Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

In the Potions classroom,

Ron whispered to Harry beside him,

"Seriously! I don't know what Mr. Black was thinking! Why did he have to put the first candy vending machine in the Hufflepuff boys' common room? They're already so close to the kitchen! How can Hufflepuff catch all the good things!"

Harry turned his head to look at Ron.

However, just as he opened his mouth, before he could say anything, Draco, sitting on his other side, sneered, bypassed Harry, and said to Ron,

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"With your underdeveloped little brain, how could you understand my uncle's thoughts?"

Hearing this, Ron's eyebrows immediately shot up.

He first glanced cautiously at Snape, who was in the distance watching Neville stir his cauldron, and only relaxed when he saw that the other party's attention was not on them, and retorted angrily.

"Hmph, don't think I don't know, you ran to the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room and stared for a long time before class!"

"I didn't!" Seeming to have been told the truth by Ron, Draco's reaction immediately became intense, and he tried his best to refute.

However, Ron had an expression of "Ha, I got you!"

"You did! I even saw you at the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

As the quarrel became more and more fierce, both of their necks turned red, becoming like two fighting cocks, with flames burning in their eyes, as if they would fight as soon as class was over.

And Harry, who was sandwiched between them, and hadn't said a word from beginning to end, could only lower his head helplessly and sighed quietly.

After a period of learning and getting along, Ron seemed to have finally accepted the rather cruel fact that Harry was not his friend alone.

Moreover, because Harry and he were not in the same house, but lived in the same dormitory as that annoying Draco.

In order to prevent Draco from really taking away this friend he had few of, as he had imagined at the beginning, Ron finally chose to compromise, reluctantly willing to put down the previous "grievances" and sit with Draco.

Although the two of them were probably born incompatible, and would quarrel from time to time over something that Harry thought was extremely small, compared to the previous state, it could be said that it was much better.

In Harry's heart, he still doubted whether the current "strange" relationship between the three of them could be called good friends playing together.

But he had to admit that he had a hunch that Draco and Ron would soon truly accept each other in their hearts, eliminate all kinds of grievances, and become good friends like him. × º ° ” ˜ ` ” ° º ×   × º ° ” ˜ ` ” ° º ×

However, just as Harry was thinking silently, and Ron and Draco were still arguing without giving way, no one noticed that Snape, who was originally standing next to Neville, had already shifted his attention elsewhere.

His eyes, deeply sunken in their sockets, were like eagle eyes, and the sharp gaze made people feel cold.

He slowly looked around, and every little wizard who was swept by him felt as if they had been scraped by a sharp knife, and shivered all over, hurriedly lowering their heads.

Only those three people still went their own way, doing their own things, and didn't pay any attention to him.

For a time, all the children began to silently pray for them in their hearts.

"HARRY POTTER!!"

Sure enough, Snape's expression darkened a bit, and without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and called out Harry's name in a deep voice.

"Yes! Professor Snape..."

As if a conditioned reflex had formed, the moment he heard his name, Harry instantly jumped up from his seat and stood up straight.

Immediately afterwards, he looked at Snape with a dazed and helpless expression.

And it was precisely because of the sudden accident on Harry's side that Ron and Draco's bickering had to be forced to stop, and they both instantly returned to a sitting posture.

"It seems that Mr. Potter," Snape said, quickly walking a few steps to stand directly in front of Harry.

Those eyes stared straight at Harry, making him afraid to meet his gaze, and had to lower his head.

The hoarse and low voice continued.

"I think our Mr. Potter is likely a genius... and thinks that what I am standing here talking about now is of no use to him at all."

Speaking of this, Snape paused, but did not give Harry any chance to defend himself.

He held out a finger, stopped the other party's mouth from wanting to say something, and continued to say in a deep voice, "Or... he has actually previewed the knowledge of this lesson, and clearly understands the entire potion making process—right, Potter?"

"In that case, please tell me, what do we need to add to the cauldron next? And how to stir it so that it can fully integrate with the original potion and prevent the pot from exploding?"

Speaking of the pot exploding, Snape's eyes subconsciously glanced at Neville.

At this moment, he was covered in dust, and it seemed that he had provided a perfect negative example for Harry. 【】

However, for Harry, who had no interest in Potions in the first place, and had been wandering off during the entire class, this question was undoubtedly fatal.

There was no way, he had to bite the bullet and raise his head. Looking at Snape's gloomy and somewhat mocking expression, he stammered and said in a low voice,

"Sorry, Professor Snape. I don't know."

As soon as these words came out, the corners of Snape's mouth suddenly curled up a bit, and the expression on his face also revealed a "I knew it" meaning.

After slowly looking Harry up and down, he continued to mock indifferently,

"It seems that our genius doesn't want to waste his talent in my class, is that right? ... Well then, because of your stupidity, Slytherin loses five points! Now, you stand here and listen carefully to how others answer this question!"

As soon as the voice fell, Snape did not hesitate, and directly patted the table in front of Draco, ignoring Hermione, who was also in the same row and sitting next to Ron, who was raising her arm high and waving it so hard that it was about to fly off.

"Tell Potter next to you, Malfoy! How should the question I just asked be answered."

Compared to Harry's confusion, Draco was obviously much more composed.

"Yes, Professor."

He nodded, stood up, and without a moment's pause, used textbook-like concise and neat sentences to easily answer

“Next, you should add mistletoe berries to the cauldron. After adding them, start stirring from the outermost circle. Once the potion in the cauldron starts to bubble and flow in a large vortex, begin stirring counterclockwise, gradually transitioning to the inner circle, and finally…”

Listening to Draco narrate all the steps in detail, without missing a single point, not only did Harry, who was standing nearby, show envy, but even Snape's gloomy expression visibly dissipated.

A stiff smile appeared on his lips, and he nodded to himself secretly, not interrupting Draco's speech.

When Draco finished reciting the standard answer in its entirety and closed his mouth, looking at Snape with a proud expression, Snape finally spoke in a loud voice:

“Excellent! No mistakes at all. Slytherin gains fifteen points!”

After speaking, he didn't forget to narrow his eyes and look at Harry again with a scrutinizing gaze, asking in a deep voice:

“Now, have you memorized it, Potter?”

“I’ve memorized it.”

Harry had no choice but to lower his head somewhat embarrassedly, his face slightly flushed, and answer softly.

He didn't know if it was his imagination… Harry always felt that Snape would involuntarily emphasize his voice when saying the word “Potter.”

Who knows, maybe he was just overthinking it.

“Sit down.” Snape snorted noncommittally, but in the end, he told Harry to sit back down.

After Harry sat down, Snape's attention shifted to Draco once again.

However, his attitude at this moment had undergone a complete one hundred and eighty-degree turn from when he had just been lecturing Harry.

“That was a very good answer…”

He said to Draco, his words carrying a sense of praise.

“Thank you for your affirmation.”

Draco's lips curled into a smile that he couldn't suppress, his eyes shining with pride, and he bowed slightly with considerable restraint.

“You are very much like your uncle… No, at least in terms of potions, you're doing better than he was at that time.”

As if seeing Charlie's figure from back then in Draco, a trace of reminiscence appeared in his originally gloomy eyes, and he even said a few more words to Draco, which was rare.

Hearing this, Draco took a deep breath, his chest puffed out even more, and he raised his head high, the smile on his lips almost impossible to contain.

Indeed, Charlie in his first year didn't like Potions class. At that time, he devoted most of his attention to Transfiguration and various forbidden black magic… and was obsessed with it.

Each time, he would only glance at it hastily once or twice, ensuring that his exam scores wouldn't drop out of “Outstanding,” and then he would ignore it. He even asked Snape to complete his homework for him.

Of course, in return, Charlie would also bring out some small discoveries from the restricted section and share them with Snape…

Those were truly the most interesting times in his life… Snape couldn't help but think, but soon, he shook his head and pulled his thoughts back to the current class.

“You sit down too!”

After telling Draco to return to his seat as well, he walked back to the front and began to continue explaining the upcoming content.

“That was amazing… Draco.”

After Draco sat down, Harry, with a hint of envy in his eyes, couldn't help but lean over and say softly:

“How did you remember such a long sequence of steps? I feel dizzy after just looking at it once…”

At this moment, Draco was in a good mood, having been praised by Snape with the words “very much like your uncle.”

“These are just some basic things.”

He once again proudly raised his chin slightly, speaking to Harry while taking out his Potions notes and handing them to him.

“Look! I just previewed the content of this lesson before class.

This kind of thing isn't very difficult; it just requires a little effort—of course, most of it is talent. Like me! Did you hear how Professor Snape evaluated me just now? He said I'm like my uncle! I bet he definitely and my uncle…”

Harry was slightly stunned, listening to Draco naturally shifting the topic from Potions to his uncle, Mr. Charlie Black, without leaving a trace. For a moment, he was a little confused, but after all, Draco was speaking with great interest at this time, and he was too embarrassed to interrupt him, so he could only listen and nod in agreement with what he said.

“Hmph… What's so great about it.”

Seemingly feeling a bit jealous, Ron pouted, turned his head away dismissively, and looked at Hermione, who was sitting on his other side with a somewhat discouraged look on her face.

After all, they were students from the same house, and they were just children, so those conflicts on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning were easily resolved and forgotten completely.

Now, although the two people weren't very familiar, they could still talk to each other.

Ron nudged Hermione's book with his elbow and asked softly:

“If Snape called you to stand up, you would definitely be able to answer him like Malfoy, right?”

In fact, at this time, Ron didn't really want to know if Hermione could answer the question. He just wanted to find someone who could compete with Draco in order to prove his point that “Draco isn't that great.”

However, to Ron's surprise, upon hearing his words, Hermione first nodded, but after hesitating for a while, she shook her head again.

“What does that mean?” He frowned, looking at Hermione strangely, and couldn't help but ask:

“If Professor Snape asked me to answer this question… I could definitely answer it, but I wouldn't be able to give a concise and perfect answer like Draco.”

Speaking of this, Hermione couldn't help but slump her shoulders a little dejectedly.

Although she didn't want to admit it, it was indeed the case… Originally, she thought that even if she went to magic school, she could still maintain her legendary record of consistently being first place from childhood to adulthood, but she didn't expect that she would encounter her Waterloo like this.

“I bet he's already started studying the content that will be learned in the third year.”

However, Hermione wasn't someone who gave up easily. After a moment of frustration, she quickly rekindled her fighting spirit. In her heart, she had already made surpassing Draco a major goal.

And hearing these words, Ron, while shocked that Draco had begun studying the content of the third year, couldn't help but feel even more depressed. He ignored Hermione, hunched over, and lay back down on the table in front of him, no longer saying a word.