HP Starlight

When the summer vacation first started, Esther thought it would be the most relaxing vacation—no homework, no study.But after only two weeks she found out that she was very wrong.

She can't help recalling those exam questions every day, and it seems that the more she recalls, the more she feels that her answers are full of loopholes.She even regretted that she didn't spend more time reviewing, and didn't take a look at the class notes before the exam.She often feels restless, and if there is any movement in the window, she will run over to check whether the owl has sent her grades.

Aunt Connie tried to take her out for a walk, but she was always lost and absent-minded.Harry also wanted to distract her, but he gave up the idea after drinking a cup of black tea with salt for the third time.He quietly looked up the content about Bai Xian in the potion textbook that Esther lent him (his own has been locked by his uncle and aunt).If it was before, Harry could finish these homework quickly, because Esther would provide a lot of help.But now he wouldn't dare ask Esther a question, even her top Potions question would amplify her uneasiness.

Finally spent another two weeks of suffering.This morning, Esther was sitting at the table staring at the milk in the glass in a daze.She had been sitting like this for almost two hours.Suddenly there was a sound of flapping wings from outside the window, and an energetic tawny owl passed through the open window and landed on the table in front of Este.Esther was attracted by its raised right leg, and there was a big square envelope with her name written on it.

Esther realized that this should be a test result.She frantically untied the rope, tore open the envelope, opened the parchment, held her breath, and glanced down.

Ordinary Wizarding Rank Exam Results

Passing grade: Excellent (O) Failed grade: Poor (P)

Good (E) Poor (D)

Pass (A) Poor (T)

The results of Esther Collins are as follows:

Astronomy: A

Protect Fantastic Beasts: E

Charms: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

Arithmancy and Divination: E

Herbalism: O

History of Magic: A

Potions: O

Transfiguration: O

Ancient Runes: A

Esther let out a long breath, then raised his head and drank the milk in the glass, feeling his whole body lightened up.She casually picked up a copy of the "Daily Prophet" from a few days ago and read it. It has been a long time since she felt so relaxed and relaxed.A photo in the middle of the page caught Esther's attention. It was a photo of Harry's friend Ron and his family. The pet mouse on his body was very stealthy.The papers said the Weasleys had won a prize and were on vacation in Egypt.The youngest daughter of the Weasley family standing in the middle was waving her hands excitedly, and seemed to have completely shaken off the influence of the mysterious man.

Seeing the date in the newspaper, Esther suddenly thought that Harry's birthday was coming.She had to go to Diagon Alley as soon as possible to choose a birthday present for Harry.

She quickly chose a set of wizard chess as a gift.She remembered Harry saying that Ron's set of wizard chess was very obedient, and that his borrowed ones always disobeyed orders.This time he can train his soldiers to fight for him, Esther thought.

After choosing a birthday gift, Esther went to the pharmacy to add some potion ingredients.Now that she was sure that she could attend the potion improvement class, she should prepare the required items.

When Esther walked into the Slugger & Ziggs pharmacy, he heard a familiar low voice: "That's all? Are all the aconites here?" Snape frowned and looked at the The clerk, who seemed to think that the clerk deliberately didn't want to sell him anything.

"Yes—yes, professor. It's all here. The store manager went—to Scandinavia to purchase this time, and he should bring back some, big—probably." The clerk stammered a little nervously.

"How soon will it be?" Snape asked.

"Maybe another three or five days." The clerk looked at Snape timidly and said.

"Damn it, it's too late." Snape muttered in a low voice, and if Esther hadn't always used his ears well, he might not have heard it.

"Professor, good afternoon." Esther greeted Snape generously, and handed the written ingredient list to the clerk.As if relieved, the clerk took the list and packed it.

"Good afternoon, Miss Collins." Snape was about to pay and leave.

"Professor, do you need aconitum urgently? I have a jar at home that is still useless. If you need it, I can send it to you." Esther said enthusiastically.

"Why are you saving aconite?"

"When Malfoy and Flint plotted to expel me from the Quidditch team last semester, I wanted to give them some medicine. Then I was too busy to make it." Esther said frankly.

"Miss Collins just told your dean so directly that you want to murder a classmate?" Professor Snape's voice was not harsh, and Esther felt that he was not really angry.

"I'm not guilty if they haven't been poisoned." Esther shrugged and said slyly.

"Looks like I should use this jar of blackheads, lest Miss Collins make a mistake. Deliver it as soon as possible." Snape wrote an address on the parchment and handed it to Esther.Esther looked at the sharp font: Snape's house, Spider's End, Cokeworth.

After buying the ingredients, Esther immediately went home to get her potion box.She looked at Lucinda sleeping on the shelf, and decided to take it herself.She was very curious about what kind of potion Professor Snape was going to be in such a hurry, maybe it was a learning opportunity.

"Aunt Connie, I'm going to Cokeworth to deliver something to others, and I may be late. If you don't catch the train, come back tomorrow, don't worry about me." Esther and Aunt Connie hurriedly said goodbye.

"If you can't catch the train, you can take the Knight Bus back. They have a night bus, although it's not very comfortable. Just point your wand at the sky and a bus will pick you up." Aunt Connie asked worriedly.

Esther was very curious when she heard about wizards and buses for the first time.When she was ready to go, she took a ride to try it out.She stood by the side of the road, looked around to see if there was no one around, quickly raised her wand and pointed it at the sky, then retracted it quickly, for fear that others would see her strange behavior.But she hadn't put her wand all the way back into her sleeve when there was a loud bang and a three-story purple bus appeared out of nowhere, with Knight Bus written in gold letters on the windshield.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus - emergency transport for wizards in trouble. Just hold out your wand hand, climb aboard, and we'll take you wherever you want. I Call Stan Sunpark, your conductor." Stan, the conductor, was businesslike.

"Can I get in the car?" Esther waited until Stan had finished speaking before asking politely.

"Of course, did you ask us to come just to see?" Stan stepped aside to let Esther in.

There are all kinds of chairs in a mess in the carriage.Maybe I stopped too quickly just now, and the chairs were piled up to the front half of the carriage.A lady's belongings were scattered all over the floor, and she was flicking her wand angrily to make them jump back into the bag.

Esther regretted getting in the car a little bit, she should have taken the train, this car didn't look very safe.

"Why are you standing there? Take a seat, eleven Sickles. Where are you going?" Stan urged her.

"Cokeworth, Spider's End." Esther took out eleven silver coins and handed them to Stan.

"What's there for? No passenger ever wants to go there? Right, Ern?" Stan yelled at the driver.

"Hmm." The driver, Ern, didn't seem to like talking very much.

"Go ahead, Ern," Stan said, sitting in the armchair next to Ern.

There was another loud bang from the car, and Esther quickly hugged her medicine box and slid back with the seat.She really wanted to secretly cast a spell to fix herself on the chair, so as not to fall off the seat at any time.

"Don't be so nervous, just get used to it, right, Ern?" Stan laughed seeing Esther's nervousness.

"So loud and so fast, no Muggles noticed?" Esther asked puzzled.

"They don't listen well, they don't look well, do they? They don't notice anything," Stan said.

Esther watched as the Knight Bus passed between the side-by-side cars and onto the sidewalk again.Street lights, mailboxes, and trash cans all automatically jump out of the way, and return to the original place when the car passes by.Invisibility spells, silencer spells, expulsion spells... Esther silently considered the possible spells for this bus.

Passengers got out of the car one after another, and Esther realized that the car had already circled the entire UK.It does not arrive at the station according to the route, but is delivered to the destination according to the order of the passengers on the bus.Still much faster than Muggle traffic though.It was not completely dark when Est got out of the car.

Esther stepped onto the cobblestone road and looked up to see a tall chimney, like a giant finger, blocking the little light that was left before the sun went down.Rows of dilapidated brick houses in front of me are dark, and the windows are nailed with wooden boards, making them look gloomy and lifeless.Esther couldn't help shrinking back.

"I'll just say no one's ever been here, good luck. If you find yourself going the wrong way, just raise your wand and call us, we'll be back to pick you up anytime." Stan finished, and the bus disappeared with another thud.

Esther worked up the courage to walk down the cobblestone road, looking for the last name sign on the door.Due to the lack of light, she had to carefully read the words on the door to see clearly.She walked slowly, and finally, before the last house in the long street, she saw the words Snape's house.At this time, it was completely dark, except for a dim light in the curtains of a room downstairs.

Esther breathed a sigh of relief and finally found it.But the oppressive environment around her made her nervous again involuntarily.She felt that Snape would probably be more difficult living here than at school.She shook the medicine box, took a deep breath, finally made up her mind, and knocked on the door of Snape's house.

Nothing happened.A stench of soaked water came with the night wind, making Esther very uncomfortable.When he was hesitating whether to knock again, there was a slight movement from behind the door, followed by a creak, and the door opened a crack.A pair of dark eyes looked from behind the door.

"Collins? How did you come here?" Snape opened the door wider and asked in a low voice, frowning.

"Aconite." Esther held the medicine box up in front of Snape's eyes.

"Ha, I thought the clever Miss Collins would know that there was an animal called an owl?" Snape had a hint of sarcasm.

"Maybe I just want to experience the work of an owl. Professor, can you let me in? It's a bit difficult to say outside." Este's tone contained some pleading.

Snape hesitated, but took a step back and let Esther into the room.

The room is not spacious, like a soft-walled prison cell.The walls are full of books.She saw the book she gave her in the most conspicuous place at a glance. It seemed that she read it often, so she put it in the most convenient place.In the center of the room stood a rickety table, an old armchair, and a frayed and fuzzy sofa.A candle-lit lamp hung dimly from the empty ceiling above the table.

Esther put the medicine box on the table and smelled a faint smell of potion, but did not see the crucible.She looked up at Snape and asked, "Professor, are you making potions? I can smell something. Can I help?"

Snape looked at Esther scrutinizingly: "That's why you gave up using the owl? Want to know what I'm doing?"

Esther knew that he couldn't play tricks at this time, any excuse would make Snape disgusted.It would be better to simply admit that he was right and show sincerity.

"Yes, professor. I think this is a rare learning opportunity, so I take the liberty to interrupt you. And you are not at a disadvantage. I brought other ingredients besides aconitum. You can use it as you like. And I have OWLs Come down, Potions is O, it should be okay to be your assistant." Esther saw that Snape still didn't mean to relax, and continued to add: "Or there are other jobs I can do for you, cleaning , I can cook." As she spoke, she opened the medicine box and laid out all the things she thought were precious.Most of them were collected by her in the Forbidden Forest before the holiday: unicorn hair, eight-eyed spider spiderlings and some venom, white fresh, sap grass, sound bird feathers, smelling magic grass, frozen fire ash snake eggs, etc. Wait.

Snape looked at Esther carefully for a while, and finally put all the medicinal materials back into the medicine chest.He picked up the medicine box, pointed at one of the book walls with his wand, a secret door slowly opened, and the smell of potion suddenly became stronger.

"Come with me." Snape said and walked through the secret door.Est quickly followed.

Behind the secret door was a narrow staircase, and Esther followed Snape down the stairs to a semi-basement full of his style.It seemed colder and darker here than in the castle.Except for the little light from the flame under the cauldron, there was only a little moonlight coming in through a ventilation window near the ceiling.Snape put down the medicine chest and went to the cauldron to check the potion changes carefully.He frowned, as if he was not very satisfied with the potion in the cauldron.

"Take out the aconite and cut it into small pieces, don't waste your time when it comes." Snape ordered bluntly.

Esther washed his hands quickly, opened the medicine box, took out a silver knife and aconitum, and began to cut it carefully.Soon some uniform small pieces were brought to Snape.Snape looked down and said nothing, weighed the amount and poured it directly into the cauldron.

It was almost impossible to get Snape's praise, and if he didn't say anything, he had done a good job.Esther has long been used to this kind of cooperation and doesn't mind at all.

The potion in the crucible gradually changed from dark gray to light brown. Snape nodded in satisfaction, and murmured in a low voice while writing in the potion experiment notebook: "It seems that if you want to increase the potion, increasing the potion proportionally is not enough. Doubling the dosage of chamaema aconitum.”

Esther glanced at the words on the record, and saw the words Wolfbane Potion.She was a little surprised and asked: "Professor, is the wolfsbane potion you prepared?"

"Yeah, it's very complicated and challenging." Snape said with some complacency.

"So is this situation considered a success now?" Esther asked looking at the boiling cauldron.

"Not yet, but it looks like it's getting better soon." Snape also kept a close eye on the changes in the cauldron, ready to take the next step at the right time.

"How did you think of doing this? Do you have werewolf friends?" Esther asked casually.

Snape's face immediately sank, and he said through gritted teeth, "Friend? I don't have the honor!"

Esther shut her mouth tactfully.She had never seen such blatant hatred on Snape's face.Even when Harry had spoken ill of him in the Chamber of Secrets, he had only been angry and disgusted.Although curious, she knew that she must not cross the line when getting along with Snape.

Soon the potion turned amber when stirred.Snape extinguished the flames and filled the goblet with the potion.Esther skillfully cleaned the crucible and tidied up the operating table.

Then there was a knock on the door upstairs.Snape seemed to have expected it, and went up the stairs with a goblet in his hand.Esther followed suit.

"Good evening, Severus." Dumbledore stood outside the door, followed by a man with gray hair, with a few old scars on his pale face, looking a little sick.

Esther saw that Snape's hand that opened the door suddenly tightened and clasped the door forcefully, with pale knuckles protruding clearly.For a split second Esther thought Snape would simply shut them out.

Still, Snape replied with a stiff "good evening" and let the two of them in.

"Hi, Miss Collins, I didn't expect to see you here." Professor Dumbledore was a little surprised.

"The aconite in the pharmacy is sold out, and it happened that Miss Collins sent some." Professor Snape fixed his eyes on the man behind, "Why did he come here?"

"Come on, Severus, you will be colleagues soon." Dumbledore said calmly, and looked at Esther again, "Let me introduce in advance, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Lupine."

"Hello, Professor Lupine. Nice to meet you." Estel shook hands with Lupine very politely.

"Hello, Miss Collins, nice to meet you too." Lupine hesitated for a moment, and shook hands with Esther.

"Go and get something to drink, Collins." Snape was suddenly harsh on Esther.He opened another secret door with his wand and motioned Esther to go in.

Esther followed the instructions and quickly left the room to go to the storage room downstairs.It seems that the dean's malice towards Professor Lupine is really not a little bit, Esther thought to himself.She took out her mother's wand and lit the fire to boil water, took out the tea bags and made three cups of black tea, and added three spoonfuls of sugar to one of them.

She went upstairs with the tray, making some noise as she approached the secret door.Professor Snape was already dissatisfied with his overtures to Professor Lupine.If he made him think he was eavesdropping again, she had no doubt that Professor Snape would kick her out immediately.

The secret door opened as she approached. It was obvious that they had finished talking about important matters, and the atmosphere was not as tense as before.

"Oh, it's the taste I like, I guess you added some sugar?" Dumbledore said happily after taking a sip from the teacup Esther handed over.

"Three spoonfuls of extra sugar and some lemon juice, Professor," Esther replied.

"No wonder the taste is different. What a careful girl. I guess you must have been inspired by Lemon Sherbet." Dumbledore took another sip and said with a smile.

"Yes, professor, I like that too, it's not that sweet, and it's not too sour." Esther handed the teacup to Lupine and Snape, only to find that the wolfsbane potion on the table was empty. Only the goblet is still smoking slowly.Esther naturally picked up the cup and prepared to go downstairs to clean it and return it to its place.

"Miss Collins, maybe we should talk to you, sit down." Dumbledore conjured up another chair, and this time the room was even more crowded.

Esther sat down and looked at Dumbledore with a smile, waiting for the elder to speak.

"I think you already know the identity of Professor Lupine, and I hope you can help us keep it a secret. Although it is unreasonable to ask you this request, I still ask you not to tell others." Dumbledore said sincerely.

Esther looked at Lupine, who looked polite even though he was wearing some shabby wizard robes.He looked at Esther mildly, and didn't seem to mind in the slightest that Esther might say no.What a gentleman, Esther thought.

"I only know that he is our new professor, I don't know anything else." Esther looked at Snape again, and added: "As long as our dean doesn't object, I don't feel any uneasiness. "

"Great, I know you've always been good at keeping secrets. You're a lot like Severus in that. He knows Remus very well and won't object. Right, Severus?" Dumbledore It seemed that he wanted Snape to make a statement.

Snape pursed his lips, looked at Dumbledore angrily, and nodded slightly.

"It seems that we have reached a consensus, and it is really worth a toast." Dumbledore raised the black tea and winked at Esther, "Then we will see the effect of the potion, I hope it will work."

"Professor Snape's potions have always been the most reliable. Even if there are problems with the original formula, he can improve it to perfection." Esther took the opportunity to praise Snape a few words, so that he would not vent his anger on the himself.This was her usual self-preservation method when facing Snape.

Snape obviously liked Esther's words very much, and he softened his tone a lot, "After washing the cups, go upstairs and tidy up the first bedroom on the left. Professor Lupine will be staying here for a few days."

Esther didn't ask much, picked up the tray and high script, and went out through the secret door.

Cleaning up the house took a lot of effort.Even with the help of magic, a lot of dust and cobwebs kept Esther busy for a long time.Not to mention repairing broken furniture.When Esther returned to the living room, Dumbledore had already left.Snape took out a can of shiny powder, "You go back with this, have you used Floo powder?"

"Sorry, Professor. My house doesn't seem to be connected to the Floo network. Aunt Connie has never used such a thing." Esther said awkwardly.

It could be seen that Snape was suspicious, but he didn't ask why, "Then how did you get here?"

"I wanted to take the train. Aunt Connie said there was a knight bus, so I tried it. I was very impressed!" Esther recalled that journey and couldn't help feeling sick.

Snape was a little embarrassed, obviously it was not safe for Esther to take the bus back by himself so late.

"Can I stay, professor? Will you continue to make potions tomorrow? I can continue to be an assistant." Esther asked with some expectation.

"A little girl shouldn't just propose to stay in someone else's house, especially a man's house." Snape gave Esther a look, very dissatisfied.

"I don't stay at other people's homes casually. It's just for the convenience of work, and you are my professor, I trust you! It's too hurtful for you to say that!" Esther felt humiliated and blushed. "If you find it inconvenient, forget it, I can go back by myself."

"Wait!" Snape wanted to stop Esther, "It's too late, you underage wizard..."

But Esther walked out of Snape's house without waiting for him to finish.