Harry and Ron finally saw Eliana just as the lunch food was about to vanish from the plates.
“Hey, mate, it’s not easy getting a glimpse of you,” Ron said, his mouth stuffed with drumstick as he spoke indistinctly.
“Wait, wait, hold on.” Eliana dropped into a seat at the dining table and hastily served herself two steaks, a lamb chop, and a huge heap of pea shoots.
She gulped down a large mouthful of pumpkin juice to catch her breath before finding the energy to reply.
“What’s up?” Ron nudged Harry with his elbow.
“Hey, weren’t you the one who wanted to ask?
She’s right in front of you now.” Eliana took a bite of steak and turned her gaze toward Harry.
Her eyes were beautiful—the black pupils resembled obsidian under sunlight, gazing at him without blinking, as if staring joyfully at a prized treasure.
“Well,” Harry said, feeling a bit self-conscious under her intense stare, stuttering slightly, “Hagrid invited me over to his hut for tea this afternoon.
Do you want to come with me?” “This afternoon?” Eliana swallowed her food and shook her head regretfully.
“Sorry, Harry, I can’t.
I have class.” “Huh?
I thought we didn’t have classes this afternoon?
Did I miss something?!” Ron scrambled to pull out his timetable.
“Wait, no, we definitely don’t have class.” He let out a huge sigh of relief, then looked at her suspiciously.
“Oh, no, I’m going to take the Potions class again with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
They have Potions this afternoon.” “WHAT??!!” “I only got an E in Potions, so I need to patch up my weaknesses.
There’s no helping it—I only just got into Potions recently, so practicing on my own without a professor watching is too risky.
Just look at Longbottom.
Luckily, Professor Snape is very nice, and he agreed.” “An E?
Patching up weaknesses??” “Snape…
is VERY NICE???” A chorus of shocked exclamations burst from the two boys’ throats.
They looked as if they had been struck by lightning.
Boys this age were always making a fuss over nothing.
Eliana shook her head maturely and fed herself a spoonful of pea shoots.
She wasn’t sure where the habit came from, but she always felt every meal needed some green vegetables to be healthy.
Ron’s open mouth looked wide enough to fit a chicken drumstick vertically.
After a long moment, he finally recovered his senses.
“Did you forget he docked points from you in class?
Did Snape poison your food while you were cleaning…
Ouch!” Eliana swatted his head with a plate.
“Don’t speak about Professor Snape like that!
I was standing on the podium back then, so it was indeed my fault.
It’s completely normal for brilliant people to have a bit of a temper!” She stuffed the last piece of steak into her mouth, snatched a treacle tart from the table, and huffed off angrily.
Leaving behind two stunned boys staring at each other.
Ron rubbed his red forehead and muttered, “Brilliant people have tempers…
Well, she’s got a point there.
Looks to me like she’s got quite a temper herself.” However, he quickly tossed the thought to the back of his mind.
“Hey, I’ve never been to Hagrid’s hut before.
When are we heading out?” Eliana didn’t head back to the Gryffindor common room.
Instead, she found an empty classroom near the Potions dungeon to practice Transfiguration by herself.
Through a week of practice, her Transfiguration had improved significantly.
She was already able to turn a stone into a crude little house.
It was a bit *too* crude—like something built by a caveman who had just learned how to use his hands—but hey, it had a roof and walls!
How was that not progress?
At this rate, by Thanksgiving at the latest, she would be able to carve exquisite micro-sculptures like the ones she saw in Chinatown.
By then, this year’s walnuts would be in season.
If she asked the kitchen for two free walnuts every day to transfigure, she’d have fifty or sixty by the Christmas holidays, and then she could bring them all to London to sell!
It was a brilliant, zero-cost, high-profit business plan!
Ah, how could there be someone as smart as her in this world?
Eliana hugged herself in sheer self-delusion, her mental abacus clicking away furiously.
Right, she needed to find time to locate the kitchens.
Eliana added this to her to-do list.
After finishing her Transfiguration practice, she napped on a desk in the classroom for a bit.
When she woke up, it was already 1:55 PM.
Fortunately, the Potions classroom was right next door, so she wasn’t in much of a rush.
With five minutes left until class, the classroom was already packed.
It seemed Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students weren’t used to arriving at the last second.
Since she was crashing someone else’s class, she needed to know her place.
Eliana slunk in slyly and picked a corner seat—even though the seat in the front row right in front of Snape was still empty.
She glanced regretfully at that prime spot, then set up her cauldron.
Snape at the podium paid her no attention.
The familiar pre-class lecture (still thrilling to hear a second time), the familiar practical segment…
Eliana pulled out the notes she took that morning along with Snape’s suggestions, reviewed them, and set to work with confidence.
This time, the results were excellent.
The potion was clear and transparent, radiating a beautiful sky-blue hue tinged with green, just as the textbook described.
Elated, she poured the potion into a bottle, held it up, and turned toward Snape.
Snape let out a cold scoff.
Before he could speak, the familiar hissing sound echoed through the classroom once more, accompanied by thick green smoke, followed by— “BOOM!!!” The familiar sizzle of corroding floorboards, along with familiar screams and wails.
Eliana leaped onto her desk in a flash once again, only to see Snape—whose complexion had been decent just a moment ago—instantly fly into a rage.
“Every single year!
Every single class!
Always filled with the exact same fools!!” “Mr.
Finlay, perhaps you would care to open whatever is clogging your eyes and look at the blackboard?
Did I not write explicitly: ‘Take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills’?!
I even highlighted it specifically because of Mr.
Longbottom, who was just as foolish as you this morning!” Eliana felt as though she were looking at a venomous snake frantically spitting venom in fury.
Then came the familiar sequence of events: sending the student to the hospital wing, cleaning up the mess, and deducting points.
For some reason, looking at Snape’s face as it reverted to a deadpan expression, Eliana felt that he had a rather tragic life.
When class ended, the shaken little Ravens and Badgers filed out of the dungeon classroom.
Eliana held up her potion bottle and hurried over.
“Professor Snape, can I get an O for this bottle?” “Miss Ritchie, if you cannot even brew a simple Cure for Boils properly after taking the class twice, you need not come in for the next lesson—go to the Hospital Wing with Mr.
Longbottom to have your brain examined.” Snape spat venom out of habit, but Eliana saw him draw a clear ‘O’ on her name label.
“However, your official class score remains an E,” he said icily.
Eliana nodded understandingly—after all, this was her second time taking the class.
Grading her based on this attempt wouldn’t be fair to others.
Besides, Eliana wasn’t keen on taking first place through a shortcut anyway.
Her ‘E’ was already the top score in her class—only Hermione and Malfoy had matched her.
“The Potions classroom does not serve dinner.
How much longer do you intend to stand there daydreaming?” Snape said impatiently.
Eliana grinned and held up her rag.
“Professor, let me help you clean up!
Thank you for taking extra time to teach me!” In the end, Eliana didn’t clean the whole classroom with a rag.
Fifteen minutes later, she walked out of the classroom, armed with a newly learned spell: *Scourgify*.
—See, she told them Professor Snape was actually a very nice person!