Return of the Essence of Dittany

The next day was Harry's debut as Seeker on the Quidditch pitch. The weather was also cooperative, a rare sunny day with no clouds and perfect sunshine.

However, Harry's mood was far from bright. He smelled the aroma of roasted sausages but felt like his stomach was weighed down by a heavy stone. His fork swirled around in the mashed potatoes but never made it to his mouth.

"You need to eat something, Harry," Hermione urged.

"I can't."

"Mate, you've got to eat," Ron grabbed a chicken leg, slathered it with mashed potatoes, and shoved it down Harry's throat. "Being a Seeker isn't easy, everyone's watching you!"

"Gck gck gck--" Harry, choked, rolled his eyes and pushed him away.

Ron plopped down on the bench, a series of question marks appearing on his face. "Hey, you didn't have this attitude when Eliana was like this yesterday!"

"Shut up, Ron," Harry's ears turned bright red. He secretly glanced from the corner of his eye; Eliana was eating while looking worriedly towards the staff table, completely oblivious to their commotion.

He breathed a sigh of relief, yet felt a strange sense of loss, and chewed the chicken leg in his mouth fiercely.

You know, after that distraction, his appetite actually improved quite a bit.

He stuffed two more slices of toast into his mouth and was struggling to chew when he suddenly heard a soft gasp from around him, as if they were suddenly in a nest of snakes.

Eliana suddenly appeared extremely close to his left side—so fast it was as if she had learned apparition again these past few days—with a brilliant smile on her face.

"Oh, Eliana," Harry choked on his own food, hastily swallowing the bread, and said with surprise, "Thank you for your encouragement. I'll try my best in the match, I'm not nervous."

Eliana tilted her head, looking at him inexplicably. Before Harry could figure out what she meant, he heard a soft, familiar, chilling voice from his other side:

"I should think so."

Harry looked up in horror, meeting Snape's expressionless face. "After all, you're not even afraid of a troll, what could a little Quidditch possibly be to you?"

He slightly curved his lips, forming a seemingly mocking arc. "Good luck—even if your opponent is Slytherin."

Harry shivered on the spot.

Snape ignored him and strode towards the hall exit, tossing back without looking, "Rich, come here."

"Coming--"

Harry watched Eliana leap from the bench and chase after the large black flag like a happy little rabbit.

"Did he specifically come over to mock you?"

"What did he want with Eliana?"

Harry and Ron's voices sounded at the same time.

Ron wrinkled his nose and turned to Harry, his face looking constipated.

"Worry about yourself, mate," he said with feigned pain, "Stop thinking about Eliana, you're about to play!"

"What Angelina?" Wood, with a stern face, walked over hurriedly. "Yes, Angelina, our excellent Chaser, is about to play—we're going to win today! Harry, come with me."

Harry sprang from his seat like a javelin and stumbled after him.

Ron grimaced, watching them go. "Was that the captain just now? Is his hearing like that? No, our Gryffindor Quidditch team..."

He wrestled with his thoughts, eventually using all his emotional intelligence to squeeze out one sentence: "This is not how I imagined it."

He mumbled, "I think I could do it too."

He seemed to imagine himself as the Quidditch captain, holding a chicken leg like the Quidditch Cup, with a foolish, dreamlike smile on his face.

Hermione let out an exasperated puff of air through her nose.

Fortunately, she didn't have to face the chatterbox fool alone for long. Soon, Eliana came bouncing back.

"What did Professor Snape want with you?"

Eliana proudly pulled something out, her small, exposed canine teeth vividly displayed in her owner's show-off. "He gave me this!"

It was a dark purple potion bottle with a round belly, tightly stoppered with a cork. The liquid inside, of an unidentifiable color, filled it to the brim.

"I knew why he wished Harry good luck—did he ask you to drug Harry?" Ron snapped back to attention, maliciously deducing.

"Good heavens, so much potion, he wants to poison Harry!" He turned to Eliana urgently, "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

Hoo—

Eliana took a deep breath, and the expression on her face suddenly fell.

"Don't make me slap you at my happiest moment, Weasley," she gritted out through her teeth. "This is Essence of Dittany!"

"Essence of what?"

"Good heavens, Ron, don't you read your textbooks? One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi mentions it," Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. "Essence of Dittany, a potion extracted from the Dittany plant, which can quickly heal wounds."

She paused. "Well, it's quite expensive."

Eliana finally enjoyed the pleasure of her prized possession being recognized. The corners of her mouth, which had been held tight, uncontrollably curved upwards.

Ron's eyes immediately filled with envy.

"Why would Snape give you this?" His eyes were practically glued to the bottle.

Eliana carefully put the bottle away. "He just gave it to me."

She recalled Snape tossing it over with the bottle, saying, "I don't need students' things," and automatically filtered and processed it in her mind.

"He was worried I'd run out of mine," she said with feigned seriousness.