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Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone |
else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't |
had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to |
learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start. |
Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to |
find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost |
once. |
"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his |
porridge. |
"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of |
Slytherin House. They say he always favors them -- we'll be able to see |
if it's true." |
"Wish McGonagall favored us, " said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head |
of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge |
pile of homework the day before. |
Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but |
it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a |
hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, |
circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters |
and packages onto their laps. |
Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to |
nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the |
owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered |
down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto |
Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy |
scrawl: |
Dear Harry, |
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have |
a cup of tea with me around three? |
I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with |
Hedwig. |
Hagrid |
Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled Yes, please, see you later on the |
back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again. |
It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because |
the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to |
him so far. |
At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor |
Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd |
been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry -- he hated him. |
Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder |
here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough |
without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. |
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and |
like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name. |
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new -- celebrity." |
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their |
hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His |
eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. |
They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels. |
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of |
potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but |
they caught every word -- like Professor McGonagall, Snape had y caught |
every word -- like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a |
class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving |
here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you |
will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with |
its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through |
human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.... I can teach |
you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't |
as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." |
More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks |
with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and |
looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. |
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered |
root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" |
Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who |
looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. |
"I don't know, sit," said Harry. |
Snape's lips curled into a sneer. |
"Tut, tut -- fame clearly isn't everything." |
He ignored Hermione's hand. |
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me |
a bezoar?" |
Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without |
her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a |
bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were |
shaking with laughter. |
"I don't know, sit." "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, |
eh, Potter?" Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those |
cold eyes. He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did |
Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs |
and Fungi? |
Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. |
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" |
At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon |
ceiling. |
"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why |
don't you try her?" |
A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. |
Snape, however, was not pleased. |
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, |
asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as |
the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach |
of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and |
wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of |
aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" |
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, |
Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your |
cheek, Potter." |
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