Though they called it preparation, what the two actually needed to do was simply await the full moon's arrival.
Glenn and Hermione each took a mandrake leaf and placed it in their mouths, completing this step.
However, having a foreign object in one's mouth that needed to remain within the oral cavity meant any actions requiring the mouth would be restricted—eating, drinking, brushing teeth, and similar behaviors.
These were manageable enough; both could exercise caution without problems.
But the most unbearable aspect was being unable to speak normally. Glenn was fine since he rarely communicated with others anyway, but Hermione suffered tremendously.
To maintain secrecy regarding her illegal Animagus learning, she couldn't let others notice anything peculiar about her speech. After all, for her classmates—third-year Hogwarts students—Transfiguration class had just covered Animagus content. This was a sensitive period, and if young wizards noticed anomalies, the probability of connecting it to Animagus was extremely high, easily causing unplanned complications.
So during this period, Hermione used the excuse of having a sore throat to avoid conversations with others.
But avoiding conversation and being unable to speak brought Hermione agonizing consequences.
Why, you ask?
Because the girl couldn't answer questions requiring oral responses in class.
Watching classmates whose thinking and hand-raising speed had never matched hers—especially young wizards from houses other than Gryffindor—frantically answer professors' questions while she couldn't speak, Hermione's heart was shattering.
Even Professor Flitwick, who was usually gentle and kind with the girl, and Professor Sprout—as heads of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively—upon learning that Hermione's throat was uncomfortable and she couldn't speak, seized this opportunity to dramatically increase their questioning frequency. The proportion of theoretical questions in class far exceeded previous levels, and the reason was obvious.
Faced with Hermione's silent, resentful gaze, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout could only smile sheepishly and avert their eyes, pretending not to notice.
Hermione's classroom dominance had been witnessed by everyone over these three years. As heads of other houses, they naturally had to seize this opportunity while Hermione was banned to elevate their own houses' scores.
This way, perhaps their houses might have a chance at claiming first place in the House Cup.
Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout were still relatively merciful—at least they left some practical questions for Hermione to barely earn points. But the Slytherin Head of House, Severus Snape, as the Potions professor, had during this period transformed what should be the most hands-on Potions class into theoretical Potions lectures.
In one Potions class, Snape used eighty percent of the time explaining theoretical knowledge and conducting extensive questioning, leaving only twenty percent for students to complete assigned classroom tasks. During that time, he asked no questions, simply sitting behind the platform desk, head lowered in contemplation.
He blatantly ignored Hermione's furious glare, even responding with a provocative smile.
The girl was absolutely livid, while the little Slytherin snakes were euphoric.
Their point-earning velocity was incredible—like riding a rocket.
Even though Gryffindor lions were competing to answer, the lions who raised hands in class were a minority species in Gryffindor. The snakes were different—they had numbers.
Their little hands shot up with whooshing sounds, directly obscuring the few lions' raised hands from view.
Draco's mouth was practically twisted with glee. He even got carried away, spending after-class time making sarcastic remarks to Hermione, who couldn't speak or retort.
Then the furious Hermione beat him up.
The beating didn't achieve much effect—he still looked insufferably smug. If Glenn hadn't carried Hermione away to study in the library, Draco might have met his demise that day.
However, if we're discussing who became an innocent victim in this incident caused by Hermione, that would undoubtedly be Harry.
After Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin had clarified matters and he learned the truth about that year, the relationship between him and Sirius transformed from blood feud to familial affection between godfather and godson. Harry's mood had also improved.
It should have been significant improvement, because Harry had never encountered anyone who treated him as wonderfully as Sirius did.
But this positive mood lasted barely two or three days before being destroyed in Potions class.
As everyone knew, Harry was targeted by Snape in every Potions class and called upon to answer questions.
Answer correctly—no reward.
Answer incorrectly—reward Harry by making him Snape's potion test subject.
To protect his precious masculinity, Harry worked diligently, addressing knowledge gaps. He made considerable progress in Potions, his weakest subject, occasionally even answering Snape's difficult questions correctly and avoiding the fate of becoming a girl.
But during this period, Snape's questioning frequency increased dramatically. As collateral damage, the number of times Harry was forcibly called upon each class greatly multiplied.
Assuming Harry had a thirty percent chance of successfully answering Snape's question correctly and avoiding punishment in one class, multiple question-answering sessions made his hope of avoiding punishment even more remote.
So remote that in one week, Harry only experienced one or two precious days living as a boy.
This caused Harry, who had originally been uplifted by having a caring elder, to become completely dejected. Sirius was naturally extremely dissatisfied with Snape's behavior. Combined with learning from somewhere—perhaps Dumbledore's "casual mention"—that the person who had brought him back covered in injuries was Snape, plus their original enmity, Sirius was also furious.
Unfortunately, until the Ministry of Magic came to try Peter Pettigrew, he remained a fugitive who couldn't show his face. He could only stay obediently in Dumbledore's office, lest he venture out and be "accidentally" encountered by Snape, who might righteously eliminate a public menace with a well-placed Stupefy before witnesses. That would prove troublesome indeed.
Currently still injured and not at full strength, he couldn't gain any advantage against that Sniveling git.
Sirius could only comfort his nearly explosive rage with such thoughts while painfully consuming Snape's "loving potions."
Gryffindor House: Hermione banned from participation.
Godfather and godson: angry, suffering unbearably.
Slytherin House: little snakes rapidly accumulating massive points.
Snake House Head Professor Snape: destined to become the ultimate winner.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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