A New Member of the Class

"Severus had a Magical Outburst last night."

Mrs. Eileen's face was filled with barely restrained delight.

"I was also planning to start him off with Potions. If he could attend classes with Manus, the learning atmosphere might be better. Would that be all right?"

After teaching Manus for over a year, Eileen suddenly felt an inexplicable urgency as she looked at her son, who was the same age as Manus. It felt as though her child was about to lose at the starting line.

However, having once been a student herself, Mrs. Eileen knew perfectly well what her own attitude toward studying had been as a child. Her Potions had indeed been excellent, but that did not mean she had been particularly passionate about the subject.

At the very least, she definitely would not have been willing to take extra Potions classes before school age. Severus was probably much the same.

Therefore, Eileen thought that since Severus liked going to play with Manus so much anyway, she might as well try having him attend class with Manus. Perhaps that would make him more willing to learn.

In Eileen's view, this method had quite a high chance of succeeding. The only problem was that she had charged money when teaching Manus. Now, it was suddenly changing from one-on-one to one-on-two, especially when the added student was her own son...

"On this matter, I think Manus's opinion is the most important."

Aivina did not think there was anything wrong with it.

Because of his age, Manus's Potions lessons differed greatly from the Potions classes at Hogwarts.

Rather than cycling through learning the basics of a potion—hands-on brewing—studying theory, he had first spent a year learning foundational knowledge such as One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi before beginning hands-on work and theoretical study.

At present, at least eighty percent of each of Manus's Potions lessons was spent on hands-on work, with the remaining time devoted to evaluation and theory after the practical portion.

Under such circumstances, even teaching two students at once would not result in Eileen neglecting Manus.

Still, it was Manus's class situation that would be changing, so he should make the decision.

Aivina looked at Manus inquisitively.

"Manus, what do you think?"

"Of course I agree!"

Manus's voice brimmed with excitement. Severus joining would give him a reference point—a normal child his age's expected progress in learning Potions.

He had been doing a fine job pretending to be a child before because he really had once been that age and knew what people considered a good child to be like.

But the problem was that he had never learned magic at this age! Let alone the magic and Potions of this world. He had no idea what kind of progress counted as normal and what counted as genius.

Gradually showing his own learning progress while carefully observing Aunt Eileen's reactions to adjust himself was exhausting, all right?!

His earlier summary of the differences between those two spells had been far too advanced, and he had nearly exposed himself. Fortunately, Aunt Eileen was simple-minded and already had enough preconceived understanding of him that she had not become suspicious.

Even better, Aunt Eileen had not told his mother, Aivina, about it.

After going through a minor but real danger, Manus could not have agreed more strongly to Severus joining.

Seeing Manus agree so readily—one could even say eagerly—to taking Potions classes with Severus, both Aivina and Eileen could not help laughing. The two children really did have a good relationship.

Severus was smiling happily as well. Clearly, he had yet to gain any deep understanding of how tedious studying could be.

"Don't worry, Aivina. I won't delay Manus's lessons because I'm teaching Severus."

After laughing, Mrs. Eileen formally promised Aivina.

"I've never doubted that."

Aivina smiled and shook her head, then said to Manus.

"Then I'll be heading back first. I'll still come pick you up at noon."

"Bye, Mom~"

After saying goodbye to Aivina, the day's lessons proceeded as usual. Mrs. Eileen first had Severus read One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi on his own, then assigned Manus his classwork for the day.

"Watch the brewing of Draught of Living Death?"

Manus was somewhat surprised. Strictly speaking, the procedure for this potion was not particularly difficult, yet it was considered an advanced potion. For him, it was somewhat beyond the curriculum.

"That's right. I said before that I would demonstrate the making of an advanced potion for you. Today will do nicely, and we can use the Asphodel Root powder you made earlier."

Once Mrs. Eileen entered teaching mode, her expression became extremely serious. With a wave of her wand, two sets of ingredients for brewing Draught of Living Death floated out from the cabinet in the corner of the room.

"First, observe my initial process. Do not merely watch what I do—you must also listen carefully to my explanations, especially how to use your magic during the process."

Although brewing potions did not require wand-waving, many steps still required magical involvement. Even if that involvement was not complicated, this was why Eileen had spent a year making Manus learn the basics first.

This was also why Potions was considered part of magic. It could even be said that many of the earliest potions had originated from magic itself.

"First, pour an infusion of wormwood into a clean cauldron..."

As Mrs. Eileen worked, Manus watched every step intently while listening to her explanations. These included descriptions of the procedures as well as the application of magic.

He was not the only one. Severus was also watching with rapt attention from the side. After all, this was far more interesting than densely packed text and yellowed illustrations in a book.

As Asphodel Root powder was added to the cauldron and pale blue steam rose from within, Severus could not help letting out a soft gasp. The next moment, however, he hurriedly covered his mouth.

Mrs. Eileen was completely unaffected. Leaving the cauldron heating over the fire, she turned to prepare the Sopophorous Beans.

"Pressing Sopophorous Beans with the flat of a silver knife is far more efficient for extracting their juice than slicing them. Therefore, the procedures in books cannot be regarded as completely unchangeable rules."

Manus nodded. One had to see through appearances to the essence. The purpose of this step was to obtain the juice of the Sopophorous Bean, so that purpose could not be changed. But if it could be achieved more efficiently and simply, then the method could be changed.

However, he did not think this was where the dividing line between advanced and ordinary potions lay.

Manus focused on the potion giving off blue steam in the cauldron, comparing it with his own speculation.

Within the system of Fairy-Tale Magic, potions did not have a particularly strong presence, but that did not mean potions themselves were weak.

Judging from the skills he was unable to learn, potions were instead an indispensable part of this system. The main reason they lacked presence was their difficulty.

Merely making a poisonous apple required something called "Sleeping Death," which sounded mysterious and impressive. Since Manus could not learn it with Skill Points, he had no idea what exactly it referred to.

And the potion that turned a mermaid's tail into legs required the tongue of someone who had lost their voice...