[Congratulations, Your Majesty! For defying authority and disrespecting elders, tyrant points +30!]
[Congratulations, Your Majesty! For shaming a teacher and disrespecting an elder, tyrant points +20!]
[Congratulations, Your Majesty! For shifting blame and disrupting class, tyrant points +10!]
"What? Thirty thousand points?" Ron instantly sprang up, knocking over his chair.
"Professor, Charlie is from Hufflepuff House!"
Snape was stunned.
He had been blinded by anger.
But for such a person to be in Hufflepuff, had the Sorting Hat been poked silly by the Gryffindor Sword?
"Silence, Weasley!" Snape glared at Ron, mortified.
"Defying a Professor, Gryffindor loses five points!"
Then he pointed his wand at Charlie and said through gritted teeth, "Hufflepuff loses fifty points!"
The thirty thousand points earlier were clearly him being too impulsive, but fifty points was still a lot for defying a teacher.
Just then, the door to the Potion Class classroom suddenly burst open with a bang.
Professor McGonagall rushed in, her hair disheveled.
She had just passed the House points hourglasses and saw that Gryffindor had lost thirty thousand points.
It wasn't hard to guess who deducted them!
Was Severus insane?
"Severus!" Professor McGonagall panted.
"What is going on? How did Gryffindor lose thirty thousand points?"
Snape's gaze began to wander, a little embarrassed to answer.
Normally, he would deduct ten or twenty points at most; this time, it was indeed a bit excessive.
"Uh…" Snape cleared his throat.
"Just a small misunderstanding."
Hermione raised her hand at this moment, speaking in her all-knowing tone.
"Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape deducted points from Charlie, mistaking him for a Gryffindor student."
Professor McGonagall turned to look at Charlie, her eyes showing deep fatigue; she felt so tired.
This black-haired boy was even more troublesome than Gryffindor students.
"Why did Mr. White lose so many as thirty thousand points?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.
Hermione immediately began to recount what had happened.
"Professor Snape asked Charlie three questions, and Charlie answered 'I don't know' to all of them. Then Professor Snape said Charlie was utterly stupid and called him an idiot. Charlie retorted that Professor Snape's questions were problematic, and finally asked Professor Snape if his brain was filled with dung."
The students in the classroom couldn't help but laugh again; Hermione was truly honest.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, looking at Charlie, her face so dark it could drip water.
"Mr. White, you should not defy a Professor."
Professor McGonagall's voice was calm, but Charlie could hear the anger in it.
Charlie still respected this strict but upright Professor and immediately became serious:
"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, I won't do it again."
Professor McGonagall nodded, then turned to Snape, her eyes becoming even sterner.
"Severus, I understand you have high expectations for students, but you cannot arbitrarily insult them." Professor McGonagall's tone was very serious.
"Remember, you are a Professor."
Snape's face grew even uglier.
Being reprimanded by a colleague in front of students made him feel extremely humiliated.
"I was merely correcting a student's misbehavior." Snape said coldly.
"Correcting mistakes does not equate to personal attacks." Professor McGonagall did not back down.
"As Professors, we should lead by example."
Snape snorted coldly, his face dark, and said nothing more.
Professor McGonagall quickly waved her wand, adding the wrongly deducted thirty thousand points back to Gryffindor.
"Severus, I hope such misunderstandings do not occur again in the future."
"And Charlie, come to my office after dinner."
Professor McGonagall left this sentence and wearily exited the classroom.
She felt like every day at Hogwarts was spent dealing with various emergencies, and her hair was going to fall out from worry.
The classroom became quiet again, and Snape walked back to the podium with a sullen face.
His black robe billowed behind him, and his entire being exuded a dangerous aura.
"Now, continue with the lesson." Snape's voice was even colder than before.
"Today we will be learning the Potion for curing boils."
He began to write the recipe on the blackboard.
"The recipe is simple, but I warn you, any mistake in any step will make your faces uglier than a Troll."
Charlie felt Snape's gaze sweep over him from time to time.
"Mr. White." Snape suddenly called out.
"Since you just displayed such vast knowledge, tell me, when should the porcupine quills be added?"
Charlie looked at the recipe on the blackboard; porcupine quills were written in the fourth step.
This was a bit insulting; how could one get an open-book question wrong?
"Fourth step, Professor."
"Wrong!" Snape immediately retorted.
"They should be added after removing from the heat, otherwise the Potion will explode. Hufflepuff loses one point!"
Charlie's eyes widened. Damn it, wasn't the fourth step precisely after removing from the heat?
You must have a contradictory personality.
Harry whispered beside him, "He's just targeting you."
"Mr. Potter!" Snape's voice suddenly rang out.
"Since you are so concerned about your classmate, you answer, what is the purpose of slug mucus?"
Harry froze; he had no idea of the answer.
"I… I don't know, Professor."
"Stupid! Slug mucus neutralizes the toxicity of porcupine quills. Gryffindor loses two points!"
The rest of the class was a nightmare.
Snape was like a rabid dog, constantly finding fault with Charlie and Harry.
"Mr. White, your chopping skills are simply deplorable!"
"Mr. Potter, you are stirring in the wrong direction!"
"You two are a disaster for the Potion world!"
Charlie and Ernie brewed their Potion together, and the finished product looked fairly normal, a pale green liquid bubbling gently in the cauldron.
Ernie carefully stirred the Potion: "Looks pretty good, right?"
Charlie nodded. At least it hadn't exploded, which was a success given that they had endured Snape's venomous remarks.
Snape walked up to them, scooped a bit of the Potion with a silver spoon, and examined it carefully.
"The color is too dark, the texture is viscous, completely unacceptable." He said coldly.
"Hufflepuff loses two points."
Ernie looked at his creation dejectedly; it looked almost the same as the Potion on the next table, so why were only they losing points?
Finally, the bell rang, and all the students packed their things with a sigh of relief.
Charlie, Ernie, and Justin walked out of the classroom together, with Harry and Ron close behind them.
"That old bat is absolutely insane!" Ron said indignantly.
"He started it first, why are we losing so many points?"
"Exactly, it's so unreasonable." Harry was also very unhappy.
"Our Potion was clearly done well."
Ernie shook his head: "Professor Snape always favors Slytherin and is very strict with the other Houses."
"Honestly," Justin whispered.
"I think Professor Snape might really have issues; a normal teacher wouldn't target students like this."
"In Muggle society, a teacher like that would be considered a pervert."
"I heard he used to be a Death Eater." Ernie lowered his voice.
"Although Dumbledore trusts him, who knows what he's thinking?"
Harry walked beside Charlie, his feelings complex.
Charlie was targeted for sleeping in class and insulting Snape, but why he was targeted was very perplexing.
But it was good that Charlie was there; if he had faced Snape alone, he would have wanted to die.
Just then, Hermione hurried to catch up, a worried expression on her face.
"You shouldn't go against Professor Snape!" She said, frowning.
"He can deduct points at will; you can't handle him."
Ron rolled his eyes: "He started it first, didn't he? We didn't do anything wrong."
"But you did defy a Professor."
"No matter what, he is a teacher, and we should respect him."
Charlie could tell that Hermione was actually concerned about them and didn't want them to lose too many points.
But her self-righteous tone was indeed very uncomfortable.
"Hermione, I know you mean well." Charlie softened his tone.
"But sometimes, constant forbearance will only make the other person more excessive."
"But…" Hermione still wanted to say something.
"Alright, alright, stop nagging." Ron waved his hand.
"Let's hurry to the Great Hall to eat; I'm starving."
Hermione huffed and followed behind the others.
She really just wanted to help her classmates, why didn't they understand?