Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 23 Improved Potion
Vaughan's core belief is that potions are roughly equivalent to spells. When he was 10 years old, he compiled it into a paper and published it in the journal of the Society of Extraordinary Apothecaries, Extraordinary Potions. This is also the part of his work that has always been controversial.

Potions is a relatively independent discipline. In the eyes of many pharmacists, only the fragrance rising from the crucible can represent the mysterious and omnipotent side of magic.

As long as they bring enough potions, they can easily accomplish various things without having to "wave wands foolishly" or cast a bunch of "fancy spells".

Not to mention, many diseases and spell damage can only be cured by potions.

This makes them look down on other disciplines with condescension.

Vaughan's statement obviously violated their taboos. Not all of those people disagreed with his point of view, but more people did not want to see change.

Some of them are old-fashioned people who are intoxicated with glory, some are vested interests (the more mysterious the potion, the easier it is to monopolize it), and some are fools!
The last comment was made by Professor Snape in the newspaper at the time.

The idea advocated in Vaughan's paper is simple - to allow magic to be more involved in the process of brewing potions, just like casting spells.

Like this moment.

As he sprinkled the snake tooth powder into the crucible, Vaughn drew out his wand and tapped it lightly on the crucible. A subtle trace of magic power seeped into the potion.

Hermione stared at the side, but the magic was invisible to the naked eye. She could only see the snake fang powder falling into the potion.

"Venomous snake fang is the main ingredient. Its function in the formula is to absorb toxins, but remember, it doesn't have this function on its own. We only need its properties."

As Vaughn whispered, a few fluorescent lights precipitated from the snake fang powder, and the originally floating powder sank to the bottom of the pot.

"Once toxin adsorption is resolved, the next step is detoxification. For simple conditions like scabies, horned slugs and dried nettles can be used. Horned slugs are usually used to heal wounds, while dried nettles neutralize the adsorbed toxins."

The wand continued to tap the crucible, and as the materials were added, more undercurrents with faint fluorescence appeared in the potion, and they were slightly pink.

Hermione held the book, her mouth slightly open, watching everything intently.

She asked softly: "These..."

"Yes, it's the properties of the materials, Hermione." Vaughan nodded and explained, "I used magic to extract them and let you see them. In the traditional recipe for the potion to treat scabies, the last step, the porcupine quill, is used to extract the properties. It itself does not participate in the treatment process, so my magic saved this step!"

As he spoke, Vaughn turned off the heat of the crucible and stirred it clockwise five times. "Five turns, no more, no less. This is another key point I mentioned before, the ritual! Numbers are magical in this recipe ritual. See—"

Hermione stared intently.

In the crucible, the medicine liquid, which was originally in distinct layers and with various colors, changed with five stirrings and Vaughn waving his wand.

As it spun, it suddenly turned into a pot of blue potion, clear and refreshing, without a trace of other colors.

The finished product looks even better than the one in the textbook picture!

Before she could be surprised, Snape slid over like a bat.

He leaned over to look at the potion in the crucible, a hint of surprise in his lifeless eyes.

He couldn't help but dip his hand in it, put it to his nose and sniffed it, then looked at Vaughn: "It doesn't have the pungent smell of porcupine quills... Have you made any improvements?"

Vaughan nodded. "Yes, Professor."

"Using the magic extraction method you mentioned last year?"

Vaughn smiled. "Yes, but for now, it can only be used on simple potions like this. More advanced potions require more complex material properties, and it takes a lot of time to understand, explore, and find the trick."

"But I think it's very meaningful. Traditional formulas usually use one or even several more ingredients in order to extract the properties in the final step. These ingredients will inevitably affect the efficacy of the potion, and some are even toxic... Although side effects and toxicity can be tolerated for the success of the potion, there's no better way, right?"

Snape remained silent, saying nothing more. As he turned to leave, everyone heard him speak: "Slytherin, 10 points. Vaughn Weasley, Granger, go help our Longbottom and Finnegan. I suspect they're trolls in disguise… Ron Weasley, what are you daydreaming about? Why don't you learn from your brother?"

Harry heard Ron mutter in his ear, "I don't want to be like him!"

Harry said nothing for a moment before he whispered, "Next time in Potions class, I want to partner with Vaughn."

Ron glared: "Traitor!"

On the other side, Vaughan and Hermione came to Neville and Seamus' desks as instructed by dear Professor Snape.

Neville was crying because Snape scolded him so much that he doubted his life during the whole class and he was deducted 5 points.

This made him feel very guilty.

"I'm sorry, Vaughn, I'm so stupid I can't remember."

"It's okay Neville, just focus on the textbook and don't panic."

Perhaps because he had received help from Vaughn before, Neville always trusted Vaughn, even though he was a Slytherin.

This honest and kind little fat boy is actually a very honest and obedient guy except that he has a poor memory and is prone to crying.

At least when facing Vaughn, whom he trusted, he listened to everything he said and did it strictly and meticulously.

Seamus on the other side was more mischievous, or perhaps he really did have some hidden talent. Even with Hermione watching over him, he almost caused an accident when he needed to add the porcupine quills at the last step of boiling.

Without turning off the fire, he threw a handful of porcupine quills into the crucible.

Fortunately, Vaughn, who had been keeping an eye on him, quickly cast a levitation spell to intercept the porcupine quills, otherwise the classroom would have faced a huge disaster!
Porcupine quills at high temperatures will turn the potion into a highly corrosive liquid and cause it to explode.

This made Professor Snape dislike Gryffindor even more, and he took the opportunity to deduct another point.

At the end of the class, on the way back to Gryffindor, Seamus was still explaining to Hermione: "...I was just too nervous. Snape was always around me, and I was under a lot of pressure!"

Hermione's face was stern, and her voice was crisp and sharp, demanding: "Then why don't you pay more attention? The professor didn't force you to turn off the stove!"

Feeling humiliated, Seamus became angry and ignored her.

Ron, who was watching the fun, turned around and said to Harry, "She's too serious and often makes people lose face."

Harry saw Hermione coming over and quickly changed the subject:

"Tomorrow is the weekend, how about we go visit Hagrid?"

Hagrid wrote to him today, inviting him to visit the cabin.

But Ron obviously didn't understand what he meant. "Okay, but it's better not to bring her. I don't want to hear someone constantly telling me that you're doing this wrong, that wrong..."

Hermione pursed her lips, which reminded Harry of Professor McGonagall almost instantly. She stumbled past the two of them angrily, even knocking Ron off balance.

Watching the girl's receding figure, Harry sighed.

"Ron, you shouldn't have said that about her."

Ron felt guilty and just snorted twice.

(End of this chapter)