Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 202 Neville's Question

Deep in the forbidden forest.

Hagrid, the gamekeeper, was tending to a juvenile giant spider. He crouched down to examine its claws and abdominal hairs, his large face filled with heartache.
"How did you end up here? Didn't Aragok tell you that the Forbidden Forest is full of dangers? Many adult spiders mysteriously disappear, let alone you little spiders..."

No matter how he tried to comfort and persuade him, the young eight-eyed giant spider remained silent and did not utter a sound.

The Aragog leader may not have told Hagrid that the adult spiders didn't disappear in the Forbidden Forest, but inside their nest, and several times they were accompanied by a strong smell of roasting meat... That was something the entire Octopod Spider clan dared not provoke, and the little spiders could only obediently remain silent.

It's just an experiment, it's willing to cooperate.

Toothless lay on the ground, panting and hissing, its tail swaying slowly. The young snake on the dog's neck rested its head on the dog's head, also panting and hissing, while observing the strangely shaped spider. Its eyes were bright, and its forked tongue kept sticking out and retracting, emitting a soft hissing sound.

The juvenile eight-eyed giant spider sensed an instinctive threat; its black hairs stood on end, it trembled, and dared not utter a sound. Only its eight eyes darted about, occasionally glancing towards the oak tree not far away, where two professors in black robes stood.

Melvin stood on the outer edge of the grass, waved his wand, and summoned whirlwinds. The powerful air currents carried bloodstains and hair from all over the place, whistling through the gaps in the branches and disappearing into the blue sky. The clearing, which looked like a murder scene, gradually returned to normal.

After cleaning up the scene, Melvin leaned against an oak tree, arms crossed, with an amused expression, looking like he was watching a good show.

"Wow... Wow..."

Hard-soled leather boots stepped on the grass.

Snape paced slowly in front of Harry, Harry, and his companions, his footsteps feeling like they were pressing on their hearts, exerting continuous pressure.

He glanced at Harry expressionlessly, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Potter, Weasley, and Miss Granger, you may have forgotten that Dumbledore mentioned at the opening banquet that no student is allowed to enter the forest."

Ron had a long face and looked extremely ugly.

Hermione lowered her head and didn't say anything.

Harry, not wanting to fall into Snape's hands or appear weak and submissive in front of him, looked up to meet his gaze, his mind a jumble as he tried to fabricate an excuse: "I...we wanted to help Hagrid patrol the Forbidden Forest, we're friends."

“Oh, are you sure?” Snape’s sarcasm became even more pronounced. “As a school employee, helping students break school rules, your friend Mr. Hagrid will be punished even more severely.”

Harry's face paled with guilt for dragging his friend down, then turned to anger. He forced himself to speak: "It has nothing to do with Hagrid. We came in on our own. We suspect Professor Snape of engaging in dark magic activities in the Forbidden Forest! This has nothing to do with him, does it?"

"..."

Even though Melvin was there, they only called his name.

Snape was almost amused and exasperated: "I hope you're still this energetic when you're in solitary confinement! Potter! For trespassing in the Forbidden Forest and offending the professor, you're each deducting 10 points, plus two weeks of solitary confinement!"

Watching Snape walk away in a huff, the three exchanged glances and surprisingly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ron made a face at the old bat's back: "So what if you deduct points? Professor Gaunt gave Harry 50 points in just two classes last week."

Hermione nodded instinctively, then froze on the spot, realizing that she actually thought the same thing.

She doesn't remember when this change of mindset happened. In the past, she couldn't accept deductions or violations of school rules at all, but now she feels that it's okay as long as she can earn them back. This is terrifying!

“It’s Easter break now. If you’re willing to apologize and admit your mistakes to Professor Snape, your punishment might be much lighter,” Melvin said.

Ron curled his lip: "Other professors might be a possibility, but Snape? Let's forget about it."

A stubborn student met an extreme professor... Melvin found it amusing, shook his head, turned around and walked back. The potion effect test was over, the show was over, and there was nothing left to stay in the Forbidden Forest.

The three quickly followed, with Hermione leaning close and rattling off a string of questions: "Professor, what was that potion? Why did they test it on animals? It sounded like it was for healing, but what are its specific effects?"

Hagrid also saw Spider off and followed along with Axe.

"It's a potion recipe left by Lady Hufflepuff. I only found it recently and made a small batch. I don't know its specific effects yet. Professor Snape is a potions expert, and I asked him to help test it a while ago."

Melvin stepped onto the soft forest floor. "However, the results from testing small animals like rats and toads were not significant. During the Easter holiday, Professor Snape invited me to come to the Forbidden Forest to conduct some experiments."

"Left by Hufflepuff! It must be a very powerful potion!" Ron exclaimed in surprise.

The founder's name instantly sparked endless imagination.

“It is indeed very powerful, but not as powerful as you think. Its detoxification is not as good as a universal antidote, and its healing of external injuries is not as good as White Pepper Essence.” Melvin explained to them as they walked. “However, this potion has a very peculiar property: it can remove foreign magic from living beings.”

"What do you mean?" Hermione looked up with a confused expression.

"Magic works through magical energy. The anti-magic spells of many spells are to remove the corresponding magical energy. For example, the dark magic that Professor Snape just demonstrated will never heal if the magical energy attached to the wound is not removed, until the injured person bleeds to death."

Harry and the others felt a pang of regret. They had been hiding behind the helmet behind the tree and hadn't seen Snape's movements clearly, let alone the wounds on the stag.

“On the other hand, many wizards suffer from incurable injuries because of wounds or residual foreign magic in their bodies.” Melvin slowed his speech, giving them time to process and understand. “You’ve all seen Professor Kettleburn of the Magical Creatures class, who only has half of his limbs left. Haven’t you ever wondered why, with the level of wizarding medical expertise, his severed hands and feet couldn’t be healed?”

Harry nodded. He had experience in this area. During last year's Quidditch match, Lockhart had his arm bone removed, and Madam Pomfrey fed him Bone-Growing Elixir, which healed in just one night.

Melvin answered his own question: "Because his severed limbs were mostly bitten off or burned by level 5X magical beasts, such as the dragon flame of the Swedish Short-nosed Dragon and the venom of the Peruvian Venomous-toothed Dragon... These strange magical powers prevented the White Essence and Bone-Growing Spirit from taking effect. Once the magical powers were completely removed and the wounds had healed to a near-complete state, the severed hands and horns could never grow back."

Hagrid followed behind, too afraid to utter a sound. He had had so much fun in Romania last summer that he almost had a leg bitten off.

“Similar to Muggle medicine, wounds need to be cleaned and disinfected before treatment.” Hermione’s eyes lit up. Both her parents were doctors, and she quickly connected the two. “The only difference is that Muggles deal with viruses and bacteria, while wizards deal with magic.”

Melvin nodded: "The potion invented by Lady Hufflepuff is the antidote to all magic; it's a magical antibiotic."

……

Back in the Gryffindor Tower, the holiday common room was quiet.

Hermione remembered seeing her classmates on the way back to the castle. The girls were sunbathing and chatting in the fields and courtyards, while the boys were playing in the lake, having water fights with the giant squid's tentacles. Whenever a younger wizard fell into the water, the older students would cheer loudly. When the giant squid used its tentacles to lift the student out of the water, the older students would swarm over and try to grab the tentacle.

Thankfully, they weren't in the lounge, so they hadn't yet noticed the deducted house points in the hourglass. Prefect Percy, in particular, was extremely concerned about his house points, and would nag for ages whenever someone lost points.

Hermione sat on the armchair, pursing her lips as she looked back on the past. Back in her Muggle school, she was always the most law-abiding student, but after coming to Hogwarts, her standards gradually dropped.

The attitude shifted from strictly adhering to school rules to simply avoiding being caught.
The attitude shifted from "absolutely no points deducted" to "as long as they can be earned back."

Looking back on today's demerit points and detention, and recalling the previous demerit point experiences, Hermione felt a sense of disorientation, as if things had changed and people were no longer the same outstanding student who followed the school rules.

She sighed deeply, looking at her two mischievous friends who had led her astray: "Do you think Snape and Professor Levent would have used even crueler dark magic on those animals if they hadn't discovered us?"

“Professor Levent might not know, but Snape certainly would!” Ron slumped onto the sofa and stretched. “If Dumbledore weren’t at school, I wouldn’t be surprised if he used students as test subjects.”

"Professor Levent... isn't the kind of nice guy we usually think of either."

Harry looked up at the ceiling, recalling many things from the past: nearly drowning the troll, setting up the Chamber of Secrets to watch them fight Quirrell, manipulating the Basilisk, and so on.

“He’s so mysterious, so unapproachable,” Hermione murmured.

“But Professor Levent is reliable, and I believe he would not do anything to harm his students.”

As Ron spoke, he pulled over the cushion next to him. The experience in the Forbidden Forest was too exciting. After calming down, he was a little tired. He yawned and prepared to take a nap before lunch.

Just as he closed his eyes and lay down, a hand reached over and pulled away the cushion. Harry gave him a look, raised his chin, and pointed to the portrait hole.

Ron followed the gaze and looked over.

A figure dressed in a wizard's robe with a prefect's badge pinned to his chest stood there, his sharp gaze fixed on them.

“I see that the ruby ​​in the hourglass has shrunk again. What have you been doing this time?” Percy came to his brother, holding the letter that was to be sent home this week. “Never mind, you can explain it to Mom yourself.”

Ron sighed, and suddenly he was wide awake.

……

Ten p.m.

Ron leaned against the headboard with a vacant look in his eyes, covered by the blanket, his brows slightly furrowed. He wasn't sleepy at all; in fact, he was too wide awake to sleep: "We made the mistake together, so why am I the only one getting scolded by Mom?"

"What did Percy say in his letter?" Harry asked from the next bed.

Ron shook his head: "I don't know, I'm prepared to receive a roar letter."

"George and Fred also frequently lose points, so why don't they seem to get scolded by Mrs. Weasley?"

“They’ve gotten used to it. Even if their mother scolds them to their face, they can filter out the things they don’t want to hear and then tell jokes to change the subject…”

Ron muttered his complaints, then turned to see Neville sitting on the edge of the bed, not yet lying down. Intrigued, he asked curiously, "Neville, can't sleep either? Did your grandma scold you? Or is it about course selection?"

The Easter holiday coincided with the course selection period, and Neville's relatives wrote to him every day, offering many different suggestions on course selection. One said that ancient runes were the foundation of alchemy, another said that arithmetic and divination contained the mysteries of numbers... In short, every course was important.

Poor Neville, he's almost driven insane.

Ron's question was like a broadcast in the room, drawing everyone's attention to the chubby guy, wanting to know why his roommate was having trouble sleeping. Harry also turned to look.

Neville sat on the edge of the bed with his head down, a few glistening tears sliding down his cheeks and splashing onto his pajamas. The still-burning candlelight stretched his shadow long, enveloping the entire bed.

Without looking up, he mumbled, "I was thinking about what you were talking about during the day."

"What happened during the day...?"

Neville looked up, his eyes welling up with tears: "Do you think Professor Levent's medicine can cure my mom and dad?"

Harry and Ron sat up and looked at their roommate.

……

The Potions Department office is very cold.

Snape sat upright in the shadows behind his office, his back visible only through the archway connecting to the storeroom. He had maintained the same posture for the past hour, occasionally putting away the papers he had graded.

"..."

Like an emotionless robot.

Harry looked away, put on his gloves, and reached into the stone basin to stir it. He caught a lively newt, grabbed its tail with one hand and its body with the other, and with a burst of strength, cruelly tore the poor newt off.

This creature doesn't cry out in pain, nor does it dare to fight back; it just struggles even more fiercely, shaking its head and trying to escape the clutches of evil.

The severed tail is thrown into the jar, and the newt is returned to the stone basin. In this way, a newt tail can be collected. The whole process is disgusting and makes people feel nauseous. It will cause strong discomfort when you first come into contact with it.

However, this was already Harry's 40th severed tail. He had gotten used to it, and with Ron and Hermione by his side, Harry felt like a cold-blooded and ruthless executioner, cruelly horribly so.

It's all Snape's fault; he arranged such a cruel solitary confinement punishment.

“Go find Professor Levent later and tell him about Neville’s request,” Harry said in a low voice, tearing off another salamander’s tail.

“I’ve tried to find the professor several times, but he’s never in his office. I can’t even see him at the Great Hall. I’m starting to suspect he’s not even in the castle,” Hermione muttered softly, her brown hair hanging down. Wearing gloves, she couldn’t easily brush it away, so she just shook her head vigorously.

Ron glanced outside: "Such an important matter, shouldn't we go directly to the principal?"

“I agree. Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were injured while fighting the Death Eaters, and Dumbledore certainly won’t ignore it.”

(End of this chapter)