Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 478 Veritaserum

Slughorn's expression was a little strange. Just as Mike thought of Slughorn as a tiger deliberately disguised as a pig, Mike also had a very high status in Slughorn's eyes.

Slughorn was extremely impressed by Mike's talent, strength, wisdom, wealth and personal charm. He was even sure that as long as Mike was given some time, he would sooner or later become the most noble and wealthy person in the entire Ying Kingdom and even in the whole of Europe.

Slughorn was convinced of this and believed in his own judgment, so he tried every means to make friends with Mike.

But recent events have made Slughorn see another side of Mike.

Crazy, violent, vicious, decisive in killing, and totally indifferent to life.

As soon as he posted a bounty, the entire Hogwarts and even the thousands of desperadoes outside went crazy. All of this made Slughorn feel frightened. He no longer dared to pretend to be a wall in front of Mike, because he found that the other party could easily crush him to death with just a wave of his hand.

So when Slughorn found out that Mike came to visit him, he actually refused in his heart. He had a hunch that the other party must have something troublesome to do by visiting him at this time, but the other party was surprisingly polite, and the questions he asked were only about the side effects of the truth serum.

This confused Slughorn.

Fortunately, Slughorn had experienced many ups and downs before, so he quickly reacted and said:

"There is no way to eliminate the side effects of Veritaserum. After all, the formula has been perfected to the extreme and there is no room for improvement."

"is it?"

Mike sighed softly, but there was no disappointment on his face.

He was ready to leave. Now that his question had been answered, there was no need for him to stay here any longer.

Just as he turned to leave, Slughorn spoke again:
"But there are potions that are similar to Veritaserum but with fewer side effects."

With that, Slughorn waved his wand.

A thick magic book flew from the bookshelf behind him to Mike's front and opened automatically.

"Look, this is it." Slughorn pointed at a line of words written in ancient runes with the tip of his staff and said to Mike, "The Truth Serum, it also makes the person who takes it speak the truth, but the effect is much worse than the Veritaserum. Well, the duration is about half of that, and there is a certain chance that the other person will talk nonsense, making it impossible to question them. But like its weak effect, its side effects are also very small. People who take this potion will only feel a little dazed, and this symptom can be cured by a good night's sleep."

Slughorn had obviously entered into a teaching state, and his saliva was flying everywhere, so Mike had to step back slightly to avoid being sprayed by it.

"Is this...really useful?"

Mike asked in disbelief. He never had any hope for Slughorn. He was only here for show.

But now it seems that the opponent is obviously much more powerful than he expected.

"Of course it works. I once prepared this potion when I was young and experimented on a Muggle. This potion is definitely effective!" Slughorn's face changed after he said that. He waved his hands in panic, stared at Mike with his big eyes wide open and said, "Oh! You heard it wrong just now. I said I experimented on a leper dwarf. Yes, a leper dwarf! It is illegal to experiment with Muggles. I won't do such an inhumane thing!"

Mike looked at Slughorn coldly. The other's words once again reminded Mike of the status of Muggles in the eyes of wizards.

Just like humans use monkeys and gorillas for experiments, wizards also use Muggles to conduct magical research. In the eyes of wizards, Muggles are the most suitable experimental material. After all, Muggles' bodies are almost the same as wizards.

Mike shuddered as he recalled the various profound potions, transfiguration and black magic he had learned. Behind this knowledge, countless innocent lives had been ruthlessly taken away.

Mike himself has blood on his hands, but he still has an instinctive aversion to human experimentation. It has nothing to do with whether he is a saint or not, but the latter is really too despairing.

Fine beads of sweat began to appear on Slughorn's cheeks, and his expression began to become a little terrified.

All this was because Mike's expression began to become more and more frightening, with that ferocious expression, as if he would take out his wand and cast a killing curse on himself at any time.

Slughorn slowly backed away, reaching into his suit lining pocket and grabbing a small glass bottle containing Folin, one of his last means of saving his life.

However, what Slughorn worried about did not happen. The ferocious look on Mike's face quickly disappeared and returned to his previous smile.

But if you observe carefully, you will find that although Mike's face is full of smiles, it gives people a feeling of being smiling but not smiling. The original kindness has completely disappeared, and replaced by pure coldness.

"I have another question, Professor." Mike said, "Since the side effects of the truth serum are so low and the effect is acceptable, why are people using truth serum now?"

Slughorn obviously had not recovered from the shock just now. His hands were still in the lining pockets of his suit. He said with a stammer:
"This... is because of the cost. The cost of preparing the truth potion is very high, almost twice that of the truth serum. In addition, its production difficulty is also higher than that of the truth serum, so gradually no one makes it. In fact, it is almost lost. Now there are basically only ten people in the whole of Europe who know how to prepare it."

"Is that so?" Mike said with a smile, "Then can I ask you to help me make some truth potions? It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but I need a lot of potions, probably enough for 100 people. But don't worry, I will provide all the materials, and I will also prepare a generous reward for you."

"That... That's certainly no problem. Helping students is my duty as a professor."

"Then I won't disturb your rest."

With that, Mike slowly walked out of the office.

As the office door was gently closed, Slughorn finally breathed a sigh of relief. Mike's appearance just now was so scary that he almost thought he was going to die.

Gasping for breath, Slughorn instinctively reached for the cigar on the bed to take a puff to calm himself, but all he touched was a ball of ashes.

He looked down and saw that the half-smoked cigar had already burned out, and the expensive carpet under his feet was burned with a big hole by the cigarette butt.

"Merlin's beard..."

Slughorn cursed instinctively, but just as he opened his mouth, the door of his office was opened. "Oh! By the way, Professor. I forgot to say that you don't have to keep it secret about what I asked you to do. If anyone asks about it, just tell him the truth. Well, I'm really leaving this time, Professor."

The door of the office was gently closed again, but the expression on Slughorn's face was very interesting, because he did not receive any warning when Mike opened the door just now. The restriction he spent a lot of money to set up on the door seemed to be completely non-existent in front of Mike!
……

On Monday, Hogwarts finally regained some of its original appearance as a school, and the various damages in the castle caused by the student riots were quickly repaired thanks to the efforts of the house-elves and the punitive labor of many students who had made mistakes.

The subjects taught by various professors have basically returned to normal. Even Slughorn, who had been hiding in his office since the beginning of the incident, has returned to the podium.

I have to say this is a good thing, especially for fifth and seventh graders.

Because no matter how severe the external situation is, they have to take the OWL and NEWT exams this year that can determine their future lives. You must know that there is no chance to repeat a grade in Hogwarts.

Now that classes have resumed, students should go to class.

This is the philosophy that Dumbledore firmly implements, and even students like Mike are no exception.

So Mike ran to class with his books.

This morning they had to attend Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class. The task assigned by Professor McGonagall was to turn mice into cats. This was a difficult task for sixth grade students because it involved issues of biological behavior and habits. If you conjured up a cat that chewed and bit things like a mouse, you would fail.

Hermione was the happiest one to be able to go back to class, but it was a different story for others, especially those students who had participated in the riot. Most of them still had bruises and scars on their faces, which were left by the angry Professor Snape.

These people waved their wands with sad faces. Due to their poor mental state, the cats they transformed also looked a little listless.

Mike didn't sympathize with them at all. What they had done before was really bad, so in the rest of the semester they had to complete a lot of academic work and use their spare time to complete the punishments given by the professors, including compulsory labor, review reports and confinement.

Professor McGonagall at the podium didn't look too good either. She kept her lips tightly pursed from the beginning to the end of the class. People who knew her knew that this was a sign that she was angry.

If we were to ask who was the most relaxed in the whole class, it would definitely be Mike.

It only took him five minutes to transform the mouse he was given into a clingy black cat. Then he flipped through a magic book called "The Magic of Language" as if no one was around, completely ignoring Professor McGonagall's murderous gaze.

After a Transfiguration class, the Ravenclaw student sitting next to Mike was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat.

He was extremely afraid of Professor McGonagall. The murderous aura that she exuded was enough to scare him so much that he almost couldn't hold his wand.

At 11 o'clock sharp, Professor McGonagall announced the end of get out of class on time. This was one of Professor McGonagall's characteristics: she would never keep the class late.

When Professor McGonagall walked away with her high heels clacking away, the whole classroom came alive. Everyone walked towards the cafeteria, talking to each other. Some of those who had been severely punished needed help to walk.

Mike also packed up his things and walked towards the door alone. Franklin skipped class today to help Mike.

"Mike!"

Hermione's familiar voice came from behind him. Mike turned around and saw that Harry and his group were right behind him.

"You came at the right time. Let's go eat together." Mike said with a smile, "Harry, Ron, I can share some of my lunch with you later. I don't know what's wrong with the house-elves in the kitchen lately. They give me more and more food, but I'm embarrassed to waste it, so I have to bite the bullet and finish it every time. That feeling is too uncomfortable."

Harry and Ron nodded quickly after hearing this. They also felt that the house-elves in the kitchen were crazy. However, unlike Mike, the food that the house-elves gave to Gryffindor was always too little and they could not eat enough.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two foodies, then looked at Mike with a worried look on her face.

"Mike, are you really going to torture every student in the school with that weak version of truth serum called truth potion?"

Mike raised his eyebrows and said:

"Who told you?"

"We heard it from Angelina, but it doesn't matter because Angelina also heard it from others."

"Yes, in fact, the news that you are going to feed the entire staff and students with the Truth Potion has spread throughout Hogwarts."

"If you ask me, this is really not a good idea. Although Azkaban no longer exists, this is illegal after all. Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic cannot turn a blind eye to it!"

Harry, Hermione and the other two spoke one after another to give a rough outline of the matter. Mike nodded repeatedly as he listened. After they had finished speaking, he tried hard to suppress the upward curve of his lips and pretended to be firm and said:

"There is no room for negotiation on this matter. This is the only way to find the assassin. I will never give up."

Mike spoke a little loudly, and many students who were about to finish class heard what he said. After hearing what he said, they all quickened their pace, fearing that they would be discovered by Mike.

Hermione and Harry also looked unhappy. They didn't expect Mike to be so stubborn.

But as friends, they couldn't just sit there and watch their best friend go astray, and with this belief in mind, Hermione prepared to persuade Mike again.

But before she could speak, Mike waved his hand to signal her to stop talking, and pointed in the direction of the auditorium and said:
"Okay, let's not talk about this now. Let's go eat first."

With that, Mike turned and walked towards the auditorium.

Harry and the others looked at each other, and finally took a step forward to catch up with Mike.

(End of this chapter)