Ivan's anxiety was not alleviated by the fact that he had obtained a life-saving crescent pendant. Instead, he became more determined to brew the Bloodline Fusion Potion as soon as possible to improve his strength.
Unfortunately, Quirrell was very well-behaved throughout the holidays,
Ivan was disappointed and was about to think of something else when Quirrell's name flashed across the Marauder's Map and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.
Perhaps because of the scandalous nature of what Quirrell was doing, his name was not on the Marauder's Map, which meant that Ivan was the only one in the school who knew where Quirrell was.
Even more gratifying to Ivan was the fact that Snape was not in his office at the moment.
…
A few days later, during a Potions lesson, Snape's scowl seemed to darken even further, and the entire class was a disaster for the young Gryffindor wizards, including Hermione and Ivan.
"Is Snape crazy? He deducted forty-five points from all of us Gryffindor today!" Ron complained as he left Snape's basement.
Harry also nodded fearfully, ten of which he had deducted.
Hermione was equally angry, as Snape's reason for deducting points was ridiculous. She had been kind enough to correct Seamus's mistake, but Snape had deducted five points for interfering.
Ivan sighed. He was in the opposite situation, having his points deducted on the grounds that he was sitting on his hands while the rest of the students made mistakes…
Snape was apparently taking it out on the Gryffindors today.
Ron ranted on for a while, and Hermione finally found a chance to tell him what she had noticed.
"I heard that Snape's potion storeroom had been broken into, and that he had lost a lot of precious materials, so much so that Snape threatened to search all of Hogwarts in his third year classes."
"I reckon Snape's been getting on the wrong side of too many people on a regular day, and someone's trying to get back at him, and if Snape had been a bit more fair in his lessons, like Professor McGonagall, no one would have bothered him," Ron guessed.
Hermione and Harry began to speculate, but to no avail.
"What do you think, Ivan?" Hermione asked when Ivan remained silent.
"Maybe Snape did it to himself," Ivan suggested casually.
Snape?
Harry and the others were confused. Why would Snape steal their potions?
Oh, wait, Snape didn't even have to steal it, okay? It was his potion vault!
"Have you forgotten about the trapdoor under the Three-Headed Dog, Fluffy? Someone's been trying to get through it, and only Hagrid knows how to get through," Yvonne said, without elaborating.
"The Polyjuice Potion! Snape must have used it to disguise himself as someone Hagrid knew, to get information out of him," Hermione guessed, immediately catching Ivan's drift.
Harry was also excited, as he had seen Snape injured in the thigh the other day,
Snape must have used up a lot of ingredients to brew the potion, which he used to heal himself, but he did not want Dumbledore to find out, so he disguised it as the herbs and stole them.
After all, although the potion storeroom was in Snape's office, it was technically Hogwarts property, and the school paid for most of the Galleons spent on potion ingredients.
Harry suddenly felt as if he had seen through the truth and was eager to share his thoughts with Ivan, Hermione and Ron.
"That must be it, Harry, and you're right! We'll tell Professor Dumbledore now! We'll thwart Snape's evil plans!" Ron was immediately on steroids, a sense of duty and purpose surging through him.
Ivan was a little ashamed. He had not expected Harry and the others to imagine something like this just because he had said it casually…
"I never knew you had such a vivid imagination."
Snape's deep voice came from behind them.
Ron's excitement was quelled, and the fire burning in his heart was extinguished.
"T-Professor…" Harry stammered, turning his head with difficulty.
Hermione was equally shocked, and Ivan was the only one who pretended to be frightened, as he had meant to speak to Snape.
Snape approached the four of them and leaned down slowly, his hollow eyes examining them, his hooked nose almost poking Harry in the head.
Harry's mind even began to imagine the horrors that Snape would unleash on them later, the Memory Charm, some other jinxes, the Death Curse?
After all, they had uncovered Snape's greatest secret…
However, to Harry's surprise, Snape did not pull out his wand, nor did he throw them out of the window. Instead, he simply said, "Ten points off Gryffindor!" and left in a hurry.
"He let us go?" Harry was incredulous.
"Didn't you get points deducted?" Ivan asked.
"We know his worst secret! If we tell Professor Dumbledore, he's finished." Harry didn't give a damn about the points he had been deducted; it wasn't the first time he had been deducted, and he was used to it.
"That's the way Snape went to the Headmaster's office." Ivan shook his head, knowing full well that Snape had gone to report to Dumbledore.
"And when did we find out Snape's secret? Wasn't that just our guess? Anyone who wanted to get past the Cerberus would have had a motive for doing so, and Quirrell seemed pretty suspicious to me…" Ivan rubbed his chin in deep speculation.
Harry and the others were speechless. What did you say Snape did first? You caused them to speculate and Snape caught you red-handed.
"Ivan, there must be something you're not telling us." Hermione's amber eyes were fixed on Ivan, trying to read his expression.
"Um… yeah, I just remembered that I had an extra slice of cake for lunch, so I didn't have a chance to tell you," Ivan joked, changing the subject.
Snape's missing potions were, of course, stolen by him, and in order not to be found out, he took some of the Polyjuice Potion and other healing ingredients, as well as "a little bit" of the rest.
It was all to confuse the issue. After all, without him as a variable, Quirrell was the most likely candidate for these things…