"Professor Snape, I think I'm teaching a class. Are you planning on taking my student from my classroom?" Gilderoy Grindelwald frowned, looking quite displeased.
"I have urgent matters with him, and... what can he possibly learn that's useful from you?" Snape's disdainful tone clearly gave no respect to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It was unlike something a Head of House would do, but Snape had his reasons.
"Lockhart, don't think I don't know about your affairs... Dumbledore asked me to restrain myself with you, but he obviously doesn't know how audacious you really are."
Snape ignored Ian tugging at his robe and stared blankly at the person on the lectern. "Dementor, Centaur, I hope your money can help the Ministry of Magic overlook your crimes."
Audacious!
Truly audacious!
Ian's big eyes stared straight at his good uncle—Snape was truly brave! He didn't even want to maintain superficial collegiality!
"That's not something you need to worry about, Professor Snape." Gilderoy Grindelwald, despite being scolded, suddenly broke into a smile.
"I've already explained it in the sixth-grade class: there was never any Dementor. I merely let the young wizards experience the feeling of Mental Magic that day."
He glanced meaningfully at Ian, speaking lightly.
"And this Centaur, is it also your Mental Magic? Haha, your magic even caught me. Should I be praising your magic for being so impressive?"
Snape looked mockingly at the wooden Centaur on the lectern. He found that his robe was about to be pulled into strips by Ian and glared at Ian with his panda eyes.
"This is a guilty Centaur, and I have the Ministry of Magic's permission." Gilderoy Grindelwald raised an eyebrow and indeed pulled out a permit from the Ministry of Magic.
This utterly baffled Snape.
Under the watchful eyes of a group of Ravenclaw young wizards, Snape felt his pride was at stake, so he forced out a harsh retort and pulled Ian away.
"Looks like your money is indeed useful, even enough to sway the Ministry of Magic." The annoyed Snape didn't want to linger anymore, and he took the slightly reluctant Ian around the corner and out the door. Many young wizards were left confused once Ian was taken away, and Gilderoy Grindelwald also watched the doorway along with them.
He didn't stop Snape from taking Ian but instead, his eyes briefly turned white in the young wizards' blind spot before quickly returning to normal.
"Professor Snape doesn't usually act like this; looks like something significant happened in their family." Gilderoy Grindelwald merely frowned slightly, not dwelling on failure or curiosity. He skillfully redirected the attention back.
"Let's forget about the uncouth Magic Potion Class teacher and return to our noble Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I think Professor Snape is just jealous of my talents."
The class continued.
It's just that Ian couldn't experience the full lesson. Snape dragged him along to the dungeon, leading him into Snape's office in utter confusion about the situation.
"Weren't you sick? I knew it! You wouldn't let me brew, and yet you're secretly brewing so much in the office..." As soon as Ian entered, he smelled the familiar scent of brewing magic potions.
But.
Before he could jump to conclusions, he noticed all the potions on the table were a dull gray, unlike the deep blue hue of Infinite Firepower Potion that resembled a gemstone.
Did he mistakenly blame his dear uncle?
Snape was rinsing the crucibles while Ian curiously approached the table, picking up a bottle of gray potion, uncorking it, and holding it to his nose.
The ingredients were indeed correct... but the scent had a slight variance, and with the color being completely different, it was evident it wasn't the Infinite Firepower Potion.
"Is this your modified version?" Ian asked curiously, only to see Snape's expression darken more as he set up all the prepared crucibles.
There were a total of six cauldrons.
Exactly replicating the number and arrangement when he discovered Ian secretly brewing the potion in the Room of Requirement, Ian felt like he had returned to that afternoon.
"What does this mean?"
Ian noticed Snape placing six sets of prepared ingredients on the table. This was when Ian finally saw a potion with a dazzling golden hue.
"Don't touch that!"
Seeing Ian's gaze, Snape hurried to take the potion away, but Ian, standing in front of the table, quickly grabbed the bottle and uncorked it.
A scent never brewed before.
But not unfamiliar.
"So you took my hair to do something bad!" Ian was more infuriated than ever, because he caught a whiff of the unique scent of Polyjuice Potion from the bottle! He had suspected before that Snape took his hair to brew this stuff, and now he had indeed caught Snape red-handed!