Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 22 Potions Class (Part )
Professor Snape has the same ability as Professor McGonagall. Just a glance from him can make the young wizards silent.

But their styles are completely different.

Professor McGonagall is serious and awe-inspiring, which comes from her treating everyone equally and impartially.

But Snape...

When he hid in the shadows, gently holding the parchment with his fingers, and read out the name "Harry Potter" with an expressionless face, the drawn-out tone seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

People can't help but think of poisonous snakes!

Snape took in the fear in the faces of the young wizards below the stage, but he made no attempt to conceal it. His lifeless black eyes were still fixed on Harry:

"Yes, yes, the Boy-Who-Lived, the savior of the wizarding world, a famous figure!"

Anyone can hear the irony in it.

Harry's face was frozen, and he felt confused and a little aggrieved. Then he heard Professor Snape read Vaughan's name.

"Oh, Vaughan Weasley, the famous Potions genius, another famous figure."

Vaughn stood up and saluted. "Thank you for the compliment, Professor."

Harry suddenly envied his calmness and composure. Not everyone has the courage to ignore the venom of a poisonous snake.

Snape snorted, and to Harry's relief, Snape finally stopped staring at him. Instead, he quickly read the list and then wandered among the crowd like a ghost:
"...Perhaps many of you don't believe that potions are a form of magic. I don't expect the foolish matter in your thick skulls to immediately understand the beauty of this subject, or how the magical potion, brewed over a slow fire, can make people's hearts flutter and their minds become confused..."

The slow and measured words echoed in the silent basement.

Sometimes it was far away, sometimes it was close. At one moment, it suddenly rang in Harry's ears, startling him:
"Harry Potter! Famous personage, tell me, what will I get if I add powdered root of narcissus to an infusion of wormwood?"

What?
Harry glanced at Ron beside him, whose expression was as dull as his.

Harry had read the Potions book, of course, but who could memorize everything in an entire book that they hadn't learned yet?
Oh, except Hermione - she had her hands raised high.

Vaughan was trying to push her back into her seat, and behind them, Malfoy and two lackeys were giggling.

"I don't know, Professor," said Harry dryly.

Professor Snape, whose long face almost hung down to his head, snorted sarcastically: "I don't know... Humph, it seems that fame doesn't mean everything, Mr. Potter. Well, let's try again..."

Humiliated, Harry felt his head buzzing. He impulsively said, "Professor, why don't you ask Hermione? She must know. Or ask Vaughn? He's been brewing potions since he was eight and has improved many recipes. Ron showed me a newspaper that published his paper. I think his level is even higher!"

After saying these words in one breath, Harry felt relieved.

These days, Ron has been bragging to him about how great Vaughn is at potions. Harry feels that Snape may not be as good as Vaughn!

The basement suddenly fell into silence because of Harry's words, and everyone saw that Snape's face was frozen.

puff...

Someone burst out laughing; it was Malfoy and his two henchmen. This reckless commotion attracted Vaughn and Snape, who both gave them identical, cold stares.

Malfoy shut up quickly.

Snape looked at Vaughn again, his cold expression making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. "It seems, Mr. Vaughn Weasley, you are very important to your classmates."

Vaughan's smiling demeanor returned. "Just some minor accomplishments, Professor."

"In fact, my main purpose for coming to Hogwarts was to learn potions from you. I also want to thank you for publishing a paper to speak up for me when some people from the Extraordinary Apothecary Association criticized my ideas about potions."

The young wizards from Gryffindor and Slytherin thought they must have been hallucinating because of the dead silence just now - they actually saw Professor Snape seemed to smile, but the atmosphere in the classroom was undoubtedly much more relaxed.

He didn't ask any more questions, but before the lecture, Snape mocked Harry again: "Mr. Potter, I don't need to ask Mr. Vaughan Weasley such a simple question. Do you know why? He earned his fame through his own efforts, and you - tsk tsk... deduct 2 points from Gryffindor!"

Harry felt as if his face were on fire.

Vaughan also secretly sighed that the emotional entanglement between Harry and Snape was a complete mess.

Harry was undoubtedly feeling aggrieved. He had no idea why he had offended Snape. As for Snape... he wondered how painful it would be for him to see the eyes of the person he loved most on the face of the person he hated most?
There is no room for outsiders to intervene in such a complicated dispute.

So everyone soon discovered...Snape only let Harry go temporarily.

Throughout the lecture, he kept circling around Harry's seat, asking questions from time to time.

This put a lot of trouble on the people sitting next to Harry. Not only did they dare not be distracted, but there were always a few unlucky people who were affected.

This is especially true during the practical part at the end of the class.

Snape practically glued his feet to Harry's desk, finding fault with every move he and those around him made.

"Longbottom, what's that thing under that thick skull of yours? Flour and water? It turns to mush the moment you move it?"

"I've heard of your reputation, Finnigan. Any accident can cause an explosion, but in Potions class, if you dare to be careless, I will let you know what punishment is!"

Occasionally he would walk up to Vaughn and watch silently without a single harsh word.

Of course, it wasn't because he was partial to Slytherin, although that was true, but rather that there was nothing wrong with Vaughan's operation - although Hermione, his partner, felt that his method of handling herbs was different from what was in the textbook.

The practical operation is to boil a potion to treat scabies, which is a very basic medicine.

Vaughan had tried this a long time ago, but he didn't just mess around with it because the potion was too basic. Instead, he concentrated on brewing it while explaining to Hermione:

"...Potions don't have strict control over their properties. They're different from Muggle chemistry. Chemistry requires precise control of the amount of ingredients, but with potions, it's more like we're brewing a pot of mysticism, a spell, than brewing a concoction!"

"You should have noticed, right? The recipes in the textbooks are very vague about the amount of ingredients. There's no such thing as a few grams or milliliters. Usually it's a few drops, a few tablets, or even a whole ingredient. But for parts that Muggles don't care about, like stirring, the potion will strictly require the number of times!"

"Hermione, you can think of this whole process as a ritual, a ritual of invoking the mystery and constructing the spell."

(End of this chapter)