In the following days, Dana deeply understood what Professor McGonagall meant by "the professors will take care of you."
The professors tried every possible way to give him points. Even the ghost professor, Cuthbert Binns, who only read from the textbook, awarded Dana two points simply because he "didn't sleep and listened attentively."
This made Hermione extremely jealous! She was clearly listening attentively in class too!
But the benefits of this professor-led initiative were obvious—not just in terms of Gryffindor temporarily leading the House points but also in the way the Gryffindor students viewed Dana. In just two days, he had earned nearly twenty points for Gryffindor, and the young lions gradually began to accept him. Although their looks still carried some apprehension, they no longer treated him as a monster.
Dana was a little grateful to the professors, especially Professor McGonagall. Orchestrating a collective effort among the faculty to ensure a student was accepted by their peers—it was something only the stern-looking but soft-hearted Professor McGonagall would do.
Then came the day Gryffindor had its first Potions class.
The warnings from the older students had made the first-years inexplicably nervous, afraid that they would be caught by Snape and cost their House points. Now that Gryffindor was in the lead, they carried an unconscious burden.
This was a joint class with Slytherin, marking the second time that week the two Houses were together.
Snape swept into the room just as expected, called out names just as expected, delivered his opening speech just as expected, and then, as expected, singled out Harry Potter.
"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry looked blank. He tried to find the answer on Ron's face, but Ron was just as lost as he was.
"I don't know, sir."
Snape ignored Hermione's frantically raised hand and sneered. "It seems that fame doesn't represent everything."
He continued. "Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"
"I don't know, sir."
"I suspect you haven't even opened a book before school started, Potter?"
Harry's face burned, while Hermione had been holding her hand up so long it was shaking.
On the Slytherin side, Draco Malfoy and his cronies were laughing so hard they were nearly in tears. Pansy Parkinson, though more restrained, still smirked in satisfaction.
"Potter, then tell me, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, as if suspecting that Snape might actually be blind.
Harry was mortified. He wanted to ask Dana for help—but Dana, sitting alone at the back of the room, had his head buried in a book, seemingly uninterested in the spectacle.
"I don't know, sir," Harry admitted again. Then, desperate to deflect, he added, "But it seems Hermione knows the answers to these questions."
Snape turned his cold gaze on Hermione. "Put your hand down, you foolish girl."
Then, to everyone's surprise, he looked straight at Dana. "Emrys, you answer these questions."
Dana blinked. He hadn't expected Snape to direct the questions at him—he had been deliberately engrossed in his book to avoid this entire exchange.
"Draught of Living Death, stomach of a goat, no difference," he said, giving short, precise answers.
"Very good," Snape said, nodding. "Concise and to the point, completely correct. Gryffindor gains one point."
Wait.
What?
Was this still Snape?
But before anyone could process what had happened, Snape immediately followed up with, "Harry Potter contradicted the professor. Gryffindor loses two points."
There it was.
The first task in class was brewing a Cure for Boils. The students worked in pairs—except for Dana, who, as usual, was alone. Even Hermione had reluctantly paired up with one of her dormmates.
"Malfoy is doing well," Snape announced after inspecting Draco's potion. "Everyone can take a look at how he handles the slugs—it's perfect. Slytherin gains one point."
Malfoy lifted his chin proudly and threw a smug glance at Dana.
A loud hiss followed by green smoke suddenly erupted from the middle of the classroom.
Neville, unsurprisingly, had managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted piece of abstract art. The bubbling potion spilled across the floor, its corrosive nature evident.
"Idiot!" Snape snapped as he cleaned up the mess. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire, didn't you?"
He glared impatiently at Neville, who was now covered in boils and whimpering in pain. "Finnigan, take Longbottom to the hospital wing!"
A suffocating tension filled the room as Snape fumed.
"Potter! Why didn't you tell Longbottom not to add the porcupine quills at this time? Did you think that his mistake would make you look better?" Snape demanded. "No, because of you, Gryffindor will lose another two points!"
Harry clenched his fists. This was completely unfair.
He opened his mouth to argue, but Ron grabbed his sleeve. "Calm down, Harry," he whispered. "Did you forget what Fred said? Snape is unreasonable and targets Gryffindors!"
Harry exhaled sharply, forcing himself to stay silent. That was true. If he argued, Snape would only find another reason to take more points.
Still, he couldn't understand why Snape had such an intense grudge against Gryffindor. What had they ever done to deserve it?
Then Snape's voice rang out again.
"Emrys's potion is excellent," he announced. "This is nearly a perfect batch. It seems that Emrys pays close attention in class. Gryffindor gains one point."
Harry and Ron exchanged baffled looks.
Didn't the older students say that Snape never gave Gryffindor points in Potions?
But in this lesson alone, he had already given Dana two points!
Was this Snape a fake?
Their confusion didn't last long.
Snape continued, "Compared to a certain famous Mr. Potter, Emrys is a model student. Potter, you are far behind Emrys. He doesn't have your fame, yet he excels in everything more than you!"
Harry felt a surge of frustration.
Dana wasn't some unknown student—he was the first person in history to come to Hogwarts from Azkaban. If that wasn't fame, what was?
But despite himself, he felt a tiny, nagging resentment. Snape had used Dana to belittle him, subtly positioning him as a rival.
Without realizing it, Harry had started to place Dana on the other side, as an opponent rather than a friend.
Young people hated being compared to their peers.
This was evident when Hagrid invited Harry to visit him later that afternoon. Normally, Harry would have invited Dana along, but in that moment, he hesitated—and ultimately, he didn't.
Perhaps Snape was a little right.
When he was with Neville, it made him seem more competent. But what about when he was with Dana?
If young friendships were to last, they had to be tempered over time.
End of the Chapter.
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