Materials List

Will's pupils contracted. The system did not lie. His guess had actually been right.

That meant that once he was powerful enough, he could use Magic to turn these things into reality.

But why? Why was all this knowledge distorted? Distorted did not mean wrong; it meant something had gone slightly awry. So where was the problem? Or did it have something to do with the underlying rules of this world?

Perhaps it was simply the peculiar nature of Harry Potter's world.

At that thought, Will looked at his status panel. Magic was its most mysterious attribute.

[Magic LV?] (Temporarily unavailable due to the unique nature of this world.)

No. I know too little right now. Guessing blindly will get me nowhere. For now, I'd better improve myself while digging deeper.

"Mr. Berens, many professors say you're a clever Wizard. Why have you been acting like a troll lately?" Snape mocked Will, but he answered him all the same. "Anything connected to magic, whatever it may be, comes down to Magic itself. Magic is what separates wizards from Muggles."

"If you have any more foolish questions, go back and read your textbooks. Stop wandering around with rubbish from the Restricted Section."

Will watched Snape spew venom, but he was not intimidated. He forced a smile. "Thank you, Professor. I didn't come to ask about the Spell-Potion Transmutation School today. I wanted to ask what I should buy. I hope to start studying second-year Potions after Christmas."

"First, you should master the first-year Potions..." Snape had been about to tell Will to practice brewing the first-year potions, but then he remembered that the boy had brewed them under his guidance all along. Will had mastered them long ago.

His eyelid twitched. He sat back down, picked up a quill, and began writing. A moment later, Snape handed Will a parchment covered from top to bottom in notes.

Now it was Will's turn for his eyelid to twitch. The list ran to more than a hundred ingredients, many of them expensive. Potions made it easy to earn money and even easier to spend it. Every Potions Master had been forged with piles of Galleons.

But...

"Professor, isn't the Shrinking Solution a third-year potion?"

At Will's question, Snape looked up, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "How did you know I wanted you to brew the Shrinking Solution?"

"Your list calls for two pints of Hemlock Essence. It's mainly used to make the Shrinking Solution and Doxy Repellent. Of the potions taught in second- and third-year Potions Class, only the Shrinking Solution uses it."

Will's answer stirred something in Snape. Even Lily had not known this much about Potions in her first year. Will had deduced what he was meant to brew from the ingredients alone.

"You have a decent talent for Potions. You could try studying those lessons ahead of time. As long as you don't waste your time and energy on those nonsensical theories, you could achieve quite a bit." Snape's voice remained flat, but Will caught the appreciation in it.

Decent talent...

Will muttered to himself, but talent would not pay for ingredients. Hemlock Essence was hardly cheap: one Galleon bought ten ounces, with an ounce being about twenty-nine milliliters. Two pints came to nearly 1,140 milliliters. The Hemlock Essence alone would cost him almost forty Galleons.

And that was just one of more than a hundred ingredients on the list. The moment Will spotted costly materials such as Dragon Liver, he knew the whole lot would run to several hundred Galleons.

At five pounds sterling to a Galleon, he might end up spending two or three thousand pounds.

This was 1991, when one pound could buy five loaves of hard bread and was worth roughly fifteen yuan at the exchange rate of the time.

It seemed he really would have to meet his father. The man belonged to a ducal family; surely Will could squeeze a fair bit of money out of him. If necessary, he would resort to special measures.

Will did not take up any more of Snape's time. He had originally come to ask about spell-potion transmutation. After all, he had gained plenty of experience from Flitwick, a master of Charms, and could probably gain plenty from Snape too. But what had happened tonight had robbed him of the urge to keep asking. For one thing, Snape had made it clear he believed Potions was all that mattered. For another, the system had confirmed Will's guess, leaving him too excited to settle down.

For now, he had found a path forward in Potions. He looked forward to seeing what benefits he would gain when he took it to its limit.

And he was beginning to see a path forward in Charms as well.

As Will walked through the castle, his steps grew lighter. Even Anco, the house-elf, noticed that he seemed unusually cheerful today.

Will cut the beef on his plate at an unhurried pace. Mealtimes were when he came closest to the "elegance" Slytherins were always chasing. Sylvia had said her family would certainly approve of his character.

Will doubted that, though Sylvia insisted that quite a few Slytherin girls were curious about him. He suspected his LV4 charisma was the real reason.

On one side of the kitchen, Will was dining "elegantly." On the other...

"Two more roast chickens! And plenty of chips!"

"Pumpkin Juice, Orange Juice, blueberry juice—bring all of them! We still don't have enough to drink!"

"Wibby, pack me some more Pumpkin Pasties."

A pair of red-haired twins were having the house-elves pack food as though they were looting the place. They held enormous bags open while the house-elves stuffed them with every sort of treat.

It was the Weasley Brothers.

They had been regulars in the kitchen since before Will arrived at school and knew the house-elves well. The two often came for extra food and sometimes carried heaps of it back to the Gryffindor common room for parties. It was one reason so many people liked them, despite all the points they had cost Gryffindor.

Judging by the look of things, Gryffindor was in for another grand party tonight.

"Will, want to come to Gryffindor and stay up all night with us before the holidays?" George asked after gulping down several mouthfuls of Orange Juice.

"Yeah, Harry and Neville would be thrilled. Little Ronnie would too," Fred added.

"No, thanks. I'm turning in early tonight. Another time, perhaps. We could talk about Prank."

"Oh? We had no idea the 'walking point machine' liked Prank."

"Fred, isn't that a pretty good Prank in itself?"

The two laughed heartily, but their laughter did not last.

"Seeing you two so full of life makes this old man feel younger." Dumbledore entered the kitchen in white pajamas, cup in hand, and passed it to a house-elf. "The usual, Nobby."

The Weasley Brothers tried to hide their huge bags of food behind their backs, but the bags were far too big for their bodies to conceal.

"No need to be nervous. When I was a student at Hogwarts, I often slipped into the kitchen for a bite myself," Dumbledore said gently. "But you must promise not to stay up too late. Young wizards your age need plenty of rest."

The Weasley Twins looked as if they had been granted a reprieve. They picked up their bags of food and left the kitchen. At this age, they still held their teachers in awe, let alone the headmaster.

As Dumbledore watched them leave, he suddenly sensed something and turned. A pair of bright silver-gray eyes met his, brimming with curiosity.

"Professor Dumbledore, I have a few questions."