Harry Potter: The Dark ages

A week before Halloween, the four-person group had new members wanting to join.

Lily brought Snape with her. She had seen Gary and his friends several times in the Library and envied them. She felt it was too boring with just her and Severus.

Snape spoke very little, only knowing how to bury his head in Potions books, while Lily was warm, outgoing, and loved excitement.

"Hello, Gary," Lily said to Gary kindly, "Do you mind if Severus and I join you?"

"Lily…" Gary shifted his gaze from 'Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1' to Lily and Snape, then looked at his companions. "I don't make the decisions; you'll have to ask them."

Kona, Howard, and Alfrina discussed it. "We're not a formal organization, and there's no such thing as joining or not joining. We just study normally in the Library, and every Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, we share and exchange ideas here."

"There are no strict rules; we're just a reading group," Alfrina wore glasses today, her golden curly hair cascading over her shoulders, making her appear mature and elegant.

Gary heard Snape snort, and Lily quickly pulled Snape down to sit.

"What subjects are you good at?" Kona asked Lily. Besides Charms and Transfiguration, the two houses had no overlapping courses, so they didn't know much about each other.

"Hmm, Severus and I are both very good at Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts is also quite good," Lily thought for a moment. It was five in the afternoon, and Lily's hair, illuminated by the sunlight, appeared a captivating wine red.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Howard asked innocently, "Isn't that class just reading from a textbook?"

The Defense Against the Dark Arts Class teacher was Mr. Monte. He was so thin and small it seemed a gust of wind could blow him away. He usually just read theories from the textbook, and students couldn't practice with their wands.

Snape, sitting nearby, snorted even louder, clearly disdainful of Howard's remarks. But Howard couldn't be blamed; he had just entered the magic world and didn't know much about many things.

"Hey, Snape," Alfrina was getting annoyed with him. Under James's influence, she already had no good impression of this dirty Snivellus, and now his repeated mockery was making her irritable. "If you don't want to be here, go back to Slytherin."

"Severus didn't mean to, he just…" Lily quickly offered an apologetic smile.

"Just what?" Alfrina said coldly.

"Just looks down on you all," Snape spoke, his voice low. "I don't think I need to answer a question posed by someone who only knows how to eat."

"Snape!" Kona was very displeased.

"Sorry, Lily, you are welcome here, but if he must come along…" Kona's little freckles near her nose were practically fuming.

Lily, embarrassed, dragged Snape out of the Library.

"Severus, can't you avoid insulting others like Potter?"

The four could hear Lily scolding Snape in a hushed voice.

"Sorry, Howard…" Gary shrugged. He had overestimated Snape's personality.

"It's fine," Howard smiled. "I only know how to eat, he wasn't wrong."

"That's not true!" Kona's face flushed, and she waved her hands repeatedly. "Being able to eat well is a blessing!"

"Exactly," Alfrina nodded. "Exceptional eating ability is humanity's greatest wealth."

Her words were a modification of a famous quote by Ravenclaw's founder, and the other three Ravenclaw students were amused.

Later, whenever Gary encountered Lily, she would offer an apologetic smile. However, she and Snape never came back. On several occasions when they met in the Library, she and Snape would sit in the furthest corner, engrossed in their studies.

The night before Halloween, Gary had to go to Professor Slughorn's office on the ground floor to clean the leaves of an Ariotree.

His Potions grades were quite good, and combined with Alfrina's superb skills, he always received an "Outstanding" for his coursework, so he wasn't supposed to be doing detention.

But it was all Alfrina's fault. She insisted on cross-cutting the daisy roots for the Shrinking Solution during class, calling it an innovative experiment, which almost shattered the cauldron.

Professor Slughorn intervened in time and saved the poor cauldron.

Then he was given a day of detention, and Slughorn certainly wouldn't suspect his star pupil, Alfrina, so Gary took the blame for her.

In Slughorn's office, he saw Snape again, who was placing a vial of Potion on Slughorn's bookshelf.

"You're here, Mr. Shafiq," Slughorn's face broke into a smile. "Before you begin your detention, I want to introduce you to someone." He reached out and pulled the frail Snape in front of him.

"Severus Snape!" He laughed heartily, "My star pupil, the same year as you."

"This is Mr. Gary Shafiq. Professor Flitwick has praised him to me several times; he's very talented!"

Gary extended his hand with a forced smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Snape."

Snape looked at Slughorn with his hooked nose, then at Gary, and extended his right hand. "You too, Mr. Shafiq."

Their eyes met. Gary was sure Snape was cursing him internally. He saw Snape's gaze and his own reflection in Snape's eyes were exactly the same.

"Oh, Severus, you haven't said why you're here," Slughorn pushed a bucket of Ariotree leaves towards Gary. "I don't believe you're just here to deliver last class's Potion."

Gary saw Snape's eyes fixed on the book 'Book of Potions' by Zygmunt Budge on Slughorn's bookshelf.

"Professor Slughorn…" Gary remembered Snape's contempt for Howard, and a surge of anger rose within him. There was no way he would let Snape succeed. "Alfrina asked me to borrow that 'Book of Potions' from you; the one in the Library has been checked out."

"Oh… little Alfrina is truly studious," Slughorn said, touched. "Take it, take it!"

He stood up, tiptoed, and, with his belly sticking out, took the book from the bookshelf and handed it to Gary.

As expected, Snape shot Gary a murderous glare. He felt that if given the chance, Snape would surely cast a dozen Avada Kedavras at him.

Unfortunately, Snape's magic couldn't cast such a powerful spell.

Two hours later, Gary and Snape left Slughorn's office.

"Have another cup!" Slughorn held up a cup of butterbeer. "There's no alcohol in it!"

"No, Professor," Gary had already drunk a large cup and couldn't take any more. "It's getting late. We should head back to the dorms. There's still the Halloween event tomorrow."

Snape's pale face also flushed red, and he nodded in agreement, seemingly eager to escape the place as well.

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