Sean paced nervously outside Snape's office.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
His face looked pale.
"System," Sean muttered internally, "you're absolutely sure the 'Severus's Proud Disciple' achievement is active, right?"
[The system once again reminds the host that the achievement effect is already active.]
[Please stop doubting the system.]
Sean pressed both hands against his chest and took several deep breaths to calm himself.
Then he knocked on the office door.
"Enter."
Snape's cold voice drifted from inside.
Sean pushed the door open cautiously before stepping into the office like a criminal awaiting execution.
The moment he entered, Snape looked up slowly from behind his desk.
"Well."
His dark eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Still capable of knocking before entering, Mr. Sebastian?"
Sean stood there obediently without daring to speak.
Snape's expression remained terrifyingly gloomy.
"Troll hide powder."
"Fire salamander ash."
"Aconite."
"One could reasonably conclude these ingredients were used to brew an Age Advancement Potion."
Snape's voice grew colder with every sentence.
"But in order to confuse me…"
"…you also stole devil's tail, ginger root, and armadillo bile."
Snape slowly raised his eyes toward Sean.
The pressure in the room instantly doubled.
"So naturally, I concluded that Mr. Sebastian must have secretly entered the Forbidden Forest to harvest Moonsilver Flowers personally."
Sean's scalp immediately went numb.
He genuinely hadn't expected Snape to reconstruct nearly the entire situation just from several missing ingredients.
"Stealing restricted potion ingredients."
"Entering the Forbidden Forest without authorization."
"Leaving Hogwarts grounds illegally."
Snape's lips curled into a dangerous sneer.
"And threatening castle portraits into silence."
Sean coughed awkwardly.
"You threatened them too, Professor."
Snape froze.
The corner of his eye twitched violently.
Without a word, he suddenly threw a newspaper directly onto the desk in front of Sean.
The Daily Prophet.
And right on the front page—
—Sean Sebastian smiled elegantly beneath enormous headlines.
"An underage wizard secretly performing surgery on adult wizards."
Snape's voice sounded deadly calm now.
"That alone is enough to send you to Azkaban for life."
This time, even Sean was genuinely shocked.
He never imagined Snape could deduce everything so accurately.
And annoyingly…
…Snape was right about almost every detail.
"Hand over the remaining stolen ingredients."
Snape extended one hand coldly.
Sean immediately shoved his hand into his pocket.
In reality, he secretly retrieved the extra ingredients from the system training room storage before placing them carefully on the desk.
The moment Snape saw the ingredients—
—the muscles near his mouth twitched again.
Honestly, Snape had already decided how to punish the thief.
One full year of cleaning toilets.
Permanent expulsion afterward.
But once he discovered the culprit was Sean…
…he hesitated.
For reasons Snape himself couldn't explain, he always felt an inexplicable sense of closeness whenever he looked at Sean.
He wanted to punish him.
But somehow couldn't fully bring himself to do it.
After a long silence, Snape finally stood up slowly.
"Do you know what potion I'm currently brewing, Sean?"
The sudden topic change caught Sean completely off guard.
He glanced toward the worktable nearby.
Then answered immediately:
"Felix Felicis, sir."
Snape nodded slightly.
"Very good."
Without another word, Snape turned and walked toward the office door.
"The final ingredient has not yet been added."
His tone remained indifferent.
"Do you know what happens if the wrong reagent enters the potion?"
Sean nodded carefully.
"The potion fails completely, sir."
"Correct."
Snape opened the office door.
Then, without turning back, he spoke coldly:
"I'll leave the final stage to you."
"If you fail, Sebastian…"
"…pack your belongings and prepare to leave Hogwarts."
BANG.
The office door slammed shut.
Sean immediately collapsed against the chair in relief.
At least based on Snape's attitude, he clearly intended to keep everything secret.
And honestly, Snape wasn't exaggerating.
If the Ministry discovered the truth, Sean really would end up imprisoned for life.
For the first time ever, Sean felt deeply grateful for the system's fifty bonus favourability points with Snape.
Without those points, Snape probably would've dragged him directly to the Ministry personally.
Slowly, Sean approached the brewing table.
The golden potion inside the cauldron shimmered beautifully beneath the candlelight.
Felix Felicis.
Liquid Luck.
Or as Sean preferred calling it—
"African Miracle Water."
The effects of Felix Felicis were absurd.
Anyone who drank it would experience outrageous luck for a limited time.
In the original story, Harry practically achieved everything he wanted while under its effects.
Sean stared at the bubbling potion nervously.
He roughly knew when to add the final ingredient—
Sunlight Orchid.
But only roughly.
The problem was that Sean's potion knowledge remained mostly elementary level.
Felix Felicis, meanwhile, was considered an extremely advanced potion.
One mistake and everything exploded.
Without realizing it, cold sweat slowly rolled down Sean's forehead.
His eyes remained fixed on the bubbling potion while he tightly gripped the Sunlight Orchid in one hand.
Drip.
A bead of sweat slowly slid down the bridge of his nose.
Then suddenly—
Sean's hand shot upward.
He caught the sweat droplet inches before it fell into the potion.
Only then did he finally exhale shakily.
If even one drop contaminated the potion—
—it would fail instantly.
At that exact moment, a faint almost invisible golden shimmer flashed briefly inside the cauldron.
Sean's pupils contracted.
"NOW!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Sean threw the Sunlight Orchid directly into the potion.
[Severus's Proud Disciple achievement activated.]
[Potion success rate increased by 100%.]
BOOM.
A small purple mushroom cloud exploded upward from the cauldron.
Several seconds later, Sean collapsed heavily into Snape's chair completely exhausted.
"…Finally."
"It worked."
Before he could even recover properly, the office door suddenly opened again.
Snape strode inside immediately.
Clearly, he had been waiting nearby the entire time.
The moment Snape saw the successful potion, genuine satisfaction flashed through his eyes.
With a flick of his wand, countless instruments throughout the office suddenly floated through the air like living creatures before assembling themselves automatically into an elaborate hourglass-shaped container.
The completed Felix Felicis slowly poured into it.
"Excellent work, Sean."
Snape glanced toward him calmly.
"However…"
"…how long exactly do you intend to remain seated in my chair?"
Sean froze.
Then immediately jumped upright.
"Sorry, Professor."
Snape ignored him completely while filling a tiny crystal vial with a single golden drop from the hourglass.
"Ordinarily, your assistance today would deserve a full bottle of Felix Felicis."
Then Snape looked directly at Sean again.
"But considering your repeated violations of school rules…"
"…and several wizarding laws…"
"I will give you only one drop."
Sean stared longingly at the tiny vial.
His heart physically hurt.
Snape continued coldly:
"You understand the effects of Felix Felicis already."
"One drop of a properly completed potion could grant roughly one hour of extraordinary luck."
Then he handed the vial toward Sean.
"Unfortunately, this batch has not yet completed full fermentation."
"So its effects will only last five minutes."
Even so, Sean's eyes nearly glowed.
Five minutes of miracle-level luck was still unbelievably valuable.
"Now leave."
Snape resumed his usual dead-fish expression.
But Sean didn't move.
Instead, he stared at the hourglass greedily.
Then suddenly—
"Professor Snape…"
Snape narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"…what?"
Sean smiled carefully.
"Hypothetically speaking…"
"If I found a way to shorten Felix Felicis fermentation time…"
"…could I get a little more?"
.....
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