"Silence!" Snape ordered, his piercing gaze sweeping across the classroom. The noisy room instantly fell silent.
"Sit down. Why are you two still standing?" Snape shot Harry and Ron, their faces blazing with anger, a cold glance. His voice betrayed unmistakable impatience. "Disrupting the class. Two points each!"
"Professor Snape, we weren't..." Harry tried to explain, but Snape cut him off with a wave before he could finish.
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, talking back to a professor. Another two points!"
The Gryffindor students beside them hurriedly tugged Harry and Ron down into their seats. Otherwise, Gryffindor's points would drop below zero when the term had only just begun.
"Today, we will brew a new potion—the Shrinking Solution." Once Harry and Ron had sat down, Snape turned and walked to the front to begin his lesson. Soon, the students were busy preparing their ingredients to brew their potions.
Malfoy deliberately placed his cauldron beside Harry's and Ron's, putting all three of them at the same table as they began preparing their ingredients together.
Snape paced through the classroom, occasionally stopping before a student's cauldron to inspect the progress of their potion. Before long, his gaze settled on Jerry in the corner by the wall. Jerry and Hermione had their heads lowered, whispering to each other about something.
"It seems brewing a Shrinking Solution presents little difficulty for you two. Then let me see just how good a potion Mr. Green, who has recently become so 'renowned' among the great families, has brewed!" Snape walked over to Jerry and Hermione's table, only to find that neither had noticed his arrival. He frowned and tapped the table in displeasure, his voice cold and hoarse.
"Sorry, Professor. We were just discussing our studies. We were so focused that we didn't notice you!" Jerry explained