In the past few days, the teachers at Hogwarts suddenly noticed that the Slytherin students kept dozing off in class.
It's one thing to nod off in History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, but some even dozed off during Snape's Magic Potion Class, causing a bit of an accident when their heads hit the cauldron.
Professor Snape was furious, his face turning a deep shade of purple. He never imagined that a Slytherin student would dare to sleep in his class under such high pressure.
The outcome was obvious: even though he was as stingy with points as Grangai, Snape deducted between five and twenty points from each student, depending on the severity of the situation.
The one who lost twenty points had spilled their cauldron's potion onto the student in front of them.
Gryffindor shared Magic Potion Class with Slytherin, and while Slytherin was in trouble, Gryffindor wasn't exactly spared either. However, the Gryffindor students tried their best to restrain themselves, so even if Snape tried to find fault, he couldn't deduct too many points.
Even Harry wasn't spared; for stirring just a tad too fast, Snape deducted one point from him.
Under Snape's firm oversight, both Gryffindor and Slytherin's points decreased every day, dropping them from first and second to third and fourth place, while the one in first place was surprisingly...
Hufflepuff, the Slytherin students stomped and cursed.
And that wasn't the most absurd part, as Slytherin's second-year Joseph Ror actually fell asleep on a broom during Flying Class.
"Goodness, you can really sleep, can't you, Sleepy Joe?" His classmates mocked.
Joe is Joseph's nickname.
Sleepy Joe didn't mind the mockery from his classmates; it was just a little deal with the scholarly Miss Melop.
However…
Miss Melop is really beautiful...
Why isn't she the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?
The professors in other subjects also noticed this issue, but aside from sleeping in class, the Slytherin students excelled tremendously at everything else. They seemed to master any spell almost instantly, as if they had practiced it numerous times before.
The professors could only chalk it up to Slytherin students being particularly diligent and earnest about their studies, advising them to take care of their health outside of studies, without much further thought.
Given that Slytherin was continuously earning points in other classes, Snape decided to turn a blind eye to the situation.
He had more important matters to attend to.
So, every evening, Draco would wait outside the dormitory door, looking around while holding a small notebook, keeping track of the queue of names.
When students with dark circles under their eyes staggered out of the dorm, Draco would call out the next name in the line.
Before going to bed at night, Melop would, as agreed, share part of her power with Draco.
Draco had once visited the Secret Chamber but couldn't recall what actually happened inside.
However, after that, Melop no longer asked him to bring notes to the Secret Chamber, instead staying in the Slytherin common room without any intention of leaving.
Draco figured she had already retrieved the "Merlin's Secret Treasure" and didn't ask much, as he was quite satisfied with the current benefits.
Things were running smoothly on the Gryffindor side as well, and on Friday evening, Harry and his trio brought their new recruits, Neville and Seamus, to the Room of Requirement.
Ron was responsible for instructing Seamus, while Hermione guided Neville. Harry, besides practicing the Expelliarmus chain, also offered pointers on their weaknesses.
After attempting Expelliarmus over a dozen times, only for it to turn into blowing up their hands, Harry walked over to stop Seamus, who was eager to keep trying.
"Listen, Seamus," Harry said to the dejected Seamus, "I think I've seen another path for you..."
"Another path?" Seamus looked up.
"In the wizarding world, natural talent exists—just like in the books where Cassandra Malfoy is a natural master of the Stunning Spell." Harry placed a gentle hand on Seamus' shoulder, speaking soothingly: "All her spells have a stunning attribute..."
"Which book did you read that in?" Hermione came over, intrigued.
"In the Forbidden Book Area, I forgot which one." Harry replied casually.
Yet a hopeful light shined in Seamus' eyes: "Really? Harry, are you saying... I..."
"Yes, Seamus," Harry affirmed, "just like that Malfoy lady, and you, my friend, you are a natural master of the Explosive Curse. Perhaps we could try something beyond Expelliarmus, and explore explosive spells instead."
"Sure!" Seamus said eagerly.
"Watch, swing your magic wand like this and aim it at the dummy in front." Harry instructed Seamus, casting a spell with a sweep of his hand.
"Confringo (Thunder Explosion)!"
An orange-red light shot out from Harry's wand, illuminating the struck dummy with a dazzling flash.
"Boom!"
The dummy was blown apart by the Explosive Curse, its parts scattering across the transformed dueling field in the Room of Requirement, dissolving into dust and vanishing.
"Cool!" Seamus' eyes lit up.
Though his mother was a witch, his father was a Muggle who didn't understand magic, and when he was younger, he often watched television with his father, especially fascinated by war scenes.
Which man wouldn't be tempted by the allure of firing a mortar and blasting the enemy to pieces?
Still, Seamus hesitated slightly, his previous unsuccessful spell practice leading to self-doubt.
"Um, Harry, can I really do it?" Seamus scratched his head, saying: "I read about this spell in a book, and it's something that students only learn in the sixth year, while I'm just a first-year newbie..."
"Trust me," Harry said earnestly, his green eyes full of encouragement: "You can do it."
Seamus felt warmth in his heart and nodded heavily.
He walked a short distance from the dummy, raising his magic wand.
A sudden intuition arose in Harry's mind, a sense of foreboding.
Sure enough, Seamus raised his magic wand, pointing at the dummy and shouted: "Confringo (Thunder Explosion)!"
A beam of red light shot out, hitting the dummy and producing a larger explosion than the one Harry had cast earlier.
Harry managed just in time to conjure an Armor Protection, shielding himself.
Hermione and Ron ducked in perfect unison, protecting their heads.
The dummy exploded, sending parts flying everywhere, with one arm striking a parabola and landing with a smack on Neville's head.
"Why is it always me?" Neville asked tearfully, clutching his head.