Nope!

Snape's loathsome gaze seemed intent on seeing right through Harry from head to toe, which filled Harry with disgust.

Demanding his wand?

It looked as though Snape intended to use Prior Incantato to see exactly what spell Harry had cast.

Cyrus considered this, then smiled.

Not a bad idea. Unfortunately, you've got the wrong person, Snape.

Cyrus walked out wearing his cloak. By then, Snape had already snatched Harry's wand and cast Prior Incantato.

The holly wand released the ghost of a spell from its tip. It was not Red Sparks, but an Engorgement Charm.

"Sir, that's the new spell Professor Flitwick taught us last lesson." Harry stubbornly met Snape's eyes.

Snape silently watched the green eyes behind Harry's glasses. Miraculously, he did not pursue the matter, but changed the subject instead. "Is that so? Apparently, Mr. Pot-ter believes that knowing the Engorgement Charm means he no longer needs to learn how to brew an Engorgement Potion?"

"I don't, sir!"

"You don't? Then why is your potion so dilute?" Snape insisted on finding something to criticize. "Ten points from Gryffindor!"

"Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Harry theatrically imitated Snape docking his points in the Bathroom. "I don't know if you saw it, Ginny, but he was obviously picking on me on purpose!"

"Not entirely. Your potion really was too dilute," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Still, I never imagined there was a spell like that. Prior Incantato? We nearly got caught. Thank goodness Ginny was the one who stole the potion ingredients."

"The strange thing is, afterward, Snape seemed to forget all about it. He didn't mention it once during the second half of class," Ron said, puzzled. "And Harry, could you stop being so reckless about staring Snape in the eye? Every time, I'm afraid you two are going to start fighting-"

Or kissing.

That was the part Ron did not say aloud.

"Wait, Ron, what did you just say?" Cyrus felt as though a needle had stabbed his brain. "Harry kept looking Snape in the eye?"

"That's right. What about it?" Harry said dismissively. "He might be able to take points off me, but I don't want to back down! Let him take them if he wants! I refuse to let him think I'm a coward. That would only make him happier!"

"You're wrong, Harry. If you don't meet his eyes, Snape will definitely find somewhere to hide and shed a few little tears," Cyrus teased.

But that was not actually the point. The point was the eye contact!

Everyone knew that Snape was a master of Occlumency. Even Voldemort could barely find a flaw in his defenses (it would be another matter if Voldemort picked up his wand and became absolutely determined to discover Snape's thoughts, but that would probably leave Snape an imbecile). And Occlumency had, in fact, been developed to guard against Legilimency.

A master of Occlumency could hardly be bad at Legilimency either.

During the time Harry had met Snape's eyes, Snape had probably learned every secret.

As for Prior Incantato and that nasty attitude, they had merely been an act. Snape did not want anyone to know-or rather, did not want to admit-that he was protecting James Potter's son.

What irritated Cyrus was that Snape now most likely knew "Ginny" was involved too. That meant one more pair of watching eyes to be wary of while operating at Hogwarts.

Still, there was little he could do about it. He had not grown up in the wizarding world, after all, and he was not particularly sensitive to matters of magic.

Cyrus felt annoyed. He could only hope nothing went wrong.

Steam kept rising inside the cramped toilet stall.

The thick potion bubbled away like a mass of scalding sludge. Hermione struggled to prepare the ingredients, tipping the powdered snakeskin and a small piece of horn into it. "That should do it. It'll probably be ready in a little over a week! Let's get out of here. My neck's getting stiff. Honestly, why are you two squeezing in here when you can't even help?" she complained.

Meanwhile, Snape returned silently to his classroom.

"Bicorn horn and African Tree Snake skin-planning to brew Polyjuice Potion? If you actually manage it, I might even offer you a few words of praise." The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, vanishing so quickly that it looked like a twitch in his cheek.

Unfortunately, Harry had not inherited Lily's talent for potions. In all likelihood, Miss Know-It-All would be the one brewing the Polyjuice Potion. Harry and Ron were not even qualified to act as her assistants. That first-year, Ginny Weasley, did have some talent, though.

But Snape had little regard for Hermione's rigid adherence to the rules.

"No creativity."

There was indeed a considerable gap between Hermione's skill in potions and Snape's, something plainly evident in the Half-Blood Prince installment. After getting Snape's old notebook, Harry immediately stole Hermione's thunder in Potions Class and took first place.

Perhaps they could both score a hundred, but Hermione scored a hundred because that was her level, while Snape scored a hundred because that was the highest possible score.

He did not intend to pursue the matter of Harry and the others stealing ingredients to brew Polyjuice Potion. Now that Dumbledore had personally acknowledged that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, letting those youngsters stir things up was not necessarily a bad thing. Except-

"How dare she steal my dragon blood! It costs seventeen Sickles an ounce!"

Gritting his teeth, Snape stared at a huge container on a shelf in the cabinet. Only a little of the blood-red liquid remained, which meant that thief had stolen at least six pints of dragon blood!

The dragon blood alone had cost him 120 Galleons!

And dragon blood was far from the only thing he had lost!

"Three drops of phoenix tears! I had to shamelessly pester Dumbledore to get those!"

"All the Runespoor venom-that doesn't hurt too much, since I keep a brood of them and can milk them whenever I need to-but how dare you-how dare you take my snakes as well?" Snape felt as though his chest were about to explode!

The boxes where he had kept his snakes were now completely empty. Cyrus had even taken the few eggs they had recently laid!

"A tuft of Chimaera mane-" Snape pressed a finger beneath his nose to keep himself from fainting.

As a beast with a danger rating of XXXXX, there had only ever been one recorded instance of a wizard killing a Chimaera. Magical materials from this fantastic beast were therefore incredibly difficult to obtain-available in theory, but beyond price!

Then he inventoried the stolen materials one by one...

Until, at last:

"A large jar of morning dew. That's cheap enough. You can collect it anywhere." Like a madman, his chest heaved violently, yet his mouth curved into a smile. His voice sounded as though he were biting down on a piece of iron. "But to fill that jar, I bent over and collected it leaf by leaf in the Forbidden Forest. I nearly broke my spine!"

Snape fainted.

"I just don't think Snape will let this go easily. All I can hope now is that he doesn't discover we stole his things. By the way, you didn't sneak anything extra, did you?" Ron looked warily at Cyrus.

Cyrus took a few snake eggs out of his sleeve and roasted them over his wand, then tilted his head and thought for a moment.

"Nope!"

"Don't worry about all that. Roasted eggs are on me."

Without hesitation, Ron cracked one open, and the aroma of the snake egg immediately wafted out.

Delicious!