"It doesn't matter who it is, Miss Prince."
Snape's expression remained unchanged as he frowned. "Irregular cut marks might improve the effect in some potions, but this is just a boils potion. Doing it here is a complete waste of time. However, given your serious attitude... five points to Hufflepuff."
The entire class froze in shock, eyes wide in disbelief. Some Hufflepuff students even patted their ears, as if doubting their own hearing.
It was only halfway through the lesson, but everyone had already witnessed firsthand the infamous cruelty of the Potions professor. As the prefects had warned, in Snape's class, the only students who earned extra points were the Slytherins. The other houses merely hoped to escape without losing any.
Take the two Slytherins who had nearly blown up the classroom earlier. While Snape had furiously assigned them detention in the dungeon, he hadn't deducted a single point from their house. And yet... here they were, hearing him award points to Kanna—a Hufflepuff.
Snape actually gave her five points?!
The shock was palpable. This incident would surely become the talk of the entire school.
If Hufflepuff was stunned, Slytherin was outright indignant. The Slytherins exchanged resentful glances, almost on the verge of crying out in frustration.
Why? they wondered. They were the ones who typically earned extra points. Why should a Hufflepuff benefit now?
Their head of house had changed. He hadn’t been before.
But Snape, indifferent to the turmoil around him, simply placed the porcupine quill back on the table. "Don't do anything again," he said coolly.
"Yes, yes... Professor," Kanna mumbled meekly.
Snape nodded before turning his gaze toward Kyle. His expression twisted into one of instant disgust.
"Look at the others, and then look at you. It's taken you this long to cut a single quill, and you can't even manage that properly. What a waste of time. Five points from Hufflepuff!"
Kyle was left speechless. "..."
What just happened? Who did I offend? He had been cutting slowly, sure, but five points deducted for that?
Where’s the justice in this school? Is there any humanity left?!
Snape’s blatant double standards were maddening, and it seemed that no one at Hogwarts would intervene. Even the other students in the classroom didn’t seem too concerned about Kyle’s plight. Most let out a collective sigh of relief, while the Slytherins hugged each other in joy.
This was the Snape they knew. The professor who had just awarded points to Kanna had to have been some sort of impostor. Maybe, just maybe, Professor Dumbledore himself hadn’t wanted Slytherin to win the House Cup for the sixth year in a row and had secretly controlled Snape with the Imperius Curse.
That damned old honeybee!
The Slytherins comforted themselves with this thought.
After that, Snape rarely ventured near Kyle’s workbench again. It wasn’t until the end of class that he began his usual inspection of the potions brewed by the students. As expected, Kyle and Kanna’s Boil Cure Potion was a resounding success. Pink smoke gently wafted from their cauldron, and even Snape, with his famously critical eye, couldn’t find a single flaw.
“Five points to Hufflepuff,” Snape muttered, glancing at Kyle with disdain before walking away.
Though he had quickly reclaimed those five points earlier in class, the fact that Snape had awarded points to Hufflepuff twice in one lesson caused a stir at Hogwarts. By dinner, the news had spread like wildfire, and once again, Kanna became the topic of conversation.
This time, it wasn’t just a few first-years gossiping about the remarkable events in Transfiguration class—nearly the entire school was buzzing with curiosity. Who was this first-year witch who had managed to catch Snape's attention in such a dramatic way?
As Kyle sat down to dinner, Fred and George Weasley risked detention by sneaking over to the Hufflepuff table, looking far worse for wear. Dark circles under their eyes, they struggled to hold their cutlery steady, their hands shaking as they attempted to cut into their pork chops.
“Thank goodness, Kyle, you’ve finally come out of that cursed common room,” Fred greeted him, looking exhausted.
Kyle took in the twins’ haggard appearances with concern. “What’s wrong with you two? You’re young, but you still need to be careful. If you keep going at this pace, your bodies won’t hold up.”
George groaned, “You have no idea how bad this detention was. Do you know how thick that book was? It was 15 inches tall—taller than a wand! And McGonagall wants us to copy the entire thing in a week. I swear she’s trying to kill us.”
Fred gave his brother a pat on the shoulder. “At least, until we finish copying that wretched book, McGonagall won’t let us die of exhaustion.”
Kyle wisely chose not to ask what might happen after they finished the task.
Suddenly, George slapped his forehead. “Oh, right! You distracted me. I almost forgot why we came over.” He scanned the Hufflepuff table. “So, who’s the hero named Kanna? Introduce us—I’m waiting for her autograph.”
Fred nodded eagerly. “Yeah, yeah. A Hufflepuff who can actually score ten points from Snape is practically a miracle.”
George grinned. “Dumbledore should give her a special contribution award for curing Snape’s bias. That’s a far greater achievement than anything written in that stupid book.”
Kyle shook his head with a shrug. “If you’re looking for Kanna, you’ll be disappointed. She didn’t come to the Great Hall for dinner today.”
George raised his eyebrows in surprise. “She’s not eating?”
“Not in the hall,” Kyle explained, giving him a strange look. “Don’t forget, our common room is next to the kitchen. She can get whatever she wants whenever she feels like it.”
“Oh, right!” George said, slapping his forehead again. “How could I forget that? There’s so much swirling around in my head right now—it’s messing with my brain.”
Fred sighed, shaking his head. “Guess we’re not getting any autographs today. Shame we’ve got detention again tonight. Waiting in the kitchen would've been a good idea otherwise.”
Kyle opened his mouth to suggest that Kanna probably wouldn’t want to give them autographs anyway, but he thought better of it and stayed quiet.
With their hopes dashed, Fred and George quickly stuffed a few more bites of food into their mouths before heading out. On their way, they filled their pockets with baked potatoes, muttering something about needing them after their grueling detention.
Kyle, puzzled, asked why they didn’t just go to the kitchen later for something warm.
Fred shot him a pained look. “Two in the morning...” he said mournfully, “It’ll be a miracle if we can even walk back to the dormitory alive!”