Chapter:12

"I don't expect you to really grasp the beauty of the smoky and fragrant cauldron that simmers, and you don't really understand the magic of the liquid that flows into people's veins, the magic of the mind and the will that is blurring. I can teach you how to increase your prestige, brew glory, and even stop death-but one thing has to be, and that is that you are not the kind of fools and fools I often encounter. "

After his short opening remarks, the class fell silent. Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows and exchanged glances. Hermione Granger almost moved to the edge of her chair and leaned forward, seemingly eager to prove that she wasn't a fool.

"Potter!" Snape said suddenly, "what would I get if I added Narcissus Root powder to the wormwood infusion?"

What grass root powder into what solution?, Harry glanced at Ron, who was just as stunned as he was. Hermione's arms were raised high into the air.

"I don't know, sir. Harry said.

Snape pursed his lips disdainfully.

"Tsk, tsk - it seems that fame doesn't mean everything."

Snape deliberately ignored Hermione's raised arm.

"Let's try again. Potter, if I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you find it?" Hermione tried to keep her hand high without leaving her seat, but Harry had no idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, and the three of them trembled with laughter. "I don't know, sir. "I don't think you opened a book before school started, did you, Potter?".

Harry forced himself to stare straight into his cold eyes. He did turn over all the books when he was at Dursley, but could Snape ask him to memorize the contents of A Thousand Magical Herbs and Mushrooms? Snape ignored Hermione's trembling arm. "Potter, what is the difference between scapular aconitum and wolf venom aconitum?" Hermione stood up, her hand reaching straight to the ceiling of the basement classroom. "I don't know," Harry whispered, "but I suppose Hermione knows the answer, so why don't you ask her?" a few of the students laughed. Harry met Snape's gaze of course, he was upset.

"Sit down," he yelled at Hermione, "let me tell you, Potter, Narcissus Root Powder, and Wormwood together make a very potent sleeping pill, a dose of life and death water. The bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a cow and has a strong detoxifying effect. As for Aconitum scaphoida and Aconitum lupus, they are the same plant, also collectively referred to as Aconitum sinensis. Why don't you write it all down?".

Suddenly, there was a rustle of quill pens and parchment. In the midst of the cacophony, Snape said, "One point is deducted for your confrontation with the Professor, Potter, Gryffindor." "

Harry saw Malfoy laugh so much that he almost fell off his chair. The Slytherin students also stared at themselves with interest, whispering to each other and laughing at themselves from time to time.

That's when Harry noticed that there was someone different from the rest of the Slytherin: he was always reading with his head down, not laughing at himself with his classmates, and not laughing like Malfoy was about to fall off his chair.

"This is a strange person". Harry thought.

Under Ron's influence and Malfoy's appearance, not to mention the impression that Snape had just made on him. Harry was indeed full of disgust towards Slytherin. But this man didn't seem to be like any other Slytherin.

Potions class continued, but Gryffindor's situation didn't improve. Professor Snape asked everyone to prescribe scabies potions, but something always happened on Gryffindor's side: Seamofinegan had fried his pan, Ron didn't know what he had done, his cauldron twisted into a twisted mass, and Lavendbron's cauldron had a foul smell.

The only ones on Gryffindor's side who didn't show up were Hermione and Neville, their cauldrons that didn't explode or emit an unpleasant smell. The potion in the crucible of the two of them was exactly the same as it was in the book.

In Slytherin, on the other hand, the little snakes were quietly busy with their own work. Not as scrambling and always having problems as Gryffindor, Snape had already deducted points more than once for Gryffindor's problems, including Harry's already deducted seven points.

"Neville, how did you do that?" Ron's cauldron was scrapped, and he couldn't do anything right now.

"Don't you know how to read?" Hermione said impatiently next to Neville, "The blackboard has clear instructions and methods, and I want to ask you how you did it." "

Hermione couldn't understand it, the clear steps and practical methods were written on the blackboard. Why is it always going wrong on the Gryffindor side? Hermione saw that Solim had bottled his potion and handed it to Snape. And Gryffindor's fastest self and Neville were still two or three steps away from completing it.

After the lesson, Harry noticed Hermione and Neville standing in the doorway waiting for someone, after all, the whole Gryffindor had just finished the potion for the two of them, and he couldn't get anyone to notice. Harry pulled Ron for a slow walk, wanting to see what they were going to do.

Finally Slytherin walked out of the classroom, and Harry saw the only Slytherin who wasn't laughing at him walking towards Hermione and Neville.

"Thank you Solim, if it weren't for you I'd be done today. "

"Shouldn't you thank me, Neville, don't you have a long memory of last night's events?" Hermione grumbled. "Solim, you don't know, Neville was just in class and ready to release the porcupine thorns without removing the cauldron. It's a good thing I've been keeping an eye on him, otherwise what happened last night would have happened again."

"Okay, okay, there's no class in the afternoon, what are you going to do?".

Harry finally remembered who Solim was, and he remembered the events of the sorting ceremony vividly. Harry motioned for Ron to stay out of the way, dragging him behind a corner to continue eavesdropping.

"Solim, do you have time for the evening? I'm almost done reading the book you lent me. "

"Well, after dinner, you can go to the old place. Pick another one yourself. "

Listening to their voices fade away, Ron couldn't wait to say to Harry. "Two Gryffindor traitors! Harry, what do you think?".

Harry didn't think Hermione and Neville would be traitors to Gryffindor, but he wondered why they were so close to Solim. Neville forgot it, Hermione said they were cousins, but why did Hermione get involved. Listening to Hermione, they had practiced boiling scabies potion beforehand last night, so Hermione and Neville were able to complete Snape's homework in class today.

Thinking of this, Harry said to Ron, "Leave them alone, I'll go to Hagrid's in the afternoon, and when we come back in the evening, we'll ask Hermione about them, what do you say?".

(End of the chapter).