Unlucky Day

The uncontrolled potion was still spreading.

The basement was instantly thrown into chaos, with all the students scrambling onto nearby tables. No joke, if they stood in that liquid for too long, their feet might melt.

Li Mu reacted quickly, jumping onto the adjacent table and pulling the frail Hannah up with him. At the same time, he frowned and exclaimed, "No way? It's even stronger than strong sulfuric acid!"

This made Hermione give him a surprised look. Wizards didn't understand Muggles, and few knew what strong sulfuric acid was. But she didn't have time to think about it; she had to help—Neville was clearly stunned, still staring blankly at everything in front of him.

"Neville, get on the table! Do you want to be disfigured?!" Hermione was so anxious that her thick, bushy brown hair almost stood on end, like a lioness in a rage.

Neville finally came to his senses, but the unlucky fellow was clumsy and couldn't jump onto the table for a long time. His body was round and particularly awkward. Harry, Hermione, and Ron tried to help him, but they almost got dragged off the table instead.

Suddenly, the blood-red potion on the ground underwent another strange change, and the liquid splashed up, immediately covering Neville's head and face. His clothes instantly melted with many holes, and almost his entire upper body was covered in blisters, causing him to cry out in pain.

From the cauldron breaking to the students dodging to Neville getting burned, everything actually happened in a short instant. Even Snape was a beat slow to react. This time, he was so angry that his nose was crooked.

"You idiot! Moron!" he roared at Neville, waving his wand, and the highly corrosive liquid on the ground was immediately cleaned up. "Did you add a whole bunch of porcupine quills?"

Without waiting for Neville to answer, he turned his head and shouted angrily at Harry on the table, "You—Potter—why didn't you tell him that you can't add porcupine quills when brewing this potion? Were you thinking that if he made a mistake, you'd have a good show to watch, right? I'm deducting another five points from you! Now, take that idiot to the infirmary!"

Harry opened his mouth, looking innocent. He only had a superficial understanding of Potions, how would he know the taboos of brewing potions? Besides, even Hermione didn't have time to remind Neville… He glanced at Hermione, who also looked pale, and ultimately said nothing, just sighing inwardly as he helped Neville away.

Even after they left the room for a while, Neville's pig-like groans could still be heard clearly.

Malfoy and Goyle, Crabbe, this trio, were sitting with a short-haired Slytherin girl. They mocked quietly at the right time, their faces filled with smiles, until Li Mu glared at them, and they stopped.

The Potions lesson ended in the Gryffindors' frustration and the other houses' lingering fear. Until Snape announced the end of class, Harry and Neville still hadn't returned to the classroom.

So, as soon as Snape stepped out of the basement classroom, Hermione pulled Ron and rushed out.

Could Neville really be seriously injured?… Although "historical" Neville was always injured, and always recovered, Li Mu couldn't help but worry a little. When those potion liquids comparable to strong sulfuric acid really appeared in front of him, and even almost touched him, that feeling could never be experienced by reading a book. He was really startled just now.

Moreover, now that he had arrived, history had already changed somewhat. For example, the introductory courses in the first week were all taken collectively by the four houses, and he was punished by Professor McGonagall to clean the Trophy Room on the first day of school… These were all deviations from the "historical" trajectory.

Thinking this, Li Mu also stood up, preparing to follow Hermione.

But at this moment, he heard a voice, a voice that was trying to restrain itself: "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 full of anger.

Li Mu came back to his senses and followed the source of the voice. The speaker was standing next to him, it was the talkative Ernie Macmillan… What was he saying, Gryffindor? Transfer houses?… These words pulled Li Mu back from his worries about Neville, and his attention finally fell back on himself.

He saw Macmillan's face was red, like he was drunk, and that abnormal red even spread towards his golden hair. His other roommate, Justin Finch-Fletchley, was also standing aside, not speaking, but the look in his eyes also contained anger.

At this time, most people had already left the basement classroom to eat dinner, but Li Mu's two roommates clearly had no intention of moving. Hannah Abbott was standing next to Justin, their "group mate" for Potions, her face a little uneasy. She glanced at Li Mu and muttered, "I… I'm going to eat, Susan is waiting for me at the door."

No one paid attention to the poor little girl. Ernie and Justin just glared at Li Mu angrily. So Hannah picked up her books, lowered her head, and silently walked away. She turned back at the door and said quickly, "You guys come to eat soon…"

Li Mu nodded to her, and the little girl's thin figure disappeared from sight.

In the gloomy basement classroom, finally only three boys from the same house and the same dormitory remained. The atmosphere was a bit heavy.

"Hey, I said…" Li Mu was a little baffled, what kind of sulking were these two little kids doing? He tried to communicate with his two roommates, "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Early in the morning!—" Ernie Macmillan raised his voice, "Early in the morning, you were mixing with those Gryffindors, being late, getting punished, arguing with the teacher, losing points! On the first day of school, you deducted a full ten points from our house!"

"I just…" Li Mu was a little depressed, did he want to be late? Did he want to be deducted points? But Macmillan, who was in a fit of anger, didn't want to listen to his explanation at all. He continued to roar, looking somewhat similar to Hermione.

"I know you knew each other before, you and your old friends, are better than you are with anyone in Hufflepuff! But you are now a Hufflepuff student! If you really want to stand up for the Gryffindors… if you really like Gryffindor so much… then please transfer houses!" After Macmillan said this, he turned around angrily to leave, "Justin, let's go."

Justin caught up with Macmillan, took two steps, then turned back again: "Honestly, don't blame Ernie for being angry. Never... I mean, as far as I know, in the past few hundred years... no Hufflepuff has ever lost so many points for the house in a single day."

So that's how it is.

Li Mu finally understood. Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, or rather, the other people, whether he remembered them or not... they weren't just a few names flashing by in a book, not NPCs in a game waiting for players to strike up a conversation and then give a patterned response, they also had flesh and blood and emotions.

Moreover, they were all just little kids around eleven years old.

It's a good time for a spring outing in March~ a good time for outdoor leisure, so there won't be any more updates. Continuing with one update a day~

(End of this chapter)