"Pity. Clearly, fame alone is not enough."
Snape let out a cold and almost silent laugh and turned back toward the front of the classroom. Malfoy and his cronies snickered. Harry said nothing, but the expression on his face turned even worse.
Snape glanced at Hermione, whose hand was still raised high, and said, "Altair, you answer."
Altair rose to his feet. Beside him, Hermione pouted, but then she turned to look at him, her eyes full of expectation.
"Yes, Professor Snape. Powdered root of asphodel mixed with infusion of wormwood makes the Draught of Living Death, a powerful sleeping potion."
"A bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat. It is a highly effective antidote ingredient. And there is no difference between monkshood and wolfsbane. They are the same plant, both known as aconite."
Altair sat back down. Snape looked at him with satisfaction, clear approval showing in his eyes.
"Altair's answer is entirely correct. Ten points to Slytherin."
After saying that, Snape turned to Hermione.
"Perhaps Miss Granger also knew the answers. However... you ought to learn from the Altair beside you, instead of always being so eager to show yourself off."
Hermione opened her mouth, clearly about to say something, but beneath the desk Altair gently tugged at her once, and in the end she held her tongue.
Seeing that, Snape said no more and turned to the lesson itself.
Today's class was on brewing a simple Cure for Boils, using only basic ingredients such as dried nettles, crushed snake fangs, horned slugs, and porcupine quills.
As the students followed the textbook and worked on their potions, Snape swept through the classroom in his black robes like an enormous bat.
Every so often, he would stop behind a Gryffindor student and stand there in silence, staring at them without a word until they became so unnerved that they made a mistake. Only then would he cut them down with a sharp reprimand before gliding away with perfect composure.
By the time Potions ended, Altair had earned another ten points for Slytherin because of his perfectly brewed potion. Malfoy had also earned five points for the flawless way he handled stewing horned slugs.
Gryffindor, meanwhile, had lost thirty points.
Ten of those came from Neville's clumsiness causing Seamus's cauldron to melt down. The rest were mistakes caused by students being frightened half to death by Snape.
As for Hermione, although she did successfully brew the potion, Snape found several faults and shortcomings in her work, so she earned no points.
"No wonder Slytherin usually wins the House Cup."
Altair had finally seen Snape's methods for himself. Reputation was not undeserved. Snape truly lived up to all the legends that circulated through Hogwarts.
"I hate Professor Snape."
After they left the classroom, Hermione said that to Altair.
"He's completely unreasonable. Don't you think he's deliberately targeting Gryffindor?"
"Perhaps. But he is Slytherin's Head of House, after all."
Altair rather liked Snape, and not for trivial reasons. Simply for all that he had done for Lily, for that one unspoken constancy, he deserved respect.
"I suppose you must like him a great deal. With him helping you, you're definitely going to earn far more House points than I am."
Hermione gave a little huff and tugged Altair along toward the library.
"Going to read again?"
Altair felt a mild headache coming on.
"You don't want to?"
Hermione turned to look at him, a faintly dangerous light appearing in her eyes.
"To be honest, no."
Altair nodded. For him, going to the library was basically a waste of time. He would do better brewing potions somewhere, or going back to the dormitory and studying Saruman's experimental notes.
Hermione looked at him for a long moment before finally letting out a soft sigh.
"All right, all right. I'll go by myself."
She released his sleeve and started up the stairs toward the library alone.
Watching her retreating back, Altair called after her, "Lunch together!"
"I know!"
Only after hearing the invitation did Hermione wave happily, then continue on her way in much better spirits.
As for Altair, he swaggered right back to the dormitory. Then, after putting on the One Ring, he slipped out of the common room behind a group of departing Slytherins while invisible.
Hidden from sight, Altair made his way through the castle until he reached Snape's office in the dungeons, where he settled down to wait.
At last, after about half an hour, Snape emerged from his office.
And the moment Snape turned to shut the door, Altair slipped inside.
Snape's private stores were kept within his office. There were countless potion ingredients there, many of them from Snape's own personal collection.
A great number of them were rare and valuable, the sort of materials you could hardly buy even if you had money. If taken to Knockturn Alley, they would probably trigger bidding wars among certain Dark wizards.
Once inside the office, Altair only had to look around once before he found the entrance to the private storeroom.
The wooden door had been sealed with magic, of course, but that was hardly enough to stop him.
As he knew from before, Hermione had broken in during second year to steal ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion. Barty Crouch Jr. and Dobby had both sneaked in as well.
"Alohomora."
A simple Unlocking Charm opened the door to the storeroom packed with valuable ingredients, and even Altair found himself a little surprised.
"Looks like I really ought to give Professor Snape a warning. Once I clean this place out, maybe he'll finally learn his lesson and start locking the storeroom with something more special. That way nobody else will be able to sneak in and steal from it."
"So in a way, I'm helping Professor Snape grow. Sorry, Professor."