Familiar Yet Strange

"Although you weren't late, you were a minute behind."

"Sorry, Professor. I ran into Professor Quirrell on the way here and chatted with him for a while about the Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment." Glenn bowed slightly at the classroom door.

At that, Snape furrowed his brow.

"Don't get too close to Quirrell, especially when you're alone with him."

"Why?"

"Because he's dangerous. His mind is so muddled he can't even tell which spell to use and when." Snape's voice was cold. "Sit down. Find the nearest seat."

After Glenn took a seat, Snape didn't begin the lesson right away.

"Mr. Howard, tell me, how much do you think you know about Potions at this point?"

"Not much, sir," Glenn said modestly.

He didn't say what standard he was using to measure "much," though.

"Good, Glenn. I'm glad you haven't let the fools around you go to your head. After all, when comparing yourself to them, few people could avoid becoming conceited and thinking too highly of themselves."

He paused after saying this, then continued, "Your Invigorating Potion last time was fairly well made. It was just barely good enough to satisfy me. But you still have a long way to go before you can become a Potions scholar worthy of a place in the vast history of the subject."

If students from a dozen or more years above him had heard this, their eyes would probably have nearly popped out of their heads.

That was because Professor Snape wasn't exactly a teacher with normal teaching standards.

Perhaps because he was so naturally gifted, he had very little patience when it came to teaching.

To him, learning meant having the knowledge laid out one item at a time, then reading through it all once. That was enough to understand it.

And so, this led to an especially extreme situation.

On the one hand, the lessons were so difficult that only a handful of students could possibly understand them.

On the other hand, Snape's standards for homework were extremely high.

Nearly every one of his comments would have been two levels above the standards of Potions professors at other wizarding schools.

In other words, when Snape said a potion was "just barely satisfactory," it meant it was already good enough to be sold on the market as a perfect product.

What Professor Snape didn't know was that Glenn had deliberately toned down its quality...

"Don't get complacent. Today, I'm going to teach you another, much more difficult potion. I wouldn't be surprised if it took you several days to understand its intricacies."

With that, Snape turned around and began writing on the board without another word—not even saying what potion they would be making this time.

Watching him, Glenn couldn't help but twitch an eyelid.

Fortunately, judging by what was written on the stone blackboard, it seemed to be an Invisibility Potion.

One Bouncing Mushroom Cap, one Two-Ear Grass Twig, and one portion of Troll Bogey...

To be honest, the recipe was correct, and this was indeed how the potion was brewed.

Still, Glenn often wished they would change the name "Troll Bogey," replacing some of the more unbearable ingredients with names that were less vivid and easier to stomach.

About ten minutes later, Snape turned around and asked with a flat, matter-of-fact expression, "Did you understand?"

"..."

Half an hour passed.

As the purple potion slowly turned milky white, its bubbling gradually subsided.

Glenn poured it into a crystal bottle.

After handing the Invisibility Potion over, Snape examined the liquid, then Glenn, before uncorking the bottle and giving it a sniff.

"Not bad. It'll do." He handed the potion back to Glenn.

"I thought I'd have to explain it all again, but it seems you've saved me quite a bit of time, Glenn." For once, Snape's tone wasn't icy.

In fact, his voice was always cold, whether he was dealing with the Gryffindors he despised most or the Slytherins he favored.

The only difference was that one group lost points and the other didn't.

"Since there's still plenty of time, I'll allow you to ask me a few questions. Go on. Was there anything in what I just explained that you didn't fully understand?"

"No, Professor," Glenn answered honestly.

Usually, another teacher might have been skeptical at this answer, but Snape found it almost completely unsurprising.

After all, that was how he'd been as a student—and he thought he'd explained things rather well.

"You're a lot like me, Glenn. At least when it comes to your talent for Potions," Snape said slowly.

Though there was no firm basis for the comparison, geniuses often appreciated one another, regardless of age.

Seeing a student with such exceptional talent for Potions inevitably reminded him of his own bitter school days.

"I have to say, most Gryffindors are idiots. But every now and then, there's a student who can just about keep up with my train of thought, even if it often seems like they're simply memorizing everything by rote." As he spoke, Snape stared at Glenn.

"For instance, Miss Granger's assignment. Honestly, Glenn, did you tutor her?"

Glenn paused, slightly taken aback.

To be honest, he hadn't.

Hermione was very independent in her studies. Whenever she ran into trouble with an assignment, she preferred to look up the information herself rather than ask someone else.

As for her assignments, he had happened to catch a glimpse of a few. Some parts were similar, but since they were making the same potion, it was impossible for them to have nothing in common.

So rather than wondering whether he'd tutored her, Glenn was more curious about why Professor Snape had thought to ask.

"I didn't, sir. Miss Granger and I do go to the library to study sometimes, but I think this was all her own effort."

At that, Snape's dark eyes rested on him for several seconds.

His gaze was profound—so much so that Glenn felt he wasn't looking at him at all, but through his young eyes at his own reflection, lost in a time long, long ago.

"A very familiar answer."

After a brief, rare moment of distraction, Snape stood up.

"I think there's still plenty of time left in the evening. There are a few more ingredients in the cabinet. You can use them."

With that, he swept out of the classroom in his black robes, like a giant black bat.

Watching the professor leave, Glenn let out a quiet sigh.

To be honest, that had been a good opportunity—a good chance to use Legilimency.

But just before he acted, he'd seen Snape's eyes and realized that Snape had protected those memories with Occlumency.

He didn't know how strong it was, but it seemed the professor had used all his strength. If Glenn tried to force his way in, he would definitely be discovered...

"Who could have guessed that a harsh, cold professor like him also had precious memories he'd fight to the death to keep hidden from others?"

Perhaps no one could.

After a moment's reflection, Glenn got up and walked over to the cabinets Snape had mentioned.

Although this attempt at an investigation had failed, at least he could still get several dozen bottles of Invisibility Potion out of it.

But when Glenn opened the cabinet and saw that it held only a few bottles of ingredients, he couldn't help frowning.

"The Slytherin Head of House this year really isn't generous..."

They'd even used Troll Bogey from the troll on Halloween!