Professor Snape's Sharp Tongue

"Ah?"

Ron's expression became quite colorful when he heard that they would be taking Potions Class with Slytherin.

He squinted and gestured at the others. "I've heard that Slytherin's head of house is even stricter than Professor McGonagall!"

Neville said quietly, "And only toward students from other houses. He seems to treat his own students quite well."

Dylan raised an eyebrow.

That wasn't entirely wrong.

Once class began.

Professor Snape started calling roll.

When he reached Harry's name.

His voice paused.

"Oh! Let us see the world-famous Harry Potter!"

Snape's gaze was calm and cold. When he met Harry's eyes, it seemed empty, even carrying a hint of hostility.

"Dylan Hawkwood."

"Professor, I'm here!"

Dylan's voice was loud and flamboyant, and Snape's gaze immediately turned toward him.

However, when he looked over, he saw that Dylan's eyes seemed to be glowing as he stared at him.

It was as if...

A dog that had gone hungry for three days had spotted a meat bun.

Snape's brows furrowed slightly.

Then he continued calling the next name.

When he placed the list in his hand on the lectern.

His gaze swept across the room.

"Good morning, you bunch of foolish little wizards."

Professor Snape's voice was low and stern, carrying a trace of disdain, yet it was highly penetrating.

"Potions Class is not magic, but a precise and rigorous craft. It does not require you to wave your wands around like idiots."

"I don't expect all of you to appreciate the wonderful fragrance hidden within the white smoke curling from a cauldron simmering over a low flame."

Snape glanced at Malfoy.

"I only hope that a select few outstanding students can understand what marvelous, intoxicating, and mind-bewildering magic flows into people's veins..."

"I can help you raise your reputation, brew glory, and even prevent death."

Professor Snape suddenly changed his tone.

"But only if you are among those outstanding few."

"Some stupid fools will never understand the mysteries of potions."

Since all the young wizards present were taking Potions Class for the first time.

None of them had ever heard that magic could actually prevent death.

They all widened their eyes.

Dylan's gaze also grew fervent.

Potions was indeed an exceptionally wondrous and profound subject.

Like spells, it was worth studying for a lifetime.

What Professor Snape had said was neither groundless nor mere bragging.

The Elixir of Life could absolutely be brewed through potion-making.

While waiting for the start of term, Dylan had also read quite a few books on potions.

Since he had known a thing or two about Chinese medicine in his previous life, he could not help comparing Chinese medicine with potions as he learned more about them.

After all, in his view, the two were actually quite similar.

They both involved combining various herbs, attempting to balance or amplify certain medicinal properties while reducing others.

However, as his understanding of potions through books grew deeper, he discovered that Chinese medicine and potions did indeed have certain similarities.

In fact, if the herbs of his previous life had possessed supernatural effects, it might not have been impossible for practitioners of Chinese medicine to brew the Elixir of Life.

And it was precisely because of this that the difference between Chinese medicine and potions emerged.

Herbs boiled as Chinese medicine did not possess mysterious effects.

But herbs brewed into potions could cause the substances within them to produce magical effects.

That led him to think of something else.

Chemistry!

Before the ancient centuries, who could have known that chemistry could produce explosions?

Potions and chemistry were both almost obsessed with the mixing and transformation of substances.

Think about it carefully: powdered unicorn horn, mandrake root, salamander eyes...

The meeting of acids and bases, the wondrous reactions of oxidation and reduction...

There were definitely similarities.

Moreover, they both demanded precision.

Slices, units, drops...

Controlling quantities and variables...

When one thought about it carefully, chemical pharmaceuticals were actually more similar to potions than Chinese medicine was.

And the essence of brewing potions could also be understood as brewing a spell in the physical sense.

The mystical elements within potion ingredients would be released through continuous brewing and stirring.

This was also related to how many times one stirred and how one stirred.

When brewing potions, numbers were equivalent to incantations.

A brewed potion was equivalent to storing a spell.

This allowed the potion to achieve an effect as miraculous as a spell.

Dylan had long been impatient to study this profound subject.

As for Professor Snape...

Just a "good-for-nothing goody-goody"~

What was there to fear?

"Little celebrity, your arrival has caused quite a stir at Hogwarts."

Professor Snape fixed his narrow gaze on Harry.

"Answer me. What happens when powdered asphodel root is added to an infusion of wormwood?"

Dylan knew the answer.

However, he was sitting in the front row, while Harry had not wanted to sit up front, so he had taken a seat in the back with Ron.

Thus, when Professor Snape suddenly questioned him, he was completely dumbfounded.

When Harry said nothing, Professor Snape asked two more questions in succession.

Harry could not answer a single one.

The strange look in Professor Snape's eyes grew increasingly pronounced.

"Gryffindor loses one point!"

Dylan did not think much of it.

Throughout the lesson, he carefully memorized every instruction Professor Snape gave.

This little fellow's mouth might be sharp, but he had genuine skill to back it up!

He had to learn everything this proud, caustic professor knew!

By the time Professor Snape passed by Harry, who was sitting in the back row.

Gryffindor had already lost five points.

Snape passed by Dylan.

He was just about to criticize this strange little wizard.

But then he noticed that nearly every step of the potion Dylan was brewing had landed precisely on the points he had emphasized.

Professor Snape froze for a moment, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

However, he did not restore any of the points he had deducted from Gryffindor. Instead, he prepared to walk straight past Dylan.

Unexpectedly, Dylan called out to stop him.

"Professor Snape, please don't leave yet. There are a few key points I'd like to ask you about."

Professor Snape's footsteps halted, and the cloak that had just begun to billow came to an abrupt stop.

He turned around and swept his gaze across Dylan.

"You can spare attention to talk while brewing a potion? Gryffindor loses one point!"

Dylan said, "All right. So what I wanted to ask was, if I add the drops..."

Dylan asked several questions in succession.

Professor Snape answered them one by one.

The more questions he answered, the more he felt that this little wizard named Dylan Hawkwood was different from the other fools.

He definitely possessed extraordinary talent in potions!

This slightly changed Professor Snape's impression of Dylan.

Dylan: Otherwise, what do you think my Achievement Quest reward was for?