The Most Delicious Potion

The Most Delicious Potion

Charles had never expected to get "walled" at Hogwarts, let alone by two boys.

"Mr. Smith..."

"We need an explanation!"

Fred and George pinned Charles against the corner of the wall, their faces twisted with anger.

Charles looked at them innocently and asked in confusion, "Mr. Weasley, what do you want me to explain?"

Fred said, "The Forbidden Forest. When did you go to the Forbidden Forest?"

George added, "The Centaurs all know you. They said you're their friend!"

When Charles realized that was what this was about, he used the excuse he had prepared. "I met the Centaur Great Elder at the edge of the Forbidden Forest that day, so I followed him to his tribe. I rescued a Centaur friend on the way, and later helped them purchase some supplies."

"Professor Dumbledore knows about it too," he added at the end.

The twins were somewhat dejected. They couldn't believe they had missed out on something so exciting.

So they put an arm around each of Charles's shoulders and began discussing it with him. "How about you take us along next time?"

"The Forbidden Forest is dangerous. We can protect you."

Charles's mind turned, and he kicked the ball back to them first. "Going into the Forbidden Forest without permission violates school rules. If you can get Professor Dumbledore's approval, I have no problem with it."

The two brothers exchanged a glance and immediately went to the Headmaster's Office. They appealed to Dumbledore's emotions and reason, explaining how dangerous it was for Charles to go to the Forbidden Forest alone and that they needed to go protect him.

Dumbledore smiled at them and said, "Mr. Smith flew there from the sky on a broomstick. It wasn't dangerous at all."

Fred and George looked at each other, then at themselves. There really wasn't much danger in the air.

But the two boys didn't give up. When there was a difficulty, one had to face it; when there wasn't one, one simply created it. George thought of a new problem. "Professor Dumbledore, many of Hogwarts' flying brooms have all kinds of faults. What if Smith falls halfway there? That would be terrible."

Fred immediately followed up. "We're Beaters on the Gryffindor team. If he has an accident in the air, we can help."

Dumbledore still wore a smile. "Smith has the best flying broom in all of Hogwarts. It uses French technology and is no worse than a Nimbus 2000."

Every excuse the twins found was easily defused by the headmaster. In the end, they were defeated and left the office dejectedly.

There was nothing they could do about the headmaster, so they could only continue thinking of ways to deal with Charles.

When they returned to the Common Room, they found that Charles wasn't there.

At that moment, Charles was in Eleanor's private laboratory, studying several bottles of pitch-black potion with her.

Eleanor frowned and asked Charles, "This is the Exploding Liquid brewed by Professor Snape?"

Charles nodded. "That's right. A bottle this size can blow up an entire Common Room. It's even more powerful than Seamus."

"Untreated Exploding Liquid will detonate if shaken violently. After being stabilized, it has to be ignited with fire or triggered by a spell before it will explode."

Eleanor thought for a moment, then turned to ask him, "Give me two bottles. Do you want Galleons or pounds?"

Charles replied, "I can give them to you."

Eleanor immediately looked up at him. Free things were sometimes the most expensive. She asked seriously, "What do you want me to do? I wouldn't mind letting you kiss me, but if you dare say you want me to do your homework, just see how hard I hit you."

With that, she angrily raised her fist and waved it twice.

Charles curled his lips and pointed at the Exploding Liquid. "I need to find a way to launch these potions. Can you make those fireworks? They need to be able to carry half an ounce of Exploding Liquid a hundred yards, then detonate it."

The Exploding Liquid was quite powerful. Charles didn't want to make the blunder of having its range be shorter than its blast radius. Since people at Hogwarts often played with magical fireworks, he had come up with the idea.

"I don't know." Eleanor shrugged. "You can ask some of the other boys about making fireworks. They like using them for pranks."

Charles thought that made sense. It seemed he would have to ask the Weasley twins about this. They ought to know something.

Eleanor placed the two bottles of Exploding Liquid in a box, then returned to the bedroom and brought out a basket of biscuits for Charles. "I made them. See if they taste good?"

Charles thought they were meant to trade for the Exploding Liquid, so he picked up a piece and began eating. To his surprise, it tasted like his favorite dish.

"Delicious!" he asked. "What did you put in these biscuits?"

As he spoke, he picked up two more biscuits and ate them.

Eleanor replied with a wicked grin, "Love Potion."

Charles blinked. He knew what that stuff was used for.

"Who does the Love Potion work on?" Charles asked nervously. If it worked on people, that was fine, but if it made him lust after a sheep, he would be finished.

Eleanor said with a wicked grin, "No specific target. After you take it, it works on the first person you see."

Charles blinked, carefully looked over the beautiful older woman in front of him, and shook his head. "Maybe your charm is too weak. The Love Potion can't even make me interested in you."

Eleanor suddenly burst out laughing. She took several biscuits herself, then pinched Charles's nose and said, "So the little guy has some wicked thoughts. The Love Potion releases a scent that makes whoever smells it feel as though it has the flavor they like best. So, using Love Potion as the foundation, I created a potion that lets people experience their favorite flavor, without causing intense infatuation. Amazing, right?"

Charles was frightened. If this potion were marketed, Coca-Cola and Pepsi could just wait to be bought out.

Eleanor said proudly, "Hehe, you're the first person I invited to share it with. You should feel extremely honored!"

Charles froze and asked her cautiously, "I'm the first one to eat it?"

"It's fine, it's fine," Eleanor said. "I ate it yesterday and even locked myself in my bedroom for the whole day. Nothing happened."

"Would you like some tea?"

Charles relaxed. As a food lover, he naturally wouldn't pass up such a delicious potion, so he went with Eleanor to the study, where they brewed tea and slowly ate and chatted.

Most of the time, Eleanor was bragging about her delicious invention, imagining herself becoming the richest person in the world after it went on the market, and deciding that she would give Charles a villa by then.

Charles suddenly said, "There's a problem. If something is too delicious, people won't be able to stop eating it. They'll eat until they burst."

By then, the two of them had unknowingly eaten almost half the basket of biscuits. If there was a problem, it would probably be that they ate themselves to death.

"It's fine," Eleanor said. "At worst, I just won't eat dinner today."

When the biscuits were almost gone, Eleanor suddenly said, "It seems... eating too much of this potion can cause problems because the excessive dosage remaining in the body..."

Charles replied, "It seems the Love Potion's effect of producing emotions wasn't completely removed. There's still some residue..."