Chương 37: Tsundere Leaves The Scene

Time passes quickly. It's been over a month since the exciting first round of Quidditch ended. It's now mid-to-late December, and Hogwarts has entered winter, covered with several feet of snow.

Kevin has made plans to go to Diagon Alley before the Christmas holiday to sell the various items he's repaired during this time. He's also trying to find a way to purchase the main ingredient for the Elixir of Life—at least from a source that looks promising.

Because of this, he has recently developed an interest in the subject of chemistry He's been trying to combine Muggle chemistry with magical potion-making, and he's been quite successful.

Unlike him, as Christmas Day approaches, most young wizards and witches aren't focused on their studies, eagerly anticipating the long break.

The lake is frozen solid, and while the common rooms and the Great Hall have roaring fires, the corridors are draughty and cold. Classroom windows rattle in the icy wind.

What makes it worse for students is that Professor Snape's classes are held in the dungeons. The combination of the dungeon's chill and the winter weather outside makes it exceptionally cold.

During classes, as students exhale, a white mist forms in front of their faces, and they try to huddle near the cauldrons for warmth.

Due to his interest in potion-making, Kevin is quite active in Potions class, but it doesn't earn him the best favour from Professor Snape.

Even though he's the first to complete the required potion, Snape remains critical, saying, "Being the first to finish a potion doesn't mean you did it well, Mr. Green. You took too long to brew the Invigoration Draft. How am I to treat injuries if it takes you this long? And the potion's taste is overpowering, indicating that there are too many impurities in your powdered bicorn horn. Perhaps you should grind it finer next time and strain it through cheesecloth. For now, I can only suggest adding some licorice to mask the flavour; otherwise, even a boggart would refuse to drink your potion."

Seeing Kevin receive such harsh criticism, Stephen, who is nearby, sympathises: "Professor Snape is definitely singling you out! Who in their right mind would brew a potion during an injury?"

"Please call him Professor Snape, Stephen. While he may have a sharp tongue, he does impart techniques not found in the textbooks."

"But... you were the first to finish, and you did so well. Yet he didn't award any points to Ravenclaw."

"We come to Hogwarts to gain knowledge, Stephen. Earning points is only a secondary benefit."

Kevin spoke as he waved his wand to chop the powdered bicorn horn and then squeezed it through cheesecloth. The resulting juice was indeed much clearer, with fewer impurities and a less offensive odour.

Kevin immediately thought of the original "Half-Blood Prince's Potion Book." The so-called Half-Blood Prince is, in fact, Snape's alias. He had written many notes and annotations in his potion book, mentioning various potion-making techniques not found in the textbooks. When Harry found the notes and followed them, his Potions class performance improved dramatically.

This indicates that Snape has been a master of potion-making from a young age, and many of his unique brewing techniques are indeed effective. He was trying to teach Levin these techniques just now, albeit with some snide remarks.

It's unavoidable; this old bat is quite the snob. He stayed at Hogwarts as a professor to protect Harry, mainly because of Lily's memory, even if it meant being misunderstood by Harry repeatedly. On the other hand, he often couldn't resist mocking Harry from time to time, likely due to his association with James Potter.

This directly led to the fact that, until Snape's sacrifice, he was an absolute villain in Harry's eyes. It's as if he had to die in front of Harry to make him understand his true feelings. You could say the tsundere facade has faded away. Because he understood Snape, Kevin could tolerate his harsh words. It's likely that Snape, despite being stubborn and extreme, also favoured good students. You didn't see him sparing anyone verbally, but he was honestly giving Kevin some tips, occasionally revealing his unique skills. In reality, despite Steve continuously complaining on Kevin's behalf, the Slytherins had discovered that their head of house treated this Ravenclaw quite well. He had never really found fault with Kevin, and he hadn't deducted points from him again.

They could tell that Snape's guidance to Kevin Green was fundamentally different from his guidance to Harry Potter. Both his favouritism and his coldness were consistent. Snape's favouritism towards Kevin meant that students like Harry received even worse treatment. There's a saying that goes, "I could have endured the darkness if I hadn't seen the light." With Kevin's brilliance shining, it became even more difficult for those mediocre students, be it Harry, Ron, Neville, or the explosive genius Seamus Finnigan, to tolerate Potions class. They now detested the class, especially when Snape made them repeatedly brew complex potions until they succeeded.

Of course, apart from Potions class, Kevin's performance in other subjects remained excellent. It wasn't even halfway through the school year, and everyone already believed that Kevin would undoubtedly be at the top of his class in the final exams. Second place naturally belonged to Miss Know-It-All, Hermione, despite her becoming Kevin's apprentice. However, this didn't deter her from trying to catch up to first place in class performance and academics.

Since the giant monster incident, their relationship has improved significantly. In addition to post-class magic tutoring, Miss Know-It-All occasionally sought Kevin's advice on other matters. This included, but was not limited to, the unfair treatment she received in Gryffindor due to her academic excellence and how "her two stupid boys" were acting foolishly. She even consulted Kevin on certain physiological issues. This made Kevin feel a heavy responsibility; he not only had to be Hermione's platonic friend but also act as her same-sex confidante. Kevin fully believed that, in a few years, as the girl matured and entered her first crush phase, she would regret her past interactions with him.

Kevin was stopped by Hermione on his way to the Great Hall before the Christmas banquet.

"Kevin, Kevin! Over here!" By the pine tree in the corridor, Kevin heard Hermione's voice. He turned to look, and there, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Hagrid were having some kind of argument beneath a holly tree.

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The romantic plotlines won't progress at such a young age, particularly in Hermione's case; she's only 11! I acknowledge an error in the previous book, and I assure you this one won't make the same mistake. While it's possible for more mature female characters to hint at romantic connections earlier, we shouldn't anticipate any dramatic leaps forward, especially when our main character is just 11 years old. I'm sure you wouldn't want the beloved female characters to be embroiled in controversy, right? The hero of the grand harem storyline faces enough challenges without any unwarranted romantic complications.

-From the actual author

(Damn, 'error in previous book')-Translator