Chapter 202: Neville’s Doubts
Deep in the Forbidden Forest.
Gamekeeper Hagrid was tending to the underage Acromantula, crouching down to examine its chelicerae and abdominal hairs, his massive face full of distress:
“How did you end up here? Didn’t Aragog tell you? The Forbidden Forest is full of dangers. Many adult spiders mysteriously disappear, let alone you little spiders…”
No matter how he tried to soothe and persuade it, the young Acromantula remained silent, not making a sound.
Aragog the leader probably hadn’t told Hagrid that those adult spiders didn’t disappear in the Forbidden Forest, but inside the nest, and several times it was accompanied by a strong aroma of roast meat… That was an existence the entire Acromantula clan didn’t dare provoke, so the little spider could only obediently remain silent.
It was just an experiment, and it was willing to cooperate.
Fang lay on the ground panting with his tongue out, his tail wagging slowly. The young snake around his neck rested its head on the dog’s head, also panting with its tongue out, while sizing up the strangely appearing spider. Its eyes sparkled, its forked thin tongue flicking in and out, making a faint hissing sound.
The underage Acromantula sensed an instinctive threat, its black hairs standing on end, trembling, even more afraid to speak. Only its eight eyes darted around, occasionally glancing toward the oak tree not far away, where two black-robed professors stood.
Melvin stood at the outer edge of the grassland, waving his wand to summon gusts of whirlwind. The strong airflow carried bloodstains and hairs from various places, whistling through the gaps in the branches and disappearing into the blue sky. The open space, like a murder scene, gradually returned to normal.
After cleaning up the scene, Melvin leaned against the oak tree, arms crossed over his chest, showing an amused expression, looking like he was enjoying the show.
“Splash… splash…”
Hard-soled leather boots stepped on the grass.
Snape paced slowly in front of Harry and the other two, his footsteps like stepping on their hearts, continuously applying pressure.
He expressionlessly glanced at Harry, a cold smile on his lips: “Potter, Weasley, and Miss Granger, perhaps you’ve forgotten that Dumbledore mentioned at the start-of-term feast that no student is allowed to enter the forest.”
Ron had a miserable look on his face, his expression extremely ugly.
Hermione kept her head down, saying nothing.
Only Harry didn’t want to fall into Snape’s hands or show weakness by bowing his head in front of him. He looked up to meet his gaze, his mind in a mess as he tried to make up an excuse: “I… we wanted to help Hagrid patrol the Forbidden Forest. We’re friends.”
“Oh, are you sure that’s the case?” The sarcasm on Snape’s face became more obvious. “As school staff, helping students break school rules, your friend Mr. Hagrid will face even harsher punishment.”
The guilt of dragging his friend down made Harry’s face pale, then turn to anger. He braced himself and spoke: “It has nothing to do with Hagrid. We came in on our own. We suspect Professor Snape you were engaging in Dark Magic activities in the Forbidden Forest! That has nothing to do with him, right?”
“…”
Melvin was clearly there too, but he only named him alone.
Snape was somewhat amused with anger: “I hope you’re still this spirited during detention! Potter! For trespassing in the Forbidden Forest, disrespecting a professor, and other violations, ten points from each of you, plus two weeks of detention!”
Watching Snape storm off, the three exchanged glances and actually breathed a sigh of relief.
Ron made a face at the old bat’s back: “Point deduction is fine. Professor Gaunt added 50 points for Harry in just two classes last week.”
Hermione nodded subconsciously, then froze in place, because she realized she was thinking the same thing.
She didn’t remember when this change in thinking had happened. She used to completely unacceptable point deductions and breaking school rules, but now she felt it was fine as long as they could earn them back. This was too scary!
“It’s Easter Holiday now. If you’re willing to apologize properly to Professor Snape, your punishment might be much lighter.” Melvin said.
Ron curled his lip: “Other professors maybe, but Snape? Forget it.”
Stubborn students meeting a biased professor… Melvin found it amusing, shook his head, turned, and walked back. The potion effect test was done, the show was over, and there was nothing left to do in the Forbidden Forest.
The three hurried to catch up. Hermione came close and fired off a string of questions: “Professor, what was that potion just now? Why test it on animals? It sounds like it’s for healing. What are its specific effects?”
Hagrid in the back also saw off the spider and followed along with Fang.
“It’s a potion recipe left by Lady Hufflepuff. I only found it recently and made a small amount. I’m not clear on its specific effects, so I asked Professor Snape, the Potions expert, to help test it a while ago.”
Melvin stepped on the soft forest ground. “But results on small animals like rats and toads weren’t obvious. Taking advantage of the Easter Holiday, Professor Snape invited me to the Forbidden Forest to do some experiments.”
“Left by Hufflepuff! It must be a very powerful potion!” Ron exclaimed immediately.
The founder’s name instantly sparked endless imagination.
“It’s indeed very powerful, but not as amazing as you think. Its antidote effects aren’t as good as the universal antidote, and for treating external injuries, it’s not as good as Skele-Gro.” Melvin explained as he walked. “But this potion has a very unique property: it can expel foreign magic power from living beings.”
“What does that mean?” Hermione looked up with a puzzled little face.
“Magic works through magic power. Many counter-spells work by expelling the corresponding magic power. For example, the Dark Magic Professor Snape demonstrated earlier—if the magic power attached to the wound isn’t expelled, the wound will never heal, until the injured person bleeds to death.”
Harry and the others suddenly felt regretful. They had been hiding behind the tree with helmets on and hadn’t seen Snape’s actions clearly, let alone the wounds on the stag.
“On the other hand, many hard-to-heal injuries suffered by wizards are because foreign magic power remains in the wounds or bodies.” Melvin slowed his speech to give them time to digest and understand. “You’ve all seen Professor Kettleburn from Care of Magical Creatures. His limbs are only half left—haven’t you wondered why, with wizard medical levels, his missing hands and feet can’t be healed?”
Harry nodded. He had experience in this. Last year during the Quidditch match, Lockhart removed his arm bones, and Madam Pomfrey gave him bone-growing potion, which regrew them in just one night.
Melvin answered his own question: “Because his missing limbs were mostly bitten or burned off by XX-class magical creatures—the dragon flame of the Swedish Short-Snout, the deadly poison of the Peruvian Vipertooth… These unique magic powers prevent Skele-Gro and bone-growing potion from working. By the time the magic power is completely cleared, the wounds are almost healed, and the missing hands and horns can’t grow back.”
Hagrid trailed behind, not daring to make a sound. Last summer vacation, he had too much fun in Romania and nearly had a leg bitten off.
“Similar to Muggle medicine, wounds need debridement and disinfection before treatment.” Hermione’s eyes lit up slightly. Her parents were doctors, and she quickly connected the two. “Except Muggles deal with viruses and bacteria, while wizards deal with magic power.”
Melvin nodded: “The potion invented by Lady Hufflepuff is the counter-spell for all magic—magical antibiotics.”
……
Back at Gryffindor Tower, the holiday common room was very quiet.
Hermione remembered seeing those classmates on the way back to the castle. The girls were sunbathing and chatting on the grounds and in the courtyard, the boys gathered by the lake playing in the water, splashing water battles with the Giant Squid’s tentacles. Every time a low-year little wizard fell in, the older students would cheer loudly. When the Giant Squid used its tentacle to lift the fallen student ashore, they would all rush forward, trying to grab that tentacle.
Good thing they weren’t in the lounge; they hadn’t noticed the deducted house points in the hourglass yet.
Especially Prefect Percy, who cared the most about house points and would nag for ages whenever points were deducted.
Hermione sat in a single armchair, lips pursed, reflecting on the past. Back in Muggle school, she was always the most rule-abiding. After coming to Hogwarts, her standards had gradually lowered.
From strictly following school rules to as long as they weren’t caught;
From resolutely no point deductions to it’s fine if they can earn them back.
Reflecting on today’s point deduction and detention, and then on the many past point deduction experiences, she felt a sense of things changing while people stayed the same. Hermione felt she was no longer that outstanding rule-abiding student from before.
She sighed deeply, looking at the two bad-influence friends who led her astray: “Do you think, if Snape and Professor Levent hadn’t discovered us, they would have used even crueler Dark Magic on those animals?”
“I don’t know about Professor Levent, but Snape definitely would!” Ron flopped onto the sofa, stretching lazily. “If Dumbledore weren’t at school, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tested potions on students.”
“Professor Levent… isn’t the nice guy we thought he was either.”
Harry looked up at the ceiling, recalling many past events—nearly drowning the troll, setting up the Chamber to watch them deal with Quirrell, manipulating the Basilisk, and so on.
“He’s too mysterious, so mysterious it’s hard to approach him.” Hermione murmured softly.
“But Professor Levent is reliable. I believe he wouldn’t do anything to harm students.”
As Ron spoke, he grabbed a nearby cushion. The Forbidden Forest experience was too thrilling, and after calming down, he felt physically and mentally exhausted. He yawned, preparing for a short nap before lunch.
Just as he closed his eyes and lay down, a hand reached over and snatched the cushion. Harry gave him a look and jerked his chin toward the portrait hole.
Ron looked over following his gaze.
A figure in uniform wizard robes with a prefect badge on his chest stood there, gaze sharp, staring straight at them.
“I saw the ruby in the hourglass drop another chunk. What have you done now?” Percy came in front of his brother, holding the letter to send home this week. “Never mind, explain it to Mum yourself.”
Ron sighed, suddenly no longer sleepy.
……
Ten o’clock at night.
Ron leaned against the bedside with wandering eyes, covered in a quilt, brows slightly furrowed. Not only not sleepy, but too wired to sleep: “We clearly broke the rules together, so why am I the only one getting scolded by Mum?”
“What did Percy say in the letter?” Harry asked from the next bed.
Ron shook his head: “No idea. I’m already prepared for a Howler.”
“George and Fred deduct points all the time, so why do they seem never to get scolded by Mrs. Weasley?”
“They’re used to it. Even if Mum scolds them to their face, they can filter out what they don’t want to hear, then tell jokes to change the subject…”
Ron muttered complaints, then turned to see Neville sitting on the edge of his bed, not lying down yet. Interest piqued, he asked curiously: “Neville, can’t sleep either? Did your grandmother scold you? Or is it about course selection?”
Easter Holiday coincided with course selection period. Neville’s relatives sent letters daily, offering many different suggestions on courses—one saying Ancient Runes was the foundation of Alchemy, another saying Arithmancy held the secrets of numbers… In short, every one was important.
Poor Neville was nearly driven mad.
Ron’s question was like a room broadcast, drawing everyone’s eyes to the chubby one, wanting to see why this roommate was sleepless. Harry also turned to look.
Neville sat on the bed edge with his head down, a few crystalline teardrops sliding from his eyes onto his pajamas, spreading out. The not-yet-extinguished candlelight stretched his shadow, covering the entire bed.
Without lifting his head, he mumbled: “I’m thinking about what you said during the day.”
“What happened during the day…?”
Neville looked up, eyes wet: “You said Professor Levent’s potion—can it cure my dad and mum?”
Harry and Ron sat up, looking at their roommate.
……
The Potions Office was very cold.
Snape sat in the shadows behind the office, visible only his back through the archway to the storeroom. For the past hour, he maintained the same posture, occasionally putting away graded theses.
“…”
Like an emotionless robot.
Harry withdrew his gaze, put on gloves, reached into the stone basin to stir, caught a lively newt, then gripped its tail with one hand and body with the other, pulling cruelly to tear the poor newt in two.
This creature wouldn’t cry out in pain and didn’t dare retaliate, just struggled harder, shaking its head to try escaping the magic claws.
The broken tail thrown into the jar, newt back into the stone basin—one newt tail collected. The whole process was so gross it made one nauseous, with strong discomfort on first contact.
But this was already Harry’s 40th tail collected; he had adapted. Plus with Ron and Hermione beside him, Harry felt like a cold, ruthless executioner now—terrifyingly cruel.
This was all Snape’s fault; he assigned such a cruel detention punishment.
“Later, go find Professor Levent and relay Neville’s request to him.” Harry said lowly, tearing off another newt tail.
“We’ve looked for the professor several times, but he’s never in his office. We don’t see him at meals in the Great Hall either. I’m starting to think he’s not in the castle.” Hermione muttered softly, brown strands falling over her face. With gloves on, she couldn’t brush them away and could only shake her head hard.
Ron glanced outside: “For something this important, why not go straight to the Headmaster?”
“I agree. Mr. Lumbardon and Mrs. Lumbardon were injured fighting Death Eaters. Dumbledore surely won’t ignore it.”
