Su Er had never expected Snape to follow them after all.
The gusting wind seemed to grow even colder.
It happened just as Snape quietly pronounced that Gryffindor would lose fifty points because of Harry.
Was that really necessary?
All that just to take points from Gryffindor.
"There's a reason for this." Perhaps because Su Er was present, Harry actually found the courage to object to Snape's deduction.
"Malfoy attacked me on the train-"
"Silence, Potter." Snape's face darkened. "Talking back to a professor. Another twenty points from Gryffindor!"
Harry was practically bursting with anger. Instinctively, he looked up at Su Er, hoping he would see justice done.
Naturally, Snape noticed Harry's movement too. Before Su Er could respond, he immediately put an end to Harry's wishful thinking.
"Slandering a fellow student, and making the ridiculous claim that an attack by that student caused your lateness! Another twenty points from Gryffindor!"
"And furthermore." Snape coldly looked Harry up and down. "Coming to Hogwarts in Muggle clothes. Another-"
"Ahem..." Su Er coughed softly, signaling for his teacher, who was addicted to taking points from Gryffindor, to exercise some restraint and stop frightening Harry...
Yes, frightening him, though there was no ruling out whether Snape might make those deductions real later.
For the moment, however... Gryffindor's points really could not go any lower.
The school year had only just begun, and the Sorting Ceremony was still underway. All four Houses' hourglasses were empty! Empty!
The hourglasses could not go into negative points when there were none left to deduct, and Snape's deductions applied to the present moment. With no points available to take, those deductions were plainly invalid.
Clearly, however, neither Snape, carried away with deducting points, nor Harry, who had forgotten that term had only just begun, had noticed this.
"Another