Chapter 9 Potions Course
On Friday, Slytherin and Gryffindor will take Professor Snape's potion class together.
Shaylin and Draco came to the potion class room in the dungeon early. It was cold and gloomy here. There were some glass jars along the wall, and many creepy animal specimens were soaked in them.
Potion class requires two students to form a group. Slytherin and Gryffindor students were paired up in their respective colleges and sat on both sides of the classroom clearly - Shaylin and Draco in one group, Goyle and Crabbe in one group, Harry and Ron in one group, Daphne was in one group with Pansy under Shaylin's matchmaking...
Shaylin suddenly found Meredith sitting alone in the last row of Slytherin. She seemed a little embarrassed because no one wanted to be in the same group with her. Shaylin also recalled that he didn't seem to see Meredith much except for class during this period. She seemed to be alone and didn't seem to have made any friends.
"Meredith is too cold and arrogant. She always has a cold face, as if the whole world offends her, so no one likes her now." Daphne whispered.
Sherin couldn't help asking Daphne at the next table, "Aren't you friends with her?"
"We did play together when we were young." Daphne showed a look of reminiscence on her face, "But after she grew up, her personality seemed to change, and she has developed such a bad temper until now."
Finally, under Snape's forced assignment, Pansy was ordered to be in a group with Meredith, and Sherin filled Pansy's vacancy and was in a group with Daphne. The most unexpected thing was that Draco was actually ordered to be in a group with Hermione!
The happiest person about this assignment was Daphne, after all, the whole Slytherin knew Sherin's strength, and he was almost recognized as the strongest in the first grade.
Pansy was reluctant, staring at Meredith fiercely, and Meredith also raised his face to the sky, not even looking at Pansy.
Draco felt uncomfortable thinking about being in a group with a Muggle wizard, but it was only after Shaylin coaxed him that this was a great opportunity to prove to others the strength of a pure-blood family that Draco was deceived into being confident and obediently being in a group with Hermione.
After calling the roll, Snape began to teach. "You are here to learn the precise science and strict craftsmanship of potion preparation." He began to speak, his voice was almost slightly higher than a whisper, but everyone heard every word he said. Like Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape also had the deterrent power to keep the classroom in order without any effort.
"Since there is little need to wave wands foolishly here, many of you will not believe that this is magic. I don't expect you to truly appreciate the beauty of the simmering crucible with white smoke and bursts of fragrance. You will not really understand the magical power of the liquid flowing into people's veins, making people excited and confused... I can teach you how to improve your reputation, brew glory, and even prevent death - but there must be one thing, that is, you are not the kind of fools I often meet."
(Note: It is necessary to wave the wand to prepare potions. The "Potions Book" even provides a designated wand action for each potion. The original English text says that it is rarely necessary to wave the wand. The so-called "no silly waving of the wand" is actually a mistranslation by People's Publishing House)
"Potter!" Snape said suddenly, "What will I get if I add narcissus root powder to wormwood infusion?"
What grass root powder to what solution? Harry glanced at Ron, who was stunned like him; Hermione raised her arms high in the air.
"I don't know, sir." Harry said.
Snape curled his lips in contempt, "Tsk tsk, it seems that fame doesn't mean everything."
Snape deliberately ignored Hermione's raised arm and continued to ask: "Let's try again. Potter, if I ask you to find me a bezoar, where would you find it?"
Hermione raised her hand as high as possible without leaving her seat, but Harry didn't know what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, the three of them were shaking with laughter.
"I don't know, sir."
"I don't think you've ever read a book before the start of the term, have you, Potter?" Snape still ignored Hermione's shaking arms and continued to ask: "Well, Potter, what is the difference between Aconitum naviculatum and Aconitum chamaejasme?"
"I don't know," Harry whispered, "but I think Hermione knows the answer, why don't you ask her?" Several students laughed out loud.
"Sit down," he shouted at Hermione, "Sharin, you tell me the answer."
Sharin was a little helpless. Was this forcing him to make things difficult for Harry?
But under Snape's murderous gaze, Sherin had to stand up and say, "Narcissus root powder and wormwood can be combined to make a very effective sleeping pill, the Living Hell Decoction. Coprolite is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, which has a very strong detoxifying effect. As for Aconitum naviculatum and Aconitum chamaejasme, they are the same plant, also collectively known as Aconitum."
"Slytherin plus ten points." Snape said loudly, "Why don't you write all this down!"
At this time, there was a sudden rustling sound of groping for a quill and parchment. Amid the noise, Snape said, "Potter, because you talked back to the teacher, Gryffindor will be deducted one point for this."
Then Snape spent half a class period instructing students from two classes to learn how to prepare a simplest magic potion for treating boils in pairs. Although it was the simplest magic potion, both the materials and the steps looked quite complicated.
According to Snape's order, Sherin took out a variety of materials such as dried nettles, pit viper fangs, and porcupine quills from the potion cabinet; Daphne lit the fire and put her crucible on it.
During their preparation, Snape dragged a long black cloak and turned around in the classroom, like a big bat, observing their preparation steps everywhere...During this period, most Gryffindor students were severely criticized by him; even many Slytherin students could not avoid it.
After returning to his seat, Sherin's movements were very agile. In fact, Sherin had already practiced simple movements such as grinding, dissolving, and boiling at home before school started.
"Why do you want to grind the porcupine quills?" Daphne asked in confusion: "The book says that you should chop the porcupine quills into small pieces, and then remove the crucible from the fire before adding them in the final stage!"
"The porcupine quills have very low solubility, and it is even more difficult to dissolve after being removed from the fire. Just looking at it as the last raw material added, it can be inferred that it is most likely the most unstable of all the raw materials - grinding it into powder can make it dissolve faster, thus reducing the probability of accidents." Because his partner is a delicate beauty, Xie Ling explained very patiently, but his hands did not stop and continued to grind the porcupine quills.
Daphne frowned, looking at Xie Ling's confident look, decided not to say anything, and continued to hit the small piece of snake fang with a hammer.
"Put the nettles in the pot for a while to roast them, so that the water can be dried. Be careful not to get hurt by the thorns on the nettles... Thank you!" Xie Ling added the crushed snake fangs to the crucible, stirring slowly clockwise, while instructing.
Daphne opened her mouth, but did not say anything. Instead, she followed Sherin's instructions. During this time, Snape passed by their location several times, stopped to observe their movements for several minutes, and even saw the small dish of porcupine quills that were crushed into powder... But he did not interfere at all, just glanced at Sherin.
After the nettles and snake fangs were added to the pot, "It needs to be boiled for five minutes." Daphne glanced at the "Magic Potions and Potion" in her hand and reminded. Sherin nodded and looked at the alchemy watch he brought from home, while taking out his wand and muttering to the crucible. The watch looks very strange, with twelve hands but no numbers, and various stars rotating along the edge of the dial.
"What are you... doing?" Daphne's initial uneasiness and doubts have now turned into curiosity.
"Oh, I'm using magic to control the flames to keep the crucible's temperature stable. You know, porcupine quills can explode easily when exposed to heat, so I have to make sure that the liquid inside the crucible can cool quickly after it leaves the flames." Sherin stared at his watch and explained in a low voice, "My watch can not only tell time, but also the stars and the phases of the moon. "Mars is low today, so it's easy to have accidents related to fire. I must be extra careful..."
(Note: The author did not invent the idea that astronomical phenomena affect magic effects and the process of making potions. The famous research of Hesper Starkey, the Chocolate Frog cartoonist, is about the effect of the moon on making potions)
When the mixed liquid began to turn yellow, he quickly Quickly lower the flame to prevent the liquid from boiling too much.
Daphne's expression was a little uneasy, but Sherin had nothing to worry about... Hogwarts's potion textbooks were actually not authoritative or correct. Even simple things like squeezing or cutting beans to make juice easier could be wrong.
Sherin suddenly smelled something wrong. He turned around and saw a thick acidic green smoke suddenly coming out of the underground classroom, and a loud hissing sound was heard. Neville had somehow burned Seamus's crucible into a crooked piece, and the potion in the pot spilled onto the stone floor, but Sherin acted in time and the potion on the ground disappeared.
"Five points for Slytherin." Snape glanced at Sherin, then turned to Neville and roared, "Are you an idiot? I think you probably put the porcupine quills in without taking the pot off the fire, right? "Neville sobbed and many boils suddenly appeared on his nose. After Snape scolded him, he asked Seamus Finnigan to take him to the school hospital.
Half an hour later, Snape walked slowly between the tables, checking each crucible and their results in turn.
When he saw the ugly blue mixture prepared by Harry and Ron, a sarcastic smile appeared on his face: "Do you think you can drink this potion, Potter and Wesley? I dare say that if you drink your potion, you will poison yourself before curing the boils." Snape waved his wand and swept away the potion in the crucible.
Snape found problems with almost every student's results and then ridiculed them. Gryffindor students were scolded the worst, but some Slytherin students could not escape the disaster, especially Pansy and Meredith's group, which became the laughing stock of Slytherin.
Draco and Hermione did a good job. With Hermione's careful configuration and Draco's careful cooperation, the work they made was quite satisfactory. However, the biased Snape only gave Slytherin 5 points, completely ignoring Hermione's contribution. This made many Gryffindors dare not speak out and transferred their resentment to Draco.
Snape praised the work of Shaylin and Daphne as a perfect work and added 10 points to Slytherin.
Shaylin didn't think much of it, but Daphne's eyes became more fiery when she looked at Shaylin. Other students may not know, but Daphne knew what Shaylin did - he arbitrarily improved many steps of configuring potions, and finally made a perfect product.
She was well-informed and knew that this was a rare talent for potions. It was no exaggeration to say that it was one in ten thousand. The entire European wizarding world had a population of at least more than 100,000, but there were less than 20 people who could become potion masters and were invited to become members of the Extraordinary Apothecary Association. Even with the wealth of the Greengrass family, she could not afford to hire a potion master to serve the family.
Hermione looked at Xie Lin with dissatisfaction. She had clearly followed the steps in the book to make potions completely without missing a step. Why could Xie Lin do better than her?
At this moment, the fire of winning in her heart was ignited. She decided to spend more time to improve her potion level. She must become the top student in all subjects!