A new life in the wizarding world, just like Harry once dreamed of, is full of excitement and incredibleness. However, in addition to these wonderful parts, there are also some less pleasant parts remaining.

Chief among them was naturally Severus Snape, a professor of Potions.

It's no secret that this greasy sadist likes to torture students (especially Gryffindors) for fun, but even by his standards, Harry's hostility is unusually high, and he is forced to endure a difficult question in the first class of the new semester that is half of the Magic Potions and Potions, and then confronts an additional layer of cynicism after being unanswered.

Snape even maliciously linked his failure to prepare for the entire school year on the first day of school to Harry's status as the "boy who never died", claiming that it was a manifestation of his hubris and lack of attention to teachers, schools, and learning, and suggested, without any euphemism, that it was probably related to the lack of parental instruction.

Although he had managed not to commit the atrocity of beating the professor in the first class with the best efforts of Ron and Hermione, he had been able to do so in the Transfiguration classroom two floors away, but Snape had been caught on the sore foot and deducted nearly fifty points for being disrespectful to the professor.

There seemed to be an instinctive sense of disgust between the two of them, which made them unhappy every time they saw each other's faces - even Harry himself couldn't tell the origin of this feeling, as he was pretty sure he had never dealt with anyone with the surname Snape.

Regardless, the hatred had already been felt, and the thought of spending seven years under the same roof with him made Harry feel his stomach plummet. One can only hope that the fond memories he has gained elsewhere will sustain him to endure the endless troubles of the other party, so that he will not be sent to Azkaban one day for stabbing the professor with a knife that cuts the raw materials of the potion.

Fortunately, at the moment, it seems that the reserve of good memories is quite sufficient.

Ron was a good friend – not in terms of good or bad relationships, but in the sense that he was someone worth befriending. Very helpful, very sincere, and very interesting at all times. Most of them are slightly below average, but they also have outstanding talents that can be eye-catching, and they are perfect friends who will neither arouse jealousy nor become a burden.

Hermione was a somewhat arrogant and rigid girl, and her always prickly tone made it easy to shy away. But as long as you break this protective shell against strangers, it is not difficult to see that she is actually a nice person, honest and kind, and at the same time, in just a few days, she has shown her excellent qualities as a high-quality plagiarism object for homework in all subjects.

…… Wait a minute, why does the conversation keep going in a utilitarian direction when we talk about friendship?

Neville was an obedient boy, introverted and inferior—inferior to his size, his family environment, and his magical talents, which didn't seem to be outstanding right now. He was a perfect fit for Snape's ideal prey, and if it weren't for Harry's presence to take the firepower off him, his days in Potions class would have been hellish.

- For this reason, Neville was a little more intimate with Harry and his party than the rest of the group, and could at least be able to have a more fluent conversation at the breakfast table - of course, the content revolved around topics like please hand me butter or another chicken leg, and there was no personal matter.

Fred and George, Ron's twin brother, are the kind of people you would never want to mess with at school. They have a brilliant but unsympathetic sense of humor that can turn someone else's school life into a disaster for the sake of fun.

- It must be clarified that the two of them are not two frenzied thugs, as the long-suffering Filch has been trying to convince everyone to believe, characters like serial corpse robbers Booker and Hale are just two ordinary young people with slightly more radical styles. Or, in Neil's words, two "poor people whose minds have been twisted by the sick sorting system".

Oh, and by the way, Neil Wan, this guy is undoubtedly the most showy one right now.

Due to the different houses he belongs to, Harry has not found a chance to say a few words with him since the beginning of the school year, but occasionally he can be seen performing at the Ravenclaw table to carve toast bread with a butter knife.

However, even if he doesn't communicate in person, rumors about him will still reach his ears on his own. Harry and Ron were amused by the anecdotes that had been spiced up each time, and Hermione often walked away alone as if she wasn't interested, then hid and eavesdropped while no one was looking.

Rumor has it that he was targeted by misbehaving students in his first class, beaten and blackmailed, and that he was seen kneeling in the common room. But this superficial rumor obviously does not explain why the student in question entered the school infirmary three times in one day, and it only stimulates everyone's interest in getting to the bottom of it.

There are also rumors that he was seen wandering around the campus after curfew hours, carrying a huge bag on his back, sneaking in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower, looking like he was going to smuggle something unsightly back to his dorm. But the reliability is also questionable because the message provider can't explain why they left the dorm after curfew hours.

The relatively conclusive piece of news is that the explosive critter he created in Transfiguration class is now kept in Professor McGonagall's office, and anyone who dares to come within two meters of it, whether a student, a teacher, or an owl delivering a letter, will be killed, as Fred, who was called in for a lecture by throwing red-spotted caterpillars at passing Slytherin students in the hallway, proved by personal experience.

No one in the whole school, including Dumbledore, dared to touch her on this issue at the moment. Even the notorious pamper-making king Peeves wisely chose not to stand under the wall on this issue, consciously staying away from her office near the foyer on the second floor, lest the old woman misunderstand her intentions.

The latest and most sensational was the one that appeared in the Ravenclaw common room.

The relationship between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was not as sinister as that of Slytherin, but it was not close enough to entertain the students of the other house to their dorms - there might be one or two pairs of close enough friends in the senior year, but there was also the need to consider the feelings of the rest of the house, and they couldn't just bring people in, as for freshmen like Harry...... Not even that precondition was met. However, he decided to ask Neil about it the next time he saw him.

Today's herbology class might be a good opportunity. The first time that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw freshmen were in a shared class, as long as Neil didn't get into any trouble like he did last time, he would definitely find a chance to say a few words after class.

……

- Remembering his thoughts at the time, he didn't know if he knew Neil Wan too well or too little.

……

The herbalism classroom is a greenhouse located at the back of the castle, and it is a slightly far but easy place for new students who are not familiar with the internal structure of the school.

Herbology professor Pomona Sprout is the Hufflepuff branch head and a person whose "presence is as weak as her house" - a phrase that first came out of Slytherin was very offensive and discriminatory, but it also caused countless Hufflepuff students to grit their teeth and find no reason to refute it.

Professor Terrout was a small, mild-mannered witch who spent most of her time in the greenhouse tending with her flowers and plants, rarely seen elsewhere in the castle, and even when she did appear, she was dressed in patched old clothes, covered in dirt, and looked like she had just returned from farm work.

With the exception of the ghost professor Binns, who disappeared as soon as class time ended, she was the least exposed member of the entire Hogwarts faculty member. And she didn't care about this herself, the plants and the students of her own house (mainly plants) had already taken up all of her energy, and there was no extra part to allocate to the intrigue.

This indisputable disposition may seem a bit of a to some of the most sturdy students, but it was clearly respected among the professors, and even "the one" Snape rarely chose to provoke Professor Trepit on his own initiative—though perhaps the main reason was that Pomona Trepit and her beloved Conservatory Garden were thus independent of disputes and a place of tranquility, perhaps because of the number of medicinal plants that the greenhouse provided for his classes and personal studies every day.

However, on this day, as soon as Harry arrived at the door of the greenhouse, he heard the deafening screams of Terrout coming from the peaceful place of the senior students.

Harry and Ron and Hermione behind him glanced at each other, and each saw the name of the first suspect in each other's eyes, and sure enough, when they pushed open the door, the first thing that caught their eyes was Neil's figure holding a peachwood sword and fighting a humanoid cactus more than two meters tall.

"Ah, Mr. Potter! And Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, what a day it was a long time since I saw them! ”

Hearing the knock on the door, Neil, who had just dodged a cactus left hook, quickly turned his head and smiled naturally when he saw the faces of the three of them.

"I was thinking if I could have a conversation with you today, so I came 10 minutes early - drink! Ha! Hey! Come on, you belly-filled weed! You know, you should have been reincarnated as a cattail a long time ago! ”

The vermilion-painted wooden sword slashed left and right in his hand, nimble as a snake, and sliced shards from the large fleshy plant with a stormy attack. Professor Terraut on the side saw that his students were fighting for their plants, his face was as white as paper, and he looked ready to faint at any moment. Several students who also arrived early in the classroom unanimous chose to hide far away in the corner of the greenhouse, maintaining a safe distance to enjoy the scene.

Although he felt that it might not be good to disturb him at such a time, the stunned Harry couldn't help but ask, "Are you ...... Do? ”

Neil, who was facing away from them and seeing the cactus, didn't bother to turn around this time, but his voice sounded more than enough.

"Can't see it? Well, in simple terms...... I'm waiting for you...... I chatted with Professor Terraut...... About-you still want to sneak up on me, you stinky pig, let me teach you how to write the word martial arts--where? Ah yes, about ...... ...... of fertilizers Topic! ”

The information he provided sounded a little fragmented as he tossed and turned, but with a little tidying up, he could still understand what he meant.

“…… I...... Professor Xiang ...... Recommended...... Merchandise - ahhh You pricked me with a needle? Very good, let the horses come over, and then for the sake of ...... Presentation Effect...... Borrowed a little...... ...... in the greenhouse Cactus! ”

Not far from the two of them lay a set of overturned flower stands, in which it seemed to be seen that flower pots that did not look like they had fallen to the ground and shattered.

“…… Outcome...... Seemingly...... Flora of your country...... than I imagined...... A little...... It's good to feed...... So a little! ”

Harry, who couldn't think anymore, could only stand still and watch all this stupidly, without looking back, knowing that Ron and Hermione behind him must have the same expressions at this moment.

As he spoke, the cactus man's scarred right arm finally could no longer withstand the slash of the wooden sword, and was cut down by Neil's sword, and then the sword turned around, and while the opponent had not yet reorganized his stance, he stepped forward and burst into his arms, jumped lightly on tiptoe, and then took off its head with a clean and neat swing like art.

At the same time, Professor Terraut also fell backwards as if he had been affected by the sword qi, rolling his eyes.

…… Speaking of which, what exactly is the head of a cactus?

Although this doubt popped up in everyone's minds after the initial shock, after the top of the main part was cut off, the huge humanoid cactus did fall to the ground as if it were dead...... Perhaps it is also one of the effects of the mysterious fertilizer that has not been named. Anyway, no matter how much I think about it, I can't come to a conclusion, so it's good to just accept it like this.

Seeing that the danger had passed, several students who had taken refuge in the corner hurried to Professor Tpullat, and Neil, seeing that someone had already come forward to check, stood still and did not come closer—presumably the professor would not be too willing to see his face at this moment.

"I'll make you laugh, Mr. Potter." He reached behind and wiped the green juice from his face, smiling at Harry, "You can't use fire in a greenhouse, it's surprisingly tricky...... Anyway, it seems that the professor will not wake up for a while, and I have just seen that someone has run out to call Madam Pomfrey, and before they return, let me tell you a little about our shop—I would be very impressed if you could take me to the Ravenclaw common room later. ”