Oof. One step forward and another step back for Snape, I see. Still, at least he'll learn to keep his mouth shut about Harry... Hopefully. Draco, probably not.

I like how Draco's friends are more cunning than him. Despite Draco's lineage and prestige, he acts a lot more on emotion than his peers which continues to bite him in the butt, but because he's so stubborn he's not learning from his mistakes nearly as much as he should. Having Snape enabling his dislike of Harry also adds to it, and will probably definitely have to be addressed. They're both creating a mini echo chamber.

I'm curious how the addition of Umbridge as an active antagonist will go, especially in concerns to Malfoy Sr. She doesn't seem like she'd be much of a threat to him, but if she actually manages to throw him off his game somehow, it would be an interesting thing to see since he tries so hard to keep control.

Anyway, fun chapter as usual, and I won't lie, I made an embarrassing happy squeal when I saw you updated. It was a nice treat after work. 😁