After the Flying Class, there was Snape's Potions Class. Ian, even if he didn't care about the college points, had to attend the class, or else his life wouldn't be very comfortable in the coming days.
This time.
No lateness.
And successfully teamed up with Aurora.
There were many changes in the details.
The only thing unchanged was Professor Snape's sarcastic nitpicking.
"Your potion lacks the most important focus and attention; the cockroach is chopped too coarsely, affecting both the color and efficacy of your potion."
"Mr. Prince, is it your arrogance that makes you think you can just casually deal with me? Ha, I believe not even...". Snape was about to say that Diagon Alley wouldn't sell such garbage when he stopped mid-sentence.
"Here, this one is finely chopped."
Ian immediately handed over the second bottle, which made Snape pause slightly, his expression became somewhat surprised, and right after, he began trying to pick apart Ian's second potion.
A series of comments.
Before even reaching the stage of mockery, Ian already handed over the potion with the corrected defect, which finally made Snape lose his composure and loudly questioned Ian with a livid face.
"Are you mocking me?"
His spittle flew, which Ian deftly dodged.
"No, Professor, after finishing the first potion, I self-reflected on the flaws you summarized. Shouldn't you feel immensely gratified about this?"
Ian's tone was sincere, his expression serious, but his voice was slightly louder, which attracted the attention of students from both Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
"..."
Snape opened his mouth.
He could sense the cunning thoughts of the little wizard but couldn't find a retort at the moment.
"Brew it again!"
In the end, unresolved between silently accepting Ian's words and finding other excuses to counter, Professor of Potions Severus Snape opted for the most brainless and irrational approach.
You could say.
This professor truly lived up to his reputation.
"Sorry, Professor, I've used up all the ingredients." Ian shrugged, not panicking at all, his robe opened to reveal it's filled with all the potions meant to be brewed in this class.
"Damn it! When did you brew the potions?" Snape's expression changed drastically, rushing towards the ingredient cupboard, he only opens it during class, yet still, a thief got him.
"I didn't break any rules, it was done during this class." Ian watched as Snape rushed towards Aurora's direction, then with his keen sense of smell directly pulled out a wooden box from under the table.
"Traceless Extension Charm..."
Snape's expression was utterly vivid.
Inside the wooden box, he saw over twenty crucibles set up. The little wizard, to prevent his premature discovery, even rigged a small air purifier outside the box.
"Nothing to do with me!"
Aurora decisively raised both hands.
"..."
Snape's feelings were truly complex, for one person to brew so many pots of potion simultaneously, although not particularly complex recipes, is definitely extremely challenging.
Many potion experts cannot precisely manage the quality issues in such synchronous brewing, yet a first-year little wizard achieved this.
Perhaps he should feel happy and gratified for this.
However.
No matter how hard Snape tried, he could only muster a gritted teeth expression.
"Even if what you brewed is not considered mishandling of potions, Hogwarts has no need for such a large amount of Bone Healing Potion!" Snape slammed the table, so angry he was trembling.
"What if there's a great need? No one can say for sure, right, Professor." Aurora's sudden interjection made Snape glance at her and dare not issue any mockery or questioning.
Some things.
Perhaps the little wizard wouldn't do.
But the little witch probably would dare.
As the professor of Slytherin College, does he not understand his own college's students? The big bat flicked its sleeve and didn't stop, moving on to inspect someone else's assignment.
"Awesome assist! Well done!"
Ian sat back next to Aurora, giving the girl beside him a thumbs up.
"You obviously can brew flawless Bone Healing Potions; why make so many defective ones? Is it just to irritate your uncle?"
Aurora tilted her head in confusion.
"Of course, it's because... it's all Dumbledore's instructions." Ian naturally wouldn't admit anything about whether or not to annoy someone; he had a perfect excuse to justify his actions.
"Is that so?"
Aurora saw Ian seriously nod, she seemed to understand something and pondered. To be honest, Ian targeted Snape because he knew Snape was about to target him.
See.
After Potions Class.
Snape, indeed, just like in Ian's memory, kept Ian behind.
"I understand, you reminded me I can't use magic when cleaning toilets, so tonight I need to clean them again." Ian preempted what Snape was about to say.
"?????"
Being robbed of his line, Snape's eyes widened with surprise again. In any case, it was fortunate that he prepared more than one line, so he immediately started assigning tasks to Ian.
"Because of your sly magic, the lavatory is now clean enough, you need to wax all the toilets, I've added something inside to prevent you from..."
Snape found Ian had already pulled out a prepared large bucket from under the lectern before he could even raise his hand, completely unable to suppress the odd feeling he'd held back since class began.