Giant Bat

It was said to be the most unusual Quidditch match in a decade.

First, Slytherin, aiming for their eighth consecutive championship, lost.

They lost to Gryffindor by a score of one hundred seventy to twenty.

To be precise, they lost to Harry Potter.

Because he caught the Golden Snitch first, ending the match while adding a hundred and fifty points to Gryffindor's score.

What had been a tie in points suddenly turned into a crushing blowout.

Second, the Potions professor and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor put on a textbook-worthy demonstration of high-altitude falling for the entire school during that match.

A vivid lesson in how to save yourself if you forget to bring your broomstick midair.

When Professor Snape plummeted headfirst at increasing speed, nearly everyone couldn't help but close their eyes, certain he would smash his skull into the ground.

But unexpectedly, the Potions professor seemed to have rehearsed this upside-down scenario many times.

Midair, he cast a spell on himself called the Deceleration Charm.

In an instant, Professor Snape slowed down.

His loose black robes flapped loudly in the wind, and combined with his inverted posture, he looked exactly like a giant bat.

When he drifted down slowly, adjusted his stance with deliberate grace, and landed on the stands with his robes utterly spotless—

Only then did the stunned students realize what had happened.

The field fell silent for a few seconds, then erupted into thunderous applause.

This was a rare occurrence, because applause on the Quidditch pitch was usually reserved for Quidditch alone. Yet even those who hated Slytherin and Snape the most had to admit that this performance was genuinely elegant.

Compared to Professor Snape, Professor Quirrell's act was far less entertaining.

Because—after Professor Quirrell flew to the highest point, he vanished.

According to his own account in class later, he first managed to leave Hogwarts, then Apparated back to the ground, and finally took the train back to school...

Though taking the train back alone sounded a bit shameful.

It didn't stop the students from becoming even more fascinated with Apparition, that spatial-transportation magic—it might just save their lives someday. Neville Longbottom wholeheartedly agreed.

Though almost everyone thought that aside from the Quidditch match itself, the most exciting part was the two professors' impromptu performance.

From then on, however, the relationship between these two professors seemed to sour.

If before they'd at least greet each other when they met, Now they'd act as if the other didn't exist, walking straight past without a word.

Whenever a student asked about it, Professor Snape would fix them with an icy stare for a few seconds. Once the student buckled under the pressure and looked down, he'd act as if he hadn't heard the question and start talking about Potions homework.

And the usually timid, pitiful Professor Quirrell, upon hearing the same question, would also—rarely—stop stammering and speak firmly.

"You should ask Snape about that," he'd say, and then refuse to utter another word on the subject.

As for what happened when someone actually asked Snape... see above.

"That big bat... uh, I mean Professor Snape," Blaise said with a light cough.

Even though Slytherin losing the Quidditch match was truly disheartening, whenever he recalled that day's scene, he'd picture that figure in loose black robes flying through the sky—it really did look like a giant black bat.

"Who knows," said the sole witness and executor.

By the fireplace, Glenn poured two cups of coffee.

Back when Professor Flitwick taught Wingardium Leviosa (the Levitation Charm for objects), he also mentioned another spell with a very similar effect: Levitation Charm (the Levitation Charm for living things).

The difference was that the former made inanimate objects float, while the latter could make living creatures float.

In that day's lesson, Professor Flitwick required everyone to make a small beetle float to pass.

As for how he managed to send two full-grown men, Snape and Quirrell, flying into the air at once... ahem, no special trick—just raw power.

Of course, the more important factor was that the two professors were locked in a magical duel, their attention entirely on Harry, leaving them completely unguarded against this spell, which was why it succeeded so perfectly.

As for whether this might expose anything—no problem there.

Given Glenn's habit of casting Revelio with every step he took, he had already scanned the entire Quidditch pitch before the match even started.

The headmaster wasn't there.

Among the heads of houses, only the two whose houses were competing—Slytherin and Gryffindor—came to watch.

Professor McGonagall was on the announcer's platform supervising the commentator, while Professor Snape was busy dueling with Professor Quirrell.

As for the rest, there was no need to elaborate.

Under these circumstances, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell could only accuse each other—in their eyes, only the other had the ability to pull this off, and the motive to boot.

Even if Glenn stepped forward and claimed responsibility, no one would believe him.

Besides, compared to one of the two professors daring to attack a student in broad daylight, the flying incident seemed far less significant.

"Speaking of which, does the headmaster know about this?"

"Ah, I think he does." Blaise picked up his coffee from the table and took a sip. "I heard that after the Quidditch match, Dumbledore specially called those two feuding professors in for a talk."

"And the result?"

Blaise shook his head. "No result. Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell's relationship is still as tense as ever."

Hearing this, Glenn picked up his own cup of coffee.

Sometimes, he really wanted to complain about what the hell was going on at Hogwarts.

First, there was the corridor on the fourth floor where people died miserably, then the Troll that appeared in the Underground Classroom, and now a professor who attacked people on the Quidditch pitch.

And he'd tried to bring all of this out into the open, yet they still managed to gloss it over...

Dumbledore wasn't Headmaster Black; he couldn't really be that careless, could he?

Especially since the newspaper had written: "The Greatest White Wizard of All Time, once again giving up the position of Minister of Magic for Hogwarts."

After taking a small sip of his coffee, Glenn calculated the time in his mind.

Speaking of which, this Professor Dumbledore had also been a student at Hogwarts a hundred years ago.

If you factored in the transfer student aspect, he'd probably enrolled about two years after Glenn.

Given how brutal that era was, there was no way he could be this naive.

On the other side, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were about to finish their Potions class.

In the past, this was definitely one of the most difficult and torturous courses.

Of course, it still was now.

But there was one difference: ever since that Quidditch match, Professor Snape had earned a rather fitting and teasing nickname in their minds—the Big Bat.

When Professor Snape walked into the classroom, with his ever-present black floor-length robes, he moved exactly like a bat spreading its wings.

It made students who used to tremble at the mere mention of Snape's name take a second look, and then couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In a way, it had somewhat reduced the fear Snape instilled in his students.

Snape swept a cold glance over the students below the podium.

"In my class, there is no room for laughter."

His voice rang out in the classroom, carrying an unyielding, forceful tone.

"Don't think I don't know what you say behind my back. If you want, feel free to go give some stuttering professor a nickname in his class, but in my class..." He didn't finish the sentence, but swept his dangerous gaze over the students once more.

This time, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students lowered their heads, not daring to meet the angry professor's eyes directly.

However, Snape wasn't about to let it go—he intended to put these lazy lot in their place.

"Recently, an outstanding student emerged from Slytherin. He successfully brewed a bottle of Invigoration Draught," Snape said coldly. "Since that's the case, I believe you can certainly do the same."

With that, he turned and began writing on the blackboard.

Half an hour later, he turned back and said, "That should be enough. I think even the most foolish person should be able to understand the steps I just explained."

Judging by the bewildered looks on the students' faces, it was clear that the vast majority hadn't understood a single word.

Ernie and Anthony, students from different houses, exchanged a glance and began a silent conversation.

"You know how?"

"No. You?"

"No, either."

"..."

It was proven that understanding Snape's lecture without previewing the corresponding material beforehand was an extremely difficult task.

But despite that, they had no choice but to steel themselves and walk over to where the ingredients were stored to start preparing.

"Second row on the left, third column, contains the Horklump Juice. Next to it is a sufficient amount of White Fresh," Snape continued. "Don't get your hopes up. The school only has this last cabinet of Horklump Juice—in other words, you only have one chance in this class."

Hearing this, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students grew even more anxious.

If they could, they would have started wailing and cursing the old bat.

But there was no "if."

Ernie and Anthony could only exchange bitter smiles, then step forward as representatives to the cabinet holding the ingredients and open the one containing the Horklump Juice.

But the next moment, they exchanged an incredulous look.

It was empty!