The emergence and rise of Bryan Watson had deeply changed many people's long-held stereotypical impressions of Slytherin House and what it meant to be a Slytherin.
Before Bryan had become widely known to the wizarding world, before his name had become legendary, people's general perception of Slytherin students was deeply unfavorable and remarkably consistent.
They believed Slytherins focused solely and obsessively on seizing personal benefits and advantages, ruthlessly excluded Muggle-borns from their circles with contempt, were passionate advocates for promoting the rotten, outdated ideology of pure-blood supremacy, and were wildly ambitious in any organization they belonged to.
Beyond these negative traits of cunning, ambition, and prejudice—Slytherins seemed to actively sneer at everything else the other houses valued.
Yet Bryan, aside from possessing absolutely formidable magical powers that were beyond comparison with most living wizards, defied any precise or simple description that Draco could offer of his character. He didn't fit into easy categories or comfortable boxes of typical Slytherins.
But one indisputable, undeniable fact that no one could argue with was that Professor Watson truly possessed tremendous personal charisma and appeal that drew people to him.
In a certain important sense, he even surpassed Dumbledore in this particular quality, because at least Dumbledore despite his many achievements and his fame had never successfully "conquered" or won over Slytherin House.
Snape had walked away from Draco's position to check on what was wrong with Pansy, who had been sobbing softly in the darkness, apparently having encountered some difficulty or distress with her leech collection.
Bathed in the faint silvery moonlight that barely penetrated the swamp's heavy mist, Draco stood alone by the water's edge. His expression remained confused and troubled, lost in thought, unable to speak or move for a long while as he wrestled with questions that had no good answers.
"Hmph!" came a soft, disdainful sound from the shadows.
Hidden carefully behind a thick cluster of bushes whose branches provided excellent concealment, Neville squeezed uncomfortably under Harry's invisibility cloak alongside Harry and Ron.
The three boys were pressed together awkwardly in the cramped space beneath the cloak. Neville snorted coldly and muttered in a low, disdainful voice, "Fence-sitter—just like his father."
This assessment struck directly at Harry's heart like an arrow finding its target.
In this difficult time when everything about Hogwarts' future seemed uncertain and oppressive, when the school faced an existential crisis, Malfoy was actually calculating which side to join based purely on who he thought would win.
"You can't say that so simply, Neville," Hermione interjected from nearby.
She had nominally followed the three boys on this rash adventure to prevent them from doing something stupid. However, she couldn't fit under Harry's invisibility cloak with four people so she had concealed herself separately using a Disillusionment Charm.
She glanced through the darkness at Draco, who looked lost and bewildered standing in the murky water, and said calmly.
"Malfoy must be worried and conflicted. Harry, you personally witnessed Malfoy's father appear at the scene of the Dark Lord's resurrection in that graveyard which means he really is a Death Eater. In that situation, Malfoy is in a very difficult position with no good options."
She paused, organizing her thoughts. "Supporting Professor Watson means opposing his own parents, potentially seeing them imprisoned or killed. But supporting You-Know-Who—I believe his fear of Professor Watson is considerably greater than his fear of the Dark Lord, after all, he's never actually seen the Dark Lord in person."
Hermione's voice softened slightly. "Oh, and I honestly believe Malfoy also greatly admires Professor Watson on a personal level. Everyone in Slytherin House is fascinated by Professor Watson—he's their hero, their proof that Slytherin can produce greatness. So, in this terrible situation, Malfoy is really stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way out."
"He deserves it," Ron said without mercy. "Who told him to have a Death Eater for a father? What kind of normal person would worship an utterly evil, murderous dark wizard like You-Know-Who anyway? It's sick. Oh, but are we actually going to do this or not?"
Ron wrinkled his nose in frustration and shifted under the cloak.
"Aren't we here specifically to punish Malfoy? His father leads the Board of Governors and causes trouble for Hogwarts. Now the old bat Snape has walked away to deal with Parkinson—this is a golden opportunity! We might not get another chance!"
"Oh, no! Absolutely not!" Hermione immediately became stern and formidable, her voice was rising slightly before she caught herself and whispered more urgently.
She stared in the direction of the three boys under the invisibility cloak with fierce intensity, though she couldn't see their faces. "If Snape discovers us here, if he catches us, what do you think will happen? Use your heads! He'll demand that we be expelled from Hogwarts! All four of us!"
"Oh, unless Professor Dumbledore and Professor Watson specifically agree to it, Snape can't actually expel anyone on his own authority,"
Neville pointed out logically. He was the one who had once been most fearful and intimidated by Snape but had now let himself go and shed those old fears.
He said with a confident grin that would have shocked his first-year self, "Besides, you're also annoyed and angry about what Malfoy's father did to our school, aren't you, Hermione? Don't pretend you're not."
"But that's not the same thing at all!" Hermione hissed urgently. She could only rely on the voices to determine which of the three boys under the invisibility cloak was speaking, since she couldn't see their faces.
She scolded them urgently, "The one doing genuinely bad things is Malfoy's father Lucius, not Draco Malfoy himself! You all just heard with your own ears that Malfoy even wrote to his father specifically advising him not to do those harmful things to Hogwarts! He tried to stop this!"
"For the sake of that, because he at least tried—" Harry said slowly, hesitantly, his voice uncertain, "maybe we should go easy on him?"
Ron snorted with suppressed laughter at Harry's suggestion of restraint, finding it amusing. But unfortunately for all of them, he didn't notice in his distraction that Snape, having dealt with Pansy's troubles and sent her back to her leech collecting, had already walked back to his previous position near Draco.
The unnaturally swaying bushes where the hidden students crouched and the strange, muffled noise of Ron's laughter immediately attracted Snape's sharp, gaze. His head snapped toward the sound like a predator spotting prey.
"Who's there!" Snape's voice rang out sharply.
The Forbidden Forest late at night was never a safe haven for anyone, students or staff. Snape had been constantly and vigilantly observing the dark surroundings throughout this entire expedition to guard against venomous insects, fierce beasts, and other dangers that lurked in the shadows.
Before his sharp shout had even finished echoing across the water, before the sound waves had fully dissipated, Snape had already drawn his wand with speed. Immediately after came the piercing, high-pitched sound of his wand slicing aggressively through the air!
Whoosh!
Surging magical flames erupted from Snape's wand, rapidly heating the cool night air and driving away the darkness and mist in a spectacular display.
In the fierce roar of the conjured magical fire, four young voices chanting defensive spells appeared almost simultaneously from behind the bushes, their voices were overlapping and becoming less distinct, but they were still precisely captured and identified by Snape's keen hearing.
Watching the previously invisible magical barrier whose shimmering form was suddenly revealed by the interrupted flames splashing against it, after a brief moment of astonishment at their presence, fury blazed intensely in Snape's black eyes!
The swaying low bushes and obviously trampled weeds told Snape exactly where those audacious Gryffindors were currently located.
He suddenly raised his wand high with a gesture, his face was twisted with rage, and several semicircular shaped silver flashes of cutting light left his wand tip in rapid series. They tore through the air with a heart-pounding, sharp whistling sound. In the blink of an eye, they struck a massive forty-foot-tall tree standing near the path!
CRACK!
After a series of sharp, crisp sounds of breaking branches snapping like bones, the falling tree trunk crashed thunderously to the ground with an earth-shaking boom that echoed across the swamp. It fell directly across the small wild path leading away from the swamp, firmly blocking the only easy escape route!
Like a localized earthquake, the violent shaking and trembling of the ground directly knocked the four young wizards who had been attempting to scramble to their feet and escape completely off balance. They tumbled back to the muddy ground.
The evil wind that surged forth from the tree's impact directly blew away the invisibility cloak from Harry, Ron, and Neville's heads.
Pansy, Nott, and Blaise, all hearing the tremendous commotion and Snape's shout, rushed over quickly from their positions to investigate.
Draco also forcibly suppressed those deep worries and rising panic in his heart, jumping hastily out of the cold water onto the bank. He rushed to Professor Snape's side to see what was happening.
When he saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville sprawled on the ground, knocked down by the sideways branches and covered in mud and leaves, he froze completely for a moment in shock, then his pale face gradually transformed into an expression of amusement.
This is bad! This is really, really bad!
When Snape's sharp, furious voice had first reached his ears, Harry had known immediately that things were going disastrously south, and what had happened next in that split second of chaos had indeed confirmed his worst prediction.
Now facing Snape with his frosty, rage-filled expression and the four Slytherin students all showing undisguised gloating looks, especially Pansy, who looked delighted—Harry felt his heart sink like a stone to the very bottom of a deep well.
The evidence was irrefutable!
Secretly following a professor without permission, breaking into the Forbidden Forest at night when it was completely off-limits—if Snape suggested to Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore that they permanently expel the four of them from Hogwarts, Harry honestly wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. They'd been caught red-handed.
Looking at the four Gryffindor students who now stood frozen and silent, not daring to speak or move, a flash of satisfaction crossed Snape's eyes.
"Let me think carefully about this situation," Snape said in a soft tone.
"Perhaps you four were simply hurrying back to the Gryffindor common room but accidentally got lost in the castle's corridors. And so, unfortunately and through no fault of your own, you somehow ended up all the way out here in the Forbidden Forest. Is that right?"
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Pansy Parkinson couldn't help herself and laughed out loud at Snape's mocking words in a high-pitched giggle. The remaining three Slytherin boys also looked at the caught Gryffindors coldly.
Harry was absolutely determined not to let Snape have the satisfaction of seeing him completely humiliated, otherwise, the next time Sirius and Snape met, Harry might suffer some new indignity as Snape recounted this story. He refused to give him that ammo.
He raised his head defiantly, straightening his spine. His bright green eyes burned with fierce flames in the cold light released from Snape's wand. The flames of anger and determination were so intense that even Snape instinctively avoided his stare.
"Twenty points from each of you, eighty points total from Gryffindor—" Snape announced, his voice was carrying a biting chill that seemed to lower the temperature further.
"Next, I suppose you've already anticipated that you're about to be expelled from Hogwarts, haven't you? Oh, but you've always been remarkably good at fabricating lies to avoid well-deserved punishment, haven't you?"
Snape's lips curled. "Now, you might as well give it a try. Oh, perhaps I really will be fooled by your imaginative excuses this time."
"We were just trying to help, Professor Snape," Hermione's sudden voice interrupted Snape's mocking words.
Harry immediately glanced over with the corner of his eye and found that Hermione's cheeks and ears had turned bright red, flushed with embarrassment and stress, exactly like Ron's face when he was under extreme pressure or caught in a lie.
"What?" Snape asked sharply, his head snapping toward her. "What did you say?"
"We saw you in the entrance hall earlier this evening leading Malfoy and the others toward the Forbidden Forest," Hermione explained, her voice growing stronger despite her obvious nervousness.
"And we remembered that today in Potions class you said that students who didn't complete their Wit-Sharpening Potion successfully would need to collect leeches in the forest at night as punishment."
"So, you're telling me, Miss Know-It-All—" Snape stared coldly at Hermione, using the mocking nickname he hadn't used for some time. "You came all the way out here to help collect leeches voluntarily? Out of the goodness of your hearts, is that right?"
"We know Hogwarts has encountered troubles, that the Board of Governors has suspended all funding for Hogwarts," Hermione pressed on stubbornly despite the disbelief in Snape's face.
"So we know that professors now have to personally collect materials needed for teaching students, materials the school can't afford to buy."
Everyone present knew this was a desperate lie, but she continued stubbornly. "So, we thought we'd come help."
It was an excellent excuse, worthy of Hermione's nimble mind and quick thinking, but Harry, along with Ron and Neville, felt absolutely no joy at her clever defense, only deep guilt filling their hearts. Of course, they also knew this excuse couldn't possibly fool Snape.
Snape's breathing became rapid. His chest was swelling, the movement was even reminding Harry of Aunt Marge, whom he had accidentally inflated like a balloon.
"Nothing but lies!" Snape finally couldn't hold back his rage any longer and roared angrily. "Pathetic, obvious lies! I will tell Minerva everything that happened tonight in detail, every word you've said, and I'd very much like to see what she has to say about your behavior!"
Snape glared at them viciously. "But before that—oh, you said you came to help, didn't you? How noble."
Snape pulled several more large glass bottles from pockets of his robes and tossed them carelessly onto the grass pile in front of the students.
"I generously give you this opportunity. Now, all of you get into that water and catch leeches until these bottles are full!"
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