Chapter 546 — Acting?!!
But Harry's anger was not shared by everyone. Hermione, for example.
At this moment, she was sitting bolt upright, completely focused, as if she were seriously preparing to continue studying Potions under Snape next year.
This made Harry and Ron stare at her in disbelief, feeling vaguely like she was betraying them.
"So, today you'll be brewing a Calming Draught… if the proportions are wrong, it will turn into a sleeping potion…"
Snape glanced briefly at Hermione, then looked away expressionlessly and wrote the recipe on the blackboard.
After that, he flicked his wand slightly, signaling for them to begin.
For the first half of the lesson, Snape stood beside Darren.
He watched Darren pick up several ingredients and drop them into the cauldron.
Very quickly, the Calming Draught inside formed an almost perfect color and consistency.
Snape lowered his voice and said quietly, "Dumbledore thinks you need to put on a show with me."
"We have to make it look like there's a rift between us in front of Potter. At the very least, you need to show open hostility toward me."
"He thinks this will be good training for you."
Darren looked at him in astonishment.
He had thought Dumbledore would arrange for someone else to play opposite Snape. Why make him do it personally?
"Dumbledore believes you must have some acting talent," Snape continued calmly. "If you can't even lie convincingly, the Dark Lord will probably laugh himself to death watching you."
"Be careful—your potion."
Darren immediately looked back at the cauldron.
The color was slightly off.
He thought for a moment, added another ingredient, then stirred clockwise a few times.
The potion stabilized.
A flash of pride passed through Snape's eyes.
He helped Darren bottle the potion, then continued in a low voice, "Anyway, I'll find an excuse to put you in detention in a moment."
"Starting tonight, we'll practice how a proper 'falling-out' should look."
Darren felt this was completely outrageous.
Snape… teaching him acting?
Fine.
What else could he do? He nodded.
Snape straightened and walked away.
For the rest of the class, he stalked around the dungeon, but Harry suffered the worst of it.
Snape kept nitpicking everything Harry did.
One moment it was missing an ingredient, the next it was incorrect stirring. In short, Harry had already poured several cauldrons of potion down the drain.
In reality, many students' brews were worse than Harry's.
At first, Darren thought Snape was deliberately targeting Harry.
But when he noticed Snape scolding Harry while constantly glancing in his direction, he finally understood.
Snape was provoking him—using Harry to trigger a reaction.
So that he would have a reason to put Darren in detention.
Darren grasped this instantly.
But on the surface, he acted as if he couldn't stand Snape bullying Harry anymore. He stood up anxiously and said, "Professor, I can teach my brother Potions. Please don't do this…"
"Are you questioning me?"
Snape's eyes narrowed sharply.
Darren looked shocked and hurried to explain.
But Snape cut him off coldly. "Ah, yes—the famed Triwizard Tournament champion. I just remembered, didn't you fight for Slytherin last year?"
"I said that if you won the Triwizard Tournament, I would spare you."
"But I suppose you and your Potter brother are simply too invincible."
"So—one semester of detention."
"Darren Potter, what do you think of my punishment?"
"N-no…"
Darren looked startled.
He replied awkwardly, "I… I have no objections…"
The lie was written all over his face.
Snape shook his head inwardly.
He had wanted Darren's reaction to look natural.
But once the boy realized he was lying or acting, he always became like this.
Teaching Darren how to act… even Snape felt this was going to be difficult.
But this was not the time to dwell on it.
He sneered.
"Since young Potter believes the punishment is deserved, then—one full semester of detention."
He announced coldly, then dismissed the class.
Harry was furious.
He tried to argue with Snape, insisting Darren had done nothing wrong, but all that earned him was twenty points deducted.
"That bastard…"
Harry muttered angrily.
But Darren avoided his gaze.
Because even after Snape treated him this way, Darren still addressed him respectfully as "Professor Snape."
This made Harry and the others believe even more firmly that Darren must have suffered terribly in Slytherin.
Otherwise, how could he endure something like this?
They didn't dare imagine it any further.
All they could do was silently escort Darren to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Before class, they prayed that Professor Umbridge would truly be as friendly as she claimed, and that she wouldn't assign homework.
But the moment they entered, they froze.
Umbridge ordered everyone to put their wands away and learn only from textbooks.
It was a shocking decision.
Even Professor Quirrell, in their first year, had never banned wand use entirely.
Defense Against the Dark Arts without wands—what were they supposed to learn?
After class began, Hermione shot her hand straight into the air.
Umbridge had said students must raise their hands to speak, so Hermione kept it raised, waiting to be called on.
Umbridge clearly intended to ignore her.
But too many students were staring at Hermione.
Especially after Darren stood up and directly pointed out that Hermione had been raising her hand, Umbridge could no longer pretend she didn't exist.
She glanced sharply at Darren, warning in her eyes.
Clearly, although she believed Darren was on Fudge's side, she also felt he should not challenge her authority.
"Next time," Umbridge said angrily, "if anyone stands up and speaks without my permission, I will put them in detention immediately!"
Darren chuckled softly. "I already have detention for an entire semester."
"If you want to detain me too, Professor, you may need to compete with Professor Snape for my after-school time."
Harry stared at Darren in shock, as if he were looking at a completely different person.
Hermione's mouth fell open in a perfect O.
She reacted quickly, forcing herself to calm down, then looked at Umbridge and said, "Professor, I think it's absurd to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts without using a wand."
"Don't we need to learn defensive magic at all?"
"Oh, child, what's your name?" Umbridge asked sweetly.
"Hermione Granger."
Umbridge wrote the name down in her notebook.
Then she said softly, "Miss Granger, how I teach is my business."
"The methods I use were decided by wizards far smarter than you, more experienced than you, and more powerful than you."
"They believe the professors you've studied under so far were far too radical."
"Is that so?" Darren said loudly. "Then let them come. I'll discuss it with them—wand in hand."
[Ding, Father +100]
[Ding, Father +100]
[Ding, Father +100]
[Ding…]