Pretty Cute

Tom knew perfectly well that the system had only said he could earn House Points to exchange for credits. It had never said that losing points would cost him any.

Snape could deduct points if he wanted. In the end, he'd only be hurting himself.

Snape looked at Tom and felt as though he were facing a hedgehog curled into a ball, with no way to get through to him.

Teachers only had a few ways to deal with students: deduct points, go to the head of house, tell their parents, give them detention, issue a serious demerit, or expel them.

Deducting points or going to the head of house would only backfire. Tom was an orphan, so telling his parents was pointless. He'd stubbornly resisted detention, and issuing a serious demerit or expelling him required Albus Dumbledore's approval. For a small matter like this, Dumbledore would do no more than reprimand Snape.

Tom Riddle was an impossible troublemaker! Snape's blood pressure shot up with rage. Pointing at the door, he roared, "Get out! Get out of my office!"

"Goodbye, Professor!" Tom got up and left. Before he went, he deliberately left the office door wide open, getting back at Snape for the cold reception he'd given him earlier.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten that this was the magical world. As soon as he stepped outside, he heard a loud bang behind him. Snape had shut the door with his wand, making the corridor rumble.

The students who had just arrived in the dungeons for Potions Class jumped in fright and curiously looked over at Tom.

Inside his office, Snape slumped in his chair, gasping for breath.

In psychology, there was a phenomenon called cognitive dissonance: when a person's actions clashed with their self-image, the brain would hide or distort memories to avoid anxiety and regret.

He had spent years avoiding the mistake he'd made back then, when he called Lily a "Mudblood." But today, a student had forcibly dragged him back into those painful memories.

"People who call others Mudbloods don't deserve love. Heh." Snape looked as if he were laughing and crying at once, his chest so tight he could hardly breathe.

The usually punctual Potions professor was uncharacteristically late that day, showing up only halfway through class. His eyes were icy, and no one dared say much.

Elsewhere, when Daphne saw that Tom was unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief and said happily, "So Professor Snape really is reasonable. That older student was wrong about him."

"Reasonable? Mm, you're right." Tom rubbed his chin. Thinking back, Snape had done nothing but trade barbs with him the whole time and hadn't dared lay a hand on him. He hadn't even needed to use his backup plan.

The two of them sat by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the common room, watching the underwater scenery for a while.

Daphne's eyes lit up. She tugged at Tom and said, "I'm going to buy a camera and take pictures of this place to show my little sister Astoria when I get home!"

"You really dote on your sister," Tom remarked. Ever since they'd met on the train, Daphne had kept talking about her. She was completely obsessed with her little sister.

Daphne smiled proudly. "Once you meet Astoria, you'll like her too. She'll be coming to Hogwarts next year."

Tom smiled and nodded. "With a sister as cute as you, she must be lovely too."

The unexpected compliment left Daphne stunned. Her cheeks turned bright red in an instant, and she couldn't say a word. She turned and fled into the girls' dormitory.

Tom stood there, baffled. "That young lady gets embarrassed way too easily."

He didn't know that Daphne had been sheltered since childhood and rarely interacted with strangers. Of course she'd be embarrassed when a boy complimented her so directly.

Shaking his head, Tom went back to the dormitory too. He had no intention of letting Zabini and the other two off the hook, but the dormitory was empty. No one was there.

Tom sat in a chair, cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself, and entered the Study Space.

Andros, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them and came over with a grin. "Your Potions teacher has plenty of good stuff in his office. Looks like we'll have to figure out how to pull a job on him!"

Tom stared at him, dumbfounded. "We just got here, and you're already talking about doing something this exciting?"

For the first time, Tom felt like he couldn't keep up with Andros.

It was already over, so why was this guy even more resentful than he was? He hadn't even taken a loss, and still he wanted payback.

Seeing Tom's shocked expression, Andros burst out laughing. "Tom, don't get me wrong. I'm not petty. It's just that Snape has something I want. No, to be precise, it's something you need."

"Something I need?" Tom paused for two seconds, then immediately caught on. "You mean those Potions ingredients?"

"Exactly." Andros nodded, then changed the subject. "Tom, do you know how wizards in my time fought?"

Tom looked at him in confusion. "How else? They blasted each other with magic. If they were underhanded, they'd use poison, assassination, or ambushes. If all else failed, they'd gang up on their opponents. Anything to win."

Andros's eyelid twitched. He rubbed his forehead. "Most of what you said was right, but next time, don't put it so bluntly."

He couldn't deny it. In that era, wizards did whatever they could to survive and win—even worse things than Tom had described.

Andros straightened up and brought the conversation back on track. "Magic is certainly a wizard's greatest weapon, but there's something else..." He struck a bodybuilding pose.

Then he shouted, "You can't overlook the power of the body! Massive muscles, thrilling battles!"

"Whether you're dodging spells or trying to get the first strike in, you need a strong body. And in close combat, your fists can be more useful than spells!" Andros looked immensely proud.

"Back then, I beat at least eighty wizards to death with these iron fists of mine. Even a few so-called 'great men of their generation' fell to me. They'd just stand far away casting spells, and once I got close, they'd panic. Typical bookish wizards."

"I have a complete strength-training regimen, along with the Potions to go with it. I'd planned to teach you once you'd built up a bit of money. But after seeing Snape's collection just now, I think we can move the plan up."

Tom muttered, looking aggrieved, "So my poverty has been holding back my progress!" He'd known that studying required money and martial arts required even more, but he'd never realized learning magic also meant spending a fortune.

"What ingredients do we need?" Tom immediately perked up.

Andros listed the recipe. It called for more than a dozen ingredients, all high-level Potions components.

Aside from a few cheap, common herbs, the rest were more precious than the last. Dragon Heartstring cost eight Galleons an ounce, and even then it wasn't fresh.

Dragon Blood Herb cost fifteen Galleons a plant, and they needed eight.

The most outrageous ingredient was a Sphinx's eyeball. Sphinxes were even rarer than dragons and were protected creatures, so no Potions shop sold them.

Knockturn Alley might have some, but even there, they were hard to come by, and the price was anyone's guess.

And yet Snape's office had nearly everything they needed.

"Let's do it!" Tom declared, his eyes gleaming. "Let's pull a job on Snape! Students need to improve, and teachers should sponsor them. Isn't that only fair?"

"I took a look earlier. Snape's too arrogant to have enchanted the lock, and those Potions ingredients aren't protected either. We just need to find a chance to slip in."

Tom had always been cautious. Before entering Snape's office, he'd opened the Study Space in case Snape attacked, so Andros had seen everything that had happened in the office.

"I'll think of something." Tom furrowed his brow. Stealing everything for free might sound simple, but they couldn't underestimate Snape or Dumbledore. The castle belonged to them, after all, so he needed to make sure the plan was foolproof.