The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 598 You're the Half-Blood Prince

Dodging Professor McGonagall who was waiting to catch her, Ada walked downstairs and habitually headed towards the familiar Potions classroom.

Halfway through the walk, Ada suddenly remembered that the Potions Professor had been replaced, and the owner of the underground classroom was now Horace Slughorn, a professor she did not know.

Habit becomes nature. Even though Ada knew that Snape had gotten what he wanted this school year and could finally challenge Professor Yearling's curse, she still racked her brains for it.

But today, Ada's steps still involuntarily walked towards the dim classroom. She smiled, turned around and walked towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Professor Nian Pao passed the tribulation.

Knock on the door and come in, all in one go.

Ada walked into the classroom, which had already been marked by Snape and was as dark as the underground classroom it once was.

Sometimes Ada would suspect that Snape was not a wizard, but a bat spirit.

There were some pictures on the walls of the classroom that had not been there before. Many of the pictures showed people suffering, hideous wounds, and bizarrely distorted body parts. They were all injuries caused by black magic or incurable traumas.

"Is there something?" Snape said coldly, as if the years of master-disciple relationship between the two had never existed.

"It's okay. I'm just looking for a man who calls himself the 'Half-Blood Prince'. Does Professor Snape know him?" Ada said. She wanted to see how Snape would react after exposing his dark history in person.

The expected panic and shyness did not appear. Snape was like an ancient well without ripples, and his sallow face did not change at all. Ada felt a little regretful. She felt that she might have said it too calmly.

At this moment, Ada wanted to go back in time and have a time converter. She wanted to ask again: Why are you called the Half-Blood Prince?
"How did you know?" Snape asked, lighting more candles, bringing more light into the dim classroom.

The flickering candlelight made his face look a little gloomy, and if he put on the mask, he would look more like a bat wandering in the darkness.

Ada walked to where she used to sit, pulled out a chair and sat down. Coming back here was like going home.

She said, "Advanced Potion Making, those irregularities are so familiar that it's hard not to think of you."

Snape nodded and said "hmm", and then nothing more happened without any explanation, looking very cool and aloof.

"How did it fall into Harry's hands? Was it a coincidence or did you arrange it in advance?" Ada asked again, "Do you want me to call you Your Highness?"

If Advanced Potion Making was pre-arranged, Ada couldn't understand it. Giving Harry a potion secret book with some mischievous spells would be worse than just giving him a Wizard's Dueling Handbook.

After all, no matter how many spells you teach Harry Potter and how powerful they are, "Expelliarmus" is his favorite and his unchanging belief in this life.

Snape pretended not to hear Ada's last joke. He said calmly, "I sorted out some old things before moving to this classroom. I found that old book from my school days and I just threw it into the cabinet."

No wonder no student had ever found the book before, and no wonder only Harry found the "Martial Arts Secret Book". It turned out that it was not in the cabinet before. Snape had just thrown it there before school started.

How do you account for this? Half coincidence, half luck?
For Snape, Advanced Potion-Making was not something to be taken seriously. He had filled in the footnotes, and of course he remembered that he had invented the spells in the book.

In other words, "Advanced Potion-Making" was just a useless old book to Snape, and he would never even think of using it as a table leg support.

Harry treated this tattered old book as a treasure. What a poor child he was.

"When did you know?" Ida continued to ask, "You knew that the book was in Harry's hands." Seeing Snape's unsurprised look, Ida guessed that he must have known that "Advanced Potion Making" was in Harry's hands. Snape sneered loudly and said sarcastically, "He is as stupid as his father and has not inherited any of his mother's advantages. You don't know, but he is now being held in the palm of Slughorn's hand! The little prince of potions, huh!"

In the first Potions class after school started, Harry got the Half-Blood Prince's "Advanced Potion-Making". He made a perfect potion of living hell according to the footnotes, got the only full score in this class, and won the Felicity Potion as a reward.

The potion that Harry handed in was not at the level of "exceeding expectations".

From last September till now, Harry had shown a talent for potions that he had never shown in the previous five years, as if the soul of his ancestor who invented "Bone Growing Spirit" and "Quick-Effective Hair Lubricant" had possessed him this year.

Five years, Snape taught Harry Potions for five years. Do you know how he spent those five years? No, Snape taught Harry for five years, so he naturally knew his true level.

After just one holiday, Harry's Potions level improved by leaps and bounds, like a Firebolt, and he became a Potions genius. How could Snape not notice the problem?
It's just that Snape didn't take back his "Advanced Potion-Making".

The title of "Half-Blood Prince" is indeed quite shameful. If nothing unexpected happened, Snape would probably never let Harry know that he is the Half-Blood Prince.

Although "Half-Blood Prince" also means "half-Prince".

In the thick student directory of Hogwarts, Ada had seen the surname Prince, who was said to be a family of potions. The last Prince to appear in the school was Irene.

Irene Prince comes from a family of potions masters. She was once the captain of the Gobstone team at school. Her father and grandfather were both potion masters, and her name was once published in the Daily Prophet.

When Irene graduated from Hogwarts, she should have been as outstanding as her father and grandfather and became a master, but the wizarding world today has long forgotten her and the Prince family of potions.

It was because after graduation, Irene left the magic world and married a Muggle named Tobias. Irene Prince's son was standing in front of Ada at this moment.

"Is there anything else? If not, please leave." Snape broke the silence. There was a sense of alienation in his words, as if he had really forgotten what he had taught Ada over the years.

He continued, "I think a teacher should be looking for you in the castle right now and wants to have a good chat with you."

"Now is not the time to meet, let alone to chat." Ada's eyes dimmed, "Besides, I still have something to ask you. I will keep pestering you until I get the answer. You can't get rid of me."

"The unbreakable vow, between you and Narcissa Malfoy." Ada continued, "What is going on?"

When Snape mentioned this oath, his expression changed for the first time tonight, becoming uncertain.

After a moment, Snape said, "It's none of your business. This is between her and me."

Polite, polite, and indifferent, this was Snape's attitude from the moment Ada entered the classroom, treating his former beloved (traitor) like a stranger.

"What a great phrase, 'None of your business'!" Ada said. She stood up suddenly and the chair fell to the ground with a loud noise.

Ada strode towards Snape and stared into his dark eyes.

She said: "It has nothing to do with me! I shouldn't care about your life or death! Just wait for your body to be exposed in the wilderness, I won't collect your body!"

(End of this chapter)