Spiderweb-like cracks covered the entire cauldron in a single split second, and then it exploded with a sharp bang, scattering soil all across the ground.
A Ravenclaw boy sitting next to Kyle was instantly struck by terrible bad luck.
Don't ask why Kyle, a little Badger, had blended into the ranks of the little Eagles. If asked, sitting here meant that if he caused any trouble and Snape didn't look carefully enough, he might end up deducting points from Ravenclaw instead.
The potion in the Ravenclaw boy's cauldron happened to be reaching a critical stage, and when hit by the flying fragments of Kyle's exploding cauldron, his own pot exploded as well.
A large quantity of unknown green liquid splashed all over his face, instantly riddling his handsome, fair face with crater-like burns from the corrosive potion.
Fortunately, Kyle promptly sealed the mouth of the Mandrake root—which had already grown to the height of a full-grown person—otherwise a second disaster would have broken out right inside the classroom.
Realizing that he had caused another major scene in the old bat's class, Kyle activated Human Transfiguration, instantly changing to another face while his necktie and badge turned into the Ravenclaw style.
Only then did he look over at the unfortunate young brother beside him who had been caught in the crossfire.
"Sorry, sorry." With a wave of Kyle's wand, the potion splattered all over the place was instantly swept clean.
The light of a Healing Charm illuminated the wand tip, rapidly restoring the boy's face to its original clean and fair state.
Just then, Snape dragged his eternal big black cloak, gliding into the corner where Kyle was like a giant black bat.
"Kyle Dumbledore... do you take me for a fool?"
Glancing at the Mandrake root behind Kyle—which stood over three meters tall including the leaves on its head—Snape's expression and tone were both incomparably icy.
Don't think changing a face or swapping clothes could fool his eyes.
In Hogwarts, who else would dare to mess around in his class besides this little Demon King?
The last person with guts that huge would have to be traced back to a certain white-haired dumpling in some parallel world.
The old bat originally intended to open his mouth to deduct five hundred points from Hufflepuff, but remembering what had happened a while back, his mouth twitched, and in the end, no words of point deduction came out. He merely dropped a casual sentence—
"Stay behind after class."
With a flick of his black robes, the old bat turned around and continued pacing among the students, checking whether their potion-brewing procedures were up to standard and correcting their foolish mistakes.
Kyle narrowed his eyes slightly. Ever since the hand-chopping incident last year where he and Snape had engaged in a wave of predictions and counter-predictions, Snape had never spoken to him about staying behind or detention.
Usually, if he wanted him in detention, Snape would simply lock the classroom door first.
So, the old bat had something to discuss with him?
When the bell for the end of class rang, Kyle didn't pack up his things and leave like the other students.
Unhurriedly using the Vanishing Spell to dispose of the corpses of a dozen or so Mandrake roots piled up in the corner behind him, Kyle waited patiently for the other students to leave.
"Protego Totalum, Salvio Hexia..." Snape raised his wand, sealing the doors of the Potions dungeon.
"Looks like something important, Professor?"
A slight twitch appeared on the old bat's face, and under Kyle's gaze, he gave a slow nod.
"I have found a clue to the next Horcrux."
A hint of interest surfaced on Kyle's face. "Where is it?"
Although the relationship between him and Snape constantly fluctuated between teacher-student and arch-rivals, it didn't stop them from sharing a common enemy—Voldemort.
Snape didn't answer immediately. "You and I both know that over ten years ago, the Dark Lord entrusted several of his Horcruxes to his most trusted subordinates for safekeeping..."
"Bellatrix Lestrange." A surname floated out of Snape's mouth. "She is keeping one of the Horcruxes."
A while ago in Azkaban, after Snape disposed of Peter Pettigrew, he released those imprisoned Death Eaters.
Those released Death Eaters were naturally deeply grateful to Snape—this pseudo-hardcore follower of the Dark Lord, and true double agent.
What they didn't know, however, was that before releasing the Death Eaters, Snape had done one other thing—
Inside the cells of Azkaban, he drugged the still-charming married woman Bellatrix—cough, with Veritaserum, that is.
Key terms: Imprisonment, Drugging, Interrogation, Married... cough.
Bellatrix's original surname was actually Black; she only changed her surname because she married Rodolphus Lestrange, so calling her a married...
Cough, seems we've strayed off topic.
Given Bellatrix's fanatical loyalty to Voldemort, she could be considered the person in the Lestrange family most likely to keep a Horcrux for him.
The results did not disappoint Snape; he successfully obtained clues about the Horcrux from Bellatrix's mouth.
Although Bella had modified her own memories, when Snape brought up the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts, the nervous expression on her face still betrayed her, as well as Voldemort.
So unless something unexpected happened, the next Horcrux should be inside the Lestrange family vault.
As for what the Horcrux looked like, Snape hadn't been able to interrogate that out of her.
After finishing the interrogation, Snape naturally used Obliviate to erase this portion of Bellatrix's memory, which also guaranteed that she wouldn't discover what he had done.
Having done all this, Snape still felt somewhat unsatisfied.
If only Regulus Black were still alive and also locked up in Azkaban.
Through investigations from multiple angles, Snape was certain that among that batch of Death Eaters back then, the other person keeping a Horcrux for Voldemort was Regulus Black.
Regrettably, Regulus had vanished before Voldemort's downfall, and by now it was confirmed that he was dead.
Snape hadn't gone without considering using the Resurrection Stone to summon Regulus's soul back, using Impure World Reincarnation to resurrect him before conducting an interrogation.
However, things like Veritaserum had no effect on those reincarnated via Impure World Reincarnation, nor could Legilimency target a soul body.
For Regulus to be trusted by Voldemort with a Horcrux, it was certain that he was an extremely loyal Death Eater.
Trying to pry the Horcrux's location out of his soul yielded slender hopes.
In truth, what Snape didn't know was that Regulus was actually a double agent just like him.
Furthermore, back then, Voldemort hadn't given his Horcrux to Regulus, but had instead taken the Black family's house-elf, Kreacher, along with him to hide the Horcrux.
Hearing Snape's words, Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Lestrange? Where is the Horcrux?"
Kyle didn't ask Snape where he had gotten his clues.
After all, the old bat had once been a Death Eater himself, so knowing some unknown inside secrets was entirely normal.
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be in their family vault deep beneath Gringotts."
Putting it that way, there was only one method left to obtain the Horcrux—
Key terms: Gringotts, Vault, Infiltration, Theft...
A hint of immense excitement flared deep in Kyle's eyes. "Don't tell my old man about this for now. He's been extremely busy lately—just let me worry about the Horcrux matters on his behalf."
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