Cassandra's Fury

After thanking Snape, Wentworth walked over to the pile of old books and began to search through them carefully. Soon, his eyes lit up; he picked up an old textbook and walked over to Snape.

"Professor Snape, I'll take this one."

Snape didn't even look up as he replied:

"I hope you don't ruin this book as well. Remember to come find me after dinner!"

Wentworth quickly agreed, then jogged out of the Potions classroom.

Stepping outside, he saw that the Slytherin first-years were already long gone, while the Hufflepuff first-years were still waiting outside the classroom door.

Seeing Wentworth emerge, they immediately crowded around him, asking questions all at once. Wentworth had no choice but to deflect:

"Oh, it's nothing. I just had some questions about the potion, so I stayed behind to ask Professor Snape."

As soon as Wentworth finished speaking, the worried expressions on the Hufflepuff students' faces vanished, instantly replaced by looks of admiration. Some even silently gave him a thumbs-up or patted him on the shoulder.

"Wentworth, I respect you as a real man!"

Just then, Snape's voice rang out from behind them:

"If you don't want to leave, you can all come back inside!"

The Hufflepuff first-years fled in a panic.

Wentworth turned around, bowed to Professor Snape, and then turned to leave. Following behind the other students, he took the opportunity to open the old textbook he had borrowed from the Potions classroom.

On the inside cover of the book, a name was clearly written—The Half-Blood Prince!

Confirming he hadn't taken the wrong one, a confident smile tugged at the corner of Wentworth's mouth.

Suddenly, someone slapped him hard on the back, giving him a fright. Wentworth quickly tucked the old textbook away and looked back to see Cedric.

"Hey, how was Potions? Professor Snape didn't give you a hard time, did he?"

Seeing it was Cedric, Wentworth finally relaxed and shrugged, saying:

"How could he not? He docked me five points!"

Cedric waved it off dismissively:

"That's nothing. I thought he'd take at least thirty. Five points? That's just standard procedure; no one will blame you! By the way, what reason did Snape give for docking the points?"

Wentworth gave a bitter laugh and said:

"He said I was flirting with Cassandra during class... it's absolute madness!"

Cedric stared at Wentworth with a blank expression. After a long moment, a burst of hearty laughter erupted from him.

Cedric laughed harder and harder until he saw Wentworth's face darken. He quickly stifled his laughter and asked, suppressing a grin:

"Seriously, is there actually something going on between you and Cassandra? On the Hogwarts Express, I felt like the two of you had a strange connection!"

Wentworth quickly denied it:

"How could that be! I like tall girls with big butts!"

No sooner had the words left Wentworth's mouth than a voice filled with shame and anger came from behind them before Cedric could even respond:

"Wentworth, you are shameless!"

The two turned around in surprise to see Cassandra. Wentworth's face immediately fell. Just as he was about to explain, he heard Cassandra leave him with one final remark:

"You just wait!"

With that, Cassandra stormed past them without looking back and disappeared from their sight.

Watching Cassandra leave, Wentworth and Cedric looked at each other in bewilderment. After a long while, Wentworth finally said:

"Actually, she still has a lot of room to grow. There's an old saying in the East: a girl changes eighteen times before she's grown!"

Cedric replied with a helpless look:

"Do you really think that's what she's angry about?"

"Trust me, absolutely!"

Afterward, the two headed to the Great Hall for dinner.

When Wentworth and Cedric appeared in the Great Hall and walked toward the Hufflepuff table, many people greeted Wentworth with friendly faces, which left him feeling somewhat flattered.

After Wentworth sat down, people kept coming up to ask if he planned to host another hot pot party soon. It wasn't until Wentworth promised repeatedly that he would notify them in advance next time that they finally left him alone.

On the other side, Cassandra watched Wentworth, who was surrounded by a crowd, and gritted her teeth in secret.

"Cassandra, you don't look so good. What happened?"

Just then, the Slytherin prefect, Vane, walked over and asked with a show of concern.

Since the start of the new term, Vane had approached Cassandra more than once. Other Slytherin students, seeing this, were sensible enough to give them space.

Hearing Vane's voice, Cassandra instinctively frowned. She didn't have a good impression of Vane because his father worked under her own father, so Vane always acted sycophantic whenever he faced her.

Vane did this, of course, to curry favor with Cassandra. She knew the reason; girls matured faster than boys, and in a family like hers, she was used to such bootlickers.

But Cassandra simply didn't like it. You're a prefect, for heaven's sake, and a Slytherin prefect at that. Do you have no dignity? What happened to Slytherin pride? You're a disgrace to Slytherin! That was Cassandra's opinion of Vane.

Whenever this happened, Cassandra would think of Wentworth's face, which always wore an elegant smile. He seemed to care about nothing, yet he appeared curious about everything in the wizarding world. Despite coming from a half-blood or even a Muggle-born background, he seemed more like a pure-blood than many of the pure-bloods themselves.

Do not ask how Cassandra knew that Wentworth was not from a pure-blood family; long before Cassandra arrived at Hogwarts to report, her father had already handed her a list of noteworthy first-years.

But at this moment, hearing the voice of the Slytherin prefect Vane, Cassandra's eyes darted, and she smoothed away the frown that was about to form, deliberately putting on an expression of indignation as she spoke:

"Senior Vane, today, we Slytherins have been looked down upon!"

Upon hearing Cassandra's words, Vane immediately wore an expression of fury and said viciously:

"What?! Who dares to look down on us Slytherins!"

And so, Cassandra recounted the scene that had occurred in front of the Potions classroom that afternoon to Vane, adding plenty of embellishments.

To summarize, the Hufflepuff prefect Coke, accompanied by older students, had blocked the path of the Slytherin first-years, forcing the Hufflepuff first-years to walk ahead of the Slytherin first-years.

And of all this, Wentworth, who was currently waiting for the feast to begin, remained completely unaware.