Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

No, it might even be worse than the original story.

In the original story, Ginny's condition was far too dangerous; she was practically on the verge of death.

"Perhaps I need to find a new host."

Cyrus put away the crucible.

Chapter 29 Stealing Potion Ingredients

On Thursday, Cyrus finally got to attend Harry's Potions class.

The Potions classroom was dimly lit. It was located underground, and Snape would always close all the windows tightly whenever he came in. If it weren't for the torches in the classroom, you might not have been able to see anything at all.

However, this cannot be blamed on Snape's dark side—although it is true—most potions cannot withstand strong light, as strong light usually causes potions to fail.

Cyrus, wearing an invisibility cloak, slowly followed behind Harry, walking in with the crowd.

As Harry walked through the dense array of tables to his own cauldron, Cyrus continued onward, until he reached the corner of the podium, where a wooden door led to Snape's office.

Snape walked with a brisk pace, his wizarding robes billowing like the wings of a giant bat. He entered the classroom, first scanning all the students with a sharp gaze, then lingering on Harry for a few seconds before letting out a mocking laugh and speaking:

"Today—we're going to concoct a swelling potion—"

"I hope each of you has a sound mind to understand the steps in the textbook. The potion can't be too concentrated or too diluted, otherwise—" He smiled coldly, his gaze lingering on the young Gryffindor wizards, especially Neville, Seamus, and Harry, "otherwise, if something goes wrong, whether I give you the anti-swelling potion or not will depend on my willingness!"

Harry's potion-making talent wasn't actually that bad, but the problem was that Neville and Seamus were right at the table to his right.

With these two brilliant minds working together, every Potions class, barring any mishap, would be newsworthy. Moreover, Neville's flustered state would inevitably affect Harry, and even if it didn't, Snape could still deduct points from Harry based on Neville's poor performance.

You're sitting so close together, why aren't you helping Neville?

They show absolutely no unity or friendship; Gryffindor loses ten points!

You dare help Neville? Do you think your potion-making skills are that great?

Gryffindor -10 points deducted!

Snape's words drew much discontent; it was practically a direct statement that Gryffindor would not be healed, but no one dared to say anything. Only the Slytherin slugs, sensing the Headmaster's favoritism, chuckled softly.

Finally, Snape himself broke his silence.

"Now, why aren't you starting?"

Neville immediately started frantically operating the machine.

"What should I add first?" His round face turned bright red, and his hands holding the materials trembled incessantly.

“You should have ground the herbs into powder first, it says so in the book,” Harry said in a low voice. But he immediately regretted it; if he hadn’t spoken up, it might have been easier to cause a commotion.

Snape immediately spoke sternly: "No whispering!"

Then he walked over to Neville's table. Neville, who was already flustered and nervous, had his mind completely blank. Cyrus even wondered if he had forgotten what the English words "herbs" and "crushed into powder" meant.

Now that Snape was picking a fight with Neville, Cyrus simply picked up his wand and fired a burst of fire into Crabbe's cauldron.

Then Crabbe's potion exploded, spraying the entire class with its contents. Everyone screamed as they were hit by the splattering swelling potion. Malfoy was drenched in the face, his nose swelling up like a balloon; Crabbe, clutching his eyes, stumbled around, his eyes swollen to the size of his lunch plate.

The classroom erupted into chaos, filled with pitiful screams. Snape roared, "Quiet! Quiet!"

Cyrus almost thought he had been exposed.

Looking up, he noticed Snape's malevolent gaze fixed on Harry and his group, clearly suspicious of them. Reassured, he walked towards Snape's office, casually plucking a few strands of hair from Malfoy's head as he passed.

Malfoy screamed even more piercingly.

"Students who got splashed with the medicine, come to me for some anti-swelling medication. I'll find out who did it..."

Cyrus didn't hear what happened next; he had already slipped into Snape's office.

“The horn of a two-horned beast, the skin of an African tree snake—” He raised his wand, and the tip of the wand lit up. In the dim light, a whole wall of bottles and jars appeared before Cyrus’s eyes.

"Snape really has a lot of good stuff."

Cyrus didn't stand on ceremony, bringing out everything else he could find besides the two materials. Most of them were materials that could replenish a person's life energy. He wasn't worried at all about being discovered by Snape; even if he did, what difference would it make?

Not knowing who the real thief was, he could only report to Dumbledore. But Dumbledore already knew that "he" or rather, that a specter of Voldemort was causing trouble. Although he hadn't yet figured out whether it was Voldemort himself, his Horcruxes, or just an evil spell or tool that was controlling everything.

Regardless, he chose to observe and instead chose to confront the seemingly fated enemy that Voldemort himself had personally selected.

Since a miracle had occurred eleven years ago, and Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort last semester, no matter how weak Voldemort was at the time, it was impossible for a first-year wizard to defeat him. Yet, the result was Quirrell's death.

Given this, Dumbledore believed that this time, Harry Potter might be able to thwart Voldemort's plot once again.

Moreover, judging from Quirrell's miserable state last semester, Tom Riddle's possession alone consumes a person's life force. If he doesn't replenish his energy, Ginny Weasley's life will be in danger.

Although Dumbledore wasn't in a hurry to stop himself, he also didn't want to see an innocent young wizard die.

Cyrus took advantage of this to dare to take Snape's potion so brazenly.

When he put away the potion and quietly slipped out of the office, Snape had already applied anti-swelling potion to all the students who had been injured by the swelling potion. At this moment, he was standing in front of Crabbe's cauldron, deep in thought.

"Hmph, a mere flicker of fire—" His gloomy gaze swept over all the young wizards, finally settling on Harry and the others.

"A clever little trick! Using magic was your downfall!"

“Harry Poot, why don’t you take out your wand and let me check what spells you’ve cast?”

Chapter 30 is not there!

Snape's irritating gaze seemed to see right through Harry, which made Harry feel extremely disgusted.

Asking for a magic wand?

It seems Snape is planning to use the Pre-Flashback Charm to see what magic Harry used.

Cyrus thought about it, then laughed again.

'A good idea, but unfortunately you've chosen the wrong target, Snape.'

Cyrus walked out wearing his cloak, just as Snape snatched Harry's wand and cast the Flashback Charm.

A spell's shadow shot out from the tip of the holly wand; it wasn't a red flame, but an expansion spell.

“Sir, this is the spell that Professor Flitwick taught us in the last class.” Harry stubbornly met Snape’s gaze.

Snape silently stared at his green eyes behind his glasses, miraculously refraining from pursuing the matter further. Instead, he changed the subject: "Is that so? It seems our Mr. Potter thinks that having the Inflation Charm eliminates the need to learn how to concoct an Inflation Potion?"

"I didn't, sir!"

"No? Then why is your potion so diluted?" Snape found a fault. "Gryffindor, deduct ten points!"

-

"Gryffindor deducts 10 points!"

Harry dramatically mimicked Snape's gesture of deducting points from his grades in the bathroom: "I don't know if Ginny saw it, but he was obviously just picking a fight on purpose!"

“Not really, your potion was definitely too diluted,” Hermione said matter-of-factly. “But I didn’t expect there to be such a spell, a flashback spell? We almost got exposed, thankfully it was Ginny who stole the potion.”

"The strange thing is, Snape seemed to have completely forgotten about it afterward, and didn't mention it at all during the second half of the class," Ron said curiously. "And Harry, could you please stop staring at Snape so recklessly in the future? I'm always afraid you two will start fighting—"

Or kiss her.

This was the half-sentence that Ron didn't say aloud.

"Wait, Ron, what did you just say?" Cyrus's mind went blank, as if pricked by a needle. "Harry was staring at Snape the whole time?"

“That’s right, so what?” Harry said dismissively. “He can deduct points from my score, but I’m not going to back down! Let him deduct points if he wants! I don’t want him to think I’m a coward, that will only make him happier!”

“You’re wrong, Harry. If you don’t make eye contact with him, Snape will definitely find a place to secretly drop the little pearl,” Cyrus said jokingly.

But that's not actually the point; the point is the eye contact!

Everyone knows that Snape was a master of Occlumency. Even Voldemort could hardly see through his Occlumency (unless Voldemort picked up his wand and was determined to find out Snape's thoughts, in which case Snape would probably become an idiot), and Occlumency was actually created to prevent Legilimency.

A master of Occlumency would also be quite adept at mind control and thought manipulation.

When Harry and Snape locked eyes, Snape probably already knew all their secrets.

As for the Flashback Curse and that nasty attitude, it was all just Snape acting. He simply didn't want anyone to know, or rather, he didn't want to admit, that he was protecting James Potter's son.

What annoyed Cyrus was that Snape probably already knew Ginny was involved. He now had another informant to watch out for while he was at Hogwarts.

However, this was somewhat unavoidable, since he hadn't grown up in the wizarding world and wasn't particularly sensitive to magic.

Cyrus was feeling a bit annoyed and just hoped nothing unexpected would happen.

Steam rose continuously from the cramped toilet stall, and the viscous potion bubbled and gurgled, like a lump of scalding mud. Hermione painstakingly processed the potion ingredients, pouring in the powdered snakeskin and a small piece of horn.

"That should be it, probably in a little over a week! Let's go out first, my neck is almost stiff. I really don't know why you two are still crammed in here when you're not helping at all!" she complained.

Meanwhile, Snape silently returned to his classroom.

"A two-horned beast's horn and an African tree snake's skin—intending to refine a compound potion? If you can actually make it, I'll have to praise you a few times." The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, a fleeting smile that looked like a twitch in his cheek.

It's a pity Harry didn't inherit Lily's potion-making talent; unsurprisingly, the Polyjuice Potion will likely be brewed by that know-it-all. Harry and Ron aren't qualified to assist her. The first-year student, Ginny Weasley, though, does have some talent.

However, Snape disapproved of Hermione's rigid and dogmatic ways.

"Lack of creativity."

Hermione's potions skills were indeed far inferior to Snape's, as evidenced by the Half-Blood Prince episode. After Harry obtained Snape's old notebook, he immediately stole the spotlight from Hermione in Potions class, becoming number one.

Perhaps they are both perfect scores, but Hermione gets a perfect score because her skill level is perfect, while Snape gets a perfect score because his maximum score is only one hundred.