Hogsmeade

The wand pointed at nothing out of the ordinary.

"What's wrong?" Ron stammered, startled by Harry's sudden alarm.

Harry narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I just felt a powerful presence approaching us."

"Are you sure you didn't imagine it?" Ron looked around fearfully, pulled out his wand, and stammered through the incantation twice before casting Lumos. "Could it have been the aura of some Dark Magic books?"

Harry shook his head. "The aura of a person isn't the same as that of an object."

Ron's face paled as he gripped his wand tightly.

He slowly lowered his wand. "Let's find that book quickly. This place makes me really uncomfortable."

The Potent Potion wasn't hard to find. They soon located it.

Ron held up his wand.

Harry quickly copied down the recipe and summarized the two or so pages of notes.

They returned to their dormitory and carefully read through the contents.

Ron had a headache. "This potion is so complicated."

"But it's powerful, isn't it?" Harry's eyes glinted. "And it doesn't require many ingredients."

"Lacewing Flies, antimony, leeches..."

The combination of minerals and herbs, and the crude way some of their properties were used, opened his eyes. He began to form some ideas about how he might recreate the Witcher's many potions in this world.

It was almost three in the morning before Harry finally switched off the light and yawned. "After we get up tomorrow, let's check the Potions Classroom's supply cupboard."

"If it has all the ingredients we need, then we won't have to worry about finding them."

Ron was half asleep, sprawled on his bed in a pose that seemed to invite someone to trap him. He mumbled, "O... okay."

He didn't have Harry's energy. He'd been exhausted for ages.

The next day, they got up.

The Potions Classroom remained open during the holidays. Some fifth- and seventh-years who had no choice but to earn an O on their exams couldn't even relax over Christmas.

The students' cupboards held plenty of ingredients, as well as metallic minerals. The only problem was... they were missing the two most crucial materials.

Bicorn horn powder and African Tree Snake skin.

Harry took some extra ingredients, disguising them as the components for brewing three different potions before carrying them out.

Once they were out of the classroom, Ron let out a sigh of relief. "That was awful. The older students can't even go home for Christmas."

"They didn't look at us any more kindly than you looked at them," Harry said, shaking his head. "To them, you might be the sort of... hardworking student who studies diligently from first year."

Ron awkwardly rolled his neck.

He wasn't a bad student, but "good student" didn't quite fit his style.

"Maybe Professor Snape will even start seeing you differently because of this," Harry teased. "Look at him now. Isn't he a little more pleasant to Hermione?"

"I'm not sure you know what 'pleasant' means," Ron said with a shudder.

In Potions Class, Snape always had a long lecture ready for three students' work.

Harry would get an earful.

Malfoy usually received the most praise.

Then there was Hermione. Snape didn't target her the way he did Harry, but... out of respect for Gryffindor, he still had nothing nice to say.

The other Little Lions were terrified.

The two students in question, however, didn't care. They even seemed to wish Snape would scold them more.

"What are we going to do about the other two ingredients?" Ron complained once they'd walked farther away and confirmed they were alone. "Professor Snape must have them in his storeroom."

Harry shook his head. "I don't think stealing from a professor is a wise choice."

Ron sighed. "Then what do we do?"

"Hogsmeade." Harry suddenly stopped and gazed into the distance through a window. "We could take a look there."

Ron froze, frowning. "But only third-years are allowed to go there, and they need permission from their parents..."

"Maybe we could ask your brothers," Harry said, continuing on his way. "They know a lot of secret passages in Hogwarts. One of them might lead to Hogsmeade."

Ron's brow remained furrowed. "But what would we tell them?"

"Say... we need to buy ingredients for Polyjuice Potion?"

Harry glanced at Ron strangely. "Putting the ingredients aside, don't you want to see Hogsmeade?"

Ron blinked.

"Isn't it perfectly normal for a young wizard to want to visit Hogsmeade?" Harry continued.

They returned to the common room.

The Weasley twins had, unusually, stayed in instead of going out to stir up trouble.

"George." Harry sat down beside one of them. "There's something I'd like to ask you."

The boy put on a serious expression. "No, I'm Fred."

"You're George," Harry corrected him. "That trick doesn't work on me."

George muttered, "Oh, come on, Harry. How do you do that? You always tell us apart perfectly."

"I want to go to Hogsmeade. Do you know a way?" Harry asked directly.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "You want to go to Hogsmeade? Now's not a good time..."

"I can't spend all of Christmas at Hogwarts, can I?" Harry said helplessly. "Most of my friends have gone home."

George grinned. "Then you've come to the right people. We know seven secret passages to Hogsmeade."

"And Filch only knows four," Fred declared, hands on his hips.

Ron raised both hands. "Brilliant, George, Fred! I knew you'd know."

"Harry can go," George said seriously. "But little Ronnie can't."

Ron's eyes widened. "Why not?!"

"Harry's amazing. He can kill a Troll," Fred said mockingly. "You'd only get killed by one."

"You might not even stand a chance against a Flobberworm."

George paused. "Besides, Harry looks mature. Apart from his height, he looks like a grown-up."

"But you're still a little kid, my dear little Ronnie," Fred said with a shrug. "A little Ronnie baby who can only run to Mommy crying."

Ron's face reddened with anger. He shouted, "Fred! George!"

"Our little Ronnie's angry again," George exclaimed. "Should we borrow Hedwig from Harry so we can write to Mum and complain about him?"

Ron gritted his teeth. "One of these days, I'm going to turn you both into a giant pile of dung."

"Two piles," Fred said, getting to his feet and patting Ron on the shoulder. "There are two of us, not one."

"We'll bring you some sweets when we come back." George ruffled Ron's hair roughly. "How about Cockroach Clusters? Even Headmaster Dumbledore likes those."

"I think Spider Candy would suit little Ronnie better."

"Is that even a real sweet?"

"Maybe we can ask Honeydukes to cast a Transfiguration Charm on something."

Ron was trembling all over.

"Once I know the passage, we can all go together next time," Harry whispered, trying to comfort Ron. That made him feel a little better.

George and Fred were already eager to set off.

Harry went back to the dormitory to prepare. He stuffed two balls of socks into his shoes to make himself look taller, tucked the Sorting Hat under his robes, and hung seven or eight bottles of potions from his belt—

Neville's failed Boil-Cure Potion, Draught of Living Death, Acromantula Venom he'd gotten from Hagrid...

He also redid his hairstyle and, after a moment's thought, put on the sunglasses Snape had given him. He didn't like them, but a Witcher's eyes were too distinctive.

"Harry, you look completely different," George said in amazement. "What's that on your face? It looks pretty cool."

"Professor Snape gave it to me for Christmas," Harry replied.

The two of them immediately fell silent, as if they wished they could take back their compliment.

With Ron watching enviously, they led Harry out of the common room and up to a mirror on the fifth floor. George looked around, carefully took out his wand, and tapped the mirror lightly. "Revelio."

The mirror rippled like water, then turned transparent like glass, revealing a passage hidden behind it.

"Come on, Harry." George went in first.

Fred pushed Harry inside.

"This is our favorite passage," George said, lighting his wand and leading the way. "The path is level, and there's plenty of room to walk upright."

Fred sighed. "The only downside is that this passage is getting old. Last year, when we used it, a big lump of earth came crashing down and just missed George's nose."

"Shame. It would've been nice if it had hit him on the head."

George turned around and kicked Fred. "Damn it, what are you saying?"

Fred brushed off his robes. "And the exit is in a really secluded corner of Hogsmeade, unlike the other two passages."

"One entrance is beneath the Whomping Willow."

"One exit is inside Honeydukes."

"Last time, we nearly got caught and mistaken for thieves."

The passage was long. They walked for fifteen minutes before reaching the end and climbing out through another mirror in an abandoned house.

"Harry, where are you going?" George and Fred were excited, but they didn't intend to leave Harry to go off and do their own thing.

"Let's buy sweets first," Harry said after a moment's thought. He couldn't exactly ditch the two of them.

He bought some sweets for Ron.

Then, on the Weasley twins' recommendation, he bought a few prank items.

Quills, parchment, and some books.

Their last stop was a shop selling potion ingredients.

"Do you have any African Tree Snake skin?" Harry asked.

The shopkeeper gave him a strange look. "You want that? We don't have any. It's a banned substance, my dear young wizard."

Harry nodded, his expression unchanged, then continued asking about other relatively rare ingredients.

Bicorn horn powder was among them, but unfortunately... that was banned too.

Harry paid for the other ingredients he'd asked about.

Fred and George watched the golden Galleons with envy. In three years at school, they hadn't spent even half as much money as Harry had just spent this once.

They had only just left the shop when a man in a black robe hurried out after them and blocked Harry's path. He lowered his voice. "A young wizard from Hogwarts?"

"I have the ingredients you're looking for: Bicorn horn powder, Ashwinder Eggs, African Tree Snake skin..."

Thanks to San Geng Wu Xing for the donation!