HP: Those Years Sleeping with the Half-Blood Prince

"Lily." Severus looked up, his expression softening.

"How was the morning?" Lily asked excitedly, taking an empty plate and starting to put some salad on it. "Our first Transfiguration class was amazing! Professor McGonagall was so strict, but she was also really amazing! She turned the podium into a pig and then back into a pig. I bet the whole class was stunned."

"Unfortunately, in our first attempt to turn a match into a needle, only two of us managed to make the match even slightly sharp..."

She wrinkled her nose, but was clearly not discouraged. "I need to practice more. What about you guys? What classes do you have this morning?"

"Charms and History of Magic," Ian picked up the conversation, swallowing his steak with a smile. "Charms class was pretty good. Professor Flitwick was quite interesting; Severus made a feather float on his first try."

Lily's eyes widened as she looked at Severus. "Really? That's amazing, Severus! I knew you could do it!"

Severus's earlobes seemed to flush slightly, almost imperceptibly. He lowered his eyes and poked at the mashed potatoes with his fork.

"It's nothing. Ian did it better; his feathers could stay in the air and spin around."

He brought the topic back, his tone flat, but Ian could detect a hint of awkwardness at being praised.

"Oh? Really?" Lily turned to Ian and asked curiously.

"I was lucky," Ian shrugged, not wanting to boast about himself on this topic, and instead made an exaggerated face. "But the history of magic... Merlin's beard, Professor Binns could make the goblin rebellion more sleep-inducing than that moldy copy of the Tax Code in my attic. Kevin, our other roommate, fell asleep in class and even snored."

Lily chuckled, her green eyes curving into crescents. "We're tomorrow's historians of magic, looks like I'll have to go to bed early tonight..."

After finishing her meal, Lily said goodbye to them and left the auditorium with her friends.

The afternoon herbalism class was held in the greenhouse behind the castle. Professor Sprout was short and stout, covered in mud, and his smile was as warm as the sun.

"Welcome to Greenhouse Number One!" she said cheerfully, gesturing for the students to gather around. "Today, we're going to meet some basic but energetic friends—the Devil's Web!"

When they saw the dark, vine-like plants lazily spreading out in the sunlight, many students instinctively took a step back.

But Ian's eyes lit up. He leaned forward. Thanks to his mother Leah's constant nagging since childhood and her nursery that always smelled strange, he had a natural familiarity with these moving, sometimes biting, green creatures.

"They don't like bright light and warmth," Professor Sprout explained. "So when you get tangled up, remember to relax, and then emit light or heat..."

In the practical session, participants worked in pairs to care for a small pot of Devil's Web seedlings.

Severus carefully observed the slightly wriggling vines, his movements precise but somewhat tense.

Ian, on the other hand, seemed much more at ease. He effortlessly avoided the seedlings' tentative attempts to entangle them, skillfully adjusting the position of the flowerpots to place them in suitable shade, all the while casually remarking:

"Look, this new shoot is a bit pale in color, it might be lacking some dragon manure fertilizer, but we can't add it now, we have to wait until it's stronger... Oh, don't touch that spot, that's its sensitive spot, if you touch it it will shrink back shyly, and it will grow slower."

Severus stopped what he was doing and looked at him: "How did you know?"

"My mother said she grew this raw material used to extract tranquilizers," Ian shrugged, tapping the edge of the flowerpot lightly with his gloved fingers.

She also said that the Devil's Web is actually quite timid. The more panicked you are, the tighter it wraps around you. If you calmly tell it, "It's okay, I don't want to hurt you," it can sense it.

He whispered a few words to the clump of seedlings, and the previously restless vines gradually calmed down.

"Wow, Burke, you know so much!" exclaimed a Ravenclaw girl next to her.

"It's nothing, I've just heard it too many times." Ian smiled, turned to look at Severus, and found that the other was looking thoughtfully at the pot of devil's web that had become "docile".

"That makes sense," Severus said in a low voice, and tried to adjust his posture and breathing. Although the seedling in front of him was not as "obedient" as Ian's, its aggressiveness was obviously reduced.

Behind another workbench not far away, Kevin was yelling as his Devil's Web seedlings wrapped around his wrist. He was trying to poke them with the tip of his wand, but Professor Sprout gently stopped him.

Aris, meanwhile, frowned and meticulously examined the leaf veins and soil moisture by referring to the diagrams in the textbook, muttering to himself as if he were conducting some kind of rigorous experimental analysis.

When the day's classes ended and we returned to the Slytherin common room in the evening, the green fire in the fireplace flickered, casting shimmering light on our pale, reserved faces.

As Ian and Severus stepped through the stone door, they heard a faint chuckle coming from the fireplace.

The snickering came from a large sofa by the fireplace.

Three older boys sat around, one of them lazily poking at the fire with the tip of his wand, making the green flames leap a little higher.

The one speaking was the one in the middle, Avery, a fifth-grader, with his light blond hair neatly combed and his face bearing his usual condescending expression.

Beside him were Mursab and Rozier, both wearing similar smiles.

"Look who's back," Avery said, not looking at Ian, but glancing at Severus's obviously ill-fitting old robe.

"How's your first day, Snape? How's it going? After all, not everyone gets the chance to study in that kind of environment."

He downplayed "that kind of environment," but the contempt in his words was no less evident.

Several students who were chatting or doing their homework nearby stopped talking and turned to look at him. Some looked at him with amusement, some were indifferent, and a few of the younger students quickly lowered their heads and pretended not to hear.

Severus tensed up almost imperceptibly, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

He didn't respond immediately, but simply raised his eyes, his dark eyes unfathomable, as if frozen inside. In an instant, he concealed all his emotions and walked towards the archway.

But Ian stopped, a smile on his face, and faced Avery.

"Senior Avery," Ian said, his voice just loud enough for those nearby to hear clearly, his tone polite yet without the slightest hint of timidity.

"The first day was indeed quite exciting, especially the Charms class. Professor Flitwick even praised Severus for succeeding on his first try."

"What, were you guys this good in your first year, making the feather float so steadily and high in one go? I've heard that although the levitation spell is basic, not many people can master its essence immediately."

Avery's fake smile faded a little.

He squinted, giving Ian a proper look for the first time. "The Burkes?" he said slowly, as if savoring the name. "The Burkes from Knockturn Alley?"

“My uncle is Mr. Bokin,” Ian readily admitted, even nodding. “I spent some time there during the summer and learned some… ways to identify things. For example, some things look shiny, but if you tap them and listen to the sound, you can tell they might be hollow inside.”

He gave a pointed look, then calmly returned Avery's gaze.

Mursab chuckled, about to say something, but Rozier stopped him with a look.

"It's good to have a good eye," Avery leaned back on the sofa, his tone even colder. "However, in Slytherin, a little cleverness and... business acumen are probably not enough. You need to know what to touch and what to stay away from. Bloodline and... the choice of companions are very important. Don't let some shady things tarnish your family's reputation."

"You're right, senior," Ian nodded readily, as if he had truly learned something. "That's why my father always said that you can't judge a person by their appearance alone; you have to look at their foundation and potential."

"Some people may be dressed in fine clothes, but their inner qualities may already be rotten; some people may seem unremarkable now, but who knows if they might become extraordinary figures in the future?"

"In the alleyways, someone who's penniless and down on their luck today might strike it rich and become an overnight sensation tomorrow. These kinds of things happen all the time. Making premature judgments can sometimes lead to missed opportunities, or even... misjudging someone, which is quite embarrassing, right?"

Ian's tone remained calm throughout.

Avery's gaze darkened, and he stared unabashedly at Ian's face, as if weighing whether Ian was an easy target.

Not far away, Lucius Malfoy, sitting in an armchair, also looked up from his book and calmly glanced over. He didn't say anything, but no one dared to disregard his gaze.

"Sharp-tongued." Avery finally snorted, leaned back in his chair, picked up his cup holder, and stopped looking at Ian, as if he had lost interest.

"Thank you for the compliment, Senior Avery." Ian's smile remained unchanged as he turned and walked towards the dormitory corridor with light steps, as if he had just chatted about the weather.

Severus stood in the shadows at the entrance to the corridor and did not go in.

Only when Ian approached did he turn around, and the two walked side by side into the dimly lit corridor.

The stone wall isolated the common lounge from noise and stares.

After walking a short distance and making sure no one was around, Severus whispered curtly, "Mind your own business."

Ian turned to look at him, the light from the hallway wall lamp casting a shadow on his profile, obscuring his expression. "Think I'm being nosy?"

"It's just unnecessary," Severus said, his voice even more muffled.

"Consider it me trying to please you," Ian said, his tone more relaxed. "My dear roommate, you'd better save me from potions class tomorrow."

He pretended to be in great pain, clutching his chest and reaching out to Severus.

Severus looked at him and smiled slightly. "Hmm."