"What did you... say?" Severus Snape froze and shook his dizzy head. "I think you're the one who's... drunk."
"We have magic, remember?" Murphy said.
"Magic isn't, uh... isn't all-powerful!" Severus Snape cried, his voice suddenly rising. "The only people who think magic can... do anything are those... idiots who haven't explored the depths of magic... fools!"
"Perhaps you simply backed down in the face of difficulty," Murphy said.
"You don't know... shit!" Severus Snape braced both hands against the table, as though trying to push himself to his feet, but he couldn't manage it.
"I know more spells than you've even... heard of! Death... I know far, far more about it than you can... imagine! I've encountered things you couldn't even... uh, couldn't even dream of, uh..."
He looked as though he was about to throw up.
That was enough. Murphy decided to ask his question. "Then what about the Elixir of Life? Supposedly, it can be used to bring people back to life, can't it?"
"Y-yes..." Severus Snape sat down, looking as though he was about to fall asleep. "No, it can only revive the... the body..."
"Oh? Are you sure?" Murphy asked. "Can you make the Elixir of Life? What's its recipe?"
"I can't make it. It needs... needs a Philosopher's... Stone... but I know the... recipe..."
"It isn't diff... difficult... Runespoor skin, plus salamander blood, and powdered unicorn horn, toad tadpoles..."
It took him quite a while to finish reciting the recipe. Murphy committed it all to memory. "These can revive a body?"
"No, the El... Elixir of Life can't directly restore a body. It has to be combined with... an-another potion... but only Vol... Voldemort knows that one... he never... never told me..."
Murphy nodded slightly.
It wasn't a bad result. Although he hadn't obtained