24 The Stubborn Old Bat!

Next morning, Harry woke up at his usual time and started the morning training. Afterward, he met up with everyone at breakfast and they all went to the potions class together.

As they were descending into the 'dungeon', Harry could finally understand why Snape had the personality he was famous for.

'Anyone who needs to spend half his day in these gloomy dungeons isn't going to become like Santa Claus for sure. He really needs a change of scenery' chuckled Harry to himself.

They entered the classroom and went towards their seats. It was a big room with a lot of worktables and apparatuses neatly arranged for them.

Everything was in its place with no room for error. It perfectly displayed Snape's attitude towards his subject. He was one of the greatest potions master alive and it was apparent from the way he conducted his classes.

At this moment, the brooding man made his entry. He strode into the room with quick steps and directly went to his desk. He then looked at everyone and started his iconic speech.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the minds, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

"Pffft...", laughed Harry as he just couldn't control himself. He thought it would be a bit scary but he felt that once you know who Snape truly is, you would never feel scared of him. Besides, Harry could see his aura. It was a blend of golden and black in perfect balance. It means he was in full control of his impulses towards the dark side and wasn't blinded by the naive notions of the grandeur of the side of light.

This made him one of the most logical and rational people in the magical world. He clearly knew what the level of new students was and how difficult it was to become proficient in potions.

So, to see him try to act all scary and gloomy, was really funny. It was most likely an act to hide his 'soft' side. Thus, he tried to exaggerate his 'bad' side in front of the students. Although he was totally biased towards the Slytherin students, it couldn't be helped. Slytherins were known to be the most prideful of their house and no sense of morality would deter them from helping their fellow brethren.

Harry didn't feel the repulsion he expected from Snape. So, he relaxed a little and due to this he 'slipped'.

'I am so dead', thought Harry as he saw Snape freeze in his tracks.

There was a deathly silence in the class. Everybody was shocked after listening to Harry's laugh.

Snape slowly turned around and saw the culprit. His eyes narrowed a little as he recognized who it was.

"Did I say something funny Mr. Potter?" asked Snape in his sarcastic tone.

"Uhh...no Professor, please excuse me for that. I just remembered something which made me laugh. I am extremely sorry" Harry got up and apologized sincerely. He knew he had to make this right or it would be hell for him in the potions class.

"Oh, you are sorry? So does that make everything fine? Do you even understand the concept of an apology, Mr. Potter? I guess not. Your 'Potter' genes are way too dominant for that" snapped the potions master at Harry.

Harry had obviously touched a nerve here. His father was a known bully in his school days and would constantly torment Snape.

Snape was reminded of that when he saw James' son showing the same traits as his father. This made him lose his cool and he scolded him.

Snape saw that his last comment really riled up Harry.

Harry expected to be thrashed by Snape but never expected his dead father to be brought into the conversation. This was a line you are not supposed to cross. Talking ill of the dead is one of biggest taboo anywhere. And here Snape just bad-mouthed his old enemy in front of his orphan son.

Harry could feel his fury building inside of him. It intensely affected his aura and his mana network started pumping mana throughout his body at an accelerated pace. This started affecting the surroundings and a slight pressure started emanating from him. This would never have been possible without his recent breakthrough. But now, it was something that he could even control to a certain extent.

Snape's eyebrows shot up as he felt the pressure from Harry. He knew what this meant and it made him flabbergasted. This level of pressure wasn't something a student could emit. It takes years to build up enough mana pool and then enough experiences to use it in this way. But a little kid was able to do something that even adult wizards had difficulty doing.

'Looks like his Potter genes are not so dominant after all. This talent could only come from Lily' thought Snape as he felt the pressure coming off Harry.

He knew he had to get the situation under control before Harry did something bad.

"Sit down Mr. Potter. Since it is the first class, I wouldn't give any detention to you but you still have to answer a few questions if you don't want to spend the next two weeks writing make-up essays for me" said Snape bringing Harry out of his trance.

Harry suppressed the fury he felt and sat down. He also retracted the magic pressure he was emitting. Everyone in the class felt as if a stone has been lifted off their minds. It was a very subtle feeling at first, but as the pressure kept getting stronger, even breathing became difficult for them. So, as the pressure was lifted everybody took a breath of relief.

They didn't realize it was due to Harry. Everyone thought it was done by Snape and felt even more scared of him now along with a little awe.

"So, Mr. Potter, would you please tell the class what you get when you mix the infusion of wormwood with asphodel?" asked Snape with a little smirk on his face.

Harry took a deep breath and calmed down. He knew this was not the right time to let his fury take over.

"Infusion of wormwood is mixed with the powdered root of asphodel to create an extremely powerful sleeping potion commonly known as the Draught of Living Death" replied Harry with a passive face.

He had studied all the potions textbooks until the fifth year so there was no way he was going to lose to Snape in such simple questions.

"What is the difference between Monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry replied, "Nothing, they are the same plant and also go by the name of Aconite. They are very helpful in dealing with werewolves and are extremely powerful sedatives. They can also be used in making Awakening Potion"

"..."

"..."

"..."

There was another pin drop silence in the class. Hermione's brows were furrowed as she was thinking over Harry's answer. She didn't know about the wolfsbane use in making the Awakening Potion.

Everyone else just felt numb to it since they already saw how good Harry was with other subjects so there was no reason for him to not be good in potions too.

Harry saw a slight twitching at the corner of Snape's mouth. He felt really satisfied with this. It's not easy to have this reaction from Snape and it was oddly fulfilling.

"Looks like you have done some reading Mr. Potter. But potions is more than just theory. I will be waiting to see your 'talents' in the practical sessions" sneered Snape and then ignored him altogether.

After that was the usual 'Gryffindor Bashing' class. Hermione was treated like air, as usual, and any mistake from the Gryffindor students earned them a strict reprimand and a loss of points.

Harry felt the fury rising again over Snape's attitude towards his housemates and especially Hermione, but he kept it down. As a professor of such an esteemed institute, it was a really bad behavior on Snape's part. Although the quality of students who are able to pass the OWLs from his class with the Outstanding grade is higher than the average, it leads to a lower quality of students who didn't get an Outstanding grade.

He was the typical elite route activist and believed in the survival of the fittest.

It was a good thought in times of peace, but there was a war coming. You needed more soldiers to fight and only the elites couldn't affect the overall situation, at least not in this case. There were enough of that to go against the fifty or so death eaters. What they needed right now were the foot soldiers who will fight against the dark army of the giants, werewolves and other species who were the followers of Voldemort.

Now, as far as Potions was concerned, it didn't affect the war directly but good potions master could be extremely effective in certain situations.

But even they had their limits. So, they needed helpers who could do the mass production part of the potions while the masters only needed to direct them. So, if there was a good batch of normal potions experts, it could be a huge help in the upcoming war.

But, due to his stubbornness, Snape failed to see this fact. As a true grandmaster of Potions, he had extremely high levels when it came to teaching students. As such, those who could follow him would see a meteoric rise in this class, whereas those who couldn't, kept getting behind.

So, for the past few years, the higher leveled potions expert from Hogwarts have been very good but the lower leveled ones have been below the average since they couldn't keep up with the rest of the class. It was a negative spiral effect and Harry didn't plan to let this continue.

'Looks like I need to have a private chat with Mr. Broody to sort this out' thought Harry as he started planning how to convince this stubborn old bat.