The out-of-control potion was still spreading.
The dungeon descended into chaos in an instant, and all the students started climbing onto nearby tables. No joke—if they stood in that liquid for too long, their feet might melt off.
Li Mu reacted quickly. As he jumped onto the table beside him, he pulled the frail Hannah up with him and shouted with a frown, "Seriously? It's even worse than strong sulfuric acid!"
Hermione shot him a surprised look. Wizards knew little about Muggles, and few knew what strong sulfuric acid was. But she had no time to think about it. She had to help—Neville had clearly been scared silly and was still staring blankly at the scene before him.
"Neville, get on the table! Do you want to be disfigured?!" Hermione was so anxious that her thick, bushy brown hair seemed ready to stand on end, making her look like an enraged lioness.
Only then did Neville react, but the unlucky boy fumbled around for ages without managing to climb onto the table. His round body was especially clumsy; even with Harry, Hermione, and Ron all trying to help, they could not pull him up and nearly got dragged down themselves.
Suddenly, the blood-red potion on the floor changed again. Liquid splashed up, spraying Neville all over. Holes instantly melted through his clothes, and burns broke out across nearly his entire upper body. He howled in pain.
From the cauldron breaking, to the students fleeing, to Neville being burned, everything had happened in mere moments. Even Snape was half a beat slow to react. This time, he was furious beyond measure.
"Fool! Idiot!" he roared at Neville. With a casual wave of his wand, the highly corrosive liquid on the floor was immediately cleared away. "You threw in a whole handful of Porcupine quills, didn't you?"
Without waiting for Neville to answer, he turned and barked at Harry on the table, "You—Potter—why didn't you tell him that Porcupine quills can't be added when brewing this potion? Were you thinking that if he made a mistake, you'd get a good laugh out of it? Is that it? I'm taking another five points from you! Now take that idiot to the hospital wing!"
Harry opened his mouth, looking utterly innocent. He only knew a little about Potions himself—how was he supposed to know the taboos of brewing? Besides, even Hermione had not had time to warn Neville... He glanced at Hermione, whose face was equally pale, but ultimately said nothing. With a sigh in his heart, he helped Neville away.
Even long after they had left the room, Neville's pig-slaughtering groans could still be heard clearly.
Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe were sitting together with a short-haired Slytherin girl. They sneered quietly at just the right moment, smiles spread across their faces, until Li Mu glared at them and made them stop.
Potions ended amid Gryffindor's dejection and the lingering fear of the other Houses. Even after Snape announced the end of class, Harry and Neville still had not returned.
So the moment Snape stepped out of the dungeon classroom, Hermione grabbed Ron and rushed out.
Neville couldn't really be badly hurt, could he?... Although Neville in "history" was always getting hurt and always recovered afterward, Li Mu could not help worrying. When potion liquid comparable to strong sulfuric acid truly appeared before him and had nearly splashed onto him, it felt completely different from reading about it in a book. He had really been startled just now.
Besides, now that he was here, history had already changed in some ways. For example, the introductory classes during the first week were attended by all four Houses together, and on the first day of school, they had been punished by Professor McGonagall and sent to clean the Trophy Room... These were all deviations from the course of "history."
With that thought, Li Mu stood up as well, preparing to follow Hermione.
But then he heard a voice, one that was trying hard to stay low and restrained. "If you like Gryffindor so much, why don't you apply to Professor Sprout—or directly to Headmaster Dumbledore—to transfer Houses?!"
The voice was filled with anger.
Li Mu came back to himself and followed the sound. The speaker was standing right beside him: the talkative Ernie Macmillan... What was he talking about? Gryffindor? Transferring Houses?... Those words pulled Li Mu out of his worry for Neville, finally drawing his attention back to what was around him.
Macmillan's face was bright red, as if he had been drinking. The unnatural flush even seemed to spread into his blond hair. His other roommate, Justin Finch-Fletchley, stood nearby without speaking, but his gaze was filled with the same anger.
By then, most people had already left the dungeon classroom for dinner, but Li Mu's two roommates clearly had no intention of moving. Hannah Abbott, Justin's Potions partner, stood beside him uneasily. She glanced at Li Mu and murmured, "I... I'm going to dinner. Susan is waiting for me at the door."
No one paid attention to the poor girl. Ernie and Justin merely glared at Li Mu indignantly. So Hannah gathered up her books, lowered her head, and quietly left as well. At the door, she turned back and hurriedly added, "You should come eat soon too..."
Li Mu nodded at her, and the girl's frail figure disappeared from sight.
The gloomy dungeon classroom was finally left with only three boys from the same House and the same dormitory. The atmosphere was rather heavy.
"Hey, listen..." Li Mu was completely baffled. What were these two little brats sulking about? He tried to communicate with his roommates. "What exactly are you talking about?"
"First thing in the morning!" Ernie Macmillan raised his voice. "First thing in the morning, you were hanging around with those Gryffindors—late for class, punished, talking back to a teacher, losing points! On the very first day of school, you cost our House a full ten points!"
"I just..." Li Mu felt somewhat frustrated. Had he wanted to be late? Had he wanted to lose points? But Macmillan, in the middle of his anger, had no intention of hearing his explanation. He continued roaring, looking somewhat like Hermione.
"I know you knew each other before. You and your old friends are closer than you are to anyone in Hufflepuff! But you're a Hufflepuff student now! If you really want to stand up for Gryffindors... if you really like Gryffindor that much... then transfer Houses!" After saying that, Macmillan turned away angrily. "Justin, let's go."
Justin followed Macmillan. After taking two steps, he turned back. "Honestly, don't blame Ernie for being angry. Never... I mean, as far as I know, in all these centuries... no Hufflepuff has ever lost so many points for the House in a single day."
So that was it.
Li Mu finally understood. Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and all those other people whose names he remembered or did not remember... They were not just names that flashed by in a book, nor were they NPCs in a game waiting for players to strike up a conversation and then give scripted responses. They were flesh and blood, with feelings of their own.
And besides, they were all just little brats around eleven years old.
It was a lovely spring day for an outing, a great time to relax outside, so there won't be any extra chapters. Still one update a day~
(End of Chapter)
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