Chapter 55

On Wednesday, he'd observed the Defense Professor, Professor Quirrell, while he was teaching Susan Bones how to cast a basic Deflecting Charm to deflect away the coloring paintball spells that her partner for the class was supposed to be sending at her. Oddly enough, he'd lost much of his stutter the moment he'd started teaching the class, which made Harry incredibly curious about him.

Quirinus Quirrell

Lv-?

HP-?/?

MP-?/?

Race-Wizard

Str-?

Vit-?

Dex-?

Int-?

Wis-?

Luc-?

?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?

Harry's eyebrows had disappeared right into his hairline.

'Professor Quirrell is as powerful as the Headmaster!' Harry thought with a not inconsiderable amount of shock. Honestly, he couldn't fit the image of the professor with what he was seeing on his screen.

But perhaps, Harry thought after a while, all this stuttering was a ruse to make people underestimate him, just like Harry was doing with his own abilities. Or perhaps, he didn't want to be famous for being as powerful as Albus Dumbledore. Harry could understand that too since he didn't quite like his fame either.

Harry had then resolved to give the man his privacy.

The Herbology class after that was decent since Professor Sprout made it quite fun, but something about Herbology reminded him a bit too much of the Dursley's, so he couldn't really enjoy it. Neville, though, was brilliant at it, as Harry managed to witness since his Herbology classes were with the Gryffindors.

Soon afterward, Hedwig had finally had her first burning day. It was a bit difficult to watch, but she had promptly grown up to her adult size by the end of the next day. Harry calculated the next burning day to be around the middle of October and resolved to be more prepared for it next time. After her first Burning Day, Hedwig had taken to flying off into the Forbidden Forest for most of the day in order to spend some time with other phoenixes that lived there. She would happily chirp to Harry at night about all that the magical birds do at day, and Harry, who had started associating her various sounds with her emotions, managed to react appropriately to her stories despite not quite understanding them.

As for classes, also with Gryffindors, he had the History of Magic, the most boring class that anyone could ever imagine existing. One would think learning from a ghost would be quite exciting, but Professor Cuthbert Binns managed to turn even the most interesting topics mundane. He just droned on and on and on. There was no roll call, so quite a few Gryffindors simply tended to leave the class midway and Binns never even noticed.

And so in a flurry of magic and classes and homework, the first week at Hogwarts passed until Friday came.

Friday was an important day for Harry. It was the day he was finally going to have a chance to meet the infamous Professor Severus Snape. Harry knew that the man knew his mother, which was why he really wanted to talk to him and find out more about his mother as her friends had known her.

"What have we got today after breakfast?" Harry asked Terry as he poured sugar on his porridge.

"Double Potions with the Hufflepuffs," said Terry. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them. I've heard he's even made first years cry."

Poor Neville, who had Double Potions right after their own periods and was sitting right beside them - having come over to talk to Harry - was scared out of his mind. He looked terrified. Harry offered him a few words of encouragement, but honestly, he wasn't too optimistic considering all that he'd heard about the man.

But to hope on was to live on, so he hoped on and went off to the Potions classroom.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder there than up in the main castle, and it would have been quite creepy enough even without the preserved animals floating in formaldehyde glass jars on bookshelves all around the walls.

Professor Snape started the class by taking the roll call. He paused at Harry's name, looking at him for a second before continuing on. After he'd finished, he walked to the center of the podium he stood on, fixed them all with a stare and spoke.

"You are here to learn the subtle science of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect that many of you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death. The only question is, are you capable of learning the strongest kind of magic there is, or are you a bunch lazy good for nothing dunderheads?"

More silence followed this little speech. Hermione was on the edge of her seat, looking desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Harry used this moment of silence to cast an Observe at him.

Severus Snape

Lv-39

HP-15400/15400

MP-8200/8200

Race-Wizard

Str-16

Vit-26

Dex-31

Int-33

Wis-23

Luc-11

Severus Snape is a potions master and a converted dark wizard. He has a distinct dislike for dark wizards, but has to pander to their kids because he has to maintain his dark reputation to keep his potions master license being taken away. He is loyal to Hogwarts where he is Head of Slytherin House and Potions professor. He is a Master of Potions and enjoys chamber music and relaxing potion making.

He doesn't like Harry because of his father bullying him when he was in school but is reserving his opinion of him, hoping he has some of his mother's intellect.

The last line left Harry a bit shaken. His father…was a bully…

Harry shook his head. He didn't know enough. There had to more to the story than his father just being a bully…there had to be. And if there was, he'd find it out. Until then, he need stick to the plan. Do the best he could do in the classes.

When Harry finally focused back on the Professor, he had the class's complete and undivided attention. Realizing with a jolt that he wasn't writing anything down, he quickly noted down all the claims the professor had made in his speech. The 'stoppering death' thing needed research.

Professor Snape noticed Harry writing the down what he had said and given him an odd look, as if debating whether or not to do something, before he turned and started the lesson.

'Good,' Harry thought. Perhaps he could yet convince the Professor that he wasn't like whatever his father had been all those years back.

The Professor then went through the lesson, outlining what they would be doing as they got out their equipment and paired up. In their first class, they were learning how to use the equipment and the techniques needed to chop, cut, slice, and dice properly. With Gamer's Mind up, Harry was working well as he cut the ingredients in the precise shapes that they had been instructed to cut them into.

.

.

.

🐉 patreon.com/William777🐉

Subscribe to my Patreon for more advanced chapters