While Draco was busy setting up the cauldron, Harry finally arrived.
"How is your godfather?" he asked Harry, fiddling with the beakers, droppers, and silver knives.
"He is not feeling well," Harry said worriedly.
"He will be all right. You have to have some faith in Madam Pomfrey's methods," Draco reassured him.
They did not talk for long, because Professor Snape strode into the classroom, his face dark with anger, and demanded that each of them brew a Shrinking Solution during the lesson.
While Draco was weighing the wormwood and hemlock essence, Professor Snape was again troubling Longbottom. "Longbottom, tell me, boy, what can penetrate that blockhead of yours..."
Look! What did I say? No matter whether Hermione goes to Longbottom's side or helps him weigh those potion ingredients, this potion disaster will be targeted by Professor Snape because of his own foolish actions! Draco thought absentmindedly as he peeled a fig.
"Please, sir... I can help Neville fix it..." Hermione said crisply.
"I do not recall inviting you out to show off, Miss Granger," Professor Snape said coldly.
Even though they were several tables apart, Draco could still see how red the little girl's face had become. Professor Snape had never made things difficult for her while she was brewing potions beside him!
However, she had suddenly had a change of heart and become determined to be near Longbottom! Aside from the problem of inefficiency, she would also be dragged down and bullied because of this idiot.
Draco shook his head, unable to resist glancing at her again.
At this moment, Professor Snape walked away, busy making things difficult for the other Gryffindor students.
The word "give up" was clearly not in Hermione Granger's dictionary.
She was still like a living Bodhisattva, generously helping Neville Longbottom prepare the potion, with the back of her beautiful brown head facing him.
Wake up, Hermione Granger!
Open your eyes and see who is the best study partner? During the summer holidays, she sincerely said that he was "a very precious study partner, and it would be hard to find another one like him in the world"; but after only a week of school, she found someone else without any regrets.
Does this little girl still have a word of truth in her mouth?
Draco skilfully sliced the daisy root into even pieces, muttering to himself as he listened intently to what was happening on her side.
When it was time to slice the dead caterpillar, he heard Finnigan's voice... that Gryffindor cauldron-exploding fellow: "This morning's Daily Prophet... someone saw Peter Pettigrew... a Muggle made a report, in a village to the north..."
"The town is not far from here, is it?" exclaimed a Gryffindor girl.
Here we go again.
It is always the same kind of dubious rumour. A shadow crossed Draco's face.
"If he wants to come, let him come." Harry said through gritted teeth as he chopped the poor daisy root, cutting it into a crooked mess. "If possible, I would rather duel him myself."
Draco was about to say something to persuade him when he caught a glimpse of Professor Snape's stern face.
He quickly turned around, focused on his own work, and obediently began adding ingredients to the cauldron containing the bubbling mugwort juice:
A peeled fig as the base... sprinkle in evenly chopped daisy roots... toss in thinly sliced dead caterpillars...
Meanwhile, Professor Snape clearly had no intention of letting Harry off the hook. He stood before their table, his eyes lowered, looking down at Harry from beneath his hooked nose, an unpleasant smile playing on his lips beneath his long, greasy black hair.
"What I just heard... a young, brave, hot-blooded fool... eager to die... what a moving spectacle," he drawled, his tone laced with mockery.
Harry was startled. He immediately lowered his head and focused on cutting his daisy roots, saying nothing more.
Pick out the best-looking rat spleen and slide it into the pot along the edge... then stir counter-clockwise with a stirring rod...
"Lift your head, Potter, look up at me!" Professor Snape snapped. "Has no one taught you basic manners? Making eye contact when speaking to someone is the least you can do to show respect."
Harry reluctantly looked up and found Professor Snape staring intently into his eyes.
Snape glared at Harry for a moment, then said threateningly to those emerald green eyes, "You had better behave yourself. Otherwise, before you even have a chance to duel anyone, the Hogwarts Express will be sending you home."
Add a tiny drop of leech juice... observe the colour change of the solution drop by drop... until it turns a bright, dazzling acidic green...
Draco turned the flame down low. While tidying up the unused potion ingredients, he glanced at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry was currently glaring at Professor Snape, practically ready to jump up.
But in the end, he composed himself, lowered his eyes, and said, "Yes, sir."
"Very well, Potter," Professor Snape hissed like a viper. "I shall keep an eye on you. Do not let me catch you. Oh, Draco, the potion is brewing well."
The Potions master glanced at Draco, seemingly quite satisfied, then turned around smugly, preparing to check on Longbottom's workbench.
He took long strides, walking with a gust of wind, his black robes fluttering beside Draco, allowing Draco to catch a faint scent of potion.
The smell was very familiar. He had smelled it in Slughorn's cauldron before... the smell of Wolfsbane. It seemed that Professor Snape was helping Lupin, even though he had shown unprecedented disgust towards Lupin at the opening dinner.
Aside from Professor Snape, a highly skilled Potions master, there was probably no one else in the entire Hogwarts who could brew Wolfsbane Potion... if you did not count him and Hermione, who were only half-baked at it... Draco pondered.
Meanwhile, a few tables away, as expected, Hermione was furious when Professor Snape deducted five points for helping Longbottom successfully brew the Shrinking Solution... turning his toad Trevor into a tadpole... and her face turned bright red with anger.
"I told her long ago that helping Longbottom would do her no good," Draco said to Harry, pursing his lips.
"But Professor Snape is so unfair to Hermione! He is always targeting us... it is so inexplicable!" Harry shook his head and whispered, "But then again, when I think about how he saved me and knew my mother when she was little..."
Saint Potter... always willing to think the best of people.'
Draco twitched the corner of his mouth.
"I understand. He still always wants to look into your eyes." He deftly concealed a few small bottles of the Shrinking Solution he had brewed himself and whispered to Harry.
"Yes, I have her eyes," Harry said quietly.
Severus Snape, holding Longbottom's wriggling tadpole in his hand, felt two chillingly sympathetic gazes on his back.
He looked around blankly at the students brewing potions... they all seemed perfectly normal.
It was truly bizarre. He hurriedly pulled a small bottle from his robe pocket, poured a few drops of liquid onto Trevor, and Trevor instantly turned back into a toad.
He had no interest in dwelling on Longbottom's matter any longer. He set the toad onto the table, then turned sharply, trying to find the source of the gaze, but to no avail.
Snape was not the only one who felt this strange unease; Draco did too.
Draco did not consider himself a prying person, but he could not help noticing something strange: Hermione's whereabouts were becoming increasingly elusive.
When Potions class ended, he intended to slow down and wait for Hermione, who was dragging her feet behind him, to catch up and discuss with her how she had altered the potion's toxicity for Longbottom.
But inexplicably, he suddenly saw Hermione rushing up from directly in front of him, panting, saying something to Harry and Ron.
Through the crack in the half-open zip of her bag pocket, Draco could see at least a dozen large books.
That is so interesting!
Those books were definitely not meant for "entertainment." With such a heavy workload, she simply did not have the extra time to read so many other books.
Hermione noticed his gaze. She did not speak to him, but simply nodded quickly before striding towards the Great Hall.
"Do you not think she is hiding something from us?" Draco overheard Ron saying to Harry as he passed by with Crabbe and Goyle.
Of course she is hiding something!
Draco sat at the Slytherin table, watching the girl with the nonchalant expression... she was sucking on a strawberry whilst reading a book. He would wager his own hair that it was definitely related to her "little secret" about the timetable.
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