Harry never expected things to get so bad.
Last Saturday, Sirius Black had just told him at the Three Broomsticks that he would take him away from the Dursleys during the summer vacation, a news that excited Harry immensely. For many years, Harry had been eager to leave the Dursleys, and now, this dream was finally about to come true. However, he hadn't expected that just a few days later, Sirius changed his mind again.
Since that day Sirius Black had come out of Professor Snape's office, he had told Harry his new decision.
He thought it would be better for Harry to stay with Muggles, after all, that was the only relative he had blood connection with in the world. Of course, in order to make Harry's situation better, he could go and talk to the Dursleys.
Harry couldn't help but connect Sirius Black's change of heart to Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore.
After all, when Sirius Black brought this up at the Three Broomsticks last week, Professor Snape had subtly expressed his dissenting view.
But this was absolutely ridiculous. How could they make decisions for him?
For several days in a row, Harry had nothing but a grim expression during Professor Snape's PE class, and he had even seriously considered skipping the lesson altogether.
"I advise you to calm down, Harry -"
After Hemin stopped using the Time-Turner, her timetable became normal again, but she still had several more classes than the rest. In order to save time, she now knew how to read and complete some simpler homework while walking.
On a night when they had to attend physical education, several Gryffindors went together to the classroom filled with armor. When Harry angrily expressed his thoughts, Hermione briefly lifted her gaze from "A thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi," and spoke rationally,
"Think of the Slytherin Pansy Parkinson."
Pansy Parkinson was a very annoying girl in Slytherin, of course, there are few who do not hate her when she can play with Malfoy.
In general, Slytherin wizards tend to support Professor Snape, as they see him as one of their own. Over the past couple of years, Professor Snape's reputation has soared, which naturally makes the Slytherin wizards extremely proud. Harry heard Justin Finlay from Gryffindor that everyone in Slytherin was eagerly waiting for Professor Dumbledore's retirement, because they believed that the next headmaster of Hogwarts would definitely be Professor Snape.
Professor Snape's character often made people forget that he was from Slytherin, and Harry himself did not mind - if one day Professor Dumbledore really had trouble keeping up, Professor Snape became the headmaster, but now the sneering serpents of Slytherin who have this plan is making him feel sick.
It must have been that she could no longer bear the torment of the dungball, as Pansy Parkinson dared to skip class even after Professor Snape had clearly indicated that it was too late for him to drop the class.
Professor Snape was clearly a person who couldn't stand any dirt, after their training was over, he directly entered the Slytherin common room and ordered the Slytherin female housekeeper to take Pansy Parkinson out of the dormitory, then trained her alone for two hours.
It was said that Pansy Parkinson spent that night in the hospital.
Thinking of her consequences, Harry shivered a few times and dismissed the rebellious thoughts in his mind.
Now, Professor Snape has put new requirements for his sports class.
He recorded the distance everyone could advance under the attack of dungball and asked each person to make progress every time they attended the class, even if it was only one foot, otherwise, he would make them practice until they couldn't go to sleep in their dormitory.
And Harry's experience in the Potions class was another significant reason for his poor mood.
Harry didn't know what exactly had happened that day in Professor Snape's office, but Snape was clearly retaliating. He made Harry's life miserable in Potions class, and because his classwork was all zeros, his after-class essay for Potions was at least a third longer than the other wizards!
This time, it was not Sirius who helped Harry out of the jam, but Professor McGonagall, because she couldn't bear the abnormal speed of the scoring stones in Gryffindor's hourglass.
The first rainstorm with thunder rolled in over the weekend, heralding the approaching footsteps of summer.
Ron and Seamus spent the afternoon playing gobstones in the common room, while Harry just watched the game without participating because he always associates the punishment of failure in gobstones with the smell of dungball juice. Only when they got bored with gobstones and switched to wizard's chess did Harry start to show some interest.
Of course, when it comes to the skill of wizard's chess, Harry and Seamus together couldn't match Ron. Under the rule of "the loser goes out," Ron remained seated steadily, while Harry and Seamus took turns playing.
Having been "knighted" by Ron again, Harry couldn't help but smack his lips in satisfaction. He looked out the window and realized that the sky, which had been dark all day, was starting to show a faint tint of gray.
"Oh, running -"
The watch he was still wearing told Harry it was nearly dinner time, and he stood up in a panic.
A considerable number of wizards who participate in the sports class will arrange the 30-minute run that Professor Snape requires every day after classes and before dinner, which is the most suitable time and will not have a significant impact on other times of the day.
"Good luck, Harry -"
Seamus looked up at the world pouring with rain, his gaze focused on the chessboard, and he shrugged with a sympathetic remark.
Professor Snape never said that it was unnecessary to run in rainy or snowy weather.
Harry looked around, Neville was not in the common room, Fred and George also didn't know where they went, while Ginny and Hermione were sitting in a remote corner of the common room chatting.
"What are you two talking about?" Harry asked as he walked over.
"Penelope Creevy -"
Hermione looked a bit unhappily at Harry, "Luna told me she often sees Penelope daydreaming alone in the common room these days."
"So what?"
As boys are often not very adept in this area, Harry didn't quite understand what Hermione was trying to express.
"So?" Hermoine looked even more dissatisfied, "I mentioned this to Ginny and hope she can talk to Percy. Although I don't know what kind of irreconcilable differences they have between them, but--they used to be very good friends, didn't they?"
Although he felt that Hermione was a bit nosey, Harry's rational side told him that it would be best not to say what he was thinking because he felt that Hermione seemed to think that all boys were as heartless as Percy.
They walked out of the common room together, preparing to go for a run on the Quidditch field. With Hermione, Harry was no longer too worried about being soaked in the rain. He knew she had many useful small spells that could help them get out of some embarrassing situations.
The continuous rain all day had made the marble foyer slippery like an ice rink, and many little wizards who passed through it fell on their backs, causing a series of cries of pain that could be heard above and beyond as they were on the second floor.
"It's terrible. Why isn't anyone coming to maintain order?"
Hermione whispered a complaint and then, she looked down from the second-floor platform to see Neville standing at the castle gate facing the world filled with rain, from Neville's drooping shoulders, Hermione guessed what Neville was thinking about. She pursed her lips and prepared to invite Neville to join her, but just before Hermione opened her mouth, a shrill cackle suddenly interrupted Hermione's greeting.
It's Peeves!
It suddenly appeared through the ceiling above the foyer, floating at a level with Harry and the rest of them.
Harry, Hermione and Ginny all noticed that Peeves had a handful of fist-sized water balloons in his arms, and they immediately realized what the playful ghost was going to do.
Peeves immediately locked onto Neville, who was standing closest to the door. The muscles in his mischievous, wide face tensed up. Before Harry and the others could warn him, Peeves grabbed one of the water balloons and swung it forcefully at Neville's head.
How odd!
Looking at the trajectory of the water balloon in mid-air, Harry and the others couldn't help but have a strange thought — why did the water balloon thrown with all Peeves' strength look so slow?
Harry moved his lips, and then he immediately realized that the speed of the water balloon wasn't slow. Because, before he could even say the first syllable, Peeves' water balloon was only two feet away from Neville's forehead!
And with the sympathetic gazes of those who witnessed the scene, Neville suddenly moved. Harry noticed that when Neville turned around, there was still a familiar look of confusion on his face, but his hand had already lifted from his side and caught Peeves' water balloon at the crucial moment.
Bang!
The next second, Neville's water balloon whizzed past Peeves' rigid face and crashed into the foyer ceiling with a loud bang!
(The end of this chapter)
