Half-Blood Prince

Pomona did not know what other families were like, but the Dumbledores were truly noisy.

Slytherin placed great importance on table manners, but whenever Gryffindor—or, more precisely, Sirius Black—appeared, Bellatrix Black would be the first to start making snide remarks. From something as serious as a parent going bankrupt to something as trivial as wetting the bed as a child, she could bring up anything. Gryffindor naturally refused to back down, and insults and prank-like spells flew back and forth across the dining table, leaving the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables caught between them to suffer for no reason.

For heaven's sake, this was the first breakfast on the first day of term!

The moment Pomona saw the chaos in the Great Hall, she lost all appetite to eat there. She grabbed a few peanut butter sandwiches and planned to find somewhere quiet to eat. Others had the same idea. At the other end of the corridor, Lily Evans and Snape were having breakfast while talking.

The sight of a Slytherin and a Gryffindor getting along peacefully made the brawl Pomona had just witnessed in the Great Hall feel like something from another lifetime.

Lily and Snape, who had come from the Muggle world, did not care about House divisions, but the hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin was a tradition. Pomona did not know how long their friendship could last.

"Look, a lone little hamster."

Someone spoke behind her. When she turned around, she found a group of older Ravenclaw girls, their contempt completely undisguised.

Everyone had their own enemies. Justice opposed evil, intelligence opposed ignorance, and Ravenclaws, proud as eagles, always looked down on Hufflepuff students.

These passing Ravenclaw students treated Pomona like a little hamster, clearly believing themselves to be wise owls. They circled her once, looked her up and down, then left with scornful smiles. Pomona could not help letting out a breath of relief.

"Pomona!" Lily waved at her from a distance, seemingly inviting her to join them for breakfast.

Pomona did not think joining this combination, which could fall apart at any moment, was a good idea. The wisest choice would have been to return to the Great Hall and stay with the other Hufflepuffs, but leaving directly seemed impolite, so she went over with her peanut butter sandwiches.

Snape clearly did not want anyone interrupting his time alone with Lily. His gaze stabbed at Pomona's face like a sword. As she looked away, she happened to notice a broom lying beside Lily.

"Is Flying Class your first lesson?"

"How did you know?" Lily was astonished.

Honestly, anyone who saw a flying broom would not assume someone planned to ride it in circles around a Potions classroom. Pomona turned to Snape. "Slytherin isn't taking it with you?"

"Could you be any stupider, Martin?" Snape hissed like a snake.

Snape looked rather thin and terribly pale, clearly not the athletic type. Pomona guessed that if he attended Flying Class, he would make an absolute fool of himself. For someone with such pride, that would be a stain on his life.

"You're not planning to skip your first lesson, are you?"

Lily and Snape both widened their eyes.

"Of course not!" Lily said instinctively. "It's the first lesson!"

Snape silently bit into his apple pie.

"As Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Pomona said dryly. She truly had not expected Snape to be so bold as to skip class during the very first lesson of term.

"You've read Sherlock Holmes too?" Lily was delighted at first, but then her expression changed. "Wait, Severus, you really are planning to skip class!?"

"I'm not skipping. I'm taking Potions with the third-years," Snape said coldly. "Professor Slughorn already got me excused."

"You haven't even taken first-year Potions yet!" Lily grew even angrier, clearly thinking Snape was lying to her.

"Are you pure-blood or half-blood?" Pomona asked bluntly. She had heard a little about Professor Slughorn. He was a typical Slytherin who put profit first and liked associating with celebrities, successful people, and important figures. He also had a knack for noticing students with special talents, which was why he had founded a club called the Slug Club. Pete, with his ordinary aptitude, had naturally never been invited, but that had not stopped him from hearing about it.

"Half-blood," Snape answered Pomona's question, though his eyes remained on Lily. "My mother was a witch."

"What was her surname?"

"Prince."

Everything was explained. The Prince family was a very famous Potions family. Yet that surname meant nothing at all to Lily. Pomona felt a little sorry for Snape, because Lily simply did not understand what the boy before her was doing.

"Why were you walking by the lake with Dumbledore, Martin?" Snape shifted his gaze to Pomona. Unlike the gentleness in his voice when he spoke to Lily, his tone was full of interrogation.

"He invited me." Pomona planned to leave. "My first lesson is Transfiguration. I'm going now, Lily."

"Why would the headmaster invite a first-year student?" Snape said with a mocking smile. "What are your real intentions?"

Pomona knew Slytherins were highly suspicious, but she had not expected them to be this suspicious.

For heaven's sake, she was only eleven. Other than tricking Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans out of their pockets, how much ill intent could she possibly have?

"Mr. Snape, perhaps you have exceptional talent in Potions, but you truly have serious problems when it comes to dealing with people." Pomona rarely lost her temper with anyone, but she was genuinely angry. "The world is not as terrible as you think. You could be more sincere with people."

Snape's response was utter disdain. He grabbed his schoolbag, rose to his feet, and said, "Come on, Lily."

But Lily did not stand up with Snape.

She picked up her flying broom and linked arms with Pomona, then left Snape behind without looking back, like a train racing at full speed.

"Come on, Pomona. Let's go somewhere else."

Pomona was baffled. Snape standing alone in the corridor looked terribly pitiful, but Lily when she was angry was even more frightening. They quickly left the corridor and arrived at the grass in the courtyard. It had begun to rain, so Lily's first Flying Class would probably become an indoor lesson.

"I heard that everyone sorted into Slytherin is bad to the core. Is that true, Pomona?" Lily's green eyes and red hair made her look beautiful, but Pomona felt that she looked like an enraged lioness right now.

"You heard that? From who? Gryffindors?" Pomona took out one of her peanut butter sandwiches, broke it in half, and gave one half to Lily. "Do you want some?"

"Answer my question!" Lily was so angry she nearly stamped her feet.

"Don't mind what other people say. You have to find the answer yourself." Pomona bit into her breakfast as she spoke. "Lots of people say Hufflepuffs are stupid. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Lily glared at Pomona for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"What is it?"

"You said Severus was talented just now?"

"If he really is half Prince, then yes." Pomona nodded firmly.

"Maybe the Sorting Hat put him in Slytherin not because he's bad to the core, but because he's talented." Lily spoke hesitantly. "Slytherin only accepts powerful people."

"That doesn't rule out the possibility that he really is bad to the core," Pomona reminded Lily. "People are changed by their environment."

"Then can't the Sorting Hat sort him again?" Lily asked innocently. "Maybe it made a mistake."

"Merlin's beard, since the founding of the school, I've never heard of anyone being able to change Houses!"

"Really not?"

"Of course not!" Pomona saw other students heading to Flying Class arriving one after another, so she waved goodbye to Lily. "Goodbye, Lily. I'm going to be late!"

Pomona could not help complaining to herself. She had clearly been the earliest person in all of Hufflepuff to get up, so why was she the one who was going to be late?