Snape "Potter, how delightfully... creative."
Snape halted directly before Harry's table.
Snape "What exactly is this supposed to represent?"
The Slytherins throughout the classroom fixed their predatory gazes on Harry, anticipating his humiliation with barely concealed glee.
Harry "A Calming Draught."
Harry replied, tension threading through his voice.
Snape "Then enlighten me, Potter. Which words on the blackboard exceed your comprehension?"
Snape inquired with deceptively silken tones—the kind that promised impending devastation.
Draco Malfoy erupted into delighted laughter.
Harry "I understand them all."
Harry ground out through clenched teeth.
Snape "Read the third line aloud."
Harry "Add moonstone powder, stir counterclockwise three times, simmer gently for seven minutes, then add two teaspoons of hellebore essence."
Harry recited with deliberate slowness.
Orli immediately recognized his error—he'd omitted the hellebore essence entirely. Snape had undoubtedly spotted this failure long ago.
Snape "Tell me, Potter. Did you execute every instruction in that third line?"
Snape asked with predatory patience.
Harry "No."
Harry mumbled barely above a whisper.
Snape "I beg your pardon? I'm afraid the class didn't quite catch that."
Harry "No!"
Harry declared more forcefully:
Harry "I didn't add the hellebore essence!"
Snape "Indeed you didn't, Potter."
Snape's gaze lifted from Harry's defeated expression and slithered across the classroom to settle on Orli's face with laser precision.
Snape "So then, Waters—Potter's devoted friend. Perhaps you could enlighten us: how might this catastrophic brew be salvaged?"
His tone dripped with such venom that Orli felt transported back to her first-year Potions class—the one that had concluded with cascading point deductions, shouting matches, and detention.
Orli "I don't know."
Orli answered with unflinching honesty. The potion was irredeemably ruined—attempting rescue would merely waste additional ingredients. She refused to believe Snape didn't understand this fundamental reality.
Snape "How illuminating. It appears the name 'Waters' carries less weight than presumed. Or perhaps you simply prefer Potter to receive zero marks for today's endeavor."
Snape flicked his wand with casual cruelty. Harry's cauldron emptied with a hollow whoosh.
Snape "Then let us grant Waters her apparent wish, Potter."
Harry's potion vanished completely. He stood frozen behind his empty cauldron, stunned into silence.
Ron and Hermione simultaneously turned toward Orli, but their expressions held no accusation—only profound shock. Their eyes posed a silent question: What in Merlin's name has gotten into Snape today?
But Orli had no answers to offer. She seized the nearest ingredient from their table, hurled it into her mortar, and began pulverizing it with savage intensity. Only through this violent motion could she channel the fury building like pressure in her chest.
Snape "Complete your potions expeditiously—bottle your finished products, apply proper labels, and deliver them to my desk."
Snape dismissed their group entirely, striding to the classroom's front with billowing robes.
Snape "Homework assignment: twelve inches analyzing moonstone properties and applications. Due Thursday."
Other students began bottling their attempts. Orli observed several absolute disasters: Pansy Parkinson's submission resembled wet concrete, while Neville's emanated the unmistakable stench of rotten eggs. Gregory Goyle's bottle exploded spectacularly during the transfer process, igniting his robes in the bargain. Yet Snape behaved as though these catastrophes were invisible, offering no commentary whatsoever.
However, when Orli approached to submit her potion—a perfect specimen with luminous silver vapor still wisping from its surface—Snape spoke:
Snape "Insufficiently refined. One point from Gryffindor."
Hermione "Professor?!"
Hermione stood beside Orli, her gaze darting between their identical, flawless potions in complete bewilderment.
Hermione "This is unquestionably the finest potion brewed in class today!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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