Chapter 74: 6th September 1991, Friday: Part 3

There was no need for George to worry about Harry since the lesson was about to begin. Right on the hour, the classroom door swung open with a bang and a pale figure draped in a black robe came strutting into the room. Snape addressed the class without even looking in their direction as he walked towards his desk.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class."

All the students murmuring fell silent after hearing Snape's introduction. George wasn't surprised at Snape's opening line coming in the form of a mild threat, it was hard to believe this man had been working with children for the best part of a decade. Snape reached the teacher's desk and turned around to look towards the students, his signature moody and stern expression glared at all of them except the front row.

He briefly paused before continuing his speech, "as such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and art that is potion-making.

However, for those select few who possess the predisposition…"

Snape took that moment to stare directly at the first row full of Slytherin students, he was laying his biases right out in the open from day one. As long as those eyes weren't on the back row, George couldn't be happier. Getting praised by Snape wasn't on his bucket list. Snape's eyes slowly lifted back towards the rest of the classroom as he wrapped his robes around himself tightly and crossed his arms. George could almost feel the pessimistic judgement oozing from Snape's body language.

Snape continued to 'motivate' the class, "I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

George wasn't imagining any students outside of Slytherin being all too impassioned by this enrapturing speech even with all the false promises. Who in their right mind would believe in brewing glory or bottling fame? He wondered who could believe that all of Snape's claims were true when the man himself was hardly famous or wealthy. Only George should know that Snape deliberately avoided bringing attention to himself with his accomplishments. And 'putting a stopper in death', who does he think he's kidding? If that was possible, then George's patron would have never sent him on this mission in the first place.

Snape paused his speech as he became distracted by one student in particular who wasn't paying attention to him. Harry seemed to still be distracted by George's riddle as he was staring out into nothingness whilst playing with the quill in his hands. The boy was clearly in such deep thought that he hadn't acknowledged Snape who was looking directly at him.

Snape continued to stare at Harry as he spoke with a particularly condescending tone under a very thin veneer, "then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to, NOT, PAY, ATTENTION!"

Hermione had worked out what Snape was implying as she looked towards Harry, she gave him a nudge whilst gesturing with her head towards Snape. Unfortunately for Harry, the damage was already done as Snape had already chosen him as his target. George knew this confrontation was going to happen regardless of whether Harry had shown Snape any lack of respect. Before this class had begun, Snape wanted to prove a point that Harry wasn't so special.

George was in full support of this prejudice simply because it would ensure that his secret message to Harry was misinterpreted. It would guarantee that Harry would continue to believe that Snape was a professor that could not be trusted. That was not the only good news. George was also a little nervous that his interaction with Harry might have changed events in the classroom. If the future changed and Harry wasn't called out for not listening to Snape, then consequently George's three predictions would not make any sense. Luckily, events had occurred as intended.

Snape uncrossed his arms and walked forward to address Harry personally, "Mr Potter, our new celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand immediately shot up into the air as she was gagging to answer the question. George couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't able to see that the question was clearly not intended for her. George had started a game in his head after talking to Myrtle, it was a bit like the house cup but only for his 'friends', the points represented how close they were to earn his respect. Some points would have to be knocked off Hermione's score as she wasn't doing a good job of reading the room. Hermione was in the lead but she might fall to second place at this rate, Neville was close to taking pole position.

George knew this whole act was intended to humiliate Harry, Snape was never going to allow someone else to answer the question. Harry didn't know the answer, so he ended up shaking his head in response.

Snape rested his body against a pillar in the centre of the room as he continued his questioning, "you don't know, well let's try again. Where, Mr Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a Bezoar?"

Hermione kept on losing points as she once again put up her hand to answer the question. She was far too blinded by her ego to realise the situation between Snape and Harry. George would even go as far as to say that even Ron would be able to work out what was going on between Harry and Snape by this point, the Weasley wasn't going to earn any points though.

Harry vocalised his response this time, "I don't know sir."

Snape didn't hesitate to ask his next question because he obviously knew Harry wouldn't know the answer, "and what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Hermione looked like she had ants in her pants as she wiggled around on her stool desperately trying to get Snape's attention. It was so painful to watch, George felt embarrassed on her behalf. It was official, Neville had overtaken Hermione in points.

Harry looked very disheartened as he said once again, "I don't know sir."

Snape spoke without a drop of empathy, "pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything."

Harry finally grew a backbone and retorted, "clearly Hermione knows. Seems a 'pity' not to ask her."

Hermione was still sitting there with her hand firmly piercing the heavens, George was now baffled by Hermione's lack of situational awareness. This level of ignorance was inconsolable, he was so shocked by her ignorance that he forgot to dock her more points. On the other hand, all the other Gryffindor students seemed to find Harry's comments funny, quiet chuckling echoed around the room. However, Snape didn't seem to find Harry's retort quite so humorous.

"Quiet."

Snape's stern voice quelled the room's laughter in an instant. Then the professor's frown turned into a scowl as he made his way to the opposite side of Harry's desk.

During his walk there, he passed by Hermione, "put your hand down, you silly girl."

Even from behind, George could tell that Hermione's mood had completely deflated. Although it was subtle, he could see her shoulders slumped and her head pointed down towards the table like a dog that had been scalded. He would like to think that this would teach Hermione not to try and answer every single question in class, but he knew all too well that this would hardly damage her passion for putting her hand up for literally everything. Her ego knew no bounds, it was almost as bad as George's without the potion. Snape leaned over and rested his arms on Harry's table whilst staring daggers at him.

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The professor spoke with his hatred boiling over into his voice, "for your information Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of the Living Dead. 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…"

Harry suddenly interrupted Snape's monologue in a whisper, "aconite."

Snape continued to talk but was caught off guard by Harry's correct answer, "acon… yes, aconite. Well, Potter, it seems your future in my class may not be completely futile."

Snape paused for a moment and looked at Harry in surprise, he definitely didn't expect Harry to know the answer to that question. Snape wasn't wrong to presume Harry wouldn't know about aconite, George had only read about it in a potions book intended for third years. Snape just kept squinting his eyes toward Harry as if that would somehow provide him with the answer to the origin of his sudden epiphany, but he relented once he saw that Harry wasn't going to say anything. Good, George doubted it would happen but he was happy Harry didn't immediately turn around and point at George while saying 'he did it'.

Snape's eyes briefly glanced around the classroom before he said in an irritated voice, "well, why aren't you all copying this down."

The sound of stools moving and booklets opening could be heard from all around the room. George had already written Snape's words down even though he already knew this information. He did this so that Snape couldn't possibly use this as an excuse to give him detention. Snape stood up straight and slowly walked back to his desk at the front of the class, any surprise or anger in his expression had completely vanished along the way.

He sat down on his stool and pulled out a quill as he addressed the class, "Gryffindors, note that five points will be taken from your house for your classmate's cheek."

Snape made sure to get in one last glare at Harry before he returned to writing on his parchment. Draco along with a lot of the Slytherin students turned around to smile in Harry's direction, whereas some of the Gryffindor students including Hermione looked at Harry disapprovingly. Perhaps only Ron and George were the only ones that didn't have their opinions of Harry affected by Snape taking points from Gryffindor, it's not like George felt the house points meant anything anyway. Once the class and Snape had returned to writing, Harry quickly turned around and looked directly toward George.

Harry's face looked shocked whilst he exaggeratedly mouthed the words, "how did you know?"

George wasn't planning on giving Harry anything except a smile and a wink before he returned to his writing, he wanted to look as mysterious as possible. George was happy to let Harry think it over and make his own conclusions. He had to get back to thinking about the potion that he had to brew after this class ended.

Snape's class made two-and-a-half hours feel like an entire day, it was incredibly slow and involved predominantly copying things that Snape either wrote or said, all of which George already knew. Even the interactive part of the lesson had all the fun sucked out of it by Snape, George was paired up with Neville and had to brew an extremely simple potion to cure boils. The task was so mind-numbingly simple compared to brewing the Calming Draught that he assumed that this was Snape's method for torturing the students, he would have personally preferred thumb screws.

Neville got to sit back and watch the master work, he seemed astonished by George's talent. He kept offering to help and George allowed him to do some of the more risk-free tasks such as counting the porcupine quills. George made sure to double-check everything Neville contributed to the potion. Even if it was simple, one could never be too careful around Neville. Snape kept on hovering around the class whilst the students brewed their potions. The nosy professor had a habit of criticizing everyone except Draco for making trivial mistakes that wouldn't affect the outcome of the potion.

Snape stopped beside George and Neville and stared into their cauldron, he was looking for a fault that didn't exist. Not only was the potion brewed perfectly, but it was also practically finished and ready to be bottled. Neville coward backwards and averted his eyes, but George stayed completely still whilst paying attention to Snape judging his potion.

Snape lifted his head and said specifically to George, "congratulations, Mr Linwood. I wasn't aware you had any experience brewing potions."

George knew what Snape was implying, he wanted to know what Remus might have been teaching him before he came to Hogwarts. Sadly for Snape, he was barking up the wrong tree.

George shyly corrected him, "thank you sir, but I fear you're mistaken. Neville practically made the potion by himself, I barely did anything."

Neville's head quickly revolved toward George, his expression was one of complete stupefaction. George looked back at him whilst smiling and nodding, his eyes were telling Neville to not say a word.

Snape didn't seem convinced, "really, very well. Remember, Mr Linwood, that you will not always have Mr Longbottom around to help you.

Now, bottle your potion and make sure to clean your cauldron before leaving my class. I will not tolerate those who do not take care of my equipment."

Snape turned around and returned to his desk, allowing George to release the breath he had been holding.

Having seen Snape leave, Neville whispered, "why did you lie to Professor Snape?"

George wasn't going to tell Neville about his relationship with Snape, that would only result in more rumours being spread. So instead, why not turn this into an opportunity to reinforce his relationship with Neville?

George whispered back, "didn't you see the way Professor Snape had been treating the Gryffindor students? He was going to use me as an excuse to punish you for not helping brew the potion. I lied so that wouldn't happen."

Neville looked confused, "but you could've gotten in trouble instead."

George smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "I took a chance and it paid off. Anyway, isn't that what friends are for? I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

Neville shyly smiled and looked down toward the table, he was probably feeling a strong sense of gratitude. George needed moments like this to work his way under the skin of people he valued, Neville was now primed for use just like Remus. During the final few stages of producing the potion, Neville was very proactive in helping clean the equipment whilst George emptied the potion into their glass bottle. They were first to finish in their class followed shortly after by Hermione. She didn't look very happy with that outcome.

Once the lesson ended, George left the classroom as quickly as possible which was convenient since he was already at the back of the class. The only difficulty he had was saying goodbye to Neville and refusing to play chest which delayed him a few seconds. George could feel Harry staring at him from behind, but that didn't slow him down from heading back to the girl's bathroom. He would have only one hour to start prepping for the first potion attempt before dinner time and he wasn't going to waste it.

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