A misnomer in name, never in epithet. Snape truly transformed into a great bat, prowling about the classroom, and no one knew which student he would appear behind next.
"Bones, is there something wrong with your eyes? Can you not see the words 'basilisk fang' clearly? What are you doing with a boar's tusk?"
"Laughing, Carter, what are you laughing at? Don't you understand what 'ground into powder' means? Are your powder granules the size of peas?"
Hannah, who was paired with Wayne, shuddered and silently reprocessed her basilisk fang powder.
"Miss Brown, might I suggest sending a letter home to fetch the brain you left there before continuing with this lesson?"
"I wrote it clearly—add flobberworm mucus. You put the entire worm in. Do you think you're cooking?"
"Tch, what's the difference?" Wayne muttered under his breath. Weren't they essentially processing ingredients right now?
Add the ingredients to the cauldron in order, from high heat to low heat, then back to high heat to reduce the liquid.
A freshly brewed pot of green slime, and voilà!
"Hannah, what are you doing? Don't add that!"
Wayne quickly stopped Hannah from tossing something into the cauldron. "What is this?"
"Porcupine quills," the pigtailed witch replied, her eyes brimming with innocence yet untainted by knowledge.
Wayne's face darkened. "Porcupine quills are the final step—they're added just before the potion's completion. It's way too early now.
"Also, wasn't it agreed they'd be cut into three-centimetre pieces? Are these even three millimetres?" The blackish-brown quills on the brass tray could practically be called powder. Wayne was starting to understand why Snape had such a foul temper.
Dealing with students like this every day, it'd be a miracle to stay in a good mood.
"Huh?" Hannah's mouth fell open as she hurriedly glanced at the blackboard, only to confirm it did indeed say three centimetres. Her entire being seemed to drain of colour.
"What do I do, Wayne? I only brought this one batch of ingredients."
Remembering Snape's earlier warning—waste materials and you'll eat them yourself—Hannah turned teary eyes to Wayne.
"Save me, Wayne! I don't want to be poisoned!"
Wayne sighed. "Keep brewing. Keep an eye on the professor for me—let me know when he's further away."
He didn't dare let Hannah handle anything else, gathering all the materials to his side to process himself.
Snape continued spewing venom, though everything he said was technically correct.
When he moved to the other side of the classroom, Hannah quickly alerted Wayne. After a glance confirmed Snape had his back turned, Wayne immediately drew his wand.
"Accio porcupine quills!"
Several quills flew from the cupboard, soaring over the heads of the young witches and wizards before landing neatly in front of Wayne.
Everyone was too engrossed in their potions to notice.
Snape seemed to sense something, whipping around sharply, but finding nothing amiss, he turned back to berate Toby and Norman.
"Your abilities pose no threat to me academically, but they could ruin my reputation in education. Two points from Hufflepuff!"
"That was brilliant!" Hannah's panic vanished, her eyes sparkling. "That was the Summoning Charm! We're not supposed to learn that until fifth year."
"You could master it too with enough practice."
"I don't have time for that," Hannah said, shaking her head so vigorously her pigtails swayed. "I've got to sneak into the kitchens to learn cooking from the house-elves. They know so much!"
Hannah had mentioned her dream was to take over her family's Leaky Cauldron and overhaul its century-old menu.
So whenever she had free time, she'd sneak into the kitchens to learn each house-elf's signature dishes. Truly, Hufflepuff bred no idlers.
Among the young witches and wizards, while some focused on studies, others pursued all sorts of passions.
By the end of the lesson, aside from Wayne and Hannah's group—the only one Snape deemed satisfactory—only Lisa Turpin and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw received a passable evaluation for their work.
Padma Patil was a high-caste Brahmin witch of Indian descent, with a twin sister, Parvati, in Gryffindor. It was quite rare for twin sisters like these to be sorted into different houses.
...
"Finally, it's over."
Exiting the Potions classroom, Wayne stretched comfortably.
With a week's worth of classes completed, the next two days were holiday time.
Oh, right—there were also those essays totalling several dozen inches, spanning various subjects.
At the thought, Wayne frowned and headed towards the Great Hall.
Writing these things wasn't particularly taxing on the brain, but the time wasted was no small matter.
He'd much rather take a stroll by the Black Lake and familiarise himself further with Hogwarts' layout—far more meaningful than slogging through these trivial assignments.
"Wayne, I was just about to look for you."
As he entered the Great Hall, Cedric suddenly appeared, clapping Wayne on the shoulder.
"What's up?"
"Not me—the twins are looking for you." Cedric tightened his grip on the books in his arms. Wayne glanced at them—they were textbooks for Care of Magical Creatures.
As the two walked towards the long table, Wayne asked, "What mischief have they dreamed up now?"
"No idea. They said they'd come find you in the Common Room after dinner—didn't say anything else."
Wayne nodded. "Right, got it."
By seven o'clock, a classmate found Wayne, who was playing Wizard's Chess with Cedric, and informed him that the twins were waiting outside.
"I'll come with you—just in case they're planning another prank," Cedric said, pushing a piece on the board with an air of camaraderie.
Had it not been for the fact that he was down to just two pawns and a queen on the board, Wayne might have believed him.
Outside the Common Room, they were met with two highly amused faces. Fred—or possibly George—chuckled and teased, "Oi, Wayne, since when do you travel with a bodyguard?"
"He followed on his own—wasn't my idea," Wayne shrugged. "What do you want?"
Since the twins had been duped by him twice last time, they'd been swamped all week, barely managing to finish copying out the famous alumni passages. Yet here they were, eagerly offering themselves up again.
Wayne was genuinely curious—what scheme were they hatching now?
"We're here to invite you," George said. "But since Cedric's here too, might as well include him."
"How about a little tour of the school tomorrow?"
"Way to make me sound like free parchment bundled with a quill purchase—so cheap," Cedric said disdainfully. "Besides, what's there to tour? We've seen it all."
Fred raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you even a little curious about the fourth-floor corridor?"