As soon as the cabinet opened, everyone immediately squeezed over as usual.
But at this moment, Snape suddenly noticed that some of them were hopping over with their legs stiff, looking like they were playing.
"Mr. Bagins... such foolishness is not allowed in my class!"
Snape said coldly, stopping Ryan, who was stuck on the outside but still trying his best to squeeze inside.
"Don't tell me that a fifth-year student like you can't even break a Leg-Locker Curse... If that's the case, I suggest you go home now, it would be good for both you and Hogwarts..."
Before Ryan could answer, Snape waved his wand.
But the next second, Snape was stunned because Ryan's legs were still stuck tightly together.
Initially, Snape thought Ryan was pretending until he personally went over to tug, only to find that his curse breaking really hadn't worked.
"What kind of trick are you all playing!" Snape's face grew darker as he extended his wand again.
An orange light shot from the tip of his wand, and this time Ryan's legs finally came apart.
"Hufflepuff loses ten points." He said icily, "If I see you do such foolish actions again, it'll be fifty points deducted..."
"Sorry, Professor, but I didn't want this either." Ryan said, "It was Professor Moody in class, testing our Iron Armor Spell..."
"Alastor Moody?" Snape's expression stiffened, "Why didn't you say so earlier!"
"You didn't give me a chance to speak." Ryan muttered softly, "But thank you for breaking the curse, Professor Snape, otherwise I'd be hopping around like this all day."
Ryan was quite happy inside, after all, Snape and Kael's status weren't the same... as both professors, he broke the curse for him, and Professor Moody shouldn't say anything, right?
Heh heh.
Ryan stretched his somewhat sore legs and turned to squeeze towards the cabinet.
Snape stood there, his face alternating between red and white. He and Moody were never on good terms, and now he had undone his spell... that eccentric old guy would most likely think he was provoking him.
Snape looked at Ryan's back, hesitating whether to relock his legs... but then he realized he didn't know that particular Leg-Locker Curse.
"Damn it!" Snape cursed inwardly, he should've asked a few more questions earlier!
Moreover, what's more troublesome was, after Ryan's incident, those other bouncing students also gathered around, all looking at him with hopeful eyes.
"Go back to brewing your magical potions... now, immediately!" Snape shouted, "Before class ends, I'll randomly pick someone to drink their Soother. If anyone makes mistakes in the process... heh heh, I guarantee arranging the most comfortable bed in the Hospital Wing for him."
Accompanied by an extremely low air pressure, the students gathered around scattered at once, mentally complaining about Snape's bias, as he only freed Ryan from the spell, ignoring others.
On the other side of the classroom, Kael watched Snape's constantly changing facial expressions, his shoulders trembling until Conna nudged him, and then he stopped smiling.
"Ahem, I just found Ryan's inability to interject earlier funny." Kael explained, "Nothing to do with Professor Snape... really!"
It was unclear if Conna believed, but Kael convinced himself, feeling his excuse was quite reasonable.
After the small interruption, it was back to potion making.
As a crucial potion that appeared multiple times in the ordinary wizarding exams, the Soother was considered the hardest and most intricate among the fifth-grade potions.
Including the size and weight of materials, stirring sequence, frequency, even the flame's temperature during boiling, these all had strict requirements, with no room for error.
For over an hour, the classroom was silent, as everyone tensely focused on their cauldrons.
"Your potion should be emitting a silvery-white steam now." With less than ten minutes left in class, Snape said.
Then he started wandering around the classroom.
"Kete, can you tell me what this is?"
"Bode, if I were you, I'd reread the third line of the instructions..."
"Stir three times clockwise, not seven times..."
With a mocking expression, Snape mercilessly pointed out each person's mistakes... except for three people.
Passing by Kael and Conna's tables, he said nothing and walked directly past, stopping in front of Mikel's cauldron.
If Kael and Conna's magic potion had no visible issues, Mikel's was something he was uncertain about.
The silver steam was all right, but the grayish-brown substance in his cauldron looked like a melted Quaffle, which was beyond anything Snape had ever seen.
However, Snape was used to it; he didn't even mock Mikel, merely saying calmly, "You... never mind, Hufflepuff loses five points!"
In the last few minutes before the class ended, after Snape assigned the homework, Kael poured the potion from his cauldron into a bottle and corked it tightly.
Mikel did the same, though he wasn't pouring, more like scraping into it with a small slicing knife.
Kael feared he'd touch it with his hands, as who knows what effect such an unknown potion might have.
Fortunately, Mikel was quite adept at it too, ensuring the potion in the cauldron didn't spill a drop.
At this moment, the bell signaling the end of class rang.
Everyone happily left the classroom, getting ready for the upcoming weekend, which was also the fifth-grade's first Hogsmeade weekend.
When they reached the entrance hall, they found they couldn't move any further, as a large crowd had gathered around the bulletin board by the marble staircase.
"It's just Hogsmeade, is it worth getting so excited?" Conna didn't understand, "Never seen this many people before."
"No, it's not about Hogsmeade..."
Kael, leveraging his height, looked over the heads in front to see the large notice on the bulletin board and read its content to Conna.
[Triwizard Tournament]
The representatives from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will arrive at six o'clock in the evening on October 30th. Afternoon classes will end half an hour early; everyone is to gather in front of the castle to welcome our guests, followed by a welcoming banquet.
"Triwizard Tournament!" Conna suddenly realized, "I almost forgot about that..."
"Kael, Conna... I was just about to look for you guys."
Cedric squeezed out from the crowd, eyes gleaming, and said, "There's only a week left, I can hardly wait, I really hope I get to be a champion..."
"Nice thought." At this moment, Fred and George appeared out of nowhere.
"But you might be disappointed..." Fred shook his finger.
George laughed, "The champion will be me, you just get ready to cheer from the stands!"
"No, it'll be me!" Fred frowned.
"You're far from it..."
"Ha, bragging..."
It was quite bizarre, Kael and Cedric hadn't said a word yet, while those two started arguing first, and their argument escalated, as if about to duel.
Everyone around looked on, seemingly expecting quite a show.
Kael silently turned around, pretending not to know them, and quickened his pace towards the auditorium with Conna.
...