Paracelsus Opposed the Elixir of Life
Although Bezoars, like Broad-Spectrum Antidotes, could "cure all ailments," Severus did not think they were a good thing.
The potion that made Mandrakes "dance" was called "Dancy Bite." It was made from tarantula venom and an extract from a deep-sea worm called the Bone-Eating Snot Flower (Osedax mucofloris). These Bone-Eating Snot Flowers mainly fed by boring into the bones of whale carcasses after whale falls to obtain the esters within, which they digested through symbiotic bacteria.
Noble rot wine was the finest kind of sweet wine, fermented from shriveled grapes that looked rotten. They were not truly spoiled, but infected with a mold that bored tiny holes into them, causing moisture to evaporate rapidly. That made the grapes shrivel and enhanced the wine's sweetness and flavor.
To a Potions master, Pomona's Mandrakes were far too "plump." After being coated in this potion, they would be very uncomfortable, but for humans, it increased the amount of usable active ingredients.
A horse's nature was to tread frost and snow, kicking up its hooves and leaping when happy. Yet to tame horses, Bole branded them with red-hot irons and pared down their hooves. They lost their nature that way, but once bridled, they became beasts of labor that humans could control.
In short, because these "watered" Mandrakes remained restless even when buried in soil, and because the symbiotic bacteria needed to be cultivated in a cold, dark place, Pomona took the flowerpots to the cellar used for growing fungi.
Although many fungi were saprophytic, they required exceptionally clean water. A willow tree stood at the entrance to the cellar, growing in water. One side of the pool sustaining it was made of glass, like an aquarium, allowing them to see the ecosystem at the bottom.
Once Pomona