The two professors returned much earlier than Harry and the others had expected.
On Tuesday morning, Harry and the others saw Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick in the Castle again.
Professor Flitwick had not changed much and was still all smiles with everyone.
Slughorn, however, looked considerably grimmer. Clearly, as a Potions Class professor, being drugged without noticing a thing was difficult to accept, even if he had been drunk at the time.
Harry, however, did not think much of it.
The other party's scheme had been very clever. If Voldemort really had been behind it, as Harry suspected, then he must have taken Professor Slughorn's abilities into account.
When someone familiar with him had plotted against him, Slughorn might not have been able to guard against it even sober, let alone drunk.
Harry had great faith in his own guess and told the others. They, too, thought his idea was very plausible.
But ultimately, it was only a guess, with no evidence.
The problem seemed to have returned to square one.
This frustrated Harry. Although he was deeply suspicious of Draco, it had now been confirmed that there had been nothing wrong with the Dragon Blood Wine Draco had sent.
Nor could Harry imagine Draco coming up with any more sophisticated plan.
Although Harry admitted that Malfoy was no fool, he was also certain that Malfoy was not clever enough to play the professors like puppets.
"Someone is advising him. The question is whether that person is inside the school or outside it," Harry said.
"Perhaps," Hermione said, but she seemed rather listless.
Ron and Lavender beside her were equally listless, though the three of them lacked energy for different reasons.
Hermione had recently been working on a paper about charms.
It was not a homework essay, but an