This Hogwarts is not normal

Chapter 1337 The Difficult 28 Days

Draco, having received permission, pushed open the door and entered. Snape, with his back to the door, sat at the control panel, seemingly processing potion ingredients.

Draco closed the door. "Professor, it's me. I need your help."

Snape turned around, his dark eyes scanning him up and down. "You look terrible, Mr. Malfoy."

Snape turned back to continue processing potion ingredients. "Anxiety and lack of sleep; Madam Pomfrey's stimulants and tranquilizers might be more suitable than my help."

“No, Professor!” Draco said hastily, then lowered his voice, “It’s not that kind of help, it’s about… the mission.”

Snape stopped what he was doing, slowly turned to him, his gaze scrutinizing him, and gestured for him to continue.

Draco swallowed hard. "Professor, I need... truth serum."

Snape's expression remained unchanged, his dark eyes fixed on Draco, as if he could see into Draco's heart.

The suffocating silence lasted for more than a minute, and just when Draco felt his heart was about to jump out of his chest, Snape finally spoke:

"Truth Potion, a high-grade potion, takes 28 days to brew and requires a variety of rare ingredients, some of which are strictly monitored by the Ministry of Magic. Its effect is to force the user to say what they believe to be the truth, rather than absolute objective facts. Overuse can lead to mental confusion and even permanent memory damage."

With each word he spoke, Draco's face grew even paler.

“Professor… I can’t think of any other way… I need it, I need it to complete… the task. My dad said I can ask you for help.”

Snape moved his chin very slightly, as if nodding or shaking his head.

Draco was filled with anxiety. Without the help of this Potions Master, he would only risk implicating his family.

"Come and pick it up in 28 days." Snape's words rekindled the hope in his eyes.

“Don’t come beforehand, and don’t tell anyone.” Snape’s voice was low and commanding, leaving no room for argument. “Now, get out.”

Draco was stunned; he hadn't expected to agree so easily.

"Get out, Malfoy." Snape turned back to his workbench, his back conveying a clear refusal to speak.

Draco whispered a "thank you," staggered out of the office, and gently closed the door.

Inside the door, Snape stood motionless at his workbench.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were filled with extremely complex emotions.

He got up and went to a locked, dilapidated wooden cabinet. He tapped it with his wand, and the cabinet door slid open silently.

Inside, a large number of rare potion ingredients were stored in different categories. He took out a small silver bottle with no label on it, and then picked up a well-preserved piece of Berlock Summer Grass and a half-ear Grass sprout from a temperature-controlled box.

Clearly, these are all ingredients for brewing Truth Potion.

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The Christmas holidays are over, and students are back to their busy studies.

In particular, students in grades 5 and 7 have OWLs and NEWTs exams at the end of the school year, respectively.

But for Draco, no exam was as important as the 28-day deadline given by Snape.

In the first few days, he felt a long-lost sense of ease.

Once the truth serum is brewed and Trelawney delivers the complete prophecy, he can complete his mission, and he, his parents, and the Malfoy family will be saved.

But this ease didn't last long; it was quickly replaced by a heavier anxiety.

Every day, Voldemort might lose his patience, and every day, his parents might send him bad news. How will he get through these difficult 28 days?

Unbeknownst to him, an invisible noose was placed around Draco's neck, and as the days went by, the noose would gradually tighten.

In class, he became a typical example of someone who was inattentive in the eyes of the professors, and even the good-natured Sprout criticized him by name more than once.

He ate very little, and sleep was a luxury for him.

At night in the dormitory, Crabbe and Gore's heavy snoring was a minor problem; what was more serious was that even with earplugs in, he would have the same recurring nightmare when he closed his eyes.

In his dream, he knelt helplessly in front of the gates of Malfoy Manor, watching as a pair of scarlet eyes in the shadows devoured his parents.

He tried to stand up countless times, but failed each time. All he could do was kneel there and cry out in anguish.

Whenever he was awakened by a nightmare, he was soaking wet and could not fall back asleep. He could only rehearse in his mind his next step after obtaining the truth serum, taking into account almost every possible possibility.

Such a noticeable change quickly sparked rumors within Slytherin.

Other students might not know, but the pure-blooded snakes are well-informed and have heard more or less about another version of what happened on Christmas Eve.

The disaster in the Muggle world was indeed caused by the Dark Lord, but not by Vincent, but by his predecessor, that mysterious man whose name cannot be revealed.

Death Eaters attack the Ministry of Magic, two Dark Lords, Lucius Malfoy's major blunder...

Rumors are piling up, and Draco's current state perfectly matches the speculation that his family has lost power.

Those students who used to fawn over him, whether they were in higher or lower grades, now all instinctively avoid him, afraid of causing trouble for their families.

Even Crabbe and Goyle, the two slow-witted henchmen, sensed something was wrong. They awkwardly tried to help in their own way, such as getting him more food or telling him about interesting things that had happened at school recently.

At the other end of the castle, in the Gryffindor Tower, many people also noticed Draco's unusual behavior.

Harry learned some inside information from Sirius Black, and knew that the Malfoy family was in a difficult situation.

After a potions class, in the cold dungeon, he deliberately slowed down and lagged behind everyone else.

As Draco hurried past, Harry casually remarked, "You look like you haven't slept in months."

He originally wanted to say, "Even if you have something going on at home," but changed his mind at the last minute, saying, "Even if you're about to reach OWLs, you don't have to work this hard."

Draco's much thinner body trembled slightly. He said nothing and quickly disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

As time went by, Draco's condition was on the verge of collapse.

He would sometimes unconsciously bite his nails, and would jump up at the slightest noise. In their busy studies, Fred and George also "thoughtfully" spread some rumors about him, such as that he suffered from a variety of Muggle mental illnesses, such as neurasthenia, panic disorder, depression, and schizophrenia.

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