"Although it's understandable. Iris was poisoned, and you were seriously injured during the match..." After Harry and Neville returned from the Headmaster's Office with their heads hanging low, Hermione couldn't help but point out, "But you really need to hurry up. Take a look at the recent newspapers. Among the avalanche of bad news, there are a few scattered good news—"

In the following week, Harry and Neville were wracking their brains to figure out how to complete the assignment related to Slughorn that Dumbledore had given them. Every time Slughorn opened the door of the underground classroom after the Potions class, he would see Neville squatting there. When he tried to find a stiff excuse to go back and tidy up for a while, he would find Harry waiting there full of energy. It seemed that if they persisted so forcefully, they would surely achieve some results one day. But soon they realized that Slughorn's abilities were not limited to his authority in the field of Potions. He was keen on socializing not just because he enjoyed the pleasure of being surrounded by younger generations, but also because he was extremely skilled at subtly controlling the conversation, luring the muddle-headed young people in the direction he desired.

"This won't work." Hermione shook her head sagely after hearing their plan that night. "If simple forceful means could make Slughorn yield, why would Dumbledore ask you to do it?"

She, along with Ron, also had the Apparition exam to worry about. A notice posted on the bulletin board informed all sixth-year students that the date of the first Apparition exam of the year was tentatively set for April 21st (any changes would be notified separately). At that time, students who had reached the age of seventeen could go to Hogsmeade to take the assessment. They could also sign up for the special pre-exam training provided by the Ministry of Magic before the exam. Hermione was quite confident. She had succeeded four times already ("I think my previous research on the Unplottable Extension Charm was a bit helpful. There are always some common principles among spatial magics."). In contrast, Ron was much more anxious. He still hadn't managed to Apparate successfully yet.

"I wish my birthday was in July or August too." He slumped glumly in the armchair. "Although I think a few more months wouldn't make any difference. Fred and George might even go to Hogsmeade and wait there to laugh at me heartily—"

"Harry and I have only succeeded once too." Taurus lazily teased Crookshanks at his feet with an owl's feather. "Don't be too nervous, mate."

"Where's Harry?" I sat down and looked around. "I want to borrow the Marauder's Map from him."

"Coincidentally, he had been looking at the Marauder's Map just now, and then he rushed out as if he had suddenly thought of something—Ever since you, um, had that incident last time, he's become a bit... How should I put it, paranoid." Taurus snapped his fingers.

"That's why he still hasn't been able to get Slughorn's—you know what we're all talking about." Realizing that I was still there, Hermione took a deep breath and stopped herself in time, but she still looked a bit annoyed. "He really should be able to distinguish between what's important and what's not. Think about the poor Montgomery sisters. Their little brother, who was killed by a werewolf, was only five years old... Isn't the most important thing now to stop the Dark Lord!"

In this atmosphere, I had just decided to keep my mouth shut and not mention the somewhat funny but reasonable guess I had when I passed by the eighth floor earlier. Just then, Harry rushed into the Gryffindor common room at a great speed as if he were riding his Firebolt. The ecstatic expression on his face made Hermione think for a moment that he had completed the task assigned by Dumbledore. So when Harry opened his mouth and said, "Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione's face darkened immediately.

"I just found something out." Harry spread out the Marauder's Map and pointed at the two little black dots in the Slytherin common room. "Look, who are these two?"

"Crabbe and Goyle." Taurus squinted and took a look. "You've been keeping an eye on them for many days, mate. Every time you try to follow them to find Malfoy, Malfoy disappears from the map."

"Right." Harry gulped down more than half a glass of water and then wiped his mouth. "We've always been wondering where the disappeared Malfoy went—"

"He went to the Room of Requirement. Crabbe and Goyle were transformed into the little girls we always saw outside the Room of Requirement by him using Polyjuice Potion. Remember? They had different appearances but were all carrying something heavy. As soon as we got close to them, they would throw the things on the ground in a panic." Since Harry was choked by drinking water too quickly, I voiced my recent speculation. "I saw them again when I came back just now, so I wanted to borrow the Marauder's Map to confirm it."

"Polyjuice Potion?" Hermione asked dubiously. "Where could Malfoy get Polyjuice Potion?"

"There's a huge cauldron of it in the basement. He can just steal a little bit each time during class and that's enough." Harry, having caught his breath, glanced at me. "I went to the eighth floor just now while wearing the Invisibility Cloak and hid in the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy until Malfoy came out of the Room of Requirement. So all my previous thoughts were correct. He's doing something secret, and he even asked Crabbe and Goyle to help him keep watch in this way."

Ron and Taurus couldn't help but burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs. It was hard to stay serious when imagining Crabbe and Goyle, who were like two mountains of flesh, being transformed into two petite lower-grade girls by Malfoy using Polyjuice Potion. Ron almost burst a gut from laughing. He gestured to Taurus, saying, "Do you think they might feel strange because of something extra or missing? No wonder they've looked so gloomy recently." He only stopped when he was glared at by Hermione for making a honking sound.

"I met him outside the Room of Requirement last time—during the first Quidditch match. He asked for sick leave and was absent from the match at that time. Remember?" I cleared my throat, thinking it was necessary to explain why I thought this way. "Don't look at me like that, Harry. You said I needed to miss your breakfast, otherwise Ron might notice that you didn't actually use Felix Felicis... At that time, I planned to take a shortcut on the eighth floor to get to the Quidditch pitch earlier, and I just happened to meet him."

"Then everything makes sense." Harry awkwardly withdrew his gaze just now. "As long as I can get into the Room of Requirement, I'll be able to see what he's doing—"

"You can't get in." Before I could shake my head, Hermione had already spoken bluntly. "The reason Malfoy could break into our D.A. meeting last time was that someone leaked the information. You don't know exactly what Malfoy is doing in there, so you can't enter the room where he's working. With all due respect, you should focus your attention on Slughorn now, work hard together with Neville, instead of looking for evidence that may not even exist about Malfoy!"

"We've tried nearly fifty or sixty times already!" Harry said irritably. "You've also heard from Neville. Slughorn is just like an old slug. It might take a stroke of luck to avoid his话术陷阱 (rhetorical traps) and escape his tricks—"

"A stroke of luck." Ron suddenly looked at me. "Hey, don't we have something like that?"

Noticing that all of us (including Hermione) were looking at him in confusion, Ron straightened his back with a sense of accomplishment. "I mean Felix Felicis! If Harry could take a little bit of Felix Felicis, maybe he could find a way... It shouldn't count as cheating in this situation, right?"

He didn't bask in our admiring gazes for long. As soon as Lavender and Parvati appeared in the common room, Ron jumped up from the chair as if he had been pricked by a steel needle. He almost stumbled and crawled back to the boys' dormitory before Lavender could see him. These days, he had been avoiding Lavender like a vampire avoiding garlic, seemingly hoping that by cooling down her enthusiasm, Lavender would let go on her own—even though Ron is my friend, I must warn all of you who are reading this, especially young readers around our age at that time who are easily troubled by emotional whirlpools, that this approach is wrong. Lavender didn't give up as he had hoped. In his words, "She's getting more and more clingy like a giant squid."

"But this thing gets less and less with each use." Taking the Felix Felicis I handed to him, Harry looked at the small crystal bottle. "Let's try some other methods. It's better to save this kind of luck."

As summer approached, the sky gradually cleared up. Large white clouds leisurely floated in the sky, complementing the sparkling lake surface illuminated by the sun. Ron, who had participated in a special Hogsmeade training session, was greatly boosted in confidence. He finally managed to move himself, although the place where he finally Apparated was hundreds of meters away from the target. Even though Hermione and I repeatedly told Harry that the Room of Requirement wouldn't open the room Draco was using to him, he still went to the corridor on the eighth floor wearing the Invisibility Cloak and tried whenever he had free time. Once, he almost arrived late for my father's class. My father dragged him to the podium and calmly made things difficult for him. It was only after deducting twenty points from Gryffindor that he reluctantly let Harry sit back beside me. "I don't want to repeat it—forget about Malfoy!" Hermione resolutely snatched the Marauder's Map from Harry's hand. "When on earth do you plan to use the Felix Felicis? Another week has passed, and this afternoon is our Apparition exam!"

"Do you have to mark the time by the exam date?" Ron seemed as if he had been choked by someone. The next second, he suddenly crouched behind Taurus because a long-haired girl was approaching.

"It's not Brown." Taurus curled his lip. "Come out."

"Harry Potter." The girl walked towards us and took out a small scroll of parchment and handed it to Harry. "Professor Hagrid asked me to bring this to you."

"Is he joking?" Harry took the parchment, quickly glanced at it, and then handed it to us who leaned over to take a look. The handwriting on the note was messy and scrawled, and there were large blots of ink on it. I stared at it for a while before I could finish reading the first line. Fortunately, they were quite familiar with Hagrid. Hermione whispered, "Aragog died last night... It would mean a great deal to me if you could come to the funeral tonight. I plan to hold the funeral at dusk, which is his favorite time of the day. I know you're not allowed to be out so late, but you can use the Invisibility Cloak. I didn't want to make this request, but I can't face it alone."

"Is he crazy?" Ron said vehemently. "That beast told its companions to eat us! It said they could eat us at will! Does Hagrid actually expect us to cry over its hairy corpse?"

As if he had thought of a very unpleasant memory, he shivered.

The security measures are very strict now. The trouble of being caught is too great." Hermione looked at Harry, then at Taurus. "I know Hagrid is our friend, and we've secretly gone out to help him a lot before... But this time he's not in danger, right? I think—"

"I think so too." Taurus sighed. "I don't want to go."

"Hagrid will have to bury Aragog by himself." Harry shook his head. "You're right, Hermione. We shouldn't get ourselves into meaningless trouble."

"This afternoon, if I still can't persuade Slughorn, I'll try the Felix Felicis tonight." Harry asked for my opinion with his eyes. "The few of us don't have to take the Apparition exam. There must be very few people in that Potions class."

In the afternoon Potions class, there were only five students: me, Harry, Taurus, Ernie Macmillan, and Draco. Slughorn waved his hand grandly, telling us to make something for him just for fun. However, when the class was about to end, he leaned over to my ear and asked me to collect the finished products of the others and put them on the podium. Then he left the classroom fifteen minutes early—determined not to give Harry any chance to corner him.

"Well, you've put too much cat's ear violet." I had to stay behind after class. The sticky paste in Ernie's cauldron didn't look like anything identifiable. Although Harry had been much more serious in Potions class recently, he still tended to misread the steps. I grabbed a bit of pennyroyal and put it into his cauldron. The Euphoria Potion, which had a rather dark color, immediately turned into a sunny golden yellow. "This is about right."

"I also want to get a high score. Just add something to my cauldron casually, Professor." Taurus grinned and waited for me to help him fill the crystal bottle. I leaned over and took a sniff. He had always been better at Potions class than Harry and Ron.

I picked up the small glass bottle that Draco had placed at the corner of the desk. He had already scrawled his name on it and was waiting for me to collect it. When my scrutinizing gaze turned to him, he immediately averted his eyes, picked up his packed schoolbag, and turned around to leave the smoky underground classroom. It was the Tongue-Tying Potion. Barely passable... With his ability, he could have done better. I'm not sure if it was because of the dim light in the Potions classroom, but I thought his face looked as if he was suffering from some invisible torture. There was no trace of pride, excitement, or arrogance left on him.

I know that the poison in that bottle of mead wasn't aimed at me. It might have been intended for Slughorn because he had sided with Dumbledore, or it could have been targeted at Dumbledore himself, since Slughorn had said before that the bottle of wine was originally a gift for Dumbledore. My anger doesn't stem from the fact that I almost died, but from the obvious fact that the person who did this didn't care at all how many innocent people would be accidentally injured. This kind of mindset is undoubtedly evil and twisted, making one shudder.

During dinner, we all joined Ron in scolding the examiner who had noticed that he had left half of his eyebrow behind. When Slughorn had leisurely finished his dinner and the sun outside had set on the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, Hermione and I secretly slipped into the boys' dormitory without anyone else around and watched as Harry carefully poured out a small spoonful of Felix Felicis.

"I think two or three hours will be enough." Harry looked a bit nervous, and Neville watched worriedly from the side (we thought it would be safer to give Neville the Felix Felicis if Harry failed). We watched as he swallowed the potion. Gradually, a confident smile appeared on Harry's face, and it was as if a torch of inspiration had been personally lit in his eyes by Merlin.

"Do you have any ideas, Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Great, wonderful." He smiled and took out his Invisibility Cloak, motioning for me to come to his side. "I'm going to take Iris to Hagrid's place."

"What?" All of us were completely confused. I quickly lowered my head and sniffed myself to see if I had mistakenly taken the Felix Felicis as something like Babbling Beverage. "No, Harry, you're supposed to go find Slughorn. Remember?"

"Of course." He had already covered my head with the Invisibility Cloak. "I'm very confident about this—Or rather, the Felix Felicis is very confident."

He grabbed me and started walking downstairs. Hermione, who was worried, quickly followed. Unexpectedly, she and Ron were seen by Lavender Brown in the common room. Harry kept striding forward, as if the screams of Lavender and Ron's stuttering excuses behind him had nothing to do with him. It was already quite difficult for the Invisibility Cloak to cover the two of us, but he didn't seem to be worried at all about meeting someone on the way—Come to think of it, it's not surprising. If what he drank was indeed Felix Felicis, then he was now the luckiest person in the whole of Hogwarts.

When we opened the door that Filch had forgotten to lock, I found that Harry had changed direction and was walking towards the greenhouse. I couldn't help but ask, "Aren't we going to Hagrid's hut?"

"The weather is so nice today. How about taking a stroll in other places?" He pointed cheerfully at the two figures cast on the greenhouse roof. "Look, Professor Sprout and Slughorn."

Only then did I feel a bit relieved. After Professor Sprout left, he directly lifted the Invisibility Cloak and waved at Slughorn, who was holding a large bunch of leaves, with me. "Good evening, Professor."

"Merlin!" Slughorn suddenly stopped in his tracks. First, he looked at Harry warily, and then when he saw me, he showed a bit of a smile. "I have to say something to you two. This isn't a good time for a date outside."

I thought I should keep quiet and let Harry, who had drunk the Felix Felicis, handle the situation freely. So I stood there silently and listened as Harry truthfully explained to Slughorn the story of Hagrid and his Acromantula, saying that we had sneaked out of the castle to attend the spider's funeral.

"Acromantula... Its venom is extremely precious." Slughorn obviously wasn't interested in that story, but his eyes still lit up. "A pint of it is worth a hundred Galleons... and it's even hard to find a market for it at that price. After all, it's almost impossible to obtain venom from a live Acromantula..."

I probably understood what Harry was up to now. He pretended to be very hesitant and waited for a long time before saying to Slughorn that Hagrid would also be very happy if he could come. He also specifically emphasized that he had brought me out today because I had been cooped up in the castle and bored after being poisoned before. Sure enough, Slughorn immediately made an appointment with us to attend the funeral later and said that he was going back to get a few bottles of good wine—of course, he gave me a guilty look and said that all the wine he had there had already been tasted by the house-elves.

"Could you take care of Hagrid later, okay?" Harry said to me before we reached Hagrid's hut.

I was completely confused but could only nod in agreement. The funeral was set off by the setting sun on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, giving it a somewhat solemn atmosphere. However, the crooked pumpkins in Hagrid's back garden and the manure piles emitting a strange smell made it hard to concentrate. Hagrid seemed to be completely immersed in grief. At first, he was a bit surprised by Slughorn's visit. But after hearing Slughorn's beautiful and solemn impromptu eulogy for the funeral, he let out a howl, leaned against the manure pile, and started crying wholeheartedly. Slughorn was then able to take out the bottle hidden in his cloak and obtain the high-quality venom he wanted from Aragog's corpse. Both of them had satisfied expressions on their faces.

I followed them back into Hagrid's hut and watched as Slughorn opened the wine he had brought and poured it with a gurgling sound into Hagrid's cup, which was as big as a bucket. Hagrid began to mumble incoherently about the past of raising Aragog while holding the cup. He and Slughorn clinked their glasses and drank heartily. Harry kept watching them with a confident smile and used the wordless Refilling Charm to fill their empty glasses, not touching the full glass of wine in front of himself.

It seemed that everything was under Harry's control. I could only convince myself like this to stay here and watched as Slughorn scanned everything in the room. Hagrid wiped his tears and gave all kinds of small things he had gotten from the magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest to Slughorn. The two of them seemed to become confidants who regretted not having met earlier all of a sudden. They clinked their glasses and shouted various strange slogans. Until Hagrid drank the fourteenth bucket of wine. When he stood up, his whole body was swaying dangerously, as if he was going to crash through the walls of the hut. Amid Slughorn's loud belch, Harry coughed softly. Under the signal from the corner of his mouth, I stood up and managed to support Hagrid's elbow with difficulty. I used a spell to hold him up and took him to the back garden to vomit.

The night was really beautiful today. A full moon hung serenely in the clear night sky, looking down upon the ground. The large lake in the distance sparkled with little silver lights, as if countless small fish were leaping on the water's surface. Hagrid buried his entire head in the large bucket filled with clean water, and he let out a loud "gurgling" sound without moving. I used my wand to repair several pumpkins that he had crushed under his feet and then looked towards the flickering lights in the hut. "Don't say that," I heard Slughorn's soft murmur coming through the gap in the window. "If, if this can help you... Of course, it's not a problem... But my boy, that thing is of no use..."

I should have walked away. Since the beginning of this school year, I have loyally fulfilled Dumbledore's request to me: not to try to pry into everything that Harry and Neville have learned from him. But tonight, it was as if someone had nailed me under the window. I couldn't help but keep listening while looking at Hagrid who was groaning in the cool wind.

"It's useful." Harry said clearly. "Dumbledore needs to know, and we need to know... Neville and I are the ones chosen by fate, and I need it."

"Chosen...?" Slughorn's voice was trembling. "Do you mean... the Chosen One?"

"Yes." Harry's voice remained calm. "That's what Dumbledore said."

"But... my dear boy... You're asking for too much... Actually, you're asking me to help you destroy—"

"Do you want to see Iris Snape collapse in front of you again?" Harry interrupted his pleading. "Watch her suddenly fall to the ground, with black blood gushing out of her mouth. Just a second ago, she was standing not far from you with a smile, as wonderful as her mother in your memory..."

"No, of course I... of course I don't want that, my boy. I was so frightened that day. Don't blame me..."

"Oh, I forgot, Professor," Harry said softly. "You've always liked her, haven't you?"

"Liked?" Slughorn's voice trembled even more. "Who wouldn't love her... Who wouldn't love Lily and her daughter? They are so talented, so wonderful and pure... I love them just like I love my own children..."

"But you wouldn't protect them."

"No, that's impossible. I— This is not the same thing, my boy. This is not the same thing..."

"I protected her. When you were at a loss, I snatched Iris back from the hands of death." I heard Harry say with extraordinary determination. "She will be my future wife, Professor. I'm the one who will protect her for a lifetime... I need you to hand it over and give me a chance to protect her for a lifetime."

Hagrid in the bucket choked and coughed violently. I jumped up and rushed over to pull him out of the wooden bucket. I originally wanted to dry the water droplets on his face, but in my flustered state, I set his beard and the homemade black armband on his arm on fire.

After I clumsily put out the flames and wiped Hagrid's face clean with the huge floral cloth in the yard, Harry opened the door of the hut. Slughorn in the room had buried his plump face in his arms and looked completely asleep.

"It worked." Harry beamed with joy. "Come on, let me carry Hagrid in... Then we can go back to the castle."

The night was pleasant. In the wind, there was not only the faint fragrance of pine needles coming from the wall but also the fragrance of bluebells by the lake. A few wisps of dark blue clouds drifted across the sky but were soon blown away. The moon seemed to be following our steps at a leisurely pace.

"Do you want to take a stroll by the lake?" Harry seemed to think that there was no need to wear the Invisibility Cloak now. He looked relaxed after completing the task and said to me, "It's been a long time since we had such nice weather, hasn't it?"

"I heard a bit of your conversation with Slughorn." I thought about it and then said honestly, "I'm sorry."

"Oh," he thought for a moment and then smiled. "It doesn't matter. We didn't say anything too important."

"I heard you say..." I stopped walking and looked at his profile. "You told Slughorn that... I would be your future wife."

I thought he would explain to me: that he said that just to coax Slughorn into handing over "that thing". But he blinked his eyes, looked into my eyes seriously, and said, "I've always thought that way, Iris."

It was as if someone had gently pushed me from behind—naturally, this person didn't exist at all. Let's just say that before my mind could fully figure it out, I had already stood on tiptoe and moved closer to him. Under the silvery moonlight, I gently bit his lower lip. He lowered his head, his hand brushed over the cat's eye green hairpin in my hair, and then passed through my deep red hair to support the back of my neck. He quickly released me, took off the black-rimmed glasses that had been between us and stuffed them into his pocket haphazardly. Before I could come to my senses, he kissed my lips again. I kind of wanted to laugh, but soon I was submerged in his breath... It seemed that he had also had a little wine while chatting with Slughorn. Between his lips and teeth, I tasted a hint of the sweetness of the wine.