Potions Championship

After thinking it over, Skylar realized that since his relationship with Snape had progressed to this point, and he had also demonstrated some of his strength and influence, it seemed that he could try to recruit him.

So Skylar asked, "Professor, what do you plan to do after the Dark Lord returns? Will you follow Dumbledore's orders and infiltrate his Dark Lord?"

Even Snape, with his perpetually icy demeanor, couldn't maintain his composure at this moment, his expression changing drastically. He coldly demanded, "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Skylar shook his head and smiled, "Professor, you are my father's closest friend and the dean I respect. I've always considered you one of my own! When you asked me about those missing students, I had no intention of hiding anything and told you the truth directly—"

"Your actions now are rather unethical," Skylar said. "Among my allies are skilled Divination, so I am not truly ignorant of the future. To be honest, I have already foreseen your fate!"

Snape's pupils contracted slightly, and his entire body trembled slightly. He pondered for a moment before speaking, "Am I dead?"

"Yes, Professor," Skylar said with a touch of regret, "You died like a tragic hero, burdened with the stigma of a traitor, while Potter followed the path you and Dumbledore had laid out for him, engaging in a one-on-one duel with the Dark Lord..."

"What was the result?" Snape's body visibly trembled. This time, he finally abandoned his usual reserve and asked urgently, his breathing becoming slightly rapid.

Skylar shook his head and said, "It's hard to say. According to the Divination, the Dark Lord died in the duel, but Harry also entered the Limbo at the same time. That means he might die, but he might also return to the present world... Even a master Divination cannot foresee the entire future..."

Snape's face looked as if someone had forced a mouthful of excrement into it; it was as ugly as could be.

Dumbledore!

We agreed to protect Lily's child together, is this how you protect her?

Snape was such a clever man. Although he only heard the final result from Skylar's few words, he immediately understood the key point: Harry was clearly put on the show by Dumbledore and used as a weapon to deal with Voldemort!

This old man, despite possessing extraordinary strength, blindly and foolishly placed all his hopes on a vague and unfounded Prophecy!

At that moment, Skylar spoke up, "Professor, I can help you change this situation... You won't die, and Potter won't have to fight the Dark Lord..."

Snape's lips trembled, but he turned away and looked elsewhere. A silence fell between them.

After a long silence, he finally turned to face Skylar and asked with difficulty, "What price do I need to pay...?"

"Professor, don't think of me as so petty..." Skylar said with a hint of amusement, "Let me put it this way! Among my allies are alchemists, Divination, experts in Fantastic Beasts, herbalists... the only one missing is Potions Master. Do you understand now?"

Snape resumed his usual indifferent expression and nodded.

"I will give you a list of students," Skylar said. "You will continue to be your headmaster and professor at Hogwarts, but you must provide the students on this list with the greatest assistance you can."

"Sure." Snape nodded; these things were a piece of cake for him.

"After the Dark Lord returns, heh," Skylar chuckled, "the world will openly divide into three camps—those who follow the Dark Lord, those who oppose the Dark Lord, and those who refuse to believe in the Dark Lord's return. Don't doubt it, all of this has already been shown in the Divination results, and we won't join any of them—"

Skylar's eyes shone with confidence, his voice deep and powerful, "We'll lie in wait in the shadows, let them fight it out, and then emerge as Savior to clean up the mess... Don't worry, I'll make sure Potter is alright... Do I need to make an Unbreakable Vow?"

Snape stared at Skylar with a deep gaze for five seconds, then said softly, "No need."

"Alright, Professor," Skylar finally gave a genuine smile, "Then I wish us a pleasant collaboration, and I'll be relying on your guidance in the future."

[Severus Snape, the "ally," has been acquired!]

Snape gave a noncommittal hum, then, as if suddenly remembering something, said, "Before you leave, there's one more thing. This summer, the 85th Wizarding Schools Potions Championship will be held at the Magic Garden in the Pyrenees France, sometime around mid-August. Judging from your Potions skills in class today, you're already capable of improving Potions recipes?"

The Potions Championship is a long-standing Potions- making competition. It was originally held to commemorate Quintia McQuoid, an apothecary who lost her life in the early 15th century while researching and inventing Potions to cure malaria. Later, it gradually evolved into a competitive platform for various magic schools to showcase their Potions skills.

There are conditions for participating in this competition: participants must be students of one of the 11 most prestigious magic schools in the world and must be recommended by a Potions Master.

In the early 16th century, Zygmunt Bucky, author of the Book of Potions, wanted to participate in the Potions Championship when he was fourteen years old. At that time, he was already the best student in his class in Potions, and he could even correct his teacher's mistake of using the tail of Murtlap to make Potions. However, due to his humble background and lack of recommendations from any Potions Master, he could only seek help from the then Headmaster of Hogwarts.

However, the headmaster refused him, citing that he was under seventeen and the tournament was too dangerous for him. Enraged, he withdrew from Hogwarts, feeling that the Hogwarts was trying to kill his chance to become an apothecary. After leaving the school, he discovered that only those representing the school could participate in the tournament, and having left Hogwarts, he was no longer eligible.

He did try to transfer to other magic schools, but because of his unremarkable appearance and ragged clothes, he was not valued by the other schools. Arrogant and proud, he went to live in seclusion on the Hermetray Island in the Hebrides, where he devoted himself to studying Potions and finally wrote the masterpiece, The Book of Potions.

His outstanding contributions include the invention of Beautification Potion, poisons to eliminate Doxy, and the incredibly effective Felix Felicis. In addition, he improved many ancient potion formulas, such as Shrinking Solution and sleeping Potions.

As mentioned earlier, the ancient sleeping Potions originally used Moon-dew Herb as its main ingredient. It was Bazi who came up with the idea of using mugwort to replace Moon-dew Herb, thus creating the prototype of the Draught of Living Death.

As mentioned earlier in this book, there are three highest honors for students in the global magical world: the Triwizard Tournament, the Cairo International Alchemy Conference, and this "Wizarding Schools Potions Championship," all of which are international-level competitive events.

Winning just one of these three international competitions would be enough to make a name for oneself in the international wizarding world. Of course, there are other competitions and awards in the wizarding world, such as the "Barnabus Finkley Award for Outstanding Spellcasting" and the "International Wizard's Chess Competition," but their prestige cannot compare with the first three.

Although Skylar has already participated in the Triwizard Tournament, he doesn't want to miss the other two. He wants to become a Triple Crown winner, someone who surpasses Dumbledore!

(Note: For comparison, Dumbledore's achievements during his student years included: the Barnabus Finkley Award for Outstanding Spellcasting and the Gold Award for Pioneering Contribution the Cairo International Alchemy Conference.)

"Yes, Professor," Skylar, pulling a vial of Blue Flame Potion from his pocket. "This is something I invented when I was a freshman. It was inspired by Muggle accelerants, but after countless improvements, it's now powerful enough to increase the intensity and temperature of the flame by at least ten times."

Snape's eyes flickered slightly. To invent Potions in his first year, even if it was just a crude creation, was quite remarkable.

He produced an ancient formula for a "Cheering Potion" and said, "If I asked you to improve this formula, what would you do?"

Skylar glanced at it casually and said indifferently, "The biggest problem with the Cheering Potion is that it can cause side effects such as singing incessantly and twisting one's nose due to excessive emotional excitement. We can start by counteracting the side effects—"

"A common method is to add peppermint, which is already quite good," Skylar said.

Snape's brow furrowed deeply. "You mean... besides peppermint, there are actually better ways to improve it?"

"Passiflora," Skylar said with certainty, "Passionflower can calm people down from excessive excitement."

(Note: Modern Chinese botany translates passionflower as passionflower, but the author still thinks passionflower sounds better and is easier to remember.)

Snape's expression was unreadable; he seemed somewhat disappointed, yet also showed a hint of "that's more like it." He shook his head. "This won't work. The passionflower will directly negate the effects of the Cheering Potion, weakening its effects."

"Not necessarily," Skylar said. "Professor, you once said that Potions are a precise science and a rigorous process. Passionflower belongs to Mercury in the herb hierarchy, and is also in the Leo sequence. As long as the timing of the potion-making is well controlled, for example, when Mercury is between the Sun and us, it is possible to make the effects of Passionflower appear only after the side effects of the Potions have occurred."

Snape fell silent, mentally simulating the potion-making process Skylar had described, and calculating the success rate of concocting the Cheering Potion Skylar had described. After a while, he nodded. "It will definitely work."

Then, Snape pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Skylar. "This is a letter of recommendation I wrote for you. With this, you can participate in the Potions Championship. I think with your abilities, participating in this tournament is no problem. I will personally explain to Dumbledore that his ideal candidate is actually Morn, the Gryffindor Student Councillor."

Skylar snorted and scoffed, "The headmaster really favors Gryffindor, huh? If I remember correctly, Gryffindor has held the position of student council president for three years in a row, hasn't he? And he's still not satisfied? Does he have to pre-select the winners for other competitions too? If the Triwizard Tournament weren't decided by a neutral magical item, would he have arranged for Gryffindor Champion to participate as well?"

(Note: Throughout the entire book, all the known student council presidents, apart from our Lord Voldemort, are from Gryffindor — Dumbledore, McGonagall, James, Lily, Bill, and Percy.)

Snape's face was also very gloomy, reminding him of a certain school bully becoming the student council president. However, he still said coldly, "It's not that bad. Morn's Potions- making skills are indeed very good, and he's also older than you. After all, competitions are quite dangerous. Of course, I think you're definitely better than him in terms of Potions- making techniques and ingredient combinations. The problem is, he knows more types of Potions than you, after all, he studied Potions for three more years than you."

He thought for a moment, then said, "But it's not a big problem. There are still several months until the competition. You can take this opportunity to improve your knowledge of different types of Potions. You just need to read more books and practice more. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me anytime."

"Okay, thank you in advance, Professor."

Afterwards, Skylar didn't forget to take this opportunity to bring out Snape's magical research notes and ask him some questions about the spells he invented and his doubts about "Unsupported Flight".

After resolving all his doubts, Skylar, with a satisfied expression, politely bid farewell to Snape and left.

[You've received a nomination letter for the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship!]