A Second Encounter with Snape

"You followed me all the way and watched me the entire time." Snape's dead-fish eyes fixed coldly on Anton as he slightly raised his wand. "If you can't give me an explanation, I wouldn't mind hitting you with a nasty curse."

It's over. Snape caught me!

As a Teacher at school, he might have been awful, but he was still a decent person.

But in the Land of Chaos? Heh.

Anton knew Snape too well. His heart was as hard as stone. He truly would kill people. Even Snape himself had no idea of the fearsome reputation he carried among Dark Wizards. It had been built upon corpses split in half by some sharp spell over the years.

He really would kill me!

Anton reached that conclusion instantly.

He quickly assessed the difference in strength between them and helplessly slipped the Old Wizard's wand back into its concealed clasp.

He dropped the tree trunk, raised his empty hands, and gave a French salute. "Snape, I mean no harm."

Snape swiftly glanced around. Once he saw no one nearby, he approached at once. "How did you recognize me?"

Oh~ Obviously because of that terrible hair of yours, like it had been soaked in cream for three days and nights.

Anton seriously suspected that if he said that out loud, Snape would bury him somewhere in this barren mountain.

Having spent so long under the pressure of life and death, Anton had long since developed a strong heart and a sharp mind.

Without that, he would have died long ago at the side of someone as terrifying and temperamental as the Old Wizard.

Anton gestured at his face. "We know each other. Shall I remove my disguise?"

Snape nodded faintly.

Anton lowered his hood, removed his mask, swallowed a dose of the prepared voice antidote, then took off the iron pot and backpack from his back.

"I have a dream."

The time spent removing his disguise gave Anton enough time to sort through his thoughts.

As he spoke of his dream, Anton's eyes seemed to shine. "I long to become a Potions master."

"When I was young, I wandered from one Wandering Wizard settlement to another. I had nothing to do. My life was utterly miserable."

"Just when I thought I would spend the rest of my life rotting away somewhere in the world with people as rotten as them, unnoticed by anyone..."

"As if it were Heaven's will, a Daily Prophet was blown by the wind and smacked hard into my face."

"It had your portrait on it." Anton looked at Snape with overflowing emotion.

"It said you had improved the Wolfsbane Potion. The paper used so many words of praise."

"You have no idea. At the time, every Wandering Wizard settlement was singing your praises. Countless Werewolves fell to their knees and wept."

At the height of his excitement,

Anton clenched his fists and raised them. "At that moment, I swore that I would become someone like you!"

"Not only did I study Potions diligently, I also searched everywhere for information about you."

Anton did his best to imitate one of his ex-girlfriend's friends from his previous life. That girl had been an insane, obsessive fan of some celebrity.

"You are the guiding light illuminating the path of my life!"

"You are the reason I grit my teeth and keep going whenever I'm exhausted!"

"You are the one unchanging faith in my life."

"My idol~"

Anton's cry of "idol" was disgustingly sappy. His expression made him look like an utterly devout believer finally meeting God.

Even someone as hard-hearted as Snape got goosebumps.

When he saw Anton excitedly step forward, he panicked slightly and quietly backed away half a step.

Anton had completely gotten into character.

Snape coldly raised his wand. "Don't come any closer!"

Yet this obsessive fan pressed his forehead against the tip of the wand. His eyes were hazy and full of tears. "I know I'm naturally dull. Maybe I'll never achieve anything close to what you have in this life. Sometimes, I feel so tired. So tired."

"You're like a star in the sky, so impossibly far away."

"Kill me. Let me die beneath your wand..." Anton let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I think I would be happy."

The wind howled past.

A fallen leaf lightly slapped Anton's face.

He raised an eyebrow, opened his eyes, and looked around. "Idol?"

"Idol?"

His idol had vanished without a trace, leaving him feeling terribly forlorn. Hahaha.

Anton picked up his backpack again, then found his Old Wand on the ground. Humming a tune, he continued onward.

That performance just now had been a little embarrassing.

But at least he had survived safely.

Life was sometimes this difficult. A young child had to throw away his dignity just to survive. Sigh.

Anton felt rather bitter.

This is too hard~~

"Expelliarmus!"

The wand in his hand flew away again.

Again?!

Anton's expression turned cold. He quietly drew his spare wand from its concealed clasp. As long as it wasn't a wizard on Snape's level, he had decided he would definitely kill them. Did they think his Cruciatus Curse couldn't kill people?

He looked up.

Holy shit!

"Idol?!!!"

This bastard Snape had somehow appeared again.

Was this a return strike?

"You nearly fooled me!" Snape sneered. "I remembered your face. You sold me Moonlight Turtle brains at The Leaky Cauldron. You didn't look excited at all when you saw me then."

It was more than a lack of excitement. Snape's sensitive heart had been badly wounded at the time.

When Hagrid took out the Galleons, that child's eyes had contained nothing but Hagrid, as if Snape did not exist at all.

It was as if he were saying—hey, Snape, you're not even as good as a deformed giant.

No one knew how annoyed he had actually been then.

Yes, he really was that petty!

"How can you suspect me like this?!" Anton looked as though he had suffered the deepest humiliation, his face flushing bright red.

This was the critical moment that tested one's nerves. Before, he might only have needed the skill to bluff, but now it was absolutely a test of resilience.

Still, when it came to resilience, perseverance, and patience, who had he ever feared?

Anton's thoughts seemed to travel back to his previous life. Back then, after his ex-girlfriend's friend heard rumors that her idol had exploited fans sexually, she had completely lost her mind. Even when his girlfriend tried to comfort her, he had been a little scared just watching.

How terrifying it was when a dream shattered.

"How can you suspect me?!" Anton's eyes turned red.

"Do you know what I went through back then? No, you don't know at all!" Anton became hysterical, roaring.

"My Teacher died! His body was ignited by terrifying potion, and the explosion was so powerful that it blasted a two-meter-wide crater into the ground. I was all alone then, with no one to rely on. I wandered everywhere. I didn't know where to go next."

Anton forcefully held up two fingers. "Two months. I starved for a full two months, barely getting a meal now and then."

"You have no idea how grateful I was when you bought my Moonlight Turtle brains!"

"But..."

"You actually suspect me!"

Anton glared coldly at Snape. "Snape, give me back my wand. I want to duel you!"

"Today, either you kill me, or I kill you!"

"If I kill you, then you'll still be that perfect idol in my heart."

"..." Snape wore a strange expression and suddenly wondered whether he had remembered wrong.

Though this child kept talking about killing and killing, his eyes were filled with tears of disappointment. It left Snape feeling terribly uncomfortable.

It seemed he really had hurt someone who admired him.

The Old Wand flew back into Anton's hand.

"???"

Anton stared blankly at the wand in his hand. Holy shit, what was he supposed to do now? Were they really going to duel?

Should he fire off a Cruciatus Curse without warning?

If he ambushed him, could he win?

Snape's expression softened. "How far have you gotten in Potions?"

Anton blinked, hurriedly opened his backpack, rummaged around, and carefully pulled out a sheet of parchment.

Looking at the backpack packed full of paper notes, Snape finally believed Anton's words.

What Snape did not know was that all of them were the Old Wizard's notes. Only one sheet bore Anton's own handwriting.

That was only because Anton had accidentally coughed blood onto it and had been made to copy it by the Old Wizard.

His hand was extremely steady as he pulled out that single sheet.

Without the slightest change in expression, he handed it to Snape.

Please, let Snape only look at this one. Otherwise, I'm done for~~~

Though he was nervous to death, Anton still tried his best to maintain the aggrieved expression of someone whose idol had doubted him.

Snape tugged at the corner of his mouth, treating it as a friendly smile. He accepted the parchment just as he had accepted the homework of countless students.

But as he read, his brows gradually furrowed.

"What potion is this?"

"A potion meant to enhance perception, Idol," Anton answered quickly. This potion formula record was an important part of the Eye of the Wizard potion.

"It's very imaginative, and the approach is quite unique." Snape gave Anton a surprised look. "You have talent."

Anton blinked. This wasn't his research.

Still, this at least told him where the Old Wizard stood in Potions. Even Snape thought it was good.

"It's just overly complicated. There are many unnecessary steps."

Snape set down the suitcase containing Nagini, sat on it, and placed the parchment in front of Anton. "From here to here, there are seven procedures in total that can all be simplified. You only need to add powder ground from Crimson Moonflower roots and stems to replace them."

"And here..."

In the night wind, Snape explained for a full hour, analyzing the entire formula in simple, easy-to-understand terms.

The parchment became covered in his red annotations.

Even after Snape drifted away, Anton still stared blankly at that parchment.

He actually understood this complex potion now.

In just one hour, he understood it all!

Other than following the Old Wizard's instructions when processing ingredients, he had no theoretical foundation whatsoever.

"Clap, clap, clap." The Old Wizard floated over from the distance, applauding. "I witnessed a splendid performance of deception, Anton. You have a gift for becoming a Dark Wizard."

Anton pursed his lips and spread the parchment out before the Old Wizard. "Perhaps you should take a look at this."

"You dare scribble over my formula?" The Old Wizard flew into a rage. But before long, he fell silent, staring intently at the parchment. In the end, he sighed. "After becoming a ghost, it seems I can no longer think as I once did."

He looked at the parchment again and exclaimed in admiration, "A Potions master truly lives up to his name."

"Yes." Anton gazed in the direction Snape had left. "Now, he truly is my idol."

Snape had opened a door to Potions for him. It was dazzling, extraordinary, and utterly intoxicating.

It seemed he had truly begun to like Potions.

He looked forward to studying at Hogwarts, then openly taking his own research results to seek guidance from that Potions master instead of deceiving him hypocritically.

Of course, he would not feel ashamed now. He only wanted to live. That was all.