The days at Hogwarts

"Kill him..." Dumbledore whispered, "and your soul will be shattered into pieces."

Snape's eyes changed, and his anger subsided for a moment.

"Sirius... I think he was deeply affected by the Dementors. The long time in prison affected his emotional development and made him prone to rash actions, which also stemmed from his passionate and impulsive nature..."

After hearing Dumbledore's long string of words, the memories in the deepest part of Snape's mind could no longer be suppressed, and surfaced layer by layer.

Like a corpse submerged in the deep sea gradually floating up, there was a rumbling, vague sound of water in my ears, and at a certain moment it surfaced and the sound suddenly became clear.

"It's true, isn't it? You're not kidding? Petunia said you were lying to me. Petunia said there's no such thing as Hogwarts. Is that true?"

"Was the letter really delivered by owl?"

"Severus, tell me more about the Dementors."

This was Lily at the beginning, before she came into contact with Hogwarts.

"We're best friends, Sev, but I don't like the guys you hang out with. What do you see as good in him, Sev?"

"That's dark magic, if you think that's fun..."

These were the happiest years since they entered Hogwarts.

"Let him go!"

"But you are nothing but an arrogant, predatory bastard, Potter. Let him go."

This was Lily, who protected him, and the only reason he kept the painful and humiliating memory.

Until he yelled at her in anger that unforgivable word: "Mudblood."

"I won't worry about this anymore...Snotlout."

"No need to apologize, I'm not interested, don't waste your breath."

"You didn't mean to call me a mudblood? But you call people of my origin mudbloods, Severus. How am I any different?"

……

Snape drank the sickly sweet hot cocoa in one gulp. Its temperature dropped, and the liquid in the cup became more viscous, so sweet that it made Snape's throat itchy.

"I have no intention of exonerating him. If you wish, you can talk to Sirius. Of course, you can also teach him a lesson in the next duel."

"It's your choice, Severus."

"Also, if Harry asks you to learn Occlumency, I would like you to help him," Dumbledore said finally.

Chapter 242: The Storm After the Duel

The weather is getting warmer in March.

"Two days left to the Easter holiday..."

Loren, holding the Potions textbook, pushed and shoved Hermione into the underground classroom.

Today is Thursday, and the duel class took place last night. When this Friday is over, the Easter holiday will officially arrive. Although the little wizards are not allowed to leave school during the Easter holiday, the days without classes are always worth looking forward to.

Professor Black is still lying in the school hospital receiving treatment. Although he was not dissected by the Sharp Edge Curse, he was hit by multiple Repulsive Curses and Powerful Repulsive Curses, and finally crashed into the solid wall of the auditorium. I heard that many of his bones were almost shattered into pieces.

For a wizard, the injury was not fatal, but it was a bit troublesome to deal with because he was injured in his Animagus form, and after he turned back to human form, the broken bones got stuck in all kinds of tricky places.

Fortunately, Snape won the duel unscathed, otherwise the Potions Professor would be lying in the school hospital now and this class would not be able to be taught.

This section is a practical class, and they need to work in groups to complete the preparation of the swelling potion.

Add 2 spoons of dried nettle and 3 portions of puffer fish eyes into a mortar and grind into medium-fine powder.

The mixture powder was added to the crucible and heated at medium temperature for 20 seconds.

Wave your wand to activate the magic in the herbs, add dew collected last autumn and boil for 60 minutes (depending on the type of cauldron).

Add 1 portion of bat spleen and stir counterclockwise 4 times.

After heating at low temperature for 30 seconds, wave the wand to gather the magic power and the potion is ready.

The process was a bit tedious, but not difficult. The young wizards gathered in groups of three or four around the crucible and chatted, of course, about last night's dueling class.

"Professor Snape's spellcasting speed is so fast!"

"That's it."

"Even compared to Professor Flitwick of Charms, he's not bad."

It's not just the little wizards from Slytherin who think so. After watching the battle last night, many little lions from Gryffindor also acknowledged Professor Snape's strength.

Loren, Simo, Dean and others talked about the wonderful moments of last night, discussing topics such as controlling the rhythm of battle and dealing with spells.

Loren did most of the talking, with Seamus and Dean nodding.

"Although Professor Snape looks malnourished and weak, I didn't expect him to be so agile in combat."

"The last burst of spells is kind of cool..."

"My impression of him has changed a bit."

Listening to these remarks, Harry felt a little dissatisfied for Sirius and could not help but retort: ​​"Sirius was just careless for a moment, he almost pounced on the old bat!"

"Tsk!" Draco sneered. "Come on, don't forget what Professor Flitwick said after the duel. It was just a reckless struggle. If Professor Snape had replaced the Repulsive Spell with other powerful spells, Professor Black Dog would not be lying on the hospital bed now, but in the coffin."

This time Draco didn't say this just to fit in with the group. He really couldn't stand Sirius and Harry belittling his own head of house.

In the next few minutes, Harry turned into a big mouth master, and exchanged insults with several Slytherins. Ron and Seamus tried to help, but the fact that Snape won the duel was there, and it was difficult to deal damage against the wind, and they were soon scolded back.

Only Harry persisted, and in order to protect Sirius, he had almost lost his mind.

Ron tried to persuade Harry, but Harry didn't hear him at all, as he was too absorbed in the debate with the other party.

Hermione stepped forward and tugged at Harry's sleeve, but he paid no attention at all, his eyes only focused on refuting her.

Seeing Loren happily watching the fun from the side, Hermione poked his arm and said, "Shouldn't we stop him?"

Loren smiled and spread his hands: "Why stop us? As long as we don't fight, it's okay to curse at each other."

"..."

Hermione felt that there must be something wrong with her thinking. She actually thought that what this person said made some sense.

One side calls someone an old bat, the other side calls someone a stinky black dog. The students of Hogwarts curse like street thugs, using foul language.

Harry gradually lost the upper hand and found that he could not win the argument. He immediately said harshly: "What's the point of talking here? In the next duel class, I will fight you alone, Malfoy! Do you dare?"

In fact, according to Lucius's advice to Draco, he should refuse such a conspicuous thing, but the atmosphere has come to this point, and Draco himself also wants to fight with him.

"Then let's make an appointment for the next duel class!"

Draco raised his chin high, "I hope you won't be like your black dog godfather, who refuses to admit defeat!"

Harry felt his blood boiling again, and cursed at the word "old bat" out of his mouth.

The dungeon classroom fell silent only when Snape's hard-soled leather shoes stomped on his feet. Snape walked in from the door with a blank expression on his face.

The little wizards of Gryffindor lowered their heads, not daring to look into Snape's eyes. They could hear footsteps, which meant that Snape could hear the scolding in the classroom, not to mention that the scolding was much louder than the footsteps.

Loren was an exception. He looked at Snape seriously. In addition to confirming that he was not injured, he was also observing his mental state.

He knew a little about the feud between Snape and Sirius. On the stage last night, the professor was only one hand away from casting the Sharp Spell, but he didn't expect that he would finally restrain the murderous intent in his heart.

His hair was still as oily as before, and his walking steps and movements were normal, without any limp.

It means there was indeed no injury.

Expressionless face and cold eyes.

The professor looked the same as usual, even with lighter dark circles than usual. It seemed that teaching Sirius a lesson helped him sleep better.

Hermione next to her lowered her head, moved her white and tender fingers, and silently calculated Gryffindor's house cup score in her heart.

Slytherin was originally 50 points ahead of them, but they earned 300 points through the basilisk incident, and the difference was 250. During this time, Professor Snape reduced the difference to 200 through unfair means.

If Slytherin wins the Quidditch championship, Professor Snape will keep the average of the previous deductions and add Harry's deduction.

"..."

Hermione's brows gradually frowned and she sighed imperceptibly.

Now all we can hope for is that Slytherin loses at Quidditch.

In contrast, the Slytherin little wizards were all happy, looking at Snape expectantly.

"Harry Potter," Snape pronounced his name in a strange tone, "Let's take stock. Trolls, Quirrell, basilisks... You think you have accomplished something extraordinary, don't you?"

"I didn't, sir," said Harry.

Snape curled his lips in disdain: "You think you deserve the so-called fame, don't you?"

"I said, I didn't, sir," Harry emphasized.

"Last class, I told you the complete process of brewing the swelling potion." Snape asked indifferently, "Potter! Tell me, what materials are needed to brew the swelling potion?"

There was a commotion among the group of young wizards. They seemed to have seen this scene before. It was vaguely the same scene in the first Potions class in the first grade.

"Bat spleen, puffer fish eye—"

Harry began to hesitate, his mind racing. What was the remaining ingredient?

Hermione and Ron whispered reminders beside him, but due to Snape's authority, their voices were too soft for Harry to hear clearly.

Snape sneered and continued, "What was the purpose of waving the wand twice during the brewing process?"

This was totally unrememberable, so Harry simply confessed, "I don't know, sir."

Points would definitely be deducted, and he would definitely be scolded, so Harry simply gave up struggling and stared at Snape shamelessly.

You can ask whatever you want, the sooner it ends, the sooner you will be free.

Snape suddenly fell silent, looked at him deeply, and said lightly: "Potter, insulted the teacher, Gryffindor will be deducted 50 points for this."

He suddenly turned to look at Draco: "Malfoy, tell him the answer to the question just now."

Draco raised his eyebrows and smiled smugly, "The ingredients needed for the swelling potion include: dried nettles, puffer fish eyes, and bat spleen. Waving the wand twice is to stimulate and calm the magic."

"Excellent answer, 5 points to Slytherin for this."

Hermione looked miserable, her brows furrowed tightly together.

Gryffindor -50, Slytherin +5, the gap was narrowed by another 55 points.

For the next lesson, Hermione stared at Harry, wary of him being caught doing something wrong again.

"Don't look at it." Loren stretched out his hand and straightened Hermione's head. "Quickly grind these dried nettles into fine powder."

Her face was so white and tender that Loren couldn't help pinching it. It was very elastic.

"oh oh."

Hermione came back to her senses and put the dried nettles into the mortar. The little witch realized that this was different from the process written in the book, and she asked in confusion:

"Doesn't the book say to grind dried nettles and puffer fish eyes together? And it should be a medium-fine powder, not a fine powder."

Loren was using another mortar to grind the puffer fish: "Grind the dried nettles into fine powder, and grind the puffer fish eyes into medium-fine powder. This will allow the puffer fish eyes to better absorb the dried nettles, and the resulting potion will be more effective."

"Why not grind it all into a fine powder?"

"When dew is added, the fine powder of the puffer fish's eyes will float up."

"Oh!"

Hermione nodded as if she understood, not noticing the fingerprints on her face.

The fruit wood charcoal used to burn the crucible is black and very fine, and fingerprints are clearly visible on it.

Meanwhile, Harry's swelling potion was too diluted.

Fifty points was a lot of points, but insulting the professor deserved such a heavy deduction. Harry felt uncomfortable and guilty.

Harry prayed that he would not be deducted any more points for the numerous times Snape stopped to laugh at the watery nature of his meal.

When Snape turned around and started picking on Neville, Harry actually felt relieved.

Now I feel even more guilty.

After class, while everyone was watching Hermione draw a pufferfish on Loren's face with charcoal, Harry quietly slipped away.

After climbing up to the second floor in one breath and pushing open the door of the infirmary, Harry met Sirius after being reminded of some precautions by Madam Pomfrey.

His chest was wrapped in bandages and he had a white collar around his neck. He was straining his neck to sip water from the cup with difficulty.