HP: Those Years Sleeping with the Half-Blood Prince

Harry stepped forward, put on the hat, and as soon as it touched his hair, he shrieked, "Gryffindor!"

A thunderous cheer erupted from the Gryffindor long table, and the Weasley twins jumped up and shouted, "We have Potter!" Harry, blushing, ran to the long table and was enthusiastically pulled to sit down.

Draco Malfoy, the pale-faced boy with meticulously combed light blond hair, was sorted into Slytherin.

He sat at the Slytherin table, but his gaze followed Harry's direction, a complex look flashing in his grey-blue eyes.

The branch school continued, and Ian watched it half-heartedly, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.

The letter Regulus sent last month was vague, only mentioning that "the shadow of Albania has not completely dissipated," which now seems almost like an explicit statement.

Mr. Bokin's message last week indicated that there were indeed several trinkets with an "unclean aura" being traded secretly in Knockturn Alley recently, with an unclear origin but characteristics pointing to Eastern Europe.

"...Hufflepuff!"

The last freshman ran towards the long table.

Dumbledore stood up, smiled broadly, said a few words of welcome, and then announced that dinner was served. The long table was instantly piled high with food, and laughter and cheers nearly lifted the roof off.

Ian slowly sliced ​​the roast beef on his plate, his gaze fixed on the Gryffindor table.

Harry was sandwiched between the Weasley twins, who were excitedly talking to him and occasionally pointing towards the faculty section.

After a while, as the dinner was drawing to a close, dessert was served. Ian picked up a glass of pumpkin juice, whispered to Severus, "I'm going to take a walk," and got up. He walked along the back of the faculty seating area, seemingly casually toward the side door of the Great Hall, but actually took a detour, passing behind the Gryffindor table.

As he passed by, George Weasley happened to look up, saw him, his eyes lit up, and he nudged Fred next to him with his elbow.

"Look, Fred, it's Professor Snape's 'shadow'." George deliberately lowered his voice, but it was loud enough for Harry and a few others nearby to hear.

Fred turned and saw Ian, grinned, and said in the same "whispering" volume, "Mr. Ian Burke, our herbalism tutor—and the cellar keeper's 'special assistant'."

Ian stopped and gave the twins a helpless smile.

"Good evening, gentlemen of Weasley. I hope you're not planning to fertilize my Devil's Web in the greenhouse again this year—Professor Sputrough almost blacklisted me last time."

"That was an accident!" George said innocently. "We just wanted to test the effect of the growth accelerator under non-standard light."

"The results proved to be excellent." Fred nodded seriously. "So this year we decided to change our research focus, such as portable swamps—"

"Stop." Ian raised his hand in a gesture of cessation, looked at Harry, and said in a familiar tone, "Harry, do you like the school food? Your mother is worried that you won't like Yorkshire pudding."

Harry looked up, his green eyes lit up when he saw Ian, and a genuine smile spread across his face: "Uncle Ian! It's delicious, much better than Mom's—oh, I mean, there's a lot of variety."

He added somewhat embarrassedly.

"Don't let Lily hear you say that." Ian smiled, casually reaching out to ruffle Harry's hair before glancing at the almost untouched vegetables on his plate.

"However, if Severus finds out you didn't even touch the carrots, he might secretly add vegetable extract to your pumpkin juice next time you visit us."

Harry made a face, but still obediently forked a piece of carrot and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling, "Don't tell Uncle Severus, oh, Professor Snape."

This conversation elicited "What did I just hear?" expressions from Ron and the twins standing nearby.

"Wait a minute," Fred looked at Harry, then at Ian, his expression exaggerated, "Harry, you know Professor Snape? You call him 'uncle'? You even visited his house?"

George clutched his chest, feigning shock: "Merlin's Beard! You actually made it out of his house alive? And you drank his pumpkin juice? Was it really just pumpkin juice in there?"

Harry swallowed the carrot, wiped his mouth, and said seriously, "Uncle Severus is a good friend of my mother's, though a bit...serious, but he and Uncle Ian are very kind to me. Their pumpkin juice is just regular pumpkin juice, but Uncle Ian sometimes adds some weird stuff."

He wrinkled his nose, clearly recalling some strange taste.

"Serious?" Fred lowered his voice, leaned forward, and spoke to Harry in a tone as if sharing a shocking secret. "Listen, Harry, as people who've been there, we have to give you some Gryffindor advice. Professor Snape, the Head of Slytherin—is the most terrifying professor at Hogwarts, bar none."

George nodded in agreement, his expression serious: "For his classes, arriving ten minutes early is basic courtesy. The consequences of any mishap will be either solitary confinement or having to deal with a bucket of slimy toad entrails or something even worse."

"He has the ability to tell at a glance whether your brain is full of nonsense, and he doesn't hold back when it comes to deducting points."

Ian laughed and patted Harry on the shoulder: "They're not entirely wrong. Severus is indeed strict in her teaching, and she's the same with everyone. Enjoy the dinner. Tomorrow's first class is Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration. She's very strict, so don't be late."

"Thank you, Uncle Ian—I mean, Mr. Burke."

As Ian walked back to the faculty section, he noticed Quirrell hurriedly leaving his seat, almost running out of the auditorium, his purple headscarf fluttering behind him.

Severus's gaze followed Quirrell's retreating figure until he disappeared behind the stone gate, then he slowly turned back to meet Ian's eyes.

The two exchanged a brief glance—Quirok barely ate anything, and ate entirely with his left hand, keeping his right hand hidden under the table the whole time.

The dinner reached its climax when dessert was served.

Ian returned to his seat, where Severus was mechanically poking at an apple pie with his fork, not eating it.

"Had a good chat with Potter?" Severus's voice was low, only Ian could hear it.

"He's adapting well," Ian said in a low voice. "The Weasley twins are giving him a rundown of your 'glorious achievements'."

Severus gave a soft snort, and the fork finally pierced the pie crust. "A Gryffindor tradition."

"Kirlo barely touched the food," Ian said, picking up the pumpkin juice and naturally changing the subject.

"The garlic smell was overwhelming," Severus said, frowning slightly. "But he's never used garlic before; it seems his 'academic trip' to Albania also included changing his personal hygiene habits."

"Maybe it's to drive away vampires?" Ian said jokingly, but his eyes were serious.

"A vampire won't give up a good meal just because of the smell of garlic." Severus put down his fork and tapped his fingertips unconsciously on the tablecloth. "His right hand was never shown. He was clumsy with the fork in his left hand, spilling soup twice."

"Are you injured?"