You had to admit it.
Neville’s disaster was the real Boil-Cure Potion.
One splash, and your skin erupted in boils.
The stuff was also fiercely acidic.
It had already burned holes through several students’ shoes.
“Useless as a remedy.
Not bad as a weapon.”
Thinking this, Hylan pulled Hermione back a step.
Both raised their wands.
“Scourgify!”
“Idiot!” Snape roared at Neville.
“I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire, didn’t you?”
Neville was terrified.
His face was so covered in boils he couldn’t speak.
“Take him to the hospital wing!” Snape turned and snapped at Seamus.
“Potter!
Why didn’t you tell him not to add the porcupine quills?”
Snape could drag Harry into anything.
“You thought his mistake would make you look good?
Another point lost for Gryffindor!”
No one dared speak.
The whole class stood frozen like stunned chicks, staring at Snape.
“What are you all standing there for?
Waiting for me to brew your potions for you?”
At Snape’s shout, everyone scrambled back to work.
“Hylan, I think we have to dump this batch.” Hermione stared at their cauldron, her face grim.
Some of the potion from Neville’s cauldron must have splashed into theirs.
It was ruined.
They had one set of ingredients left.
Snape stood at the front of the room, looking down at them.
He showed no sign of offering replacements.
The students who’d been badmouthing Hylan before class watched with gleeful anticipation.
They were silently praying the cauldron would explode and cover both of them in boils.
“Looks like we’ve got one shot.” Hylan glanced at Snape.
“Can we do it?” Hermione asked.
“With you?
Yes.” Hylan handed her the tools.
“Let’s prep the ingredients together.”
The Boil-Cure Potion was simple.
The key was heat control and timing.
He’d memorized every step while previewing the textbook.
All they needed now was to prepare the materials.
Hylan ground the snake fangs into powder.
Hermione used tweezers to drop slugs into the cauldron for steaming, carefully controlling the flame with her wand.
Once she removed the steamed slugs, Hylan emptied the water and reheated the cauldron.
Meanwhile, Hermione finely chopped the dried nettles and set them aside.
The water in the cauldron soon gave off white steam.
Hylan watched for the right moment and added the snake fang powder and nettles.
He stirred exactly as the textbook instructed.
The nettles and powder dissolved together rapidly.
The potion turned black.
Just then, another plume of green smoke erupted across the room.
Someone shouted, “Look out!”
Several students screamed as the splashing potion burned them.
Snape saw they were Slytherins.
His face darkened further.
Brainless idiots in his own house disgusted him.
If they weren’t Slytherins, he’d have taken points already.
Two accidents in a row.
The remaining students’ nerves were frayed.
Even Hermione started to worry.
They had only one set of ingredients left.
No room for error.
If this failed…
Hermione shook her head, forcing the thoughts away.
She carefully lifted the cauldron from the flame.
“Careful, Hylan.”
“Relax.”
Hylan stared into the cauldron.
An idea sparked.
He didn’t follow the textbook and add the porcupine quills immediately.
“What’s wrong?
The book says to add the quills right away.” Hermione’s voice was urgent.
Hylan counted silently to three.
Then he dropped in two porcupine quills and stirred as the textbook described.
The potion transformed instantly.
A puff of pink smoke rose from the cauldron.
The liquid shifted from thick black to dark green.
“Did it work?” Hermione extinguished the flame and set the cauldron back on its stand.
Hylan flipped through the textbook to the Boil-Cure Potion description.
“Pink smoke, dark green potion.
Looks right.”
[Successfully brewed one perfect Boil-Cure Potion]
[Potions Prodigy: Proficiency +2]
They poured the finished potion into a vial.
Hermione held it up to the light, comparing it against the textbook.
She couldn’t help but gasp.
“We did it!
One try!”
Across the room, Snape had just finished reducing a few more students to tears.
He saw they seemed to be done and strode over, his boots clicking on the stone floor.
He examined the cauldron, still holding traces of the potion.
Brewing a perfect Boil-Cure Potion was trivial for a Potions Master like Snape.
But most first-years had never touched a cauldron before Hogwarts.
Even when they succeeded, the quality was rarely impressive.
Hylan and Hermione had produced a flawless Boil-Cure Potion.
Snape was quietly surprised.
Hermione clutched the vial, nervous.
Since class began, Snape had sent two groups to the hospital wing and made several others cry.
If their potion wasn’t up to standard, they’d get the same treatment.
“Adequate.
Barely acceptable.” Snape looked up and drawled the words with obvious reluctance.
“One point.
Each.”
The students who heard this erupted.
Everyone knew Snape never awarded points to Gryffindors.
Today he’d broken his own rule.
Just one point.
But it shattered precedent.
Another piece of news.
The Slytherins watched Hylan with sour expressions.
They’d hoped Snape would cut him down to size.
They never imagined Hylan had this kind of talent in Potions too.
It stung.
Theodore squeezed deeper into the crowd, trying to make himself less visible.
It didn’t help much.
He was still wearing that very conspicuous pointed hat.
He felt a surge of relief.
Good thing he’d done what Hylan’s note said.
Malfoy glared at Hylan, furious.
His potion was finished too.
But he’d been slower.
Snape barely noticed him.
“Thank you, Professor Snape.” Hylan smiled.
“You two work well together.”
“That was all Hermione.
Her ingredient preparation was flawless.” Hylan pulled Hermione forward.
“I couldn’t have done it without her.”
“No.
We prepped the ingredients together.
And he controlled the heat.” Hermione spoke quickly.
“It wasn’t just me.”
Snape’s gaze shifted from Hylan to Hermione.
His mouth twitched.
He was about to make a cutting remark.
But the words stopped in his throat.
He knew Hermione was a brilliant girl.
Brilliant and hardworking.
Like Lily had been…
Snape clenched his jaw.
His heart seized.
He suddenly realized that, in some ways, Hermione was so much like Lily.
Blood status.
House.
Talent…
Once the thought took root, it spread like Devil’s Snare through his mind.
It wrapped around him, tight.
He couldn’t shake it.
Snape forced his gaze away.
But as his perspective shifted, Hylan and Hermione’s figures crashed back into his vision.
His mind took another, harder hit.
He suddenly saw two other figures standing behind these children.
One was himself.
The other was the person he longed for, the one he could never forget.
Lily and Hermione.
So alike.
Both Muggle-born.
Both brilliant.
Both Gryffindors.
He and Hylan.
So alike.
Both half-bloods.
Both gifted in Potions.
Both Slytherins.
It fit.
It all fit.
His heart was a tangled mess.
He spun around sharply, unable to look at them any longer.
“For your cooperation…
another five points.
Each.” Snape fought to keep his voice level.
He thought: If I’d never said those unforgivable words, Lily and I might have been like Hylan and Hermione are now…
He knew it was impossible.
Still, Snape projected his hope onto them.
The surrounding students were even more bewildered.
In one class, Professor Snape had given Gryffindor six points.
Six!
Everyone in the room shared the same thought: If I tell anyone about this, they’ll think I’ve lost my mind.
“Oh, now they’ll be even more insufferable.” Ron grumbled.
“I really wish he wasn’t my cousin.
Being connected to a Slytherin makes my skin crawl.”
Snape passed by and saw Harry’s face, so like his father’s.
Disgust rose in his throat.
“Mr.
Weasley!
If you have time to chatter, why don’t you use it to brew your potion?” Snape shouted.
“Five points from Gryffindor!”
Well.
Add points, then take them away.
That widened the gap nicely.
Ron had terrible luck.
Sitting next to Harry, badmouthing Hermione.
How could Snape not take it personally?
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