Snape's expression darkened, and he sneered.
"Find someone else. I can't change it!"
"Old people shouldn't eat so many sweets in the first place. If you ate fewer of those sickeningly sweet candies, you wouldn't need to drink the tooth-protection potion!"
Snape was extremely frustrated by Dumbledore's habit of pushing his luck.
He had only just sincerely offered to help with something as serious as Voldemort's Horcruxes, and Dumbledore had somehow managed to turn the conversation back toward sweets within seconds.
In fact, Snape had deliberately brewed those tooth-protection potions to taste that awful.
The whole point was to make Dumbledore eat less sugar.
It wasn't because he was worried about Dumbledore's health.
He simply found it troublesome to keep brewing tooth-protection potions and other concoctions to deal with the consequences of Dumbledore's constant sweet-eating.
At least, that was what Snape told himself.
The problem was that once he had the potions as a safety net, Dumbledore became even more reckless with sweets.
He used to show at least some restraint.
Now, however, he seemed to regard the existence of those potions as permission to eat whatever he wanted.
It was so irritating that Snape had to occasionally improve the potion formula just to make sure Dumbledore stayed "alive."
How could anyone willingly drink medicine that bitter just for the sake of eating something sweet afterward?
Snape truly couldn't understand it.
To him, the entire process seemed completely backwards.
However, he didn't mind spending the time and effort to teach Lucien the Patronus Charm.
That was a completely different matter.
Was teaching a group of students who couldn't even tell the difference between a Confusing Concoction and a Befuddlement Draught, who forgot whether spider eggs were animal or plant ingredients, and who were as stupid as trolls, really the same as teaching a diligent, intelligent, worry-free student?
Of course not.
The former genuinely made Snape want to shove their heads into a cauldron and give them a thorough wash.
Teaching Lucien, on the other hand, rarely required repeating the same explanation twice.
What Snape really disliked was Dumbledore's expression of complete confidence, as though he had already decided that Snape would agree before even asking.
Dumbledore was simply too good at reading people.
He always made requests that the other person couldn't refuse and would even willingly carry out.
He knew exactly how far to push, when to stop, and what reason would make the request sound perfectly reasonable.
Even after experiencing it countless times, the feeling of being seen through and manipulated still made Snape extremely unhappy.
Especially when Dumbledore sat there smiling as though nothing had happened.
Suddenly, something occurred to Snape.
The corner of his otherwise gloomy mouth slowly curved upward.
Dumbledore noticed the change in his expression and immediately had a faint sense that the conversation was about to turn against him.
"By the way," Snape said casually, as though mentioning something trivial, "shouldn't we deduct points from Lucien and Ravenclaw this time?"
Dumbledore's hand paused slightly around his teacup.
Snape continued before he could respond.
"Even if it was the Patronus Charm, it still affected far too many people, didn't it?"
His tone became increasingly reasonable with every word.
"Casting magic recklessly throughout the castle in the middle of the night, disturbing the professors' rest, and disrupting the other students' sleep..."
The Headmaster's Office fell silent.
Dumbledore stroked his beard, not quite knowing how to respond to Snape's suggestion.
He was very familiar with the Slytherin Head of House's "hobby" of deducting points from other students.
In previous years, Slytherin had managed to retain the House Cup for six consecutive years. Aside from the efforts of those young witches and wizards competing for honour, Snape's tireless determination to find reasons to deduct points from the other three houses had also "contributed greatly."
However, Dumbledore didn't think Snape was trying to use this opportunity to drag Ravenclaw down and give Slytherin a chance at the House Cup this year.
Ravenclaw's current score was simply too high.
So high, in fact, that there was almost no suspense left in this year's competition.
The points Lucien alone had earned for Ravenclaw were nearly equivalent to what the other three houses had accumulated over the past half-year.
Even if points were deducted, even if the maximum of one hundred points were taken away, it still wouldn't be enough to pull Ravenclaw down from first place.
More importantly, judging by Snape's expression, Dumbledore didn't think he was truly determined to deduct points.
It seemed more as though he simply found the idea... novel.
After all, Snape had never deducted points from Lucien before.
Given Snape's usual style, it was rare for any student to go so long without losing points because of him.
Lucien had been at Hogwarts for nearly two years, yet Snape had never once managed to catch him doing anything worthy of a deduction.
Perhaps that fact alone made Snape's hands itch.
Dumbledore decided it would be wiser to change the subject.
He chuckled, his tone carrying a hint of probing.
"So, Severus, does that mean you've agreed to teach Lucien the Patronus Charm?"
Snape gave an unpleasant snort.
"Don't agree on my behalf, and don't decide on that boy's behalf either. Perhaps Lucien will master the Patronus Charm through his own exploration. Why should we concern ourselves with it?"
He paused, then added,
"Besides, Filius, Minerva, and the others all know this magic. It hardly falls to me, the Head of Slytherin House and Potions Professor, to teach him."
________
(^///^) Please support this fic and also read 12 chapters ahead at Patreon.com/DrakDevil1