Hogwarts Homecoming

The sun was shining brightly outside, but the Potions classroom was still oppressively hot and humid. A slight breeze swayed the curtains, and the dim skylight hit Harry's cold face like water waves.

"No."

Harry said coldly that since Sirius cleared his grievances and recognized him, he was not surprised why Snape was so keen on targeting him in Potions class.

When Snape was in school at Hogwarts, he was at odds with his father and Sirius's gang, and they all hated each other terribly.

"No?"

The Potions classroom was as depressing as ever, with no young wizard speaking, only Hermione and Ron winking at Harry.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter--"

Snape's black eyes, as empty as the abyss, looked at Harry with disgust.

"Because you deserted my class."

Snape said in a softer and more sinister voice,

"A kind reminder, Potter, if you continue to waste materials with those stupid operations in my class, then by the end of this class, you will find that Gryffindor may lose all points."

Harry wanted to say that Snape was bluffing, and he would never dare to deduct all the points from Gryffindor on him. In this case, Professor McGonagall would definitely ask, but out of the corner of his eye, Hermione could see a frown on her face. The thoughtful expression made Harry feel slightly dazed.

By the time he came to his senses, Snape had returned to the podium and wrote down on the blackboard a potion called 'Intelligence Enhancer' that they needed to try to prepare for this class.

"You need to work together to complete this potion-"

Snape's cold gaze swept across the classroom, and his gaze specifically paused on Harry and Neville, smiling maliciously.

"Four people will complete one portion, and each group will hand in the potion you brewed after class. If any group cannot complete it, they will have the honor of going to the Forbidden Forest after dark to collect leech mucus for us."

Soon, Hermione took the materials needed to brew the intelligence enhancer from the raw material storage cabinet used by the students. Under Hermione's command, several people began to divide the work. Ron was responsible for slicing the ginger root, and Neville was responsible for the dried saint. The beetles were crushed into powder, and Harry was given a portion of the diluted armadillo bile, while Hermione squinted and wrote down the cooking steps and precautions that Snape had written on the blackboard.

"This punishment is quite new——"

The classroom was filled with the sounds of hammers and rustling. Ron quickly glanced at Snape, who was walking around the classroom wrapped in a cloak, and said with a pale face,

"Where did he get such a brilliant new idea of ​​asking students to collect leech slime in the Forbidden Forest?"

"It's not that difficult--"

Neville worked hard grinding those scarabs,

"If you have helped Snape dispose of the frog's entrails, but when did he start to imitate Professor Blaine and ask students to work in teams? This has never happened before."

"I guess it's to save materials."

Hermione lit the alcohol lamp, set up the crucible, and said expressionlessly,

"I just took a look when I was getting things from the locker. The scarabs prepared by Professor Snape are not enough for each of the little wizards. You understand, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw still need to go to class. , so he asked four people to complete one--"

Hermione looked at Harry who was stunned.

"Since first year, Harry, when did Professor Snape warn you in class about wasting material?"

Harry opened his mouth, followed Hermione's words and began to think about the various criticisms and criticisms he had suffered in Potions class during his four years at Hogwarts, and found that the truth was indeed what Hermione said.

"you mean?"

Harry recalled the two house elves who kindly brought him food last night, and then recalled the much lowered 'standard' breakfast this morning and Professor McGonagall's sad expression when looking at the little wizard, and he had a vague suspicion in his heart.

"Hogwarts is out of money."

Hermione said calmly, first poured Harry's diluted armadillo bile into the cauldron, and then stirred it carefully with her wand. As the third game was approaching, she didn't want to waste time going to the Forbidden Forest to deal with leeches.

After stirring clockwise for ten times, Hermione reached out to Ron and asked for ginger root slices. After getting no response for a while, she looked up at Ron and found the three people around the table staring at her in shock.

"Hogwarts is out of money?"

Ron repeated, and from the look on his face, it seemed like this was the first time he'd realized that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry still needed money.

Hermione angrily picked up the uneven thickness of the ginger slices on Ron's chopping board, threw them into the crucible, and carefully observed the bubbling state of the armadillo's bile.

"What's so confusing about this, Ron?" Hermione sighed, and her breath made the orange flame of the alcohol lamp sway.

"In this school, the professors need to be paid, the little wizards need to eat, supplies for magic courses, and maintenance and repairs of the castle. Each of these requires money. Only pumpkins can grow in Hagrid's vegetable garden. , but it won’t grow gold, Neville, don’t stop, I need more scarab powder.”

Hermione said urgently.

Perhaps it was because no one wanted to deal with leeches in the Forbidden Forest, or perhaps it was their first time working together in Potions class. Most of them were enthusiastic about it, but Draco, Snape's favorite in the past, seemed a little distracted. , he scattered half of the beetle powder that Nott had managed to get out.

The three boys around Hermione kept silent. It was not because all their doubts had been answered, but because they were shocked that they had never realized this problem.

Hogwarts needs money

Harry's rigid thoughts began to turn. He recalled that when he first knew about the wizarding world and Hogwarts, he was led into the wizarding world by Hagrid and was worried that he would not be able to pay the tuition, but this worry was quickly washed away by the gold his parents left for him in the underground vault of Gringotts.

Now thinking about it, Harry suddenly realized that Hogwarts does not charge tuition for young wizards.

Their wands, wizard robes, crucibles, telescopes, wizard robes, and textbooks used in class were all listed by Hogwarts. They bought them by themselves, and they did not pay Hogwarts even a bronze knut.

However, their expenses were not small.

Just as Hermione said, nearly a thousand little wizards need to eat every day. When they are learning magic, they will consume a lot of magic materials. Even if Harry is not clear about the actual value of those materials, it will definitely not be a small amount over the years.

"Where does Hogwarts get the money?"

Ron, with a pale face, seemed to have figured it out. It was hard enough for his parents to support him and his brothers and sisters to go to school. Many of his things had to be second-hand. And Hogwarts had to "raise" nearly a thousand children. Just thinking about how much money it would cost, Ron felt his scalp tingling!

"Oh!"

Before Hermione could answer this question, a painful cry suddenly came from the Slytherin students. All the little wizards looked over there and found that the scream just now came from Pansy Parkinson. Her hands were burned by the scalding potion and boils appeared one after another. She was looking at the instigator-Draco Malfoy with grievance and tears.

"Go and send Miss Parkinson to the infirmary upstairs, Malfoy--"

Snape's eyebrows twitched twice, he walked over quickly and waved his wand to make the potions that continued to explode slightly disappear, and then said to Draco with a dull expression,

"Also, after school today, you all need to go to the Forbidden Forest with me."

Malfoy was obviously surprised that Snape was so ruthless that he asked him to catch leeches in the Forbidden Forest, but the painful Parkinson's disease made him have no time to wonder about it. He could only pick up his schoolbag angrily, kick away the bench, and help Pansy leave the classroom.

"I understand. It's the board of directors--"

Neville, who had been watching Malfoy and Pankinson leave, suddenly said abruptly. Harry and Ron looked at Neville and found that he was staring at Malfoy's back with anger in his eyes,

"If the board of directors suspends its investment in Hogwarts."