Familiar hills, familiar streams, familiar classrooms, corridors, dormitories, the Great Hall—and, of course, the long stride of Professor Snape.
"If you lot don't snap out of your holiday stupor, I won't hesitate to toss you all into the Black Lake to clear your heads."
That cold, biting voice. That razor-sharp sarcasm.
It was enough to jolt anyone awake on the spot.
"Mr. Qin, since you look so cheerful today, why don't you demonstrate the grinding of dried stoat scent glands for the class?" Professor Snape drawled, plucking Qin Yu from his seat with deliberate slowness.
Qin Yu's face fell instantly.
Stoat scent glands… Was this man trying to kill him?
"If you do well, I might even consider awarding Gryffindor a point," Professor Snape added in his usual indifferent tone.
Fine, you win!
"It would be my honor, Professor Snape!" Qin Yu replied, forcing a dazzling smile.
He strode to the front, to the demonstration table that doubled as a workbench, took a deep breath, and used tweezers to pick up a shriveled, grayish animal organ, dropping it into the mortar.
This unremarkable little lump was the stoat's scent gland. Qin Yu had seen it in the textbook—he knew it looked harmless and smelled faintly now, but once ground into powder, it was another story entirely.
Bracing himself, Qin Yu gripped the pestle and smashed the gland hard, then pressed down, grinding the fragments with all his might.
As he worked, a stench so thick it seemed to have weight began to seep through the classroom.
"Urgh—"
"Bleeegh—"
"It reeks!"
"I'm dying!"
"Help!"
"My eyes are watering!"
The classroom dissolved into chaos as students gagged and begged for mercy.
Qin Yu, closest to the source, was barely holding it together.
"Remember this smell," Professor Snape intoned, raising his voice above the din with glacial calm.
He had to—no one could hear him otherwise over the chorus of retching.
"We remember, Professor! Please, have mercy!"
"Professor Snape, we've got it, really!"
"This smell is burned into my brain for life!"
"I'll smell it in my nightmares!"
The students chorused their misery.
With a flick of his wand, Professor Snape—the human range hood—banished the stench from the air in an instant.
Then, with a subtle gesture, he confined the odor to a bubble around Qin Yu's waist, so no one else had to suffer.
Such effortless control… Qin Yu was once again awed by Snape's magical prowess. He resolved to learn that spell—imagine cooking in the dormitory without the prefects ever knowing.
Lost in these idle thoughts, Qin Yu finally finished grinding and sifted the powder through a fine mesh.
"Acceptable. Barely," Professor Snape said, inspecting the result with a curt nod.
"So…?" Qin Yu blinked rapidly, hinting.
"Gryffindor, one point," Professor Snape replied with his trademark drawl.
The Gryffindors erupted in cheers, and even the Slytherins in the room had to admit—Qin had risked his life for that point. They couldn't argue.
"Stoat scent gland powder is foul beyond belief, but it's extremely useful. Potions made with it can repel insects and beasts, giving you a certain measure of safety in the wild. Now, I'll demonstrate the brewing process…"
Professor Snape launched into the main lesson.
By the end of class, most of the first-years had lost their appetite for lunch. The stoat scent gland's devastation far surpassed even Professor Swinton's gory magical illustrations.
Professor Snape's infamy quickly eclipsed Swinton's own.
…
"Honestly, I teach with such dedication—why do I have such a bad reputation?" Professor Swinton complained, sounding genuinely aggrieved.
At the moment, he, Qin Yu, and Professor Snape were gathered in the Defense Against the Dark Arts office—their first meeting since the end of last year.
The reason? Professor Swinton had been caught up in other business and hadn't found time until now.
"Oh, come on, where do you get your self-confidence?" Qin Yu retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Qin, you're my favorite student! How could you say that? I'm truly wounded!" Professor Swinton clutched his chest theatrically.
"Enough, Stephen. Let's get to the point—why did you call us here today?" Professor Snape finally cut in, unable to stand the dramatics.
At that, Professor Swinton dropped the act and grew serious.
He produced a small vial, half-filled with a liquid so dark red it was nearly black.
"And what, exactly, is that?" Snape asked, his brow furrowing.
Qin Yu's expression turned grave.
He recognized it instantly—it was the very same vial he'd intercepted from a suspicious figure in Diagon Alley over the holidays.
"So, you remember this, Qin?" Professor Swinton asked, glancing at him.
"Yeah, I remember. But why did Professor Dumbledore give it to you?" Qin Yu asked, puzzled.
"Because this is rather in my area of expertise," Professor Swinton shrugged.
"Your specialty?" Qin Yu tried to recall any special talents Swinton might have.
"Alchemy," Professor Swinton supplied, not bothering to make him guess.
"This thing's related to alchemy?" Qin Yu pressed, curiosity piqued.
"Precisely."
"Would one of you mind explaining what's going on?" Professor Snape interrupted, looking between them.
"Let Qin tell it," Professor Swinton said, gesturing.
So Qin Yu recounted his encounter in Diagon Alley.
When he finished, Professor Snape nodded. "You handled it with reasonable decisiveness."
"Professor Dumbledore is investigating the broader matter himself, but he asked me to analyze this liquid's composition and effects. I've made some progress, so I wanted to update you both," Professor Swinton explained.
"So, what is it?" Qin Yu asked.
"A product of life alchemy. My guess is it originated from North American shamanic dark alchemy. As for its effects…" Professor Swinton trailed off, uncovering a small cage draped in a black cloth.
Inside was a white mouse with vacant eyes, covered in wounds—some of them clearly fatal.
"An immortal body?" Professor Snape said, voice tinged with disgust.
"That's right. An undying body," Professor Swinton nodded.
"What does that mean, exactly?" Qin Yu asked, frowning.
"It means the body can die or be injured, but it keeps moving," Professor Swinton explained.
Looking at the mouse, Qin Yu understood immediately. Wasn't this just a zombie?
"So this black liquid can turn animals—or people—into undying bodies?" Qin Yu asked, a little shaken.
"Yes… though I suspect that's not its only effect," Professor Swinton replied cautiously.
His words cast a heavy silence over the room.
After a long pause, he flicked his wand at the mouse. A jet of white light struck it; black smoke billowed out, and within seconds, the mouse was reduced to ash.
"It was already dead," Professor Swinton said quietly.
He continued, "Things are getting complicated. Professor Dumbledore thinks we need to keep training Qin, so he has more ways to cope—since trouble seems to follow him everywhere."
It's not like I ask for trouble, Qin Yu thought privately.
"I was just thinking the same," Professor Snape agreed.
"Well, thank you both—and Professor Dumbledore—for your concern," Qin Yu said, rolling his eyes.
So what he'd hoped would be the end of extra tutoring instead became even more intense.
Professor Snape even pushed Qin Yu to the brink of using his Obscurus Power, relentlessly testing his limits—though, to be fair, most of the time the training stopped short of being truly dangerous.
…
Classes, extra lessons, Quidditch practice, and the occasional trip to Hagrid's hut—Qin Yu's life at Hogwarts quickly settled back into its familiar rhythm, only busier than ever.
No matter how hectic things got, he kept his promise to a certain girl: at least two letters a week.
And the letters he received from Hermione had changed as well. Now, she wrote things like "I miss you so much," instead of the old "I only think of you sometimes," or just, "I miss Trigger."
Just ten days of holiday, and she'd changed so much.
Feeling the warmth in her new style of letters, Qin Yu found the days at Hogwarts flying by.
Winter slowly loosened its grip; snow melted, and spring returned to the castle.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
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