After a busy morning and lunch, Brian sat at his workstation in the library, brushing the jealous Book's fur as usual and listening to the students' everyday complaints-this had become an important part of how he kept up with current affairs in the castle.
A Ravenclaw student said:
"Ah... my nose is going to stop working! That damned garlic... say, have you noticed Professor Quirrell getting stranger and stranger? He told us today's lesson would be a practical session on Dark Magic, then suddenly changed it to a test-and the classroom absolutely reeked of garlic today. Just how scared of vampires is he? Can those dark creatures actually get past Hogwarts' protective wards and enter the castle?"
"Trolls can get into the school. Why couldn't vampires?"
The Gryffindor student beside him said this as though it were obvious.
"Count yourself lucky. Compared with Quirrell, I think Snape's got bigger problems-ever since our house beat Slytherin yesterday, he's had a strange look on his face. I reckon he's holding a grudge against everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team now. Fred played around with Stink Pellets in class today, like he always does, and Snape docked him fifteen points on the spot-normally, it's five at most!"
The Ravenclaw student nodded furiously in agreement:
"It's worse than that-he's even holding grudges against students in his own house. I heard Marcus Flint kept zoning out in class today, and Snape gave him detention on the spot. Apparently, he nearly took points off him-but I think that part's made up. I doubt I'll see Snape take points from his own house before I graduate."
"If you ask me, Snape's a complete bastard. Even Merlin's... ahem. Sorry, Mr. Brian."
The Gryffindor student, who had been about to launch into a string of standard British wizarding profanity,