"Professor, the second phase is progressing unexpectedly smoothly. Currently, only two of the alternative materials are showing any signs of conflict with each other. I believe we can safely speed up the research progress significantly?" Sean suggested.
"The study of potions is a serious and cautious discipline, but..." Snape carefully looked through Sean's research paper and detailed experimental records once again, hesitated slightly, and then continued speaking, "However, your paper and experimental records are indeed proceeding very smoothly, and I did not find any mistakes or critical omissions anywhere. This proves that you are indeed extraordinarily lucky in your approach. You happened to find the smoothest possible path among countless potential paths available.
In this particular case, then let us speed up the process. The research life of a Potions Master is not particularly short, but it is indeed not especially long either. If you can speed up your progress without sacrificing quality, then by all means speed up."
Hearing Snape's words of approval, Sean immediately nodded and smiled with satisfaction. "Very well, then I will accelerate my work pace. The research progress has been moving quite slowly recently. I have wanted to speed things up for a long time now."
What Sean meant by speeding up was naturally returning to the intense state he had maintained before Christmas holiday. He would use his Time-Turner and mental recovery potions to effectively use one single day as several days of productive work. Except for the absolute necessities of eating, sleeping, using the bathroom, and attending his required classes, all the rest of his available time would be dedicated entirely to his research. Snape still remembered clearly that during that particularly intense period, Sean's mental state had seemed stretched as thin as a wire, and his physical condition had also declined quite significantly.
Snape had genuinely wondered if Sean would die suddenly from overwork in about two weeks' time. Yet somehow Sean had managed to hold on stubbornly for half an entire semester. Though he did not show it outwardly or speak of it, Snape was genuinely amazed and in considerable awe of Sean's monstrous physical constitution and formidable mental fortitude.
He was quite simply a young man born to work himself to exhaustion.
Of course, despite his private amazement and genuine admiration, Snape still showed appropriate concern for Sean's wellbeing.
"You do not have to work yourself quite as hard as you did during the first half of the semester. The primary purpose of the Time-Turner is to enable you to learn more subjects and material, not to indulge in frantic obsessive research around the clock. Borrowing it occasionally for important work is perfectly fine, but if you use it constantly without rest, the Ministry officials might decide they cannot continue to withstand your frequent and excessive use of it."
Snape did not mention his personal concern explicitly, but Sean could clearly hear the unspoken worry in his tone.
However, for the sake of preserving his Slytherin Head of House's dignity and pride, Sean tactfully kept completely silent on the matter. He simply understood the message perfectly. Otherwise, if he somehow angered his Slytherin Head of House, Snape would verbally spray him in the face with cutting sarcasm like venom. Snape had already left Sean feeling utterly mortal and devastated the previous time, and he most certainly did not want to experience that particular humiliation again.
After walking out of Snape's office, Sean returned directly to his private room to organize his materials and belongings, and then he prepared to head to the library to continue his calculations and ongoing research work.
However, at this precise moment, Sean suddenly noticed that various items in his room appeared to have been moved from their original positions, and more importantly, Kulkan was not present anywhere in the room. He looked around carefully and confirmed that Kulkan was definitely not there. He immediately prepared to go find Blaise to see if Kulkan happened to be with him, when he suddenly saw Kulkan push open the door and return to the room on her own.
Seeing Sean standing there, Kulkan did not waste any time with pleasantries and said to him directly and urgently, "Sean, someone actually sneaked into your room while you were gone, but fortunately you took all the truly useful materials and data with you before you left. There were only some general reference books remaining in the room. That intruder did not find anything genuinely useful, so he eventually sneaked away empty-handed.
I hid my body using my invisibility and secretly followed him at a distance. I saw that particular person entered the location where the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserve Organization regularly holds their private gatherings. There was a magically protected door there, so I did not go inside and came back here directly to inform you."
Hearing this disturbing news, Sean's face immediately darkened with anger.
When his research paper had been published in The Golden Crucible, Sean had already taken extensive precautions, carefully carrying all the key and important materials and data with him at all times. Anything he did not immediately need or could not easily carry was left safely at his family home, with Aldridge keeping it secure. Nothing problematic had happened in his room for quite some time, and Sean had admittedly relaxed his guard somewhat over the months. However, due to his deeply ingrained habit of extreme caution, he had still maintained the habit of carrying his most important materials and data with him constantly. Unexpectedly, something he genuinely did not want to see had actually happened despite his precautions.
"Sean, what do you want to do about this?" Kulkan asked.
"What should I do?" A cold smile appeared on Sean's face, and a distinct hint of danger flashed visibly in his eyes. He said with quiet intensity, "Such a perfect opportunity has been handed to me—of course I have to knock on their door and confront them directly. My thesis research is at the level worthy of the top academic journals in Potions. Even Hogwarts itself cannot possibly protect those individuals who sneak into my private room and attempt to steal my data and materials. On the contrary, as long as I do not use any of the Unforgivable Curses or other explicitly taboo magic, even if I knock on their door and cause a confrontation, as long as I do not actually kill anyone permanently, then I will be perfectly fine under school rules. It just so happens that I was already thinking about how to properly vent my accumulated anger, and now such a perfect opportunity—of course I will not let it go to waste!"
In actual fact, Sean knew perfectly well that this incident must have been orchestrated secretly by someone within the Slytherin Brotherhood's reserve organization, or alternatively someone had been specifically instructed by certain people in the Slytherin Brotherhood to carry it out. Otherwise, if the entire Slytherin Brotherhood and its complete reserve organization had sanctioned it officially, then both his allies like Samuel and Jennifer would have reminded him in advance as a warning.
However, Sean knew very well that he had not yet swallowed the bitter breath of being deliberately targeted by certain factions within the Slytherin Brotherhood. With such a perfect opportunity now presenting itself, of course he had to take full advantage of it and spit out all that accumulated anger.
Seeing Sean walking purposefully out of his room with an unmistakably murderous look on his face, Kulkan quickly transformed herself into the size of a normal python and hurriedly followed behind him. She enjoyed watching exciting confrontations so very much, so of course she did not want to miss Sean beating someone up thoroughly. Moreover, she also wanted to point out directly to Sean the specific person who had sneaked into his room, so she naturally followed him closely.
The visibly murderous Sean was accompanied by an extremely beautiful pure white snake coiled around his shoulders. No matter who saw this striking scene, they could not help but admire the amazing imposing presence and momentum he projected. At the same time, they could not help but feel genuinely frightened on behalf of whoever had offended him. Who was the unfortunate fool that did not have the good sense to avoid offending Sean Bulstrode? But as long as it was not themselves being targeted, it would certainly be entertaining to watch the confrontation unfold.
Clearly, many students throughout Slytherin House shared this exact sentiment. Therefore, when Sean arrived outside the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserve Organization's private meeting room, absolutely everyone present knew this was going to develop into a major dramatic event. Whether it was members of the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserve, Sean himself, or anyone with even a sliver of inside information within Slytherin House, they all knew that both sides involved were genuinely formidable forces. However, most observers felt that the Slytherin Brotherhood Reserve might have the upper hand in any confrontation. After all, they had significantly more members and were all quite magically capable, while Sean appeared to be standing completely alone.
Sean had absolutely no idea what the rapidly gathering crowd of spectators was thinking, nor did he particularly care to know their opinions. He stared intensely at the magically sealed door before him and, without any hesitation whatsoever, raised his wand with clear hostile intent.
"Bombarda!"
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