The first class this morning was Potion Class, with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor together.
From the very beginning of class, Gryffindor students got ruthlessly targeted.
Katie from the Quidditch team lost five points the moment she entered, because she was wearing a hat. And McCarthy MacLagan got three points deducted because there was a crease on his book.
As for the so-called reasons, everyone knew full well.
In third-year Defence Against the Dark Arts, when Neville faced a Boggart that turned into Snape, he dressed it up in a ridiculously flashy grandma outfit.
Technically, this could've been no big deal, and even if Snape got angry, he'd only pick on Neville.
But the problem was, some shameless guy brought a camera to class… and then Snape's cross-dressing photos spread all over Hogwarts.
Even though it got stopped pretty quickly and all the photos were confiscated… that was only on the surface.
There were still plenty left being passed around in secret.
To find out whodunnit, Snape tried everything—threats, bribes, stalker-level snooping… but nothing worked.
This time, the students were more united than ever—ask anyone and they'd just claim ignorance.
Even Professor Lupin himself acted all, "What? I didn't see a thing," which made Snape livid.
So, Gryffindor, which started the whole photo mess, got unlucky.
Put it this way, even if Kael lost a hundred points, Hufflepuff still had a huge lead over Gryffindor in House points.
And this was just Snape's work for one day.
This year was off to a historic start, with Gryffindor free-falling toward the all-time lowest score on record.
Even Professor McGonagall had nothing to say, because she'd seen the picture too—and honestly, you couldn't really blame Snape for being so furious.
"Vitality Potion!"
After Gryffindor had lost another twenty points, Snape finally returned to the podium and drawled, "Lovage, ginger root, unicorn bull horn… Mr. MacLagan."
He suddenly asked, "When brewing a Vitality Potion, how should the bull's horn be processed?"
"Roast it, then grind to powder, Professor." McCarthy MacLagan stood up, glanced at the board, and spoke with confidence.
"Ha, Snape's plan failed this time."
Kael heard someone whisper behind him: "So lucky—everything's on the board. Just need to take one look to answer."
"Oh?"
Snape raised his brows on the podium and moved to block the board, then kept going: "And how long do you roast it for?"
"Twenty minutes," MacLagan answered without hesitation. "Then you have to scrape off the top layer before you start grinding."
"So, you think you're clever…" Snape said silkily, "Memorizing so much from just a glance."
"I didn't look at the board, Professor!" MacLagan replied earnestly. "I read ahead in the book—that's how I know."
"If you'd read ahead, you'd know the Vitality Potion needs horn of the horned camel beast, not unicorn bull…" Snape sneered. "Gryffindor loses five points!"
MacLagan's face froze in disbelief. "But you wrote unicorn bull on the board—I can't be mistaken!"
"Oh, that… was my mistake." Snape turned, wiped off that line.
"Didn't you say you weren't looking at the board?" he said lazily. "Lying to a professor—Gryffindor loses another five points."
After that, they still had to prep the ingredients.
Lovage and ginger root were easy, but the horn of the horned camel beast was a nightmare—way too hard and tough, even cutting it was a pain, let alone grinding it.
Roasting it first was Snape's step; it wasn't in the book.
"Kael." Ryan leaned over under the pretense of borrowing something and whispered, "Did you see today's 'Daily Prophet'?"
"No," Kael shook his head. "What happened?"
"Someone saw Sirius Black." Mikel murmured in a low voice.
"Where…"
"Croft County, just south of Hogsmeade." Mikel sounded excited. "A Muggle spotted him, of course—they had no idea what was really going on. They just thought Black was an ordinary criminal, so they called the tip line."
By the time Ministry of Magic people got there, he was already gone."
"That's really not far—less than fifty miles from Hogsmeade," said MacLagan, joining in from the side.
"You don't think he'll come to Hogwarts, do you?" Conna looked a bit nervous.
"Impossible."
MacLagan answered confidently, "Don't forget there are Dementors at the school gates. If he came, he'd be walking right into their hands."
"But I still feel like something's off," Mikel said, frowning. "So many places he could go—why show up somewhere so close to Hogsmeade?"
"Maybe he doesn't know there are Dementors here," MacLagan snorted softly. "I actually hope he hurries over—if a Dementor catches him, there's no way he's escaping.
"Once they drag him off, the Dementors will finally leave the school. Honestly, just knowing those things are standing guard makes my skin crawl—even the wind feels freezing."
No one dared keep talking. Before Snape could turn around, everyone split up.
"Kael, do you think if Black really tries to come to Hogwarts, those Dementors at the gate could actually stop him?" Conna whispered.
"Hard to say." Kael shook his head. "They already let Black get away once—and that was right at their own headquarters… not to mention, now there are only two Dementors left.
But don't worry, nothing's going to happen. I promise."
Conna finally relaxed a bit at Kael's words and started peeling the ginger root with her little knife.
When class was almost over, Snape began checking everyone's potions.
Kael's and Conna's cauldrons held a vivid bright yellow—which was exactly right, nothing wrong.
Snape didn't even look at them, just walked straight past.
But it was a whole different story for the others—cauldrons bubbling with every weird color imaginable.
Especially Mikel's… Kael noticed his potion was a bizarre purple, with brownish smoke rising off it.
Even a well-traveled man like Snape was stunned by this cauldron-full of potion.
Usually, he could spot where someone went wrong—too much of some ingredient, missed a stir or two, that kind of thing—but this one was just inexplicable.
He couldn't make sense of it at all.
Lovage, ginger root, and horn of the horned camel beast… and you somehow brew this?
That's a first!
"Hufflepuff loses ten points."
Snape stared at that cauldron of potion, glanced at Mikel, and said, "And detention. Saturday morning at eight, report to the dungeon classroom. You can leave when you've mastered the Vitality Potion."