Snape had been in a very bad mood lately.
Ever since the wager duel, he had practically been avoiding Murphy.
He was even somewhat unwilling to appear in crowded places like the Great Hall. Whenever people looked at him, he felt as though they were pointing and whispering about him, as if they were mocking him behind his back.
He knew it was only an illusion.
He was a professor now, not some student who had made a fool of himself. No one would dare laugh at him.
Even so, when Flitwick comforted him by saying, "Don't take it to heart," he had nearly bristled. He did not need comfort! Much less pity! That brat had merely cheated. He had not lost!
"Forget it, Tom..." Hermione grabbed Tom, who was about to block Snape's path. "He's even scarier than before. I seriously doubt you'll come back alive."
"Don't worry." Tom smiled. "He can't kill me a second time."
After experiencing the darkness of the past few days, he truly was not that afraid of a professor anymore.
Under his friends' puzzled gazes, Tom stopped Snape in the corridor leading to the underground classrooms.
"Professor, could I take a moment of your time?"
Snape, who strode along like the wind, his whole body resembling a giant bat flying close to the ground, stopped. "Move aside, Lucas. Otherwise, Gryffindor loses fifty points!"
"I'm in Slytherin, Professor." Tom smiled.
"Oh, really? How surprising."
"I have a question I need to ask you."
"Can't the all-knowing Murphy Darkholme answer your question?"
"Professor Murphy personally admitted that he did not understand it, and that you might."
"Ha, how rare."
"Professor, I want to know whether you can make the Elixir of Life."
"What?" Snape's eyes instantly sharpened.
"I remember you once said that you could