Chapter 146: Chap.143 - Rigel is happy. Harry? Not so much.

"I don't allow any playing around with wands, nor any silly spells in this class." Snape's introduction was sharp and biting, he stood at the front of the dark room, the little light that streamed through a small window dimly illuminating his 'shadowy' presence.

Rigel wanted to raise a '10' plaque for the presentation.

He sat down at his desk and began to take attendance, as always, Rigel's name was at the front.

Snape gave him a long look, but luckily Rigel was smart enough not to sit next to Harry.

If Snape had seen Potter and Black together, he might have been in an even worse mood and made Rigel a target, just like Harry.

However, this time, it was Ron who was 'lucky' enough to be the 'assistant'.

Fortunately, Snape's interest in him paled in comparison to the son of his beloved Lily and his enemy, James.

Thus, the contradiction began as soon as Snape summoned Harry.

"Ah... Harry Potter, our new celebrity." He said in a clearly mocking tone.

Draco and the other Slytherins chuckled excitedly, covering their mouths with their hands. Having already singled Potter out as their enemy, seeing how Snape treated him only made them more amused.

Harry, on the other hand, seemed completely confused by the situation.

Snape finished the roll call and faced the class. His eyes were as black as Hagrid's and Rigel's, but they lacked Hagrid's warmth and Rigel's lightness. They were cold and empty, like dark tunnels.

The Gryffindors swallowed hard, no one wanted to stand up to defend Harry at that moment. As soon as Snape's eyes passed over them, they nearly wet themselves with fear.

Even Hermione seemed quieter, her excitement quickly giving way to discomfort.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." He began. He spoke barely above a whisper, but they didn't miss a word. Like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of holding a class down effortlessly, though out of genuine fear rather than severity. "Since we don't make silly gestures here, many of you might think this isn't magic. I don't expect you to truly understand the beauty of a cauldron simmering over a low flame, the smoke shimmering, the delicate power of liquids flowing through human veins, bewitching the mind, confusing the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. if you aren't the bunch of airheads I'm usually sent to teach."

Most of the students, even some from Slytherin, shrank even further, Hermione, on the other hand, seemed to take the term 'airhead' offensive enough for most of her fear to vanish. The girl straightened up and looked ready to fight a Troll if it meant proving she wasn't an 'airhead'.

Snape exhaled through his nose, clearly despising them, but in the end he simply continued with the 'lesson'.

His eyes focused on Harry faster than the twins were running away from Filch.

"Potter!" Snape exclaimed suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?"

Rigel sighed, this was content from the first-year potions book, theoretically something they would learn that year, but Snape wasn't going to make it easy for Harry.

Even if by some miracle Harry knew the answer, Snape would ask increasingly difficult questions, and if he got it wrong, Snape would only say: "It seems our savior can only get this far."

In the end, unless Harry's knowledge was greater than Snape's, there was no point in fighting, Harry's ignorance, in this case, was a great help, at least it made his suffering last less.

Harry looked at Ron beside him and at the other boys, but they all shook their heads. Well, Rigel knew, but he didn't want to become Snape's target, so he could only apologize mentally to Harry.

Hermione, on the other hand, raised her hand as quickly as she could, she seemed incredibly excited to know the answer. Rigel had to admit she looked very cute like that, Rigel felt the urge to give that shaggy mop of hair a few pats, but Snape didn't share Rigel's opinion, ignoring the girl completely.

"I don't know, sir." Harry had no choice but to say.

The corners of Snape's lips lifted slightly, clearly in a good mood.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... fame isn't everything, is it, Potter?" Snape asked, but it was clearly rhetorical.

Harry was already seething in his place, he knew a bully when he saw one, and Snape was exactly that type, worse, he was the professor.

Hermione still held her hand up as high as she could, but unfortunately, Snape completely ignored her.

Rigel was still pretending that none of it had anything to do with him.

"Let's try again, Potter. Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?" He continued.

Rigel thought for a moment, he could use wind magic to send his voice directly into Harry's ear, but... should he? If he did, Snape would only make things more difficult for Harry, but if he did it now, his friendship with Harry could deepen.

In the end, Rigel chose to help, so what if Snape became more angry with Harry? In the end, Snape might be unhappy, Harry might be unhappy, but Rigel would be happy.

It was worth it!

So, hiding his mouth with his hand, he began the incantation and spoke. "Inside a goat's stomach."

Rigel's voice was clearly recognizable, so Harry knew exactly who had spoken. He didn't spend much time thinking about how Rigel had done it, but at that point, he just wanted to thank him with all his might.

"Inside a goat's stomach." Harry said quickly, leaving Snape stunned.

Even Hermione and Ron looked at him as if he had grown another head.

Ron: Hey, didn't we agree to be both idiots?

Hermione: Since when have you two stopped sharing the same neuron?

Snape: Nani?!

In the end, Harry was stared at from all sides, feeling embarrassed, but at least Snape would leave him alone now, right?

Wrong.

What followed was another series of questions, none of which Harry knew, but Rigel kept telling him the answer, until Rigel said he didn't know. Rigel didn't know everything, the knowledge Snape asked about was something rarely used, learned in the fourth year. Rigel thought he had heard of it, but couldn't remember, so he could only apologize to Harry.

In the end, Harry had no choice but to answer a few more questions from Snape, enough for him to vent his frustration that Harry hadn't made a fool of himself sooner.

Even so, what Harry did still left Hermione and Ron incredibly shocked. Ron doubted life itself, but Hermione, who thought she only had Rigel as an enemy, discovered there was another!

She had decided! She needed to study twice as hard! No, three times as hard!

This time Harry hadn't argued with Snape, because he was already embarrassed about cheating, and besides, by this point, he had realized that Snape was doing it completely on purpose!

So all he could do was clench his fists in frustration, while watching Snape's irritating, cynical smile.

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindor students in the continuation of Potions class. Snape separated them into pairs and ordered them to mix a simple potion to cure boils.

Since there was an odd number of Gryffindors, you might think Rigel was alone.

Wrong, Harry had that 'privilege'.

Initially, it was supposed to be Hermione, who had no friends. Rigel paired up with Neville, although Neville was clearly more of a hindrance than a help. Rigel didn't mind, Neville still had talent when it came to plants, so he would just let him handle processing it.

Hermione was ready to look for a partner, but soon realized she hadn't found one. However, before she could even get upset, Snape spoke up. "Weasley, team up with Granger. Potter is so good at potions, he can work alone."

Harry looked dazed, Ron looked like he'd swallowed a fly, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, though she felt a little bad for Harry afterwards.

Rigel almost burst out laughing, it was truly hilarious and unexpected.

Fortunately, he was used to keeping a straight face, but even so, he felt that what he had done had probably made Harry's future life even more difficult.

In any case, his 'friendship' initiative with the group of troublemakers... cough, he means, the group of protagonists, took another step forward.