Chapter – 10.3

 

The Transfiguration class was a gentle reminder to everyone that the magic was more than just waving your wand and saying a few words. They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. And after going to one, Alex knew he had to miss the next.

 

Three times a week, they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout. There they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for.

 

Easily the most boring class was History of Magic. And it was the only one taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. Professor Binns was already very old. Every nap of the Professor could have been his last, and coincidentally, that was bang-on. The old Professor Binns fell asleep in front of the staff room fire, and when he woke up the next morning to teach, he left his body behind. A funny tragedy indeed if one were to sum it up, but it did not stop the old Professor Binns from continuing his classes.

 

But enough of old Professor Binns. The real charm of Hogwarts was Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. A tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class, he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name, he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The days went by, and it was finally Friday. A class every Slytherin had been waiting for. Today Slytherin had Double potions with Gryffindor. But for Alex, it was another headache. For the past few days, whenever Hermione and daphne met, there would be verbal a clash of words between them. And Alex got sandwiched between them for no reason. Only one person enjoyed this clash, and that was Nicole.

 

In the class,

 

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons, just like the Slytherin common room. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

 

Professor Snape, like most of the Professors, started the class by taking the roll call, and like everyone else, he paused at Potter's name.

 

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new... celebrity." Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands.

 

But Professor Snape did not linger at Potter's name for long and soon finished taking the roll call and looked up at the class. His eyes were black, and no one could see the depths of what he was thinking.

 

Following the roll call was pin drop silence, and Professor Snape continued to read everyone's face in the room. On the other hand, Potter knew from the taunting remarks that Potions won't just be a class for him.

 

Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

 

"Potter!" Suddenly called out Professor Snape.

 

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was. Only Hermione's hand had shot into the air. Looking at Hermione's hand raised, Daphne too raised her hand.

 

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

 

Professor Snape's lips curled into a sneer.

 

"Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored Hermione's hand and turned towards Daphne

 

"Tell us, Greengrass."

 

"Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful that it is said that it can put a dragon to sleep for hours. Hence it is known as the Draught of Living Death." Daphne confidently told the class.

 

"Five points to Slytherin." Professor Snape, awarded.

 

"Let's try again, shall we, Mr Potter? Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

 

Again Hermione and Daphne stretched their hands. But looking at each other, they tried to stretch their arms as high into the air as they could without leaving their seats. Meanwhile, looking at Harry's face, it was evident that he didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was.

 

"I don't know, sir," Potter said, not looking into Professor Snape's eyes.

 

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Professor Snape said as he looked at Harry with cold, emotionless eyes.

 

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Professor Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mix up a simple potion to cure boils.

 

Professor Snape then swept around the room in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs. He criticized almost everyone, even the Slytherins, except for Malfoy, whom he seemed to like and Alex for obvious reasons.

 

He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid-green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.

 

Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob. And their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools. On the other hand, the perpetrator of the accident, Neville, had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed. The poor guy wriggled on the floor, moaning in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

 

"Idiot boy!" Snarled Professor Snape, clearing the spilt potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

 

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Professor Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

 

"You... Potter... Why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Though he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

 

Even Alex felt that his master was being kind of harsh on Potter for no apparent reason.

 

'Who does he think I am?' Potter thought inside his head but did not decide to argue, 'I defeated the one whose name made you guys wet your pants when I was a child. I am a legend. Everywhere I go, people adore me, worship me. So what's with that pussy cat Professor and him? Why are they so against me? Why won't they act like others?' Remembering the way Professor McGonagall and now Professor Snape treated him, Potter clenched his fists. He wanted to ask why they won't acknowledge him like others, but before he could open his mouth, Ron kicked him from behind the cauldron, signalling him to keep quiet.

 

"Don't push it," the Weasley muttered, "I've heard Snape can be very nasty."

 

But while Ron was trying to keep Potter quiet, the champion of justice, Nicole could not hold herself back from jumping in.

 

"Professor, you are making it hard for the Gryffindors on purpose. How can a professor be biased..." Nicole tried to argue with Professor Snape. But though Alex did not appreciate Nicole locking horns with Professor McGonagall, it was something between them. But Professor Snape was a different matter. And before Nicole could complete it, Alex yelled.

 

"NICOLE!!"

 

The class went silent after the voice echoed in the class. Everyone present in the room turned heads to look at Alex in surprise. Except for that one episode in the Great Hall, he had been silent all along. They have never seen him interact with anyone. It was like he never existed among them. But now he was yelling at his own sister? For whom he did not shy away from taking on a bunch of Gryffindors? Why?

 

Even Daphne and Hermione, the few closest to the siblings, found it odd. In the last few days, with the constant interaction with the siblings and her never-ending altercation with Hermione, even Daphne had her misunderstanding cleared about Alex and Nicole. And now she knew how much he loved her. So it was, without a doubt, weird to them.

 

"Brother..."

 

"Just shut up. Not a single word from you. Not one. Or else..." Alex did not complete himself and, turning towards Professor Snape, Alex apologised to him on behalf of Nicole before walking out of the class, leaving a teary-eyed Nicole behind.

 

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