"Yes." Only then did Megan remember that the Miss Swedding in front of her was the one who'd had to take a leave from school after a Magic Mage practice mishap, not some brand‑new clueless first‑year.
When it came to Hogwarts Castle, Miss Swedding might actually know it better than her own mother.
Standing at the door, Pabi couldn't help sighing to herself—how many years had it been since she'd walked into the Hogwarts kitchen like this?
She still remembered that time in first year, when Harry got hungry in the middle of the night and she'd been the one to sneak him down to the Hogwarts kitchen for food.
"Look how skinny he is…"
Back then the head House-Elf, Pip, had been wiping away tears nonstop while piling extra food onto Harry's plate.
So many years had passed, and the House-Elves had gone through a whole new generation.
The House-Elves who'd worked at the school back then had basically all passed away; the ones still alive were enjoying their retirement, and the ones bustling around the kitchen now were all their descendants.
So naturally they didn't recognize Pabi; they just bustled to and fro through the kitchen, getting the next day's meals ready.
While Pabi was happily eating away in the Hogwarts dining hall, the Gryffindor students were frantically making up homework.
Even Harry couldn't escape the nightmare of make‑up homework.
Who knew what kind of nonsense Snape might pull?
And sure enough, just as he'd expected, on Friday they had Magic Potion Class, and Professor Snape's expression was even darker than usual.
No one knew why, but he was clearly in an absolutely foul mood.
Now that the school governor Pabi was gone, Gryffindor naturally got slammed with point deductions; according to rough statistics, in the four days since the start of that week, Gryffindor's score had plummeted by over a hundred and ten points.
"That Old Snot Spirit!" Little Sirius slammed his book onto the table in a fury. "He really pisses me off!"
"What else did you expect?" Lupin sipped his red tea slowly. "You planning to teach him a lesson with a Magic Spell? Even if you did, he still wouldn't show Gryffindor any mercy—in fact he'd only go even harder. Don't you think?"
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Little Sirius still couldn't swallow his anger. "Just let this slide? Let him keep acting this full of himself?! Ugh, if James hadn't left it'd be great, he always had ideas—he could always make Old Snot Spirit blow his top…"
"Even if you threw Old Snot Spirit off the eighth floor, it might not be as effective as a single sentence from Lily." Lupin reached up to rub at his acupoint. "The reason Old Snot Spirit can do this is because he doesn't have much in the way of morals to begin with—if we stoop to his level, we've already lost… Forget it, better not think about it and save ourselves the headache…"
"Maybe it's because he ran into James over the holidays but had no way to vent his anger, so he's taking it all out on Gryffindor."
The more Little Sirius thought about it, the more the logic checked out, and the more he felt he ought to do something.
They couldn't just sit there and watch Old Snot Spirit bully Gryffindor, could they?
Facts proved that Snape really didn't care much about what people thought.
As long as he had a chance to pick on Gryffindor, he'd give it everything he had—during Friday's Magic Potion Class alone he docked Gryffindor twenty points, thirteen of which were courtesy of Harry.
I really should have had my dad hang you up and thrash you, Old Snot Spirit!
Harry thought viciously to himself, and in that moment of distraction, when he looked up he met Snape's eyes.
So he got slapped with the charge of "badmouthing a professor in his head," and lost yet another point.
Serves you right to be single your whole life, Old Snot Spirit!
"I think he's gone a bit too far as well."
Over dinner, Pabi commented sharply, "He's just petty… He really has no idea what it means to be a decent human being, does he?"
"I—"
Ron hadn't even finished the word before Harry slapped a hand over his mouth, hitting him with a Tongue Seal and Throat Lock (physical edition).
He absolutely couldn't let Ron say that out loud, or Snape would inevitably appear behind them to dock points from Gryffindor.
The points getting docked wasn't even the worst of it; it was the lecture that hurt the most.
"You really should stop talking, Ron." Hermione looked at him with the kind of gaze reserved for the intellectually challenged. "Everyone knows you're basically the ultimate tool for summoning Professor Snape—whenever you badmouth him behind his back, he always shows up right behind you…"
As she said this, Hermione even turned around to glance behind her.
But Snape was sitting at the staff table, apparently murmuring something to Dumbledore.
"Just watch, Dumbledore's definitely warning him right now." Hermione turned back, gloating.
"Even Dumbledore can't interfere too much." Harry spread his hands. "You should know, strictly speaking, he's not totally making things up when he takes our points. Let's say he always has enough of a reason to do it—at least there's technically a 'proper' explanation every time."
"We can't possibly expect ourselves to be completely flawless so he has nothing to latch onto, right?" Ron frowned.
Harry shrugged, deciding not to dwell on it.
Better to just do his best and leave Snape no openings.
That night, when Harry walked up to the entrance of the common room, he saw Cassandra standing there, as if waiting for someone.
"Look, Miss Malfoy."
Ron muttered quietly to Hermione.
"I see her." Hermione answered just as quietly, eyes shining as she stared at Cassandra and Harry, obviously brimming with gossip.
When she spotted Harry walking over, Cassandra walked toward them with quick, light steps and looked down at Harry from above. "Potter, come with me for a bit."
"Okay." Harry turned and gave Ron a quick "I'll be right back" hand signal, then turned back to ask, "Where are we going?"
"Follow me." Cassandra's face was expressionless as her long legs carried her ahead.
Harry followed close on her heels; just judging from the view from behind, Cassandra really did have a great figure.
The two of them went up the stairs and finally arrived at an empty classroom on the fourth floor.
"You should remember that we said we'd practice the Mind Sealing Spell together." Cassandra looked all business. "Voldemort can affect your mind through some unknown method, so I think you need proper practice… So, are you ready?"
"Wait, hold on…"
Harry hurriedly stopped her. "Why didn't you tell me in advance so I could at least mentally prepare a bit?"
"What preparation do you need to practice a Magic Spell?" Cassandra lowered her gaze. "Or… have you become so arrogant you think you don't need to practice this spell at all? If that's the case, I can leave right now and never interfere again."
"Of course not, Cassandra." Harry said quickly. "It just caught me off guard a bit—I didn't expect you to suddenly show up here and ask me to practice the Mind Sealing Spell with you… But I'm very happy to practice with you, Kathy."
A flash of satisfaction flickered quickly across Cassandra's eyes, but Harry caught it with perfect accuracy.
Harry was starting to get the hang of how to handle Cassandra; as long as he kept the compliments coming, he probably wouldn't go wrong.
"If that's the case…"
Cassandra began explaining what the Mind Sealing Spell was. "I should at least give you a brief explanation… The Mind Sealing Spell is the prerequisite for defeating a Mind-Reading Master's lie‑detection abilities, and avoids suspicious behavior such as refusing face‑to‑face or eye contact during the process… Basic Mind Sealing Spell involves clearing your mind of thoughts and emotions so that the Mind-Reader can't find any emotional links to the memories the subject is trying to conceal. Simple resistance to a Mind Reading attack requires a skill set similar to resisting the Soul-snatching Curse."
"In its more advanced form, the Mind Sealing Spell allows the caster to suppress only certain emotions and memories—specifically those that are the opposite of what the caster wants the Mind-Reader to believe—thus allowing the Brain Sealer to lie without exposing themselves."
At this point, she paused, waiting for Harry to digest everything she'd just said.
When Harry finally looked up, she drew her Magic Wand from inside her robes.
"Are you ready?" she asked, utterly emotionless. "I'm about to start!"
(Spent a whole day revising the outline, I'll go back and fix the earlier parts tomorrow.)
(A comment was actually right—I really don't have the chops for all that messy stuff, I'm better off just writing daily life.)