Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 301 Unrealistic Ideas

Maxim pondered: "So Mr. Weasley suggested that you use smuggling to win over those Muggles?"

'

"It's very effective, isn't it? Because they already had this idea, they just didn't have time to communicate it."

While Vaughn is mentioned here, on the other side of the world in England, Harry and Ron, led by Hermione, also find Vaughn at Hagrid's Hut.

He and Hagrid were sitting in a clearing on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with a large barrel next to Hagrid.

The moment Harry and Ron saw the bucket, they started grimacing—they were all too familiar with it after so many practical lessons.

The bucket contains florper caterpillars that Hager has been raising.

This 10-inch-long worm was the most terrifying of all the magical creature-related tasks in the practical class.

Although Floppy caterpillars are not aggressive at all, in fact, they are among the most harmless magical creatures. As long as they have food, they can stay in one place for a long time without moving.

But—I believe no normal person would want to pick up a 10-inch-long, plump worm, then wring out a large puddle of mucus from either end of its body, perhaps its mouth or anus, like wringing out a rag, and then collect this sticky, vomit- or excrement-like liquid—

Sadly, this has been a recurring theme ever since the Flobber caterpillar task was introduced in practical classes.

Hagrid "donated" all the Flobber caterpillars he kept to the Practical Class. He placed them in various dark and damp corners of the small world and provided a large bucket for the young wizards to catch and collect the slime.

The reward is 1 copper nat for each task!

Harry and Ron swear that if it weren't for the fact that the assigned task had to be completed and there were a few points to be earned, no young wizard would have wanted to give this damn task a second glance!

Anyway, they quickly turned to look at Vaughn to avoid vomiting.

On the other side, Vaughn sat under a tree, holding a book in his hands, with a cauldron in front of him. A roaring fire was burning in the cauldron, which was emitting strange mist, as if he was brewing some kind of magic potion.

With the arrival of the cold wave in Beihai in recent days, the leaves of the trees on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest have almost all fallen. The once lush canopies can no longer block out the sky, and the pale winter sunlight finally shines into the forest.

The ground was covered with fallen leaves, no longer hardened by rain. The barren rainforest environment was soft and loose underfoot, making a rustling sound as you stepped on it.

Hearing footsteps, Vaughn, whose hair was as red as fire in the sunlight, turned around.

Seeing that it was them, he casually raised his hand in greeting: "Good morning, Harry, Ronnie."

Hearing Vaughn's greeting, Harry judged that he was in a good mood, thanks to Ron, whose name was an important indicator of whether a Weasley family member was in a good mood.

For example, when people call Ronald, it usually means they are in a bad mood, and it is mostly caused by Ron. This formal name is equivalent to a warning.

When people call Ronnie, it's a symbol of a happy mood, so they call him by his nickname to show "closeness".

Although Ron himself didn't like it —

Harry noticed Ron's face starting to fall, and he quickly asked Vaughn, "Hermione said you've stopped having nightmares, does that mean you're all better?"

"I'm not fully recovered yet," Vaughn shook his head, then confirmed, "but it won't affect my normal life and studies anymore. All that's left is to rest and recover slowly."

Hearing this, Harry finally felt relieved.

Merlin then learned what kind of torment he and Ron had suffered during Vaughn's recovery. Hermione's worry, anxiety, and lack of patience caused them trouble, and the two of them were also very worried about Vaughn.

Especially Ron.

This stubborn guy may have been dismissive, but Harry had actually heard him sighing in bed more than once during that time.

Even Quidditch has lost its appeal.

During training on the field a couple of days ago, Ron was completely distracted, and Harry didn't hear a single word of encouragement from him.

Of course, Harry himself was similar, though not as obviously as Ron.

Regardless, Vaughn was the first person to show him kindness after he came into contact with the wizarding world. Even though they were not in the same house, and Vaughn was still a Slytherin whom Gryffindor was hostile to, Harry believed that none of these factors affected his friendship with Vaughn.

From an emotional perspective, he genuinely hoped that Vaughn was alright.

On the other hand, it is also a practical need.

With Dumbledore away from school and Vaughn having left the castle to live with Hagrid, Harry felt isolated and helpless for the first time since he hadn't seen either of them for a long time.

Don't forget, the diary crisis isn't over yet!

Since realizing Peeves might be involved in the diary conspiracy, Harry has been keeping busy with his studies and "laboriously" copying homework.

Through his friendship with Nick, who was nearly headless, he gradually learned Peeves' whereabouts.

However, no further progress could be made in tracking, investigating, or making arrests.

Peeves is no pushover. Of all the ghosts in the castle, only Barrow the Bloody can scare it. The other ghosts are often bullied by it. Similarly, as a so-so second-year student with limited spellcasting skills, Harry has no way to deal with it.

So, beyond the emotional aspect, Harry also hoped that Vaughn would recover quickly and return to the castle.

Harry glanced at Hermione, whose expression had finally brightened, and who was happily busy around Vaughn. Harry's lips trembled a few times, but he ultimately didn't ask, "When will you be fully recovered?"

He looked at the crucible in front of Vaughn.

In the pale gray sunlight, a cloud of seemingly "viscous" mist swirled above the cauldron. Harry and Ron peered over and saw that beneath the viscous, mysterious mist was a boiling, transparent potion.

Harry and Ron's Potions class grades were so-so that they couldn't figure out what it was.

To their surprise, Hermione didn't notice either.

"Vaughn, what kind of potion are you brewing?" Hermione asked curiously as she poured Vaughn a cup of tea.

"It's not a magic potion; I'm trying to develop a drug matrix."

"Drug matrix? What's that?"

It was Ron who asked the question. His freckles were tinged with a faint red. Harry suspected he was forcing his way in; the term "drug matrix" sounded very academic. How could the normal Ron possibly be interested in such a topic?

Vaughn glanced at Ron but didn't show any unusual expression. He simply took a sip of tea, looking at the book in his hand, and answered in detail: "It can be seen as a carrier for drug formulations. In Muggle technology terms, it's the base substance that can preserve the physical structure, stability, and dispersion of the drug—have you ever considered why most magical potions, once finished, are in the form of liquids or oils?"

"————"*2

Harry and Ron, the two academic underachievers, began to stare blankly.

Hermione, however, seemed to be deep in thought: "That's right, all the potions we've learned about, including those described in all the potion books I've read, are in liquid form. But in the Muggle world, medicines come in many different forms—"

Vaughn nodded. "Yes, powders, tablets, colloids—Muggles can make medicine in all sorts of forms, but why hasn't the wizarding world developed similar technology?"

"Because Muggles are smarter?" Harry asked instinctively.

Upon hearing this, before Vaughn and Hermione could react, Ron looked at him in disbelief: "Dude, what nonsense are you talking about? Wizards are the smartest!"

Harry, who grew up in Muggle society, blushed: "Ron, I think you should go and see for yourself in Muggle society. Muggle technology isn't some kind of trick you're imagining; it's—"

"I don't believe it!"

Ron, who received wizarding education from a young age, said he didn't want to listen.

Harry was getting impatient and was about to say something more when Heraton snapped, "All you do is argue! Shut up!"

The two useless boys, who were "all talk and no action," quickly shut up and awkwardly looked to the side under the girl's angry glare.

Vaughn paid no attention to their commotion. After they quieted down, he calmly continued, "This has nothing to do with intelligence. For example, the process of making traditional Chinese medicine and magic potions is similar. But thousands of years ago, the ancient Chinese, who had no scientific understanding, mastered the method of making medicine (pills) by boiling medicinal materials into a colloid and then using honey as an antioxidant and beeswax as a shell."

"As far as I know, the current state of potion-making technology in China is not much different from that in England. If Muggles in ancient China could do it, there's no reason why modern wizards can't."

As they spoke, more and more "viscous" mist appeared above the crucible, until it piled up completely above the crucible like an upside-down basin of water.

Vaughn finally looked away from the book, drew his wand, and struck the fog with a silent spell, instantly turning the sticky fog transparent.

Observe the fog changing.

Vaughn narrowed his eyes slightly and beckoned again. On the other side, a clump of pale green slime flew over from the large barrel in front of Hagrid. With a splat, the two clumps of viscous substance began to merge, much to the disgust of Harry and Ron who could not bear to look directly at it.

Vaughn leaned over, watching the changes in the gas and liquid above the crucible and inside the pot, and said, "—Perhaps it's not that wizards can't change the carrier form of potions, but rather that the potions themselves don't support such changes. This is very interesting, and it reminds me of the structure-activity relationship of Muggle drugs."

"In structure-activity relationships, based on how drugs act in the human body, Muggles classify them into two types: structure-nonspecific and structure-specific."

'

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, both noticing how clear and innocent the other's eyes were.

Can you understand me?

You don't understand, but that's okay. Just smile!

Seemingly noticing the exchange of glances between the two, and after observing the still ongoing gas-liquid changes for a while, Vaughn raised his head and said to them, "It's okay if you don't understand. You just need to know that the former is based on the physicochemical properties of the drug, that is, the physical and chemical properties of the drug itself, such as solubility, partitioning, adsorption, oxidation-reduction potential, etc."

"The latter's structural specificity is based on the interaction between the drug and the mechanism. These drugs all have their corresponding target receptors, such as a certain protein or a certain enzyme. This strong interaction means that even a slight change in the drug's chemical structure will affect its pharmacodynamic properties—the characteristic of magic drugs being difficult to change their carrier form is very consistent with the manifestation of structural specificity."

Well----

Harry and Ron were starting to feel dizzy.

Hermione, on the other hand, listened intently. Vaughn had bought her a lot of introductory textbooks on Muggle physics and chemistry during this time. Although her understanding was not yet deep, she could already understand some of what was being said.

She thought for a moment, then seemed to realize something: "You believe that the way potions work in the human body is targeted and mutually restrictive?"

Vaughn nodded slightly: "Yes, while potions can produce pharmacological properties on corresponding targeted mechanisms, the mechanisms also require the corresponding components of the potion, with a chemical structure that meets its requirements. In other words, it can also be called a survival environment."

Hermione was stunned: "Why is it that the more you talk about it, the more I feel like you're treating potions as a counterpart to a human body? It's as if you see it as a miniature life form?"

what?

Harry and Ron, who looked completely bewildered, did understand this part. They looked at Hermione and then at Vaughn in surprise.

Vaughn smiled, not directly answering Hermione's question, but instead pointing to the crucible whose internal and external vapor-liquid mixtures were still slowly changing, and asked, "Hermione, have you ever considered what the ideal state of a potion should be, based on the magic extraction method I developed?"

Hermione thought for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "—A mixture of properties?"

"That's right. According to the magic extraction method, theoretically, as long as the properties of the herbs are extracted and then mixed together, a potion should be successfully made. However, since I proposed the magic extraction method, have you ever seen me do that?"

Hermione shook her head. She didn't know what had happened before she entered Hogwarts. After entering Hogwarts, Vaughn would brew potions in the castle and would often ask her to help watch the fire and process some of the medicinal materials.

Through her observation, Vaughn's potion-making technique, apart from the additional step of extracting properties, was no different from the traditional potion-making method.

She hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now that Vaughn had asked her, she suddenly realized.

Yeah, why not just mix the properties together?

This successfully piqued her curiosity, and even Harry and Ron, two academic underachievers, seemed quite interested.

Under their curious gazes, Vaughn smiled: "Actually, I tried it a long time ago. There was no boiling, no heavy pot, and no need for silly stirring. I just extracted the corresponding properties of the herbs according to the formula and then put those properties into the bottle."

"But interestingly, they simply cannot survive in the bottle. Once separated from the medicine and carrier, their properties disappear at an alarming rate," yes, completely vanished, as if they had never existed.

"Ah—" Hermione looked blank for a moment, then hurriedly asked, "Why is that? What's the principle behind it?"

"have no idea."

Vaughn gave the three an unexpected answer: "The brewing of potions requires the participation of magic, as well as mystery and ritual. I used to think that simply mixing the properties would not succeed, probably due to the influence of mystery, ritual and magic. But later, no matter how I experimented and improved, not a single attempt was successful, not even a trace of success. As soon as they were separated from the ingredients and carrier, they would disappear, as if it were some kind of iron law."

"This reminds me of an interesting question in Muggle society—does life have weight? Does weight change after death?" He looked at Hermione and said, "Nobody knows if life has weight; it's completely immeasurable. Similarly, I don't know where properties disappear to, and I can't measure them either—the concepts are so similar. Muggles call this kind of intangible, generalizable quality 'life.' I think 'life' is a very interesting expression!"

Yes, it's very interesting!

Looking back at the scene of gas-liquid transformation in the crucible, Vaughn thought.

Hermione was right. In Vaughn's mind now, he was indeed gradually changing his view of potions, beginning to regard them as a kind of "activity" or "life"!

Life is a general term encompassing the activities of a living organism itself (the organism and its interactions).

Characteristics are also a summary of the drug's "activity (structure and interaction)".

He hadn't thought about it in this direction before, so the magic extraction method has always had an undeniable weakness: as a theory, it lacks a set of technological means to support its separation from the old system.

Until Vaughn saw the "giant" in the ether.