Potions Class

On Friday, Slytherin had Potions with Gryffindor under Professor Snape.

Skylar and Draco arrived early at the Potions classroom in the dungeons. It was gloomy and cold, with glass jars lining the walls, filled with all sorts of creepy animal specimens preserved in liquid.

Potions required students to work in pairs. The Slytherin and Gryffindor students paired up within their own Houses and sat distinctly on opposite sides of the classroom—Skylar with Draco, Goyle with Crabbe, Harry with Ron, while Daphne partnered with Pansy through Skylar's introduction...

Skylar suddenly noticed Meredith sitting alone in the last row of the Slytherin side. She seemed somewhat awkward, because no one was willing to pair up with her. Skylar also recalled that, aside from classes, he had hardly seen Meredith around lately. She always seemed to be alone and apparently had not made a single friend yet.

"Meredith is too aloof. She always wears such a cold expression, as if the whole world has offended her, so nobody likes her now," Daphne said quietly.

Skylar could not help asking Daphne at the next table, "Weren't you friends with her?"

"We did play together when we were little." A nostalgic look appeared on Daphne's face. "But when we got a little older, her personality seemed to change. Eventually, she developed this bad temper."

In the end, under Snape's forced arrangement, Pansy was ordered to partner with Meredith. Skylar filled Pansy's spot and partnered with Daphne. Most unexpectedly, Draco was actually ordered to work with Hermione!

Daphne was undoubtedly the happiest about this arrangement. After all, all of Slytherin knew of Skylar's abilities. He was almost universally acknowledged as the strongest first-year student.

Pansy looked utterly unwilling, glaring fiercely at Meredith the entire time. Meredith, meanwhile, held her chin high in the air and did not spare Pansy a single glance.

Draco felt uncomfortable all over at the thought of working with a Muggle-born wizard. Only after Skylar coaxed him, saying this was a perfect opportunity to prove the strength of pure-blood family heirs to everyone else, did Draco become full of ambition and obediently partner with Hermione.

After taking attendance, Snape began the lesson. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he said. His voice was barely louder than a whisper, yet everyone heard every word clearly. Like Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape possessed an effortless authority that kept the classroom perfectly orderly.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I do not expect you will really understand the beauty of a softly simmering cauldron, white smoke rising from it and fragrant scents drifting forth. You will not truly understand the wondrous power of liquids flowing into people's veins, bewitching their minds and clouding their wills... I can teach you how to brew fame, bottle glory, and even stop death—but only if you are not the sort of blithering idiot I usually have to teach."

(Note: Brewing Potions does require wand movements. The Book of Potions even specifies wand motions for every potion. In the original English text, Snape says there is little need for wand-waving. The phrase "without foolish wand-waving" was actually a mistranslation.)

"Potter!" Snape suddenly said. "What would I get if I added Asphodel Root Powder to Infusion of Wormwood?"

What root powder added to what infusion? Harry glanced at Ron, who was just as stunned as he was. Hermione's arm shot high into the air.

"I don't know, sir," Harry said.

Snape curled his lip disdainfully. "Tut, tut. Fame clearly is not everything."

Deliberately ignoring Hermione's raised hand, Snape continued, "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a Bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her arm as high as she could without leaving her seat, but Harry had no idea what a Bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking all over with laughter.

"I don't know, sir."

"I suppose you had not opened a single book before school began, had you, Potter?" Snape continued ignoring Hermione's trembling arm. "Very well, Potter. What is the difference between Aconite and Wolfsbane?"

"I don't know," Harry said quietly. "But I think Hermione knows the answer. Why don't you ask her?" A few students laughed aloud.

"Sit down!" he barked angrily at Hermione. "Skylar, give the answer."

Skylar felt somewhat helpless. Was Snape forcing him to make an enemy of Harry?

But under Snape's murderous gaze, Skylar had no choice but to stand and say, "Asphodel Root Powder and Wormwood can be combined to make a powerful sleeping potion, the Draught of Living Death. A Bezoar is a stone taken from a goat's stomach and has strong antidotal properties. As for Aconite and Wolfsbane, they are the same plant, both commonly called monkshood."

"Ten points to Slytherin," Snape said loudly. "Why aren't you writing all this down?"

A sudden rustling of students searching for quills and parchment filled the room. Amid the commotion, Snape said, "Potter, because you talked back to a teacher, Gryffindor will lose one point."

Snape then spent half the lesson guiding the students from both classes as they worked in pairs to brew the simplest magical potion, one for treating Boils. Though it was supposedly the simplest magical potion, both the ingredients and the procedure appeared quite cumbersome.

Following Snape's orders, Skylar took Dried Nettles, Snake Fangs, Porcupine Quills, and several other ingredients from the Potions cupboard. Daphne lit the fire and placed her cauldron on it.

As they brewed, Snape swept around the classroom in his long black robes like an enormous bat, observing their brewing procedures from all sides... Most Gryffindor students received harsh criticism from him, and even quite a few Slytherin students could not escape it.

After returning to his seat, Skylar moved deftly. In truth, he had already practiced simple actions such as grinding, dissolving, and boiling until they became second nature before school started.

"Why are you grinding the Porcupine Quills?" Daphne asked in confusion. "The book says to chop them up, then remove the cauldron from the heat before adding them during the final stage!"

"Porcupine Quills have extremely low solubility. Once the cauldron is removed from the heat, they become even harder to dissolve. Since they are added last, it can be inferred that they are probably the most unstable ingredient. Grinding them into powder lets them dissolve faster, reducing the chance of accidents." Since his partner was a delicate beauty, Skylar explained very patiently, though his hands did not stop grinding the Porcupine Quills.

Daphne frowned. Seeing Skylar's confident expression, she decided not to say anything and continued smashing the small piece of Snake Fang with a hammer.

"Help me roast the nettles in the cauldron for a while. That will dry out the water. Be careful not to get hurt by the nettles' stings... Thanks!" Skylar added the crushed Snake Fangs to the cauldron, stirring slowly clockwise as he gave instructions.

Daphne opened her mouth, but said nothing. Instead, she followed Skylar's instructions. During that time, Snape passed their station several times and paused to observe their movements for several minutes. He even saw the small dish of Porcupine Quills ground into powder... Yet he did not interfere in the slightest, merely casting Skylar a few sidelong glances.

After the nettles and Snake Fangs had both been added to the cauldron, "It needs to boil continuously for five minutes," Daphne reminded him after glancing at her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. Skylar nodded, watching the Alchemical Watch he had brought from home while drawing his wand and muttering over the cauldron. The watch looked strange: it had twelve hands but no numbers, while various celestial bodies moved around the edge of its face.

"What... are you doing?" Daphne's initial unease and confusion had now turned entirely into curiosity.

"Oh, I'm using magic to control the flames and keep the cauldron's temperature steady. You know, Porcupine Quills easily explode when heated, so I need to make sure that once the cauldron is removed from the flames, the liquid inside can cool quickly." Staring at his watch, Skylar explained in a low voice, "My watch can tell the time, but it can also show the stars and phases of the moon. Mars is low today, so accidents involving fire are more likely. I have to be especially careful..."

(Note: The influence of celestial phenomena on magical effects and potion brewing was not invented by the author. The famous research of Chocolate Frog card subject Hesper Starkey concerned the effects of lunar phases on potion-making.)

Once the mixed liquid began turning yellow, he quickly lowered the flames so that it would not boil too vigorously.

Daphne looked somewhat uneasy, but Skylar was not worried at all... Hogwarts's Potions textbooks were not actually all that authoritative or accurate. They even got simple things wrong, such as whether beans released juice more easily when squeezed or chopped.

Skylar suddenly caught an odd smell. Turning his head, he saw a cloud of acidic green smoke suddenly rising in the underground classroom, accompanied by a loud hissing sound. Somehow, Neville had melted Seamus's cauldron into a twisted lump. The potion spilled onto the stone floor, but Skylar acted in time, and the spilled potion vanished.

"Five points to Slytherin." Snape glanced at Skylar before turning to roar at Neville, "Are you an idiot? I suppose you put in the Porcupine Quills without taking the cauldron off the fire, didn't you?" Neville began to sob, and numerous Boils suddenly erupted across even his nose. After berating him, Snape had Seamus Finnigan take him to the Hospital Wing.

Half an hour later, Snape slowly walked between the tables, inspecting each cauldron and its results in turn.

When he saw the ugly blue mixture Harry and Ron had brewed, a mocking smile appeared on his face. "Do you think you could drink that potion, Potter and Weasley? I dare say that before it cured your Boils, it would poison you to death." Snape flicked his wand, and the potion in the cauldron vanished completely.

Snape found fault with nearly every student's work, then mocked it sarcastically. Gryffindor students received the worst of it, but some Slytherins did not escape either, especially Pansy and Meredith's pair, who became the laughingstock of Slytherin.

Draco and Hermione's pairing had done rather well. With Hermione's careful brewing and Draco's diligent cooperation, their finished potion was decent enough. But the biased Snape gave only five points to Slytherin, completely ignoring Hermione's contribution. Many Gryffindors were furious but dared not speak, directing all their resentment at Draco instead.

Snape praised Skylar and Daphne's potion as a perfect work and awarded Slytherin another ten points.

Skylar did not think much of it, but Daphne's gaze toward him became even more fervent. Other students might not know, but Daphne knew exactly what Skylar had done—he had altered many of the potion-brewing steps on his own, yet had somehow produced a perfect finished product.

Well-informed as she was, Daphne knew this was a rare and extraordinary talent in Potions. Calling it one in ten thousand would not be an exaggeration. The European wizarding world had at least a hundred thousand people, yet fewer than twenty could become Potions masters and be invited to join the Society of Extraordinary Potioneers. Even the Greengrass Family, with all its resources, could not afford to hire a Potions master to serve the family.

Hermione, meanwhile, stared at Skylar with an unconvinced expression. She had followed every step in the book completely and without missing a single one, so why could Skylar produce something better than hers?

At that moment, the fire of competition in her heart blazed fiercely. She decided to spend more time making up for her shortcomings in Potions. She would become first in her year in every subject!