The Half-Blood Prince's Shock!

Devero was, all in all, very satisfied with the banquet.

But it was not perfect.

There were three reasons for this.

The first was that, apart from Marcus, the other students didn't really pay him any mind.

He suspected Draco Malfoy had orchestrated it.

There was a clear tendency to isolate Devero.

Of course, Devero didn't care at all.

He was only interested in the castle, or rather, in the Trait Upgrade Card.

He didn't pay any attention to the petty games played by these underage brats.

The second reason was that the Baron the Bloody had sat directly diagonally across from Devero.

Well.

Having a man covered in blood sitting across from you.

It was bound to affect one's appetite to some degree.

Devero hadn't touched any red food all night.

However, the one who clearly had more of an issue with it was Malfoy.

He hadn't eaten a single bite.

Devero used his gloomy expression as a side dish.

His appetite only grew better.

As for the third reason, it was Snape appearing suddenly to interrupt his feast.

"Alexander, come with me."

Devero hadn't even waited for the final dessert to be served.

A familiar, low voice rang out.

It made the hair on the back of Devero's neck stand up.

Oh no, he thought to himself.

He turned his head stiffly.

He saw Professor Snape, dressed in a black cloak, his eyes as sharp as a serpent's.

"Your problems, I need to resolve them."

Hearing this, Devero's face immediately fell.

He put down the pudding he had been looking forward to eating for so long.

He stood up and followed behind Snape.

Draco Malfoy's eyes lit up.

He whispered excitedly to Goyle beside him.

He pointed at Devero.

Crabbe said rather foolishly.

"That guy just got called away by a teacher!"

"Hahaha, I thought I'd have to get my dad involved, but now Professor Snape knows, and he's on great terms with my dad! He's so good to me! Alexander is definitely going to be expelled!"

Draco's tone was filled with schadenfreude.

"Yeah, and he was talking about getting first in the year, now he's going to be expelled right at the start of term!"

Goyle chimed in.

The three of them laughed even more smugly.

Marcus, however, watched their retreating backs with some concern.

"That shouldn't be the case... but for Professor Snape to come and call him personally... sigh... I guess things aren't looking too good."

He muttered to himself.

Just like that, all the Slytherins felt that Devero was about to be expelled.

Up at the staff table, Dumbledore looked toward the Slytherin direction.

His clear, blue eyes narrowed slightly.

Devero followed Professor Snape through the dim corridor.

His mood was complicated.

He didn't know where Professor Snape was taking him.

Yet, a faint sense of unease lingered in his heart.

His primary fear was being expelled.

If that happened, it would be difficult to make contact with the school professors again.

Snape's footsteps echoed through the empty corridor.

Devero followed closely behind.

He prayed silently that everything would be resolved smoothly.

Snap!

Snape slammed a large piece of parchment onto the desk.

"Write down your simplified formula for the Polyjuice Potion and the corresponding brewing logic here."

After Snape brought Devero into his office, he used his wand to pull up a chair for the boy before plopping down into his own seat.

His eyes were fixed intently on Devero.

This actually made Devero breathe a sigh of relief.

At least it wasn't about the incident where he hurt someone on the train.

He sat down and began to write with Snape's quill.

Although he had only conceived this approach after obtaining the Potion Spirit, it had not yet been tested through experimentation.

However, Devero had an intuition.

It would work.

Trusting in the red-tier trait, Devero wrote it down directly.

Throughout the process, Snape did not say a word.

The only sound in the office was the scratching of the quill against the parchment.

In less than fifteen minutes, Devero had written down the entire content.

He was so fast that Snape even raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

He had originally assumed that a child like Devero would take at least half an hour to write out something so complex.

He hadn't expected it to be finished so quickly.

Of course, Devero was fast.

He had already memorized these things by heart before coming to Hogwarts.

Snape took the parchment and began to read.

To be honest, even now, he remained skeptical of Devero's claims.

He still felt that Devero might have made some kind of deal with a dark wizard in Knockturn Alley, who had not only taught him spells but also various methods of brewing potions.

But now, he wasn't so sure.

Snape sat up straight, picked up a quill, and began to carefully deduce the logic according to Devero's ideas.

He became completely immersed in the world of potions.

Only then could Devero finally take a good look at Snape's office.

The moment he had stepped through the door, he had felt the temperature plummet.

It felt like this place where Slytherin stayed was a degree colder than anywhere else.

A few dim oil lamps hung on the surrounding walls.

They emitted a faint glow.

In the center of the office stood a wide desk.

The desk was piled high with all sorts of books.

Parchment, bottles, and jars.

Vials of liquid in various colors shimmered with a strange luster under the lamplight.

Some of the liquids were even swirling slowly.

As if they were alive.

On one corner of the desk lay a thick, black-bound book.

Some illegible text was written on it in silver ink.

Behind the desk was a high-backed chair.

The chair was covered with a soft black velvet cushion.

Professor Snape was sitting right there.

His black robes appeared even deeper in the dim light.

His face was shrouded in shadow.

Only a pair of sharp, contemplative eyes glinted in the darkness.

Behind him.

There was a wooden door.

On the door, a chipped brass plaque had some faintly engraved words.

"Storage Room"

Devero's eyes lit up.

This was a good place!

In the original story, the main cast relied on stealing herbs from Snape's storage room several times.

That was how they managed to get through their predicaments.

He reckoned he might become a frequent visitor here too, heh heh.

Half an hour later.

Devero had already started yawning.

Only then did Snape put down the parchment with a look of amazement.

By now, the parchment was covered in all sorts of annotations.

It was so densely packed that the original content was barely visible.

"Impossible!"

Devero raised an eyebrow.

Was this Old Bat still doubting him?

"This absolutely cannot be something that those people in Knockturn Alley could produce!!"

Devero nodded in satisfaction.

That was indeed impossible!

Snape let out a long sigh.

He leaned back against his chair.

He rubbed his forehead and looked at Devero.

The look in his eyes was as if he were staring at a monster.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

Devero was a bit confused by Snape's abrupt question.

"When you were an apprentice before, why didn't you do it like this? Proposing your own improvements and such?"

Snape's tone was much kinder than before.

His facial expression had even relaxed.

But he still carried a hint of shock and confusion.

He was so stunned by Devero that he could hardly maintain his usual airs.

This kid's line of thinking was a massive discovery that could completely change the brewing methods for this type of potion!

It might even have a significant impact on the entire field of potioneering!

He was absolutely a Potion Prodigy the likes of which history had never seen!

Yet, he had remained obscure under his own tutelage for so many years?

It truly baffled Snape.

"Er, you wouldn't let me."

Devero delivered the answer he had prepared for so long.

He knew this would surely leave Snape speechless.

"What? You... hss..."

Snape instinctively wanted to retort.

But as he opened his mouth, he recalled his past attitude toward Devero.

He suddenly felt that the boy actually had a point.

He really had never let him voice any opinions.

Seeing his expression, Devero curled the corner of his mouth.

Being able to choke this Old Bat was truly tied with dealing with Malfoy as one of Devero's two favorite pastimes at the moment!