Potions Class

Unfortunately, it seemed the idea of extracting an enemy's flesh and blood was a little naive. But before long, Anduin had a new idea. Just because he couldn't cast the spell directly on someone in combat didn't mean it was useless.

If he cast it on the ground where an enemy was standing, extracting the soil beneath their feet would not only throw off their balance but could also create a trap to hinder their movement. And perhaps he could even...

Anduin stared at Vanessa's essay, lost in thought, completely immersed in the ocean of scholarship. In a sense, Anduin was a true scholar, even though his research often veered into combat tactics. Years of military service in his previous life, along with his identity as a martial artist, meant that whenever he encountered anything, his first thought was whether it could be used as a weapon and whether it had tactical or strategic value.

Watching Anduin think so intently, Flitwick smiled with satisfaction. Students who studied diligently always won their professors' favor.

Time passed quickly, and the club meeting came to an end. The students filed out of the room in an orderly fashion. Anduin followed Vanessa back to the Slytherin Common Room. Older students could stay out until nine in the evening, but younger students like Anduin weren't allowed to wander around the castle after eight. Vanessa kindly escorted him all the way, so Filch wouldn't catch him.

Anduin had gained a lot from today's Spell Club meeting. After returning to his dormitory, he continued studying the Extraction Curse. It was a spell that students couldn't learn until their fourth year, and mastering it ahead of time—along with its more practical casting techniques—left him especially satisfied.

The next day, during Potions Class.

"Perfect, simply excellent! I never expected Anduin and Vivian's team to brew a satisfactory Calming Potion on their very first try." Professor Horace Slughorn praised the potion Anduin's team had brewed without holding back. The other students' cauldrons were either belching foul black smoke or had burned their contents to a crisp.

Vivian could only smile awkwardly at the professor's praise. She had spent almost the entire brewing session standing by and watching. Her only contribution had been handing things over when Anduin called for them—for example, when he asked for "Sunpetal Root Powder," she passed it to him. Once, she even handed him the wrong ingredient. If Anduin hadn't checked it before using it, she would have ruined the potion while doing nothing but watching.

Anduin accepted Professor Slughorn's praise with his usual calm expression and gave the professor a slight nod of thanks.

Brewing potions, with its need for standardized procedures, was very simple for Anduin. The recipe clearly specified every step and the required standards for each ingredient. He only had to follow it.

He also realized that brewing potions wasn't all that different from cooking. The key was preparing the ingredients to the right specifications; cutting, grinding, soaking, and the other steps all required a high degree of precision.

Anduin's hands were steady. Throughout the brewing process, he was like a human machine: cutting ingredients to precisely the right size, adding them at the appointed time, stirring when required, and maintaining the proper heat at each stage. Everything went as smoothly as water flowing into its course.

Brewing potions is actually a lot like making soup, Anduin thought.

The real difficulty lies in the ingredients. Even ingredients of the same kind can vary in quality. It's like raisins: some are dried out, while others still contain plenty of moisture. Those differences are what truly determine the quality of the final product. Though this was his first time brewing a potion, Anduin had already drawn many conclusions. The Potions textbook focused largely on describing the qualities of semi-finished ingredients, the problems that substandard materials could cause during brewing, and how to deal with them.

Although Potions didn't fascinate him as much as Charms did, the brewing process kept his mind calm and focused, so Anduin had developed a keen interest in the subject too.

There should be plenty of old textbooks in the Potions classrooms for other year groups. I can go rummage through them sometime. Anduin couldn't help coming up with a few mischievous ideas. He had recently visited the higher-year classrooms for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transformation Class, and collected quite a few old textbooks.

"Damn it, so what if he brewed a lousy potion? What's there to brag about?" Sampur Travers stirred the black, bubbling liquid with a rod. His potion had clearly gone wrong, and he spoke ill of Anduin to Randall Rosier beside him.

"Enough, Travers. That guy won't be able to keep showing off for long. But we'd better not pick a fight with him now. That woman Vanessa is still watching." Randall glanced helplessly at the cauldron, which was giving off a foul stench, and spoke to Travers in a low voice.

"Hmph. That blasted woman Vanessa has thrown Slytherin's dignity aside." Travers grumbled bitterly. "Anduin had better stay out of our way, or I won't let him off."

With that, Travers stopped looking at Anduin and turned to gaze maliciously toward Gryffindor Academy. Over there, Charles had also ruined a potion, and he and his partner were frantically wiping up the liquid spilling out of their cauldron.

"My father and the others have complained that the McKinnon family is always getting in our way. I hear that Charles's aunt over there even joined the Order of the Phoenix. They're a Pure-blood family, yet they insist on protecting those lowly Muggle-born wizards. We already took out one of their lot last time, and they still haven't learned their lesson. Even our mercy has its limits." Travers sneered at Rosier.

"Are you crazy? Don't say things like that here." Seeing Travers's fury, Rosier warned him anxiously in a hushed voice.

"What are you afraid of? Dumbledore's already old; he can't stand in our way. Once the Dark Lord defeats Dumbledore and takes over the Ministry of Magic, the future will belong to our Pure-blood families. We'll find some time to deal with that McKinnon fool." Travers spoke to Rosier in a sinister tone.

Rosier glanced around, and when he saw that no one was paying attention to them, he whispered, "What are you planning to do? I heard Yaxley's group is preparing to..."

"Shh! Don't talk about that here. We'll discuss the details when we get back." Travers glared at Rosier.

"Weren't you the one who brought it up?" Rosier glanced at Travers with mild reproach and muttered under his breath.