30 Overlord

"This class does not require you to wave your wands around like idiots, nor does it require you to mutter nonsense spells. Therefore, I do not expect most of you to grasp the wonder and profundity of Potions!"

Snape walked to the lectern and stopped, elegantly raising both sides of his robes with his hands like a black tower. His imposing gaze seemed to sting every student's face.

"I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and deceive the senses!"

"I can teach you how to brew fame, concoct glory, and even put a stop to death!"

"Besides..." Snape paused and looked toward Sherlock, who sat in the front row. He had naturally learned the previous night that the famed Prince of Charms had been sorted into the House under his charge.

"Some people are already well-known before they ever enroll... or rather, so outstanding that no one in the wizarding world is unfamiliar with their names."

"They possess extraordinary ability and talent... noble birth, and remarkable gifts."

As Snape slowly made his way toward Sherlock's seat, Sherlock suddenly felt that he might be about to experience the same sort of questioning torment Harry Potter had suffered in his first Potions lesson.

But why would Snape do that... Sherlock wasn't the son of his childhood sweetheart!

Though it seemed Mother and Father had been two years above Snape.

"Mr. Sherlock... our famous figure! Even before enrolling, your name was frequently discussed by students who were too lazy to improve themselves and only knew how to talk big. If those attending Potions had even a tenth of your ability, I would have far fewer worries."

"You flatter me, Professor."

Snape suddenly sat down opposite Sherlock.

"Tell me... what would happen if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?"

"It would produce a sleeping potion, commonly known as the Draught of Living Death."

"If I asked you to fetch me a bezoar, where would you look?"

"In a goat's stomach. A bezoar is the antidote to all poisonous substances, which is why it can counter most poisons."

"What is the difference between aconite and wolfsbane?"

"There is no difference, Professor. They are the same plant, also known as monkshood."

Snape opened his mouth. "Clearly, such first-year questions could not possibly stump you. I never expected the legendary Prince of Charms to be so deeply versed in Potions as well."

"Then let us continue... What is the effect of a restorative draught made from Mandrakes?"

"It can cure petrification."

"If dried nettles and crushed snake fangs are boiled together in a cauldron, then porcupine quills and boiled horned slugs are added after the fire is put out, what potion does that make? What is its function?"

Sherlock frowned, but still explained, "It is a potion for treating hemorrhoids. As its name suggests, its effect is exactly that."

"Sneezewort, scurvy grass, and lovage."

"They can be used to make a Confusion Potion, which muddles the mind."

"Powdered moonstone and syrup of hellebore."

"A Calming Draught, used to soothe agitated emotions."

Snape: "..."

He proceeded to ask several Potions questions normally taught only in higher years, but Sherlock answered every one of them. In the end, he even asked two questions about potions that would never be taught at school.

Sherlock was still able to answer them all.

"Perhaps... sometimes reputation truly does prove something. At the very least, it has proven to us that Mr. Sherlock is highly learned. With your ability, you could already sit the fifth-year advanced Potions examination. Therefore, in recognition of Mr. Sherlock's knowledge, Slytherin House receives twenty points!"

The little snakes of Slytherin House burst into cheers and applause, with Lupo clapping more enthusiastically than anyone.

"So... did you all commit Sherlock's answers to memory with your brains, and therefore feel too lazy even to pick up your pens? What are you waiting for? Write this down in your notes!"

Sherlock truly shone in Potions class, and Snape soon discovered another of his extraordinary talents: correcting flawed instructional methods in Potions.

For example, when Snape taught the young wizards to make a basic potion in the first lesson, they used bitter neem leaves, earthcore roots, and Zamin grass.

The textbook instructed them to cut open the veins on the surface of the bitter neem leaves with a knife to collect a small amount of juice. Sherlock, however, drew a line through that instruction and wrote: tear by hand.

The results proved that tearing the bitter neem leaves by hand collected more juice, and did so faster.

Earthcore roots were hollow, with a thick liquid coating their inner walls. The book instructed students to squeeze them, but Sherlock used a balloon, fitted it over the root, and blew the mucus out from within. It worked far better than squeezing.

The fine hairs on Zamin grass had to be collected, which was the most troublesome part. Sherlock used the Water-Making Spell to conjure a small bowl of water, then placed the Zamin grass inside. The fine hairs automatically separated from the grass.

A light sweep across the surface with a sheet of paper would collect the fluff they needed.

"Slytherin House receives another twenty points!"

The surrounding students cried out in surprise, unable to understand what had happened, until Snape had Sherlock come forward to demonstrate the proper methods in person and use Sherlock's improved techniques to correct the textbook's errors.

In a single Potions lesson, Sherlock had won forty points for Slytherin House. Although the one awarding them was Snape, Slytherin House's Head of House, every student—including the Gryffindors—felt that Sherlock had earned those forty points fairly.

"Fantastic! I feel like winning the House Cup this year will be ridiculously easy. How could those stupid, clumsy, dim-witted lions possibly compete with us... especially with Mr. Sherlock on our side?"

As the four headed toward the Transfiguration classroom, Lupo gestured wildly in excitement, as though he himself had won those forty points for the House.

"Everyone can see that Mr. Sherlock is exceptionally talented. At home, my grandmother always says that once Mr. Sherlock grows up, his achievements will far surpass those of the previous two, and he will accomplish even greater things than those two great figures."

Dandeni stated this calmly, but it gave Lupo quite a fright. Fortunately, there were only four of them nearby.

"Are you insane... This is Hogwarts! What you said could have a bad effect on Mr. Sherlock!" Fimiya immediately rebuked Dandeni in a low voice.

Dandeni also realized that he had misspoken and hurriedly apologized to Sherlock. "I'm sorry, Mr. Sherlock. I didn't mean anything else by it. I won't say such things again."

"It's nothing. I'm already used to people seeing me as the next Dark Lord."

Sherlock gave the three of them an enigmatic smile. No one knew what he meant by those words, and if they considered them in the worst possible light, they were enough to send chills down their spines.