Chapter 159 - 158 — It Was Potter Who Did It!

Chapter 159: Chapter 158 — It Was Potter Who Did It!

Chapter 158 — It Was Potter Who Did It!

Monday morning.

Vesey finally left the hospital wing.

She really hadn’t expected the potion this time to be so powerful.

It had actually made her sleep for two whole days.

It had to be Snape’s doing.

Fortunately, she was discharged that morning.

If she had stayed in the hospital wing any longer, rumors would have started spreading around the school that she and Colin had been petrified together.

Since Colin had been petrified, Hogwarts was now filled with rumors.

Everyone was trying to guess who the culprit was.

Of course, many people suspected Harry.

After all, the first time, Harry had inexplicably appeared in front of Mrs. Norris.

And the second time, Colin had gone to see Harry at night.

Both incidents seemed to be connected to Harry.

But there was no evidence, so most people could only keep their distance from him.

The first-year students had even begun moving around in groups, afraid that they would be attacked if they were alone.

Ginny was even more pitiful.

She would often burst into tears without warning.

Vesey was always watching her from nearby.

Sometimes she thought she could try imitating Ginny’s behavior herself.

When the time came, she could make herself even more pitiful than Ginny and probably earn a huge amount of Energy Points.

But there was no need for that recently.

She had already gained a considerable amount of Energy from acting during Harry’s Quidditch match.

Her Energy income hadn’t been particularly high lately, though.

Of course, she still had to keep studying.

Vesey only needed to study by herself.

At first, Ginny felt a little uncomfortable with Vesey’s approach.

But perhaps after seeing an older couple hugging each other one day, she gradually became comfortable with hugging Vesey herself while crying.

She probably thought that since Vesey would eventually become her wife, there was nothing wrong with crying in her arms.

And Vesey never asked why she was crying.

She would simply gently wipe Ginny’s tears and hold her tightly.

That made Ginny feel particularly safe.

Fred and George also tried their best to make Ginny laugh.

They took turns covering themselves in fake boils and making their faces look covered in spots.

Not only did they fail to make Ginny laugh, they frightened Vesey as well.

It was Ginny who had to hug Vesey and comfort her for a while before Vesey was willing to lift her head from Ginny’s arms.

That made Ginny furious.

She rarely yelled at Fred and George.

And when she did, she was far fiercer than before.

If Vesey hadn’t known what happened to Ginny in the original story—and if she hadn’t felt Ginny trembling slightly while holding her—she might almost have thought Ginny was deliberately putting on an act.

But Vesey quickly changed her strategy.

After Ginny turned around, Vesey pretended to still be frightened and allowed Ginny to hug her instead.

Perhaps that gesture encouraged Ginny considerably.

Within two days, Vesey received a protective amulet from her.

It was practically useless.

But everyone had been wearing things like that recently.

Neville had even bought himself a garlic-scented amulet.

Vesey was secretly delighted.

Fortunately, Ginny hadn’t bought her one of those.

Otherwise, Vesey was afraid she might have thrown up right in front of Ginny.

The other Gryffindors were helpless when it came to Neville.

"You’re a pure-blood. You’ll be fine!"

they told him.

But Neville didn’t believe them.

"Actually, I’m not much different from a Squib. They attacked Mr. Filch first, so I might be next!"

He was remarkably self-aware.

But until the second week of December, nothing happened to Mr. Filch, and Neville remained perfectly fine.

That day, the professors came around to collect applications from students who wanted to remain at Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays.

Of course, Vesey chose to stay.

Harry and the others made the same choice.

But when they heard Vesey mention that Malfoy had also chosen to stay, they immediately suspected that Malfoy was planning some kind of major conspiracy.

It just so happened that the Polyjuice Potion would finally be ready around Christmas.

But they now had another problem.

They needed African tree snake skin and powdered bicorn horn.

And they had to steal them from Snape’s office.

The question was who would steal them—and how?

Hermione naturally thought she should be the one to do it.

Harry and Ron didn’t even know what the ingredients looked like.

So the two of them needed to create some kind of disturbance in the classroom to give Hermione an opportunity.

They were going to have to go completely crazy.

This was practically asking them to get themselves killed.

But unfortunately, they still had to do it.

Thursday.

They followed their classmates into the Potions classroom that afternoon.

Harry and Ron looked at Vesey guiltily.

They kept imagining how devastated Vesey would be if they were caught and expelled.

Most importantly, they hadn’t told her anything.

Vesey would be so sad.

Harry and the others were filled with guilt.

But they still felt that this was the best way.

As usual, Snape finished his lecture and instructed them to begin brewing their potions.

Snape practically stood beside Vesey the entire time, watching her brew.

When he saw that she had successfully completed the potion, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Ten points to Slytherin!"

Malfoy proudly rolled his eyes at Harry and the others.

Since Vesey was Harry’s sister, every point she earned only benefited Slytherin.

Harry and the others could only pretend they hadn’t seen it.

After all, if they responded to Malfoy, they would probably just get scolded by Snape and lose a pile of points.

Besides, their plan wouldn’t let Malfoy off forever.

They just had to wait.

Unfortunately, Harry became distracted.

His Swelling Solution ended up much too thin.

Snape stood beside him for a while, mocking him for making something that looked more like water than a potion.

After deducting points from Harry, Snape moved on to Neville and began criticizing him as well.

Harry immediately realized that this was his opportunity.

With Snape’s back turned, he could make his move.

Hermione noticed the opportunity too.

She immediately winked at Harry.

Harry swallowed nervously and pulled out the troublesome fireworks Fred had given him earlier.

He quickly lit them with his wand.

Then he threw them straight into Malfoy’s cauldron.

He grinned.

Sure enough, the next second—

The Swelling Solution in Malfoy’s cauldron exploded, splashing everywhere.

All the students nearby screamed.

Snape immediately turned around.

He grabbed Vesey, who had been quietly reading, and pulled her into his arms while angrily surveying the chaos in the classroom.

"Stay here!"

Snape pushed Vesey, who was still absorbed in her book, into a corner.

Then he roared at the class.

"Quiet! Everyone, calm down!

"Anyone who was splashed by the potion, come to me and get some anti-swelling potion!

"When I find out who did this, I will expel them!"

Harry tried his best not to smile.

He pretended to look around as though he were wondering who could have done it.

When he saw Malfoy’s nose and neck swollen like a monster’s, he almost burst out laughing.

Once all the injured students had gone forward to receive the anti-swelling potion, Hermione quietly slipped back into place.

Harry noticed the bulges beneath her robes.

She had obviously stuffed the stolen potion ingredients underneath them.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

By this point, everyone had taken the anti-swelling potion.

Vesey also returned to her seat.

She seemed to have only just realized what had happened, wearing a confused expression.

When Snape saw her, his eyes softened considerably.

But when he reached Malfoy’s cauldron and pulled out a charred piece of firework, his expression became dangerous.

His gaze immediately landed on Harry.

He practically skipped every stage of investigation.

In his mind, there was only one conclusion.

It was definitely Potter.

No one else.