Chapter 69.
It was just another day in potions class, where students paired up to tackle their assignments. Snape was busy checking everyone's homework, and let's just say, most of the students didn't come out unscathed. Poor Neville's group had it the worst—Seamus had set their cauldron on fire again, and, surprise surprise, the cauldron exploded! And guess who was conveniently missing when it happened? Yep, Seamus. It was almost like he had a knack for causing chaos while staying out of trouble.
It was a little odd how accidents seemed to follow Seamus around during pair work, while he always managed to dodge the fallout. Whether it was intentional or just bad luck, only he knew.
As Snape waved his wand to clean up the mess, he handed Neville a potion from Dudley. Watching Neville drink it with his eyes closed was a familiar yet heart-wrenching sight.
"Gryffindor, absolutely terrible, minus one point," Snape said coldly.
Seamus didn't seem to mind, thinking someone would surely give the points back later. He even winked at the other Gryffindors when Snape turned away. Meanwhile, Neville just shrank back, feeling awful for letting the house down and growing even more anxious around Snape.
"Hey, Weasley and Potter didn't even get scolded by Snape!" one sharp-eyed Gryffindor pointed out, noticing how Snape had only briefly glanced at Harry and Ron's group before moving on. It was rare for Snape to hold back, especially since Harry had actually done pretty well this time. With Dudley's help, Harry's potion-making skills were definitely improving, even if they weren't quite up to Snape's high standards.
Snape had a habit of picking on Harry, even when he performed better than most, especially when paired with Ron, who was more of a liability. Most students found it a bit strange but didn't think too much of it.
Today, they had two potions classes in a row. The first was a pair work session, and the second was individual work. The potion they were brewing was trickier than the last one, but Snape's expectations were as high as ever.
When Snape picked up Ron's potion, he simply said "good" without awarding any points, just placing it back down. The Gryffindors were in shock. "Wait, Weasley didn't get scolded by Snape!"
At first, it made sense since they were working in pairs, but now it was individual work, and only a handful of students had escaped Snape's wrath. Even Slytherin had a bunch of students getting scolded.
Besides Ron, only Hermione and Harry among the Gryffindors had managed to avoid Snape's ire. Hermione's success was understandable; she hadn't been scolded all term. But Harry? He was often overlooked. So why was Ron, of all people, getting a pass?
If Ron had been doing well in potions, it would have made sense, but his scores were usually pretty low. "Hey, look at the tools on Weasley's desk—they're different from ours!" one observant student pointed out, causing Ron to lose another point for Gryffindor for disrupting class.
Ron's desk was filled with unfamiliar instruments that definitely weren't the usual potion-making tools. "Harry has them too!" (Harry was quite popular in Gryffindor, and everyone liked to chat about him; he was easygoing and didn't mind the attention.)
Another student chimed in, "Granger has them too!" "Wait, look, Malfoy has them as well!" Even getting penalized couldn't stop the students' curiosity; they whispered and speculated among themselves, and even some Slytherins were murmuring in small groups.
Nobody liked being scolded, even by Snape. He often favored Slytherin, but when it came to potions, if you messed up, you were in for it. Goyle and Crabbe were classic examples, always getting a tongue-lashing in class. But honestly, they were just that bad. What was supposed to be a potion for antidotes ended up looking like poison in their cauldrons.
So when the topic of new potion equipment came up, it caught everyone's attention. New tools? Who gave them those? Two questions hung in the air, but since it was Snape's class, no one dared to ask. They could only keep their curiosity to themselves and wait until after class to find out.
"Dursley, not bad," Snape said as he approached Dudley, picking up the potion he had brewed. The sunlight illuminated the crystal-clear liquid inside the glass bottle. "Perfect!" Snape nodded, pocketing the potion. "Slytherin gets a point." Then he walked away.
During the two class periods, Ron was the star of the show; he soaked up the envious glances from his classmates. It felt amazing! He had never felt so relaxed and happy in potions class. Even Snape's usual scowl seemed a little less intimidating. All thanks to the special tools Harry had given him, courtesy of Mr. Dursley.
As soon as Snape assigned homework and announced the end of class, the other students flocked around Ron. Without a doubt, he was the one getting the best results with those new tools. Of course, this was mostly true for Gryffindor; Slytherin was busy gathering around Malfoy.
Ron felt a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, suddenly thinking that today might just be his lucky day.
Under the eager questioning of his classmates, he finally cleared his throat and said, "As you all know, my potion-making skills aren't the best. I thought I'd always struggle in this subject. But today, using these tools was truly amazing!"
After a bit of rambling, he finally got to the point. "This is a gift from Harry's cousin, Mr. Dursley. It can really boost your potion-making skills, and you've all seen how well it works—very impressive! Even Professor Snape said it was good."
His exaggerated tone made Harry roll his eyes silently; it was even more awkward than those TV infomercials. But the other students didn't seem to notice.
Meanwhile, Malfoy was using the same tone to impress the Slytherins around him.
According to the original description, Draco had decent potion-making skills in his first year, often praised by Snape as a model student. But after that, his skills seemed to fade into the background, especially after Hermione brewed the Polyjuice Potion in their second year—a feat that even many adult wizards struggled with!
Note : Guys, some power stones will be really helpful.
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