As the students filed into the dungeon classroom, Harry placed a hand on Neville’s shoulder.
“Neville,” he said softly, “I’m sorry about your parents. I didn’t know. And thank you… for being a bigger man than Malfoy deserved.”
Neville shrugged, but a small, pleased smile touched his lips.
“He was lucky Jim’s been more of a prat this week than he has. He’s been strutting around like Godric Gryffindor reborn, and most of us are already sick of it.”
“Not surprising.” Harry glanced around.
“By the way, if you happen to know—how is Hermione Granger doing?”
“You could ask me yourself, you know,” came an amused voice from behind him.
Harry startled.
“Ack! You startled me, Miss… um, Hermione?” He sounded uncharacteristically nervous.
He hadn’t spoken to his first Hogwarts friend since before the Sorting and wasn’t entirely sure they were still on first-name terms given the rivalry between their Houses.
The warm smile she gave him reassured him that they were.
“Hello, Harry. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk to you. I promised to sit with Parvati and Lavender in Herbology, and this is our only other class together.” She brightened.
“Incidentally, the etiquette books you recommended were all in the library and extremely helpful—even if most Gryffindors aren’t as well-mannered as Neville here.” Neville blushed at the compliment.
“If you’re free after lunch, Neville and I have a study session planned in the Library.” “Yeah, please come, Harry,” Neville added.
“Hermione’s been a lifesaver.”
“Count me in.” Harry gestured to Theo.
“Oh, forgive me. Hermione Granger, this is Theodore Nott of the Noble House of Nott.”
“A pleasure to meet Granger,” Theo said tersely.
“Likewise, Mr. Nott.” you,
Miss
By the time the four reached the classroom, the only seats left were near the front—unfortunately right beside Jim and Ron, though Ron, Hermione, and Neville formed a buffer between the feuding brothers.
Professor Snape swept in from the storeroom with a dramatic flourish and launched into a speech extolling the subtle science and exact art of potion-making over the “foolish wand-waving” of other magical disciplines.
He then took roll, lingering pointedly on “James Potter Jr., our new… celebrity.” He also glared at Harry when reading his name but offered no comment.
Then he barked, “Potter!”
When Jim looked up, Snape clarified coldly, “James Potter. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”
Jim rolled his eyes.
The room fell deathly silent.
Harry, Neville, and Hermione slowly turned toward Jim in unison, stunned.
Ron grinned like a lunatic while the rest of the Gryffindors looked horrified.
“Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter. Here’s an easier one: Where would you find a bezoar?” Hermione’s arm twitched.
Harry suppressed a smile—she was clearly fighting every instinct not to raise her hand.
“Sunken within the greasy depths of your hair, perhaps?” Jim sneered.
“Another ten points from Gryffindor!” “My father said you’d be like this—bullying, snide, and cruel. He said you’d probably try to make an example of me with obscure trivia questions. He also told me to call you Snivellus.”
“Twenty points from Gryffindor!
Did he also mention I can do this all day?
What’s the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?” “No idea.
What’s the difference betw—” “JAMES POTTER JR., WILL YOU STOP ACTING LIKE AN IGNORANT BRAYING ASS!”
The entire class—including Snape—stared in astonishment at Hermione Granger.
She had shot out of her chair, literally shaking with rage.
After a beat of stunned silence, Snape said quietly, “Five points to Gryffindor.”
Hermione took a deep breath and sat down.
Snape turned back to Jim, voice dangerously soft.
“I have had quite enough of your idiocy for one day, Mr. Potter. I will be discussing this with your Head of House… and your mother. If you have no respect for my authority, perhaps you will show some for theirs.” Jim fumed but stayed silent.
“However,” Snape continued silkily, “we have an unusual opportunity here to examine the relative value of nature versus nurture. Mr. Harry Potter! Can you answer even one of the questions I posed to your brother?”
Harry coughed.
“I’m confident I can answer all three, sir. In reverse order: monkshood and wolfsbane are common names for the same poisonous flowering plant of the aconite family. If I needed to find a bezoar in this room, I would check an emergency kit first, or failing that, the storeroom section for animal byproducts.”
“Explain,” Snape ordered, “for your less educated peers.” He sneered at the sulking Jim.
“A bezoar is a small stone formed of undigested plant matter, harvested from the stomach of a goat. The textbook says it can counteract most poisons, though it didn’t specify which ones it cannot cure.”
“For future reference, Mr. Potter, it will not cure poisons derived from dragon’s blood or basilisk venom—thankfully rare. And the first question?”
“Yes, sir.
Adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood is the first step in brewing a powerful sleeping potion.
I’m afraid I can’t recall the exact name,” Harry said, turning deliberately to look at his fuming brother, “but I do remember it was on the very first page of the assigned reading.” He smiled. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
It didn’t hurt at all.
Curiously, Snape awarded Harry no points despite his flawless answers—though he was notorious for favouring Slytherins.
The rest of the lesson passed relatively quietly, aside from one near-explosion.
Snape refused to let Harry and Neville partner as planned, instead placing Neville with Hermione and Harry with Theo.
Neville panicked briefly until Harry reassured him that Hermione was likely better at potion-brewing anyway, and the four of them would work at adjacent cauldrons.
A few close calls occurred, but Hermione kept Neville calm, and Harry was close enough to offer quiet advice and encouragement.
In the end, Neville and Hermione produced an acceptable Boil-Curing Potion, as did Theo and Harry.
Ron and Jim’s cauldron melted through, leaving a thick black sludge on the floor.
As everyone filed out, Harry told Hermione, Neville, and Theo to go on without him.
He had a personal matter to attend to.
When the room was empty, Snape looked up from his notes.
“Class is over, Mr. Potter.”
“I know, sir. But I would like the opportunity to discuss some… House matters with you. If now is inconvenient, I’d be happy to return at a better time. But I believe it’s important we address this immediately rather than let things… fester.”
Snape snorted.
“I was right. You are every bit as arrogant as your father and brother.”
“Not at all,” Harry replied calmly.
“Before this summer I literally didn’t know James Potter was alive, let alone that I had a brother. I’ve learned nothing since then to give me the slightest regard for him. From what little he’s said, I gather he bullied you mercilessly at school. I can see he raised Jim to be an arrogant bully as well. But he didn’t raise me. And I have no desire to spend the next seven years feeling as though my Head of House is my enemy simply because he believes he has reason to hate my birth father.”
“I don’t believe anything, Potter!” Snape spat.
“I know I have reason to hate him.”
“With respect, sir, you really don’t,” Harry said with eerie calm.
“Explain yourself!” Snape snarled.
“Harry Hunting.”
Snape blinked, confused by the unfamiliar phrase.
“What?”