But this time, Severus Snape was faster than Murphy.
He used only a handful of ingredients. His lips moved as he murmured a few spells under his breath, and before long, a cauldron of pitch-black potion appeared in his crucible.
It resembled viscous tar, yet also ink. Strangely, when Snape poured it from the crucible into a crystal vial, the entire cauldronful flowed into that tiny vial without spilling a single drop.
Now, the potion seemed to have changed from black into a translucent ash-gray color.
Before Murphy had finished brewing his third potion, Snape placed that vial on Murphy's table.
"Come, taste the flavor of despair."
Potion of Despair.
This was a recipe Snape had learned while following Voldemort.
It could plunge someone into the deepest despair, as though they were reliving the darkest moment of their life.
This potion was extraordinarily potent, nearly the most terrifying potion Snape knew of, because it targeted not the body, but the mind.
Murphy had used some strange method to break down his Draught of Living Death earlier. Snape suspected it had not been an antidote at all, but rather a way to shift the potion's damage onto the body.
But this time, the effects of the Potion of Despair could not possibly be transferred. They could only be borne by the person who drank it.
No one could withstand such despair. Not even Dumbledore.
"Despair?"
Murphy frowned. The ingredients Snape had used just now were all hallucinogenic substances. Was he creating an illusion of despair through them?
He truly had never seen this potion before.
So how was he supposed to make an antidote?
Elixir to Induce Euphoria?
The Elixir to Induce Euphoria could make someone feel pleasure, much like a Muggle stimulant. But the pleasure it produced was false, and