days at Hogwarts

Chapter 242 The storm after the duel

The weather is getting warmer in March.

"Countdown to Easter holiday, two days left..."

Loren held the Potions textbook and walked into the underground classroom with Hermione, pushing and shoving.

Today is Thursday, and the duel lesson happened last night.By the time this week ends on Friday, the Easter holiday has officially arrived.Although little wizards are not allowed to leave school during the Easter holidays, 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 Shadowless Curse of the Divine Edge, he was hit with multiple repel spells and powerful repel spells, and finally hit the solid wall of the auditorium. I heard that many of the bones were about to be broken into pieces. .

For the wizard, the injury was not fatal, but it was a bit troublesome to deal with.Because he was injured while in Animagus form, after returning to human form, the bone fragments got stuck in various tricky places.

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

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

Add 2 tablespoons of dried nettles and 3 portions of puffer fish eyes into a mortar and grind them into medium-fine powder.

Add the powder mixture to the crucible and heat at medium temperature for 20 seconds.

Wave the magic wand to activate the magic in the medicinal ingredients, add the dew collected in the previous autumn and simmer for 60 minutes (depending on the type of crucible).

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

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

The process is a bit tedious, but not difficult.The little wizards were chatting around the crucible in twos and threes, and the topic was of course the dueling class last night.

"Professor Snape casts spells so fast!"

"That's it."

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

Not only the little wizards of Slytherin House think so, but many little lions of Gryffindor also recognized Professor Snape's strength after watching last night's battle.

Loren, Seamus, Dean and others talked about the wonderful moments last night, discussing topics such as controlling the rhythm of the 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 fight so neatly."

"The last burst of curses is a bit cool..."

"My impression of him has changed a bit."

Listening to these remarks, Harry felt a little unconvinced for Sirius, and couldn't help but retort: ​​"Sirius was just negligent for a moment, he almost pounced on that old bat!"

"Bang!" Draco sneered, "Come on, don't forget what Professor Flitwick said in his commentary after the duel. It was just a reckless struggle. If Professor Snape replaced the repel spell with another powerful spell, , Professor Black Dog is not lying on a hospital bed now, but in a coffin."

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

In the next few minutes, Harry transformed into a tough-talking master and exchanged insults with several Slytherins by himself.Ron and Seamus tried to help, but the fact that Snape won the duel was there. It was really difficult to deal with the headwind, and he was sprayed back soon.

Only Harry persisted.He had basically lost his mind in order to protect Sirius.

Ron gave a few words of advice, but Harry didn't hear it at all and was immersed in the debate with the other person.

Hermione stepped forward and tugged on Harry's sleeve, but he didn't notice it at all, only refuting the other person in her eyes.

Seeing Loren happily watching the fun, Hermione poked his arm: "Aren't we going to stop him?"

Loren responded with a smile and spread his hands: "Why are you blocking us? As long as we can't fight, it's okay to scold each other a few times."

"..."

Hermione felt that there must be something wrong with her thinking, but she actually felt that what this person said made sense.

Here is an old bat, and there is a stinky black dog. The dignified Hogwarts students cursed like street gangsters, and they uttered obscenities.

Harry gradually fell into a disadvantage and realized that he could not speak any more. He immediately said harsh words: "What's the use of saying it here? In the next dueling class, I will compete with you alone, Malfoy! Do you dare?"

In fact, according to Lucius' instructions to Draco, he should refuse such eye-catching things, but the atmosphere has reached this point, and Draco himself wants to fight with him.

"Then make an appointment for the next dueling class!"

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

Harry's blood surged again, and he blurted out a curse word with the word "old bat" in it.

It wasn't until the footsteps of Snape's hard-soled leather shoes that the underground classroom became quiet.Snape walked in from the door, expressionless.

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

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

He knew something about the feud between Snape and Sirius.On the stage last night, Shen Feng Shadowless Curse was released just as quickly as he raised his hand. Unexpectedly, the professor finally restrained the murderous intention in his heart.

My hair is still as oily as ever, and my walking steps and movements are normal, without a limp.

It shows that there is indeed no injury.

His face was expressionless and his eyes were cold.

Same as usual, even the dark circles are lighter than usual.After reading and teaching Sirius a lesson, the professor could sleep better.

Next to her, Hermione lowered her head, twirled her white fingers, and silently calculated Gryffindor's House Cup score in her mind.

Slytherin originally led them by 50 points, but they earned 300 points through the basilisk incident, leaving a point difference of 250 points.During this time, Professor Snape reduced the score difference to 200 through unfair means.

If Slytherin wins the Quidditch Championship, Professor Snape maintains the average of the previous deductions, plus Harry's deductions.

"..."

Hermione's brows gradually furrowed and she sighed inaudibly.

Now one can only hope that Slytherin will fail at Quidditch.

Opposite them were the little Slytherin wizards with happy faces, looking at Snape expectantly.

"Harry Potter," Snape said his name in a strange accent, "let's count the trolls, Quirrell, the basilisk... Do you think you have achieved something extraordinary?"

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

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

<divclass="contentadv">"I say, I don't, sir." Harry said with emphasis.

"In the last class, I told you the complete process of brewing the Swelling Potion." Snape asked in a calm tone, "Potter! Tell me, what materials are needed to brew the Swelling Potion?"

There was a commotion among the little wizards. They seemed to have seen this scene before, and it was vaguely the same scene in the first potions class in the first grade.

"Bat spleen, pufferfish eyes—"

Harry began to hesitate, his mind racing at full speed. What was the remaining material?

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

Snape snorted and continued to ask: "What are the purposes of waving the wand twice during the cooking process?"

This made no impression at all, so Harry simply confessed: "I don't know, sir."

The points were definitely deducted, and the scolding was definitely punished. Harry simply gave up struggling and stared at Snape ruthlessly.

You ask, end it early, get relief early.

Snape suddenly fell silent, looked at him deeply, and said lightly: "Potter, you insulted the teacher, and Gryffindor was 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 showed a proud smile: "The materials required for the swelling potion include: dried nettles, pufferfish eyes, and bat spleen. The wand is waved twice to stimulate the magic and calm the magic."

"Excellent answer, Slytherin gets five points for it."

Hermione looked uncomfortable, her brows knitted tightly together.

Gryffindor -50, Slytherin +5, another 55 points closer.

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

"Stop looking." Loren stretched out his hand to straighten Hermione's head, "Grind these dried nettles quickly and grind them into fine powder."

The face was white and tender, Loren couldn't help but pinch it, it was very elastic.

"oh oh."

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

"Didn't the book say that the dried nettles and pufferfish eyes should be ground together? And it should be a medium-fine powder, not a fine powder."

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

"Then why not grind it all into a fine powder?"

"When dew is added, the finely powdered pufferfish eyes float."

"Oh!"

Hermione nodded in understanding, not noticing the fingerprints on her face.

The fruit charcoal used to burn the crucible is black and very fine, with fingerprints clearly visible.

Elsewhere, Harry's swelling potion was too dilute.

50 points is a lot of points, but insulting the professor deserves such a severe deduction.Harry felt uncomfortable and guilty.

When Snape repeatedly stopped to laugh at his watery behavior, Harry prayed that he wouldn't be deducted any more points for it.

When Snape turned around and started to bully Neville, Harry actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling even more guilty now.

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

Harry climbed up to the second floor in one breath and opened the door to the infirmary. After being warned by Madam Pomfrey about some precautions, Harry met Sirius.

His chest was covered with bandages, and he wore a white neck protector around his neck. He was sipping water from the cup with difficulty.

"Let me help you, Sirius!" Harry walked over quickly, took the cup and gave him water.

Sirius wanted to scratch his head, but the bandages wouldn't let him.He said with a slight embarrassment: "Actually, I'm not thirsty, it's just that the ward was so boring that I regarded it as a game."

"..."

This is indeed something he can do. Harry glanced at him silently and put the cup back on the small cabinet beside the bed: "Did Madam Pomfrey tell you how your health is?"

Sirius grinned twice: "It's nothing. It just took some effort to find bone fragments in the muscles. Now we just wait for them to grow back. I will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, and I can give you some before the holiday." Take a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson."

Knowing that he was fine, Harry put aside his worries and complained about Snape:

"That old bat went too far! This was just a duel demonstration between professors, and he actually struck such a heavy blow."

Harry was angry: "He even deducted 50 points from me today. I don't dare to face my classmates now."

Sirius's smile faded, his face looked very unnatural, and he said with some embarrassment: "Actually, strictly speaking, my fault was bigger. I shouldn't have used any spell to anger him."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked doubtfully, "In a duel, it is to anger the opponent and make him lose his cool. Isn't this a normal way of dueling?"

"Harry, this matter is very complicated, and I can't explain it to you. In short, after I calmed down, I realized that I was wrong."

"Why?" Harry didn't understand even more.

"This goes back a long time, when I was still a fool. Me, and your father James, used that curse to do unforgivable things to Snape."

Hearing James' name, Harry's heart was lifted and he asked, "What is something unforgivable?"

"I can't tell you, at least not now."

"Even though Snape was a nasty snot, I hate him even now, and for a long time I felt he deserved it."

"But regarding that matter, even if Snape cast a curse on me, I felt it was normal." Sirius paused, "Even if he didn't cast any curse on me, I felt strange."

His father and godfather did something that was sorry for Snape, which made Harry find it difficult to accept: "You did something that was sorry for him! So this is why he keeps targeting me?"

"No one is sorry," Sirius retorted. "I admit that James and I went too far. Even Remus was always ashamed of us. But Snape also seized every opportunity to attack us. Evil curse——"

"If the four of us weren't always together, we would be the ones suffering."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. He almost finished this long series of words in one breath. After finishing speaking, he leaned on the bedside to catch his breath. It took a long time to recover.

After a moment of silence, Sirius said: "As I said just now, we were all idiots at that time."