Chapter 371: Unique Potion Talent
The first period of the morning was Potions, a class Hufflepuff shared with Gryffindor. From the moment the lesson began, the Gryffindor students found themselves relentlessly targeted.
Katie Bell, from the Quidditch team, lost five points right at the door for the offense of wearing a hat. McLaggen, another Gryffindor, lost three points because his book had a crease in it.
The reason behind Snape's sudden surge in penalties was obvious to everyone.
Back in the third year class, during Defense Against the Dark Arts, Neville Longbottom's Boggart had taken the form of Snape, and under Professor Lupin's guidance, Neville had transformed the Boggart into a rather ridiculous version of Snape dressed in a frumpy grandmother's outfit.
It was a memorable incident, but what made it worse was that someone had managed to snap a picture of it and circulate it around the classroom.
Though the official story claimed all the photos had been confiscated, plenty still circulated among students. Determined to find the culprit, Snape had tried every tactic available—threats, bribes, even surveillance—but the students were more unified than ever, and no one talked. Even Professor Lupin, when asked, had maintained, "I don't know, I didn't see anything," which had only fueled Snape's anger further.
As a result, Gryffindor—the house that had originally shared the photo—had suffered ever since. Despite Hufflepuff's recent loss of 100 points thanks to Kyle, they were still comfortably ahead of Gryffindor in the House standings, mostly due to Snape's relentless point deductions. Gryffindor had been plummeting toward a new low score from the very start of the school year.
Even Professor McGonagall couldn't say much to defend her students. She, too, had seen the infamous photo, and while she certainly didn't approve of Snape's vendetta, she couldn't entirely blame him for being furious.
...
"Invigoration Draught!"
Snape didn't return to the podium until Gryffindor had lost twenty points. Then he droned on, "Lovage, Ginger root, the horn of the Erumpent... Mr. McLaggen."