No surprises.
After returning to the Common Room to hide the box in his trunk and casting a Concealment Charm on it, Ian completely missed Hogwarts's dinner hour.
A cold wind blew outside the castle.
Ian was not the kind of Young Wizard who would choose to go hungry. The kitchens directly beneath the Great Hall could easily solve that problem, but he first chose to take a detour to the castle's dungeons.
Knock knock!
Ian found his destination and knocked on the door.
No one responded.
"It's me, Professor Snape. I'm Ian—the first place winner you personally selected in Potions Class today." Ian raised his voice and shouted toward the office behind the door.
Click~
A moment later.
The office door opened.
A disheveled Snape stood expressionlessly in the doorway.
Behind him was a room just as messy as he was. It was shaped like three enormous hemispheres joined together, with shelves along the walls packed full of glass jars of every kind.
"Prince, bedtime is almost here. If you do not wish to be caught by me and given detention, the only place you should be right now is Ravenclaw's Common Room." The Old Bat put particular emphasis on "Ravenclaw," his mockery faintly carrying a resentment he could not let go of.
"Can detention teach me something new? The kind I can't learn from textbooks?" Ian looked up at Snape, his green eyes filled with anticipation.
"..."
The corner of Snape's eye twitched. "If you cannot correct your attitude toward potions, you will never learn any real skill from me."
His voice was as cold as ever.
"Then I'll apologize right now and correct my attitude." Ian sensed a pleasant surprise in Snape's words. He immediately stood outside the door, bent forward at a perfect ninety degrees, and