The dungeon was as familiar as ever.
The cupboards were full of ingredients Sean had organized.
Speaking of which, Hogwarts' underground space, the dungeons, was vast. In the original story, when Harry and Ron tried to sneak into the Slytherin common room, they got lost for a full half-hour before running into Malfoy.
Not only was the Slytherin common room located here, but so was Professor Snape's "territorial trio":
The Potions Classroom, Dungeon Five, and his office.
The Potions Classroom was where young wizards attended class, while Dungeon Five was one of the infrequently used potion classrooms maintained by Mr. Filch.
From this, Sean knew once again that Hogwarts used to have many students; otherwise, there wouldn't be multiple identical classrooms.
As for Professor Snape's office, it was the place Sean visited most frequently. He had learned about almost all types of potions and various precious potion ingredients there.
He had been responsible for organizing and storing these ingredients since very early on, and even the task of transporting them from the greenhouses fell to him.
If Hermione was still planning to steal ingredients from Professor Snape's office, Sean would definitely be the first to know.
Returning to the dungeon now, Sean felt as familiar as if he were home.
He deftly spent a minute retrieving the ingredients and then began preparing to brew today's potion—Polyjuice Potion.
"Look me in the eye. Have you forgotten to tell me something?"
Snape suddenly asked.
"Did you know Lockhart was arrested?"
Sean was slightly curious.
"Fool... when?"
Professor Snape remained impassive, his hooked nose particularly prominent in the dim dungeon light.
"Three days ago. Three days and five hours, to be precise."
Sean added.
"What—did you do this time?"
The corners of Snape's mouth turned up briefly before dropping rapidly, replaced by a sharp stare at Sean.
"It wasn't me, Professor. His lies were exposed."
Sean told the truth.
"Heh—"
Snape let out a scornful laugh.
If there was anything at Hogwarts unrelated to him, it was that Hogwarts didn't belong to him.
As for everything else that happened at Hogwarts, claiming it had nothing to do with him was pure nonsense.
"You watched him get exposed, you called Dumbledore. Heh—indeed, it has nothing to do with you."
A sneer curled on Snape's lips.
But inside, he slowly felt a sense of comfort.
Sean was stunned. He quickly checked his Occlumency and found no intrusion at all.
Which meant Professor Snape had merely made a reasonable guess.
"I know more than you do."
Snape paused, as if something were stuck in his throat, unspoken.
Finally, his eyes flickered, and he suddenly compromised.
"Next time, you'd best stick to this standard when doing foolish things."
Sean nodded quickly.
Bubbles gurgled in the cauldron. The viscous liquid swelled into a blister, then burst, clinging to the inner wall of the cauldron.
Snape stirred rapidly without lowering his head.
Thick black smoke billowed from the cauldron, and the potion hissed loudly like a kettle of boiling water, frothing vigorously. A second later, it turned an ugly yellow color.
"Now, add the part of the person being transformed into."
Snape said.
He threw a hair into the cauldron, and the liquid turned a transparent white.
Snape froze, staring motionlessly at the liquid for a long time.
"Different subjects will cause the liquid to reveal different aspects."
He instructed.
Sean knew this was Polyjuice Potion, and in a rare, near-completion state.
He carefully observed the state of the potion and wrote down some necessary and concise descriptions.
Time flew by, and Snape's face was unreadable in the dim candlelight.
"Have you forgotten to say something else?"
His cold voice rang out along with the chilly wind blowing through the gaps in the wooden door.
"Did you... know Hagrid is going to be the Care of Magical Creatures professor?"
Sean guessed.
"Of course."
Snape said.
Did he know?
He didn't.
But no one knew he didn't know.
The wizard in front of him was a fool who blindly trusted others.
"Hagrid invited me to be his assistant..."
Sean told the truth.
"Heh—assistant?"
Snape's face darkened as he interrupted him.
"And?"
Sean fell silent for a moment.
Professor Snape seemed to know something else.
Was it Ravenclaw's destroyed diadem, or Slytherin's locket?
"Disappointing—"
Snape squeezed the words out of his throat as if resigning himself to fate.
"You should understand that in the wizarding world, there are vast differences between wizards. Learn to use everything around you, Green—"
He quickly tossed something over. Sean caught it instinctively.
The torchlight fell into his hand, and he saw the cold object clearly.
A tiny, sparkling gold hourglass hanging from a very long, very fine gold chain.
Sean looked up and saw Professor Snape's placid face.
"When you use it, you'd best put away your greedy little thoughts.
Remember, every turn of the hourglass rewinds time by one hour. You have a maximum limit of five hours—
What are you waiting for? Memorize every word I say!"
Snape stared at Sean, his tone becoming irritable.
Since when did he start doing things like this?
He blamed it all on that thin piece of paper, which clearly stated the obligations he had to undertake.
"Remember this: magic related to time is extremely unstable. Serious violations of the laws of time will result in catastrophic consequences.
Heh—for example—a wizard mistakenly killing their past or future self; completely altering the trajectory of a wizard's life; causing temporal anomalies that result in people who should exist never being born..."
Professor Snape's low, rasping voice echoed in the dungeon. The content he described was far from pleasant.
"The Ministry of Magic conducts strict guarantee reviews when approving the use of Time-Turners:
The Ministry has enacted hundreds of laws surrounding the possession of Time-Turners, while imposing the harshest laws and penalties for their misuse.
Only when you have memorized every single rule can you use it. Do you understand?"
Professor Snape seemed to be threatening him.
"Understood, Professor."
Sean put away the Time-Turner. He knew where to find those regulations.
—The Hogwarts Library.
But what he hadn't expected was that Professor Snape would actually care about these things.
"What courses did you choose?"
Snape asked abruptly again.
He had a mentality of "in for a penny, in for a pound." Since he had already interfered, he might as well interfere to the end.