Malfoy emerged from the hospital wing the next day, his blond hair back to normal. Dudley saw him on their way to charms. He didn't look his usual self at all. He was paler than normal, more subdued and seemed shaken that the school had seemingly turned on him. He walked the corridors with Crabbe, Goyle and his Slytherin friends, but even that didn't stop the bullying. In the days that followed, he often received hisses and jeers and insults from the older Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Cormac McClaggan—a Gryffindor 4th year—was given a detention by McGonnagall for shoving a dungbomb down the back of his robes and Cadwallader who was on the Hufflepuff quidditch team had poured a goblet of pumpkin juice over his head during a memorable lunch on Wednesday. Both he and Miles Bletchley (who retaliated with a ear-shrivelling curse) received a detention for that.

Dudley, too, didn't hesitate to taunt Malfoy whenever he passed him in the corridor, making jibes about how his dad would soon be in Azakaban.

As well as Malfoy now being hated by the school, Dudley noticed that he, Ron and Dean had become admired. With Dudley's interview and Lockhart's upcoming book, most of the school knew about their exploits last year—although some of it was exaggerated. Dudley had overheard two first year Ravenclaws saying how Dudley and Lockhart had fought Slytherin's monster back to back. And a 2nd year Hufflepuff was heard swearing that Ron Weasley had beat Voldemort himself in a duel.

"I can see why Lockhart loves it so much," Ron said, one evening when they were in the library. A pair of giggling Ravenclaw girls had walked past, eyeing him up. "The fame and attention, I mean."

"Why do you think I gave that interview?" Dudley said. "I knew it'd get people talking."

Even some of the older students had stopped them to ask their version of events. Dudley stuck to what he had said in the interview, although Ron and Dean were both inclined to exaggerate.

"I was this close to defeating him when he summoned that snake of his, wasn't I Dean?" Ron had said, when a trio of 5th years had asked him about it.

Dean had backed him up. "Yeah, massive it was. Filled the entire tunnel. Of course we knew it would kill us by looking at us, so we hit with conjunctivitis."

The Ravenclaws had left looking hugely impressed.

On Thursday, they had potions. The second class which Gryffindor shared with Slytherin after Care of Magical Creatures. They were studying shrinking potions today. Potions was still one of Dudley's worst classes, though Dean had now started performing to an acceptable level—at least, Snape offered him far less criticism than he did to Dudley, Neville and even Ron.

"Can you read, Dursley?" Snape snarled. "How many centimeters should your daisy roots be."

"Two centimeters, professor."

"Do you know how to measure?"

"Yes, professor."

"Then why are your roots all different sizes?"

Dudley didn't answer, but he balled his fists.

Snape reached out a long, pale hand and gripped one. "Five centimeters … three centimeters … one centimeter. You can have detention tonight where you can work on your measuring skills."

Dudley glared at him as he walked off. "How is that fair?" he whispered angrily to Ron.

"I know, mate, but when is Snape ever fair?"

"Check out Malfoy," Dean said, giving Dudley a nudge.

Malfoy was hard at work, bent over his cauldron.

"What about him?"

"Well, usually he'd be there laughing or mocking you." Dean said. "Look at him now—you've broken him, Dud."

Dudley held back a laugh. It was true—Malfoy had definitely lost a lot of his bluster. He didn't even insult Neville when Snape chastised Neville for turning his potion …

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see.

"Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears.

"Please, sir," said Hermione, "please, I could help Neville put it right -"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.

Ten minutes later, Snape called, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed openly, watching Neville sweat as he stirred his potion feverishly. Malfoy however, uncharacteristically, stayed quiet as he stirred his own potion.

Hermione was muttering instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth, so that Snape wouldn't see. Dudley, Dean and Ron packed away their unused ingredients and went to wash their hands and ladles in the stone basin in the corner.

The end of the lesson in sight, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron.

"Everyone gather 'round," said Snape, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

The Gryffindors watched fearfully. The Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.

There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.

The Gryffindors burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

Dudley, Dean, Ron, Neville and Hermione climbed the steps to the entrance hall. Ron was seething about Snape.

"Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"

Hermione didn't answer. Ron looked around.

"Where is she?"

Dudley turned too. They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.

"She was right behind us," said Ron, frowning.

Malfoy passed them, his head down as he walked between Crabbe and Goyle.

"I give it until the end of the day until his next beating," Dudley said. The others laughed.

"I think before then," Neville piped up. "I heard Oliver Wood is going to get him after next period."

It was the first crack Neville had made at Malfoy's expense and Dudley, Ron and Dean laughed approvingly.

"There's Hermione now," Dean said, pointing.

Hermione was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand clutched her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes.

"How did you do that?" said Ron.

"What?" said Hermione, joining them.

"One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."

"What?" Hermione looked slightly confused. "Oh - I had to go back for something. Oh no -"

A seam had split on Hermione's bag. Dudley wasn't surprised; he could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.

"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked her.

"You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Hermione breathlessly. "Couldn't hold these for me, could you?"

"But -" Ron was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers. "You haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."

"Oh yes," said Hermione vaguely, but she packed all the books back into her bag just the same. "I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving," she added, and she marched off toward the Great Hall.

"D'you get the feeling Hermione's not telling us something?" Ron asked Dudley.