Although Vizet helped ease things along, over the next week, Harry, Draco, and Cedric could still feel an invisible pressure.
All three of them were becoming more popular. As they walked through the corridors, they would receive words of encouragement from time to time;
Not just encouragement from students in every year of their own houses, but also from students of the other houses;
Harry and the others could faintly sense that the identity of "Hogwarts Champion" seemed to have become some kind of bond, drawing the four houses closer together;
And it was precisely because of that that they felt pressure. Once the first task began, if one of them made a mistake, it might ruin that relationship.
Ron was making his own sandwich. He stuffed bacon and sausage between the bread, then drizzled a spoonful of gravy over it. "Think about Snape more..."
"It really isn't that bad. Even if something goes wrong when the time comes, I don't think much will happen... The most likely consequence is just going back to how things were before, right?"
"Actually, we don't even have to go back to how things were before. Like I said..." He took a fierce bite of his homemade sandwich and said indistinctly, "Think about it. Has Snape changed at all lately?"
Although Ron's comfort was a little casual, Harry thought it made a lot of sense and couldn't help nodding in agreement.
Ron was absolutely right. Snape really had not changed at all. He still liked to pick out flaws in the potions Harry brewed, then deduct points harshly;
The reason Ron knew it so clearly was that, as Harry's desk mate, after Snape deducted Harry's points, he would use the line "Why did you not remind Mr. Potter?" to deduct Ron's points too.
Harry