Kevin finally resigned himself to his fate and began to struggle with his thesis on the history of magic. Aris had already fallen asleep, his breathing even.

The light in Severus's bed curtains had long been extinguished.

Ian slipped out of bed quietly, walked to Severus's bedside, and gently placed a small white porcelain box on his bedside table, under his potions textbook, with only a corner showing.

There was nothing written on the lid, but a faint, cool herbal scent wafted out.

The next morning, when Severus woke up, he immediately saw the unfamiliar white porcelain box.

He picked it up, opened it, and inside was a glossy, pale green ointment with a refreshing scent.

He paused, glancing across at the other side.

Ian's bed curtains were still drawn, and from inside came deliberately soft snoring—his acting was truly clumsy.

Severus's lips twitched slightly as he dipped his finger into the ointment and applied it to the marks on his palm that had turned a deep purple.

The cooling sensation seeped in, and the burning stinging sensation was immediately relieved.

He quickly finished applying the paint, carefully stored the porcelain box at the bottom of his wooden chest, and then got up to make the bed as if nothing had happened.

The exaggerated snoring from inside the opposite bed curtains stopped at just the right moment.

Ian rubbed his hair, yawned, and pulled back the curtains, looking like he'd just been "woke up." He mumbled sleepily, "Good morning... what time is it?"

"It's a quarter to seven." Severus fastened the last button of his robe, his voice flat.

"Oh." Ian stretched, got out of bed and started changing his clothes. His gaze swept over the neatly made bed and the closed wooden box that Severus had prepared, but he didn't ask anything, as if the ointment box that had quietly appeared and disappeared that morning had never existed.

Life returned to its characteristic Hogwarts rhythm of tranquility—if one ignored the young wizards' clumsy spells in class, the mountains of homework in the library, and the occasional glances exchanged between the house tables.

As October drew to a close, the castle was filled with the sweet aroma of pumpkins and the smoky scent of roasting. The armor was polished to a gleaming shine, and the corridors were adorned with fluttering bat decorations and skull models that spewed orange mist.

Halloween Eve dinners are always exceptionally lavish.

A thousand bats flapped their wings on the walls and ceiling, while another thousand, like low-lying dark clouds, hovered and danced above the dining table, causing the candle flame inside the pumpkin to flicker.

The golden platter was piled high with roast chicken, roast pork chops, sausages, pea shoots, carrots, meat sauce, ketchup, and—more importantly for many first-year students—an outrageously large amount of dessert.