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Hermione had a very fulfilling day, either spending her time reading in the library or running around to Zicomo asking questions.

As for Zikomo? He's very happy.

Sometimes he wondered if he had returned to university life, living a life of going back and forth between the classroom, the cafeteria, and the dormitory every day.

As a newly enrolled junior wizard, I don't have many classes, just a few each day. I even have free time all Wednesday.

He spends all his time playing video games.

During the day, he hangs out at the library with Hermione, and plays Plants vs. Zombies during class; he's already mastered all the first-year material. In the evenings, he goes to the Borderlands to farm runes and asks Professor Ceremony for alchemy advice.

House-elves took care of his daily needs, including food, lodging, and hygiene. He even suspected that the wizards had enslaved the house-elves because of this.

By leaving the dirty and tiring work to the house-elves, one can then focus on studying magic without being bothered by trivial matters.

Harry and Ron were also very happy, attending classes every day, playing wizard chess in their spare time, or chatting in the common room.

But their happy life was about to end, because the next lesson was Snape's Potions class.

At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, Professor Snape, dressed in a black robe, strode into the classroom.

He strode over, his feet barely touching the ground, the hem of his long robe fluttering behind him.

Unfortunately, a rather handsome, brooding middle-aged man had greasy, shiny hair because he hadn't washed it for years.

Zicomo had seen the professor at the teachers' table these past few days, but he was always dressed in the same clothes.

He suspected that the professor didn't even shower, and that he solved his hygiene problem by giving himself a quick clean every day.

Or perhaps all his clothes are the same style. Could he have been wearing this to school?

"You are here to learn the precise science and art of potion making."

"Since there are no silly wands being waved here, many of you won't believe this is magic."

"I don't expect you to truly appreciate the wonderful sensation of a large pot simmering slowly over a low flame, steaming and emitting a delicate fragrance. You won't truly understand the wondrous magic of the fluid that flows into people's veins, captivating their hearts and minds, and making them lose their will..."

"I can teach you how to increase your reputation, cultivate honor, and even stop death—but there is one condition: you must not be the kind of fools I often encounter."

Combined with Snape's unique tone, Zicomo found this passage very cool no matter how many times he listened to it.

Snape walked to the podium expressionlessly, said nothing, and scanned the students present until he spotted Harry.

He stared at Harry for a few seconds, then opened the roll call and began calling roll.

Snape's voice was deep and cold, and his speech was slow and even, as if nothing could arouse his emotions.

But upon closer listening, it also carries a hint of irony.

Finally, he read out the name that mattered to him.

“Oh, yes.” Snape paused. “Harry…”

Draco's lips curled slightly in a mocking smile upon hearing his godfather's words. Rejected by Harry, he had begun to loathe everything related to Harry.

"Mr. Potter! Please tell me, what happens if I add the rhizomes of the sage to the sap of the artemisia?"

Harry looked completely bewildered upon hearing this.

What, a sunflower? Is it a flower? Can the flower be used to make potions?

Mugwort? Who planted mugwort? Why is even the sap coming out?

He looked at Snape, bewildered, while Hermione, sitting next to Zicomo, raised her hand high.

Zicomo admired the scene before him and casually pressed Hermione's hand down. Hermione was puzzled but didn't ask, knowing her cousin must have his reasons.

Looking at the two silent figures before him, Zicomo wondered why Harry was silent because he didn't know, and why Snape wasn't continuing.

Perhaps it was because he saw Harry's eyes, which were just like his mother's?

"Don't know? Then let me ask you something else."

"If I need a piece of dung, do you know where to find it?"

"I don't know, teacher," Harry said, still confused.

"What's the difference between Aconitum scaphoides and Aconitum wolfsbane?"

"I don't know, teacher." Harry had already realized that Professor Snape was only targeting him and didn't really want to ask him any questions.

"Unfortunately, it's clear that fame alone isn't enough," Snape mocked Harry, but in reality, he was reminding him not to let fame go to his head.

However, due to the extremely harsh tone, only Zicomo, who knew the reason behind it, understood Snape's implied meaning.

The thought of Harry sporting a face so similar to James McAvoy's...

Just as Snape was about to use the pretext of telling Harry the answer to get closer to Harry and take a closer look into Harry's eyes.

He suddenly noticed that the young man next to Harry was daydreaming, his eyes glazed over.

Yes, it was Zicomo. He was currently lost in thought, recalling Snape's early life.

“Mr. Granger! Do you know the answers to these three questions?” Clearly, Snape knew Zicomo.

These past few days, I've heard from the teachers that Gryffindor has produced two outstanding students, and Snape is aware of this as well.

When Zicomo heard Snape call him, he was taken aback. He hadn't expected to be caught in the crossfire. It seemed he would have to stay away from Harry in Potions class from now on.

After realizing what he meant, he replied, "The root of the Japanese violet flower, when mixed with the juice of mugwort, produces 'life-and-death water,' a potent sleeping pill. The dung bezoar is in the sheep's stomach. *Aconitum carmichaelii* and *Aconitum davidii* refer to the same plant; they are collectively called *Aconitum*."

After Zicomo finished speaking, he gave Snape a kind smile.

To his surprise, Snape took his smile as a provocation.

"Focusing on your thoughts in class will result in a five-point deduction in Gryffindor."

Zicomo's smile froze. As a ruthless person who never held back his revenge, even knowing that he would lose credits, he decided to give Snape a hard time.

He immediately spoke up: "Professor Snape, the sunflower is a type of lily, and its flower language is 'My regret follows you to your grave.' Artemisia also has the meaning of 'absence' and 'bitter sorrow.' Did you mention these two plants with such connotations?"

Snape caught his breath upon hearing this, but did not reply.

"If you want to study the language of flowers, I suggest you go to the Divination teacher. But this is my Potions class, and discussing topics unrelated to the lesson will cost Gryffindor five points."

"Why didn't you write down his previous answers? Do you think your mush-like brains can remember them all?"

Professor Snape looked around at the students below the stage and began his sharp-tongued remarks.

Upon hearing this, Zicomo stopped provoking Snape and listened silently as Snape lectured while occasionally making sarcastic remarks about Harry and deducting a few points from Gryffindor.

Chapter Eighteen: The Promise with Hermione, The Room of Requirement

When it came to the practical part, Snape asked them to work in pairs to concoct a potion to treat scabies.

Zicomo decisively pulled Hermione to the table on the edge of Gryffindor.

This place is not only far from Harry, but also some distance from Seamus.

One of these two, being watched by Snape, gave him the illusion of being constantly surrounded by venomous snakes. As for the other, those who have read the original books know that Zicomo is a genius of explosives.

Zicomo does quite like explosions, otherwise he wouldn't have researched magical versions of grenades and landmines. But he also doesn't want everything he touches to explode.

However, despite his meticulous planning, he overlooked the clueless Neville.

Neville, with his poor memory, forgot that he hadn't dealt with the porcupine's quills and threw it directly into the crucible.

Soon the liquid in the crucible began to surge and emitted a corrosive smell. The boiling potion began to splash out, and it looked as if the water was about to hit the little wizards around them.

Zicomo promptly pulled out his wand and used it to clean the cauldron.

Seeing that the chaos had been resolved, Snape neither gave Zicomo points nor deducted Neville points, but simply said, "Remember to look at the steps on the blackboard," before going to inspect the other young wizards' crafting process.

After class, the little witch, who had been holding back a lot of questions, pulled Zicomo aside and bombarded him with questions.

"Cousin, what did you mean by the meaning of flowers when you mentioned them in class? Why was Professor Snape targeting Harry? Do you know something about it?"

"Shh! It's a secret." Zicomo put his index finger to his lips and winked.

Hermione glanced at the young wizards watching them and nodded knowingly.

This was an agreement between her and her cousin: when something was inconvenient to say in public, they would temporarily put it aside and then find an opportunity to secretly pass on the message.

This is, after all, a magical world; there might be some kind of eavesdropping magic here.

You should know that the entire Hogwarts is now in Dumbledore's hands, and all the portraits in the school are his spies.

I've wanted to complain about this movie before, because every time those people talk about some secret topics, it gives the feeling that they're plotting something loudly.

In the original story, it seems that Draco discovered Hagrid's dragon in this way, without any awareness of the danger.

Back in his room, Zicomo wrote an article about the love-hate relationship between Snape and Lily, how James stole Lily from him and how she was bullied by James and the four Gryffindor villains.

After writing thousands of words, he put it in an envelope, added a magical seal, and sent Erlot through the window to the girls' dormitory.

The magical seal on the envelope originated from Master Ceremony, and Zicomo only told Hermione how to break it. If anyone else were to forcibly open it, the entire letter would turn to ashes.

After finishing the letter, Zicomo lay in bed and continued his zombie-hunting adventure.

He thought he could claim the completion reward after finishing the first playthrough yesterday, but the system told him that he needed to complete all the mini-games and obtain the Golden Sunflower Trophy in the second playthrough in order to receive the completion reward.

He had no choice but to continue his farming work.

Actually, once the instructions were activated, completing the game wasn't difficult for him.

The difficulty is that there are more zombies, and each level takes longer.