Aftermath of the Duel

The weather in March is getting warmer.

"Easter Holiday countdown: two days left..."

Loren, carrying his Potions Master textbook, and Hermione shoved each other as they entered the Dungeon Classroom.

Today is Thursday, Dueling Club took place last night. Once this week ends on Friday, the Easter Holiday will officially begin. Although the young wizards aren't allowed to leave school Easter Holiday, the days without classes are always something to look forward to.

Professor Black is still lying in the Hospital Wing receiving treatment. Although he was not dissected by the Sectumsempra, he was hit by multiple Repelling Charm stacked with a powerful Repelling Charm, and finally crashed into the solid wall of the Great Hall. It is said that many of his bones were almost shattered into dust.

The injury wasn't fatal for the wizard, but it was a bit troublesome to treat. Because he was injured in his Animagus form, after transforming back into human form, bone fragments were stuck in all sorts of tricky places.

Fortunately, Snape won the duel unscathed; otherwise, the Potions Master would be lying in the Hospital Wing right now, and the class would be canceled.

This is a practical lesson where they need to work in groups to prepare Swelling Solution.

Add 2 tablespoons of Dried Nettles and 3 portions of Puffer Fish Eyes to a mortar and grind into a medium-fine powder.

Add the powdered mixture to the crucible and heat at a moderate temperature for 20 seconds.

Wave your wand to activate the Magic Power in the herbs, then add dew collected last autumn and simmer for 60 minutes (depending on the type of crucible).

Add 1 part Bat Spleen and stir counterclockwise 4 times.

After heating at a low temperature for 30 seconds, wave the wand to gather the Magic Power, and the potion is complete.

The process was somewhat tedious, but not difficult. The young wizards chatted in twos and threes around the cauldron, their topic naturally being the Dueling Club from the previous night.

"Professor Snape's casting speed is so fast!"

"That's right, that's right."

"Even compared to Professor Flitwick, Charms, he's no worse."

It wasn't just the young wizards of Slytherin House who thought so; after witnessing last night's battle, many of the Gryffindor lion cubs also acknowledged Professor Snape's strength.

Loren, Seamus, Dean, and the others talked about the exciting moments of the previous night, discussing topics such as controlling the pace of the battle and dealing with spells.

Loren did most of the talking, while Seamus and Dean nodded.

"Although Professor Snape looks malnourished and weak, he is surprisingly efficient in combat."

"That final barrage of spells was pretty cool..."

"My impression of him has changed a bit."

Hearing these comments, Harry felt indignant on Sirius Black's behalf and couldn't help but retort, "Sirius Black was just careless for a moment; he almost pounced on that old bat!"

"Tch!" Draco scoffed. "Come on, don't forget what Professor Flitwick said in his post-duel critique: that was just a reckless struggle. If Professor Snape had replaced the Repelling Charm with another powerful spell, Professor Black Dog wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed right now, he'd be in a coffin."

This time, Draco wasn't saying this to fit in; he genuinely disliked Sirius Black and Harry's belittling of their own Head of House.

In the next few minutes, Harry transformed into a master of verbal sparring, exchanging insults with several Slytherin all by himself. Ron and Seamus tried to help, but with Snape having won the duel, it was difficult for him to retaliate, and he was quickly silenced by the barrage of insults.

Only Harry remained steadfast. He had essentially lost his mind in his efforts to protect Sirius Black.

Ron offered a couple of words of advice, but Harry completely ignored them, engrossed in his debate with the other side.

Hermione tugged at Harry's sleeve, but he didn't notice at all, his eyes only on refuting the other side.

Seeing Loren watching the commotion with amusement, Hermione nudged his arm. "Aren't we going to stop him?"

Loren smiled and shrugged, "Why stop us? As long as we don't fight, it's fine if we exchange a few insults."

"..."

Hermione felt that there must be something wrong with her thinking, that she actually thought this person's words made some sense.

They keep calling each other "old bat" and "stinky black dog," these Hogwarts students swear like street thugs.

Harry was gradually losing ground and realized he couldn't win the argument, so he immediately threatened, "What's the point of talking here? Next Dueling Club, I want to fight you one-on-one, Malfoy! Do you dare?"

In fact, according to Lucius's instructions to Draco, he should refuse such attention-grabbing behavior, but the atmosphere had already reached a point where Draco himself wanted to fight him.

"Then it's set for the next Dueling Club!"

Draco raised his chin high. "I hope you won't end up like your Black Dog Godfather, refusing to admit defeat after losing!"

Harry felt another surge of anger, and the curse word "old bat" slipped out of his mouth.

The Dungeon Classroom fell silent only when Snape's hard-soled leather shoes clattered. Snape walked in through the door, his face expressionless.

The young Gryffindor wizards all lowered their heads, not daring to look Snape in the eye. They could hear footsteps, which meant Snape could hear the shouting and cursing in the classroom, not to mention that the shouting and cursing were much louder than the footsteps.

Loren was an exception; he looked intently at Snape, not only to confirm that he was not injured, but also to observe his mental state.

He knew a little about the feud between Snape and Sirius Black. Last night on stage, the Sectumsempra was just a hand away from being unleashed, but the professor ultimately restrained his killing intent.

His hair was still just as oily, and his gait and movements were normal; he wasn't limping.

This means that there was indeed no injury.

His face was expressionless, and his eyes were indifferent.

He looked the same as usual, even his dark circles were lighter than usual. It seems that giving Sirius Black a good scolding had improved the professor's sleep.

Hermione, standing beside her, lowered her head, fiddling with her slender white fingers, silently calculating Gryffindor's House Cup score in her mind.

Slytherin were initially leading by 50 points, but they gained 300 points through the Basilisk Incident, bringing the difference to 250. During this time, Professor Snape used unfair means to narrow the gap to 200.

If Slytherin wins the Quidditch Championship, Professor Snape will maintain his previous average deduction, plus Harry's deduction.

"..."

Hermione's brows furrowed slightly, and she let out a barely perceptible sigh.

Now all we can hope for is that Slytherin will lose at Quidditch.

In contrast, the Slytherin wizards looked on with delight, their eyes filled with anticipation as they gazed at Snape.

"Harry Potter," Snape pronounced his name in a strange tone, "Let's take stock: trolls, Quirrell, Basilisk ... You think you've accomplished something extraordinary, don't you?"

"I didn't, sir," Harry said.

Snape curled his lip in disdain. "You think you deserve this so-called fame, don't you?"

"I said, I didn't, sir," Harry emphasized.

"In the last lesson, I explained the entire process of making the Swelling Solution to you," Snape asked casually. "Potter! Tell me, what ingredients are needed to make the Swelling Solution?"

There was a stir among the young wizards; they seemed to have seen this scene before, vaguely recalling that their first Potions class in their first year was also like this.

"Bat Spleen, Puffer Fish Eyes— "

Harry started stammering, his mind racing. What was the other ingredient again?

Hermione and Ron whispered a reminder to him, but due to Snape's authority, their voices were too soft for Harry to hear.

Snape scoffed and continued, "What were the purposes of waving your wand twice during the brewing process?"

Having absolutely no recollection of this, Harry simply confessed, "I don't know, sir."

Harry was definitely going to lose points and get a scolding, so he gave up struggling and stared at Snape with a smug look.

Ask me anything, the sooner it ends, the sooner I'll be free.

Snape suddenly fell silent, gave him a deep look, and said lightly, "Potter, for insulting a teacher, Gryffindor has been deducted 50 points."

He suddenly turned to Draco: "Malfoy, tell him the answer to the question you just asked."

Draco raised an eyebrow, a smug smile spreading across his face. "The ingredients needed for the Swelling Solution are: Dried Nettles, Puffer Fish Eyes, and Bat Spleen. The two wand swings are to Magic Power and deactivate the Magic Power."

"Excellent answer, Slytherin adds 5 points for this."

Hermione looked distressed, her brows furrowed tightly.

Gryffindor -50, Slytherin +5, bringing the score within 55 points.

In the next class, Hermione kept a close eye on Harry, making sure he wasn't caught doing anything wrong again.

"Stop looking." Loren reached out and turned Hermione's head back to its normal position. "Quickly grind these Dried Nettles into a fine powder."

Her face was fair and tender, Loren couldn't resist pinching it; it was incredibly elastic.

"Oh oh."

Hermione snapped out of her reverie and placed the Dried Nettles into the mortar. The quick-witted little Witch realized this wasn't the process described in the book, and she asked in confusion:

"The book says to grind Dried Nettles and Puffer Fish Eyes together, and it should be a medium-fine powder, not a fine powder."

Loren was grinding pufferfish with another mortar and pestle. "Dried Nettles into a fine powder, and grind the Puffer Fish Eyes into a medium-fine powder. This will allow the Puffer Fish Eyes to better absorb the Dried Nettles, resulting in a more effective medicine."

"Then why not grind them all into a fine powder?"

"When dew is added, the fine powdery Puffer Fish Eyes will float up."

"Oh!"

Hermione nodded as if she understood, completely unaware of the finger marks on her face.

The fruitwood charcoal used to fire the crucible was jet black and extremely fine; even fingerprints were clearly visible on it.

On the other hand, Harry's Swelling Solution was boiled too diluted.

Fifty points is a lot of points, but insulting the professor deserves such a severe deduction. Harry felt extremely uncomfortable and guilty.

As Snape repeatedly stopped to mock his bland soup, Harry prayed silently that he wouldn't lose any more points because of it.

Harry was actually relieved when Snape turned around to pick a fight with Neville.

Now I feel even more guilty.

After class, while everyone was watching Hermione draw a pufferfish on Loren's face with charcoal, Harry quietly slipped away.

Harry climbed up to the Second Floor in one breath, pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing, and after being given some instructions by Madam Pomfrey, met Sirius Black.

His chest was wrapped in bandages, and he wore a white neck brace. He was struggling to sip water from a cup.

"Let me help you, Sirius Black!" Harry quickly went over, took the cup, and fed him water.

Sirius Black wanted to scratch his head, but the bandages wouldn't allow him to. He said, slightly embarrassed, "Actually, I'm not thirsty, it's just that the ward is so boring, I'm treating this as a game."

"..."

That was indeed something he was capable of doing. Harry glanced at him silently and put the cup back on the bedside table. "Did Madam Pomfrey say anything about your health?"

Sirius Black grinned twice. "It's nothing serious, just some time spent finding bone fragments in the muscle. Now I just need to wait for them to heal. I can be discharged tomorrow and give you a Defense Against the Dark Arts before the holidays."

Knowing he was alright, Harry put aside his worries and instead began to complain about Snape:

"That old bat went too far! This was just a demonstration of a duel between professors, and he used such a heavy hand."

Harry was indignant. "He deducted 50 points from my score today, and now I don't dare to face my classmates."

Sirius Black's smile faded, and his expression became very unnatural. He said somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, strictly speaking, I was more at fault. I shouldn't have provoked him with that spell."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, puzzled. "Isn't it normal to provoke your opponent in a duel and make them lose their temper?"

"Harry, this is a complicated matter, and I can't explain it to you clearly. Anyway, after I calmed down, I realized that I was wrong."

"Why?" Harry was even more confused.

"This goes back a long time, back when I was a fool. I, and your father James, used that spell on Snape and did something unforgivable."

Hearing James's name, Harry's heart leaped, and he asked, "What unforgivable thing?"

"I can't tell you, at least I don't want to tell you now."

"Although Snape was an annoying Snivellus, I still hate him now, and for a long time I even thought he deserved it."

"But on that one matter, even if Snape used the Killing Curse on me, I would have thought it was normal." Sirius Black paused for a moment. "I would have found it strange that he didn't use any evil curse on me."

Harry couldn't accept that his own father and godfather had done things to Snape: "You did things to him! So that's why he's been targeting me?"

"No one wronged anyone," Sirius Black retorted. "I admit, James and I went too far back then, and even Remus was always ashamed of us. But Snape also seized every opportunity to cast curses on us—"

"If the four of us hadn't always been together, we would be the ones suffering."

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, almost finishing the long string of words in one breath. After he finished, he leaned against the headboard, panting, and it took him a long time to calm down.

After a moment of silence, Sirius Black said, "Like I just said, we were all idiots back then."