Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 456 Water of Life and Death

Professor Slughorn's indifferent tone made Ron look a little ugly, but Ron, who was used to being ignored when he was with Harry, said nothing. Instead, he lowered his head and ran to the locker silently to get the books and scales.

Mike admires Ron very much for this. You know, Ron's growing environment can be said to be terrible. He was almost ignored and neglected throughout his childhood and even most of his adolescence. If he were put in a game or novel, he would definitely be a template for a blackened villain.

But Ron relied on his big heart to endure it all. Instead of getting depressed, he lived happily every day.

Mike really didn't know whether Ron had a good attitude or had something wrong with his brain.

At this time, Draco, who was sitting at the Slytherin table, burst into laughter and said to the Slytherins beside him in a voice so loud that everyone in the classroom could hear:
"See, this is the fine tradition of the Weasley family. We always only use second-hand or even third-hand goods!"

Hearing this, the Slytherins also burst into laughter, and the whole classroom was soon filled with laughter.

Ron's fists were clenched tightly together. If it wasn't class time, Mike bet Ron would go up and fight with Draco.

Harry and Hermione in their seats also glared at Draco angrily. Hermione turned her head from time to time to look at Slughorn's figure on the podium, which was hazy due to the steam.

It's a pity that Slughorn obviously had no intention of offending Draco because of such a small matter. You know, the Malfoy family is almost an open Death Eater, and he doesn't want to provoke them for a Weasley with mediocre talent.

But in order to stop the situation from going any further, Slughorn coughed twice and said loudly:
"Okay, now that everyone is ready, we're going to start the class."

After saying this, he deliberately glanced at the Slytherin table as if giving a warning, and this glance immediately made Draco and the others stop laughing.

Seeing this, Slughorn nodded in satisfaction, straightened his chest, which was already brimming with clapping, and said after nearly breaking a button:

"I have prepared several potions to broaden your horizons. Of course, this is just for fun. But once you have completed the advanced class, you should be able to make these potions. So now, can anyone tell me what kind of potion this is?"

As he spoke, Slughorn pointed to the crucible in front of the Slytherin table, in which a liquid as clear as spring water was boiling.

In fact, from the placement of these crucibles in the classroom, it can be seen that Slughorn wants to give extra points to each college, so that everyone can be satisfied. For example, the crucible in front of the Slytherin table is obviously a free point question left for the Slytherins.

However, Draco and the others obviously let Slughorn down. They stared at it for a long time but couldn't figure out what the potion was.

Seeing this, Slughorn could only shake his head helplessly and turned to look at the pair of hands that had been raised high at the Gryffindor table.

He pointed at Hermione who had raised her hand, and the latter said very quickly:
"Veritaserum, a colorless and tasteless liquid that can make the drinker tell the truth. It is usually used for torture!"

"Very good!" Slughorn pointed to the cauldron in front of Mike again. "Then who can tell me what this is? Mike?"

Slughorn looked at Mike expectantly, obviously hoping that Mike would answer the question.

But Mike just chuckled and turned to look at Gryffindor where Hermione had raised her hand again.

Seeing this, Slughorn understood and pointed at Hermione again.

"It's Polyjuice Potion!"

"Oh! Great! Great!" Slughorn pointed to the cauldron on Gryffindor's side again. "Then this..."

"It's a love potion! It's the most powerful love potion in the world! It creates a spiral of steam when it boils, and its scent automatically changes to your favorite smell, like I just smelled freshly mowed lawns, new parchment, and..."

Hermione suddenly stopped talking. Her face flushed. She glanced in Mike's direction through the thick mist in the classroom, then quickly lowered her head.

Professor Slughorn, who was standing by, was already stunned.

You should know that this knowledge about love potions is not in textbooks. If you have not specifically read relevant books or personally prepared and used love potions, others will never know these things.

He really didn't expect that the girl in front of him would have such rich knowledge.

"What's your name, dear?"

Realizing that the girl in front of him was most likely a genius, Slughorn instinctively softened his voice.

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"Granger? Are you related to Hector Dagworth Granger, the founder of the Extraordinary Apothecary Society?"

"Um, I guess not. I'm a Muggle-born, sir."

Hearing this, laughter came from the Slytherin table again, but Slughorn ignored them. He looked at Hermione gently and smiled:

"Very good, very good. You remind me of a student I once had. She was also a Muggle-born, but she possessed an amazing talent that made people jealous. Well, you know, this is very rare in Muggles. But I have met two of them in my life. I am so lucky!"

Professor Slughorn's words made Hermione's already red face even redder, while Harry and Ron on the side clapped and cheered desperately, and Mike in the distance was also smiling.

"Well, give Miss Granger of Gryffindor a well-deserved 20 points!"

After that, Slughorn ignored the Gryffindors who were already laughing, walked back to the podium and said to everyone with a serious expression:

"Students, please remember that love potions cannot bring you true love! Love cannot be imitated. Love potions can only make people fall into crazy obsession or infatuation, which is wrong and dangerous.

Yes, I said dangerous. I think the most dangerous potion in this whole classroom right now is the love potion..."

Before Slughorn could finish his words, another burst of laughter came from the Slytherin table.

Slighhorn couldn't stand it anymore, he glared at Slytherin angrily. "You, that's you, the platinum-haired Malfoy!" He pointed at Draco who was looking around and said, "You were snickering just now. I don't remember that Slytherin's quality of snickering when others are talking is included, at least not when I was the head of Slytherin House. Maybe I should communicate with Severus to rectify the atmosphere of Slytherin!"

Draco's face turned pale when he heard the word Severus. Seeing this, Slughorn nodded in satisfaction, turned around and said to everyone earnestly:

"Don't doubt it, classmates. If you were my age, you would know that people who are addicted to love usually do many terrible things. In fact, many tragedies are caused by this dangerous love potion."

"Okay, that's it, I think we should start class."

Slughorn spread out the textbook in front of him, but Hermione in the audience suddenly pointed to the cauldron in front of the Hufflepuff table and said:

"Professor, you haven't told us what's in this crucible yet."

Mike chuckled when he heard this, it was too obvious that Hermione wanted to get extra points.

But Slughorn was obviously very optimistic about Hermione. He pretended to be surprised and said "Ah!", and then said:
"This is Felicis. I suppose you know what it's used for, Miss Granger."

“It brings luck to people!”

"That's right! Ten points for Gryffindor!" Slughorn said loudly, "Felix Felicis, a potion that is extremely complicated to make, can indeed bring people luck. The feeling of taking it is wonderful. How can I describe it... well... you will find that no matter what you do, you will succeed before its effect wears off!

Of course, you can't take it too often, it's best to take it a few months or even years apart, otherwise it will make you arrogant and reckless.

You know, no matter how good something is, it will be bad if you use too much. Just like tomatoes and apples, they are both very nutritious fruits, but in fact they contain natural toxins. If you eat too much, you will be poisoned!
Oh! You don't have to worry too much, Harry. To poison someone, you have to eat at least several meals' worth of tomatoes and apples within a few hours. If someone really did that, they would probably have been choked to death before being poisoned!
I gave this example just to make you understand two very important truths in potions. One is that even the best things will have side effects, and the other is that talking about toxicity without considering the dosage is nonsense!"

Hermione's eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked:

"You've taken Felix!"

"Of course, I've used it twice in my life, once when I was 26 and once when I was 57. I took two spoonfuls for breakfast. Ah! Those two days were really perfect!"

As he spoke, Slughorn raised his head, his face filled with a smile of longing and happiness.

This made almost everyone present interested in the Felicis, except Mike, who had used it a long time ago. There was nothing special about this stuff, just a little expensive. With Mike's current financial resources, he could just drink it as water.

After a few minutes, Slughorn finally woke up from his fantasy. He looked at the pot of Felicis Felix with a smile and finally said:
"Next, I will hold a small competition, and the prize will be this."

Everyone in the classroom held their breath, even Mike.

You know, that's a whole pot of elixir! Even Mike was tempted by such a huge windfall!

But then Slughorn pulled out a small teardrop-shaped bottle from his arms.

"A small bottle of Lucky Spirit can provide about 12 hours of luck!"

The smile on Mike's face disappeared instantly, and was replaced by deep disgust. He really didn't expect that Slughorn would be so stingy.

But even a bottle of Felix Felix still made the students in the classroom very excited, especially Franklin, who was staring at the small bottle with his eyes almost popping out.

There is no doubt that he wants to use this thing in Quidditch games.

But if he had carefully read the 373-page prohibition regulations of Quidditch matches, he would have known that Felicis is prohibited from being used in Quidditch matches.

"Next, please turn to page 10 of the Advanced Potion Making in your hands," said Slughorn. "We still have more than an hour, so please use this time to brew a potion of the living hell. I know it's complicated, and I don't expect you to do it perfectly the first time, but the one who does it best and fastest will get our reward today. Okay, let's get started!"

As soon as Slughorn finished speaking, Franklin suddenly took out his crucible and medicine bag and began to weigh various materials on a scale.

There were many people in the classroom who reacted as quickly as him. Now everyone's attention was highly concentrated. It was the first time that Mike saw someone so focused on making potions. It seemed that Slighhorn was good at teaching students.

Mike also took out his materials and tools and started making the potion.

The Living Hell Decoction, also known as the Water of Life and Death, is a powerful sedative. Just a small glass of it can make a person sleep for a week.

Mike had already memorized the method of making this potion, and what he wrote down was the improved version recorded in Snape's textbook, so Mike was not as anxious as other classmates. Instead, he had the mind to observe the situation of others.

At this moment, Harry also opened the book that Mike gave him, and was frowning as he looked at the method of making the water of life and death.

Seeing this, Mike's mouth corners curled up.

What he handed to Harry was none other than the famous 'Half-Blood Prince's Textbook'. The reason why Mike gave the textbook to Harry was not only to make the plot line return to the origin as much as possible, but also to see Snape's expression after he learned that his middle school history was in Mike's hands. That must be very interesting!
Thinking of this, the smirk on Mike's lips became more wanton, but the movements of his hands did not waver at all!

The sleepy beans are squeezed into slices, the narcissus roots are ground into powder, and the wormwood is shredded and put into water to make wormwood infusion...

Mike quickly processed the ingredients one by one and threw them into the crucible, stirring them clockwise with a spoon while they cooked.

Soon, light blue steam rose from the boiling crucible, and the liquid inside was slowly changing to light brown. Mike saw this and changed to flipping it counterclockwise. This was a method modified by Snape and it was said to increase the speed of the medicine maturation.

There is no doubt that Snape's improved formula is effective. This allowed Mike to surpass Hermione and become the fastest person in the classroom even though he lost the initiative. It also enabled Harry, a poor student of Potions, to quickly and efficiently complete the processing of materials and enter the boiling stage.

But the amazing speed of Mike and Harry made everyone else in the classroom anxious.

(End of this chapter)