No wonder Neville had lost it like that.
Orli understood now. Malfoy had touched the one wound that would never heal—Neville's parents were in St. Mungo's, locked in exactly the kind of ward Malfoy had mocked. Both of them brave Order members, tortured into madness by Bellatrix's Cruciatus Curse.
The dungeon door swung open. Snape stood framed in the doorway, black eyes sweeping across the Gryffindors. His gaze passed over Orli without pause before landing on Harry, Ron, and Neville still tangled together.
"Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape's voice dripped cold mockery. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Weasley, release Longbottom or it's detention. Everyone inside. Now."
Ron let go. Neville stood there breathing hard, fury still blazing in his eyes.
"We had to stop you," Harry said quietly, retrieving his bag from the floor. "If you'd actually hit Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle would've torn you apart. Then Snape would've expelled whatever was left."
Neville said nothing. He grabbed his bag and stalked into the classroom.
"Merlin's beard, what's gotten into Neville?" Ron asked, bewildered. Nobody answered.
They claimed seats near the back, pulling out parchment, quills, and Magical Drafts and Potions, then arranging their cauldrons. Whispers rippled through the room about Neville's outburst, but the moment Snape closed the door—the sound echoing like a coffin lid—silence fell like a curtain.
"You will find," Snape said, voice low and laced with disdain, "that we have a guest today."
Only then did Orli spot the chair tucked into the darkest, dampest corner—Umbridge perched on it, clipboard balanced on her knees.
"Today we continue the Strengthening Solution. Your mixtures from last lesson should have matured properly over the weekend—assuming you followed instructions correctly." He flicked his wand toward the blackboard. "Instructions are posted. Begin."
For the first half hour, Umbridge sat scribbling notes. Harry kept craning his neck toward her like a giraffe reaching for high leaves, clearly hoping for some spectacular clash between her and Snape. Orli knew exactly what he was waiting for.
"Salamander blood, Harry!" Orli snapped, grabbing his wrist. "Not pomegranate juice! That's the third wrong ingredient—one more mistake and you're on your own!"
"Right, sorry," Harry muttered, refocusing on his cauldron. Snape materialized beside their table, his gaze lingering briefly on Harry's wrist before he bent to inspect Orli's work.
Umbridge chose that moment to stand, clicking down the aisle toward Snape.
"My, quite advanced material for this year level," she said brightly to his back. "Though I do wonder if teaching Strengthening Solutions is entirely appropriate. I imagine the Ministry would prefer such potions removed from the curriculum."
Snape straightened slowly and turned. His stare could have frozen fire. Umbridge switched topics immediately.
"So... how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (150+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!