Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 336 The Essence of Potions

Of course, understanding does not mean agreement, much less shared stance. Anyway, Lupin would take advantage of Donald's small favors every day, record Donald's behavior, and summarize it for Vaughn. This was his job as a deputy, and he did not neglect his duties just because he received favors or had a good relationship with him.

However, Donald probably doesn't care, since the other party didn't try to hide anything.

While sipping his coffee and lost in thought, Lupin chatted casually with James. Wizards are human too, especially ordinary wizards like them, so their topics rarely involve anything profound; they mostly just talk about the weather and gossip.

James gazed at the distant sky and suddenly exclaimed, "Tomorrow is Christmas again!"

"what?"

Lu Ping, whose sleep schedule had been a complete mess lately, was genuinely surprised this time, even a little flustered: "How come time is passing so quickly?"

""

James was baffled by his panic: "Quick? How long has it been since you looked at a calendar, buddy?"

Lupin himself couldn't remember; all he could recall was being busy.

Of course, the result was that he was caught off guard by the "sudden" holiday, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and even his coffee didn't taste good.

After putting down his cup, Lu Ping hurriedly went into the cave.

Compared to two days ago, the cave has changed again. After passing through the light gate, you are first greeted by a water curtain, which is actually a "curtain" made of water.

But this is actually a defensive measure similar to the Thief's Waterfall; it's essentially a product crafted by Vaughn that can remove illusion curses.

Potions with effects such as Transfiguration Charms and Compound Elixirs.

Originally, it wasn't as powerful as the Anti-Thief Waterfall. The Anti-Thief Waterfall is a super-large defensive structure, and the "potion" flowing from the waterfall can last for a long time without running dry, so its construction is naturally very complicated.

This "mini anti-theft waterfall" is much simpler and more ingenious. Its flow is essentially due to Vaughn using the Dark Lord's magical "network" in the cave, making the magical network think that the anti-theft potion is also part of the potion in the stone basin, and automatically replenishing it in a cycle.

By setting up a small anti-theft waterfall at the entrance, one can both prevent spies and disrupt the operation of the magical network inside the cave.

This provides a window of opportunity for research into magic and potion potions.

After passing through the Thief-Proof Waterfall, Lupin quickly tapped himself with his wand to ward off the water, then boarded a small boat and headed towards the island in the middle of the lake.

Compared to two days ago, the cave now looks much larger.

This stems from Vaughn's spatial distortion. He dropped several strange spheres into the cave, causing everything in the space surrounding the island in the lake to be warped and stretched by the expanding spheres.

Moreover, this process is dynamic, so much so that every time Lupin leaves and comes back in, he has to adjust for a while, with the visual illusion in his field of vision sliding back and forth as if Hitchcock zoomed in!

The same is true today.

Sitting in the small boat, Lupin saw a strange sphere roll past in front of him. In an instant, the distant island in the middle of the lake suddenly came closer, as if it had been "thrown" by the sphere, or rather, reflected in front of him.

But in the next instant, it quickly moved away, becoming a tiny dot at the edge of sight.

Fortunately, as the sphere rolled past, everything quickly returned to normal, and Lupin breathed a slight sigh of relief—yesterday, some unlucky fellow had somehow been captured by the sphere, and his small boat had been drifting for over two hours without reaching the shore.

Fortunately, he didn't run into it, otherwise it would have wasted even more time.

He wanted to find Vaughn as soon as possible and try to ask for a day off.

Because of Christmas —

As if thinking of something, a blush suddenly appeared on Lu Ping's cheeks, which still bore the gruesome scars.

"Remus, are you in love?"

The sudden sound startled Lupin. He looked up and realized that he had passed through the sphere again, only to be "thrown" directly to the vicinity of the island.

A few feet away on the shore, Kettleburn, whose face was also covered in hideous scars, smiled "kindly" at him.

Lupin, somewhat embarrassed, quickly changed the subject: "Good morning, Professor—Does the Chairman have time now?"

"Not yet. He, Crouch, and Graves are trying to separate the potion from the stone basin. It's a crucial moment. What, you want to ask him for leave? Hmm, Christmas, Christmas Eve, mistletoe, hahaha—little Remus has a sweetheart too!"

Professor Kettleburn's loud voice nearly made Lupin faint.

He dared not provoke this shameless old man any further and quickly walked away.

The small island in the middle of the lake has changed. A large number of strange devices stand on the edge of the island, seemingly monitoring something. The remaining spaces are filled with bizarre ritual items.

In the center of the island, Vaughn, Crouch, and Graves were gathered together, with a soft light shining in the center of their encirclement.

Lupin cast a vision spell on himself and then used rudimentary memory magic to clear his mind before walking over.

Even so, when he got within four feet of the three people, it was as if he were passing through a thin, dark "barrier".

when.

The sudden burst of boundless light before his eyes still made him grunt as if he had been punched.

Lupin's eyes instantly stung and tears welled up, but even with his vision blurred, he could still clearly "see" Vaughn.

At the center of Crouch, Graves, and the three men, there was a constantly rotating, fleshy, multifaceted figure, so detailed that it came into his view as the light struck!

Then it transforms into countless spectral hues, exploding in the eyes, in the mind, and in the memory!

"That's really weird—"

Even though it wasn't his first time experiencing it, it still took Lupin several tens of seconds to adjust to the throbbing pain in his brain as it was roughly stuffed with a lot of information.

Compared to him, Crouch and Graves seemed much more at ease, as they were probably used to it. When Lupin approached, he overheard them discussing: "—It seems that the magical network he designed here really didn't take into account that someone might bring in a Grindylow and force-feed it a potion—"

"Yes, who would have thought that the infamous Dark Lord would have such a huge personality flaw and blind spot in his mind—how's the absorption going?"

"We still need to wait. Yesterday's digestive system experiment showed that the Stone Basin Potion did not work on the digestive tract and other internal organs as we originally expected. The burning pain in the internal organs that Kreacher described may just be a side effect."

"Side effects? According to the philosophy of Eastern pharmacists, potions are governed by the principles of 'principal, assistant, and adjuvant'—a cyclical interaction of mutual generation and restraint. So-called side effects are usually part of the drug's effective components. We probably need to figure out why Voldemort kept them."

"We don't have the capacity to think about what a madman is thinking, Graves. I think even in North America, you should know how crazy the Dark Lord is. Don't try to think of him as a normal pharmacist."

"Yes, Barty's view is correct; the issue of side effects can be postponed—by the way, Donald, could you copy down the 'Eastern Monarch, Minister, Assistant, and Envoy' potion concept for me later?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley!"

The conversation ended in Donald Graves' cheerful tone.

Lupin noticed that Barty Crouch's expressionless face had stretched even longer; the man must be in a terrible mood, so much so that he had little interest in speaking to him.

Vaughn saw him too: "Remus, is something wrong?"

Lu Ping's lips twitched a few times, forcing a smile: "It's nothing, you guys go ahead with your work, I'll talk to you later."

Vaughn glanced at him, then didn't press further, turning his attention back to the constantly shifting, multifaceted carnivore before him: "According to Kreacher's account, after the initial burning sensation in his internal organs following the potion, there was an intense thirst—yesterday's experiment ruled out the potion's effects on the digestive system and other organs, as well as changes in blood concentration and osmotic pressure, interference with the tear glands and salivary glands, and any involvement of hormonal imbalances caused by an autoimmune attack—"

Lupin listened in, but after a while he couldn't understand what Vaughn was saying anymore.

Anyone who has spent a lot of time with Vaughn knows that he is less of a wizard and more of a Muggle scientist in terms of his way of thinking and research style.

This style is very unique; Lupin, for one, admits he can't keep up with it.

He glanced at Barty Crouch and Donald Graves, who were listening intently and clearly enjoying themselves, wondering how much of it they could actually understand.

Lupin felt that they should be like him.

Because if everyone present understood what they were supposed to do, Vaughn wouldn't have explained yesterday's debriefing so clearly.

But this is also what Lupin admires about the two of them.

He, too, couldn't understand, so he could only stand aside like a ghost, while Crouch and Graves were able to shamelessly participate in the research group led by Vaughn.

"I'm definitely not cut out for politics —"

Lupin sighed inwardly.

After a while of random thoughts, Vaughn finally finished his debriefing and started the actual operation.

Theoretically speaking, with the spectral filter, the manipulation of flesh and blood polyhedrons can be understood quite intuitively through spectral color analysis.

The problem is that it requires a very high level of skill in the Vision Charm. Even for a novice like Lupin, who has only recently learned it, the light and color it releases are still enormous, even without directly facing the "full-dimensional unfolding" of the polyhedron.

Endless spots of light, like snowflakes falling from the sky, piled up in my brain, one on top of another, constantly covering and accumulating into a "mountain".

It is difficult for normal people to process such superimposed and complex information. What's worse, the superposition process is not linear. Lupin heard Vaughn say that he had tried his best to improve the hypercube and the dissociation ritual, but the non-causal nature of the hypercube's motion could not be eliminated.

If it is truly removed, it means that the hypercube has completed its dimensional reduction and collapsed into a four-dimensional cube, and its original characteristics and functions will disappear.

As a normal, ordinary wizard, Lupin felt that he would probably never understand what it meant to lose the concepts of "time" and "cause and effect" in his entire life.

He didn't want to know either.

Look at Crouch and Graves—an hour later, the analysis of the potion in the stone basin finally came to a halt, not because they had made progress, but because Crouch and Graves couldn't hold on any longer.

Barty Crouch, who usually has a serious expression, and Donald Graves, who is elegant and slightly melancholic, completely disregard their personas at this moment. They stumble and lie on the edge of the island in the middle of the lake, vomiting violently into the dark lake water.

Lu Ping was very familiar with this situation; it was a central nervous system abnormality caused by the brain being ruthlessly drained by a massive amount of information, resulting in near-complete depletion of brain energy.

Well, that was the "diagnosis" Vaughn gave him a few days ago when he was vomiting on the edge of the island in the middle of the lake.

From that day on, Lupin gave up participating in the research.

Hearing the mixed sounds of crashing and throbbing, along with the heart-wrenching sounds of bodily functions, Lupin pinched his nose and went to Vaughn's side.

As the experiment ended and the flesh-and-blood polyhedron was dismantled, the Grindelwald that served as the experimental subject was no longer in its previous state of displaced internal organs, muscles, and other tissues, and returned to its normal appearance.

But clearly, the recent transformation into a polyhedral shape still had some physiological effects on it—

Its huge eyes stared unblinkingly; if it weren't for the rise and fall of its chest and the occasional spasms and twitches of its skin and muscles, one would almost think it was dead.

Seemingly noticing Lupin watching it, Vaughn, who was directing the automatic quill to record, said without turning his head, "In order to observe the real interaction between the Stone Basin Potion and the organism, I did not shield its pain today. Its consciousness may have been destroyed by the excruciating pain in the Hypercube state."

"Is the Hypercube state very painful?"

"It was extremely painful. According to Alaclay, it felt like he was being ripped apart by countless tiny saws. Every part of his body was being torn apart and groaning. He felt like he was being crushed, burned, and electrocuted—all the pain of life was assaulting his mind at once."

Lupin felt a slight chill run down his spine. His throat bobbed as he said, "Wouldn't this—wouldn't this cause bodily spasms and interfere with the true response?"

"Twitching movements have a fixed frequency and electrical signal feedback. As long as they are recorded well, this can actually serve as indirect data for verification in specific experiments, such as the duration of action, point of action, starting point, and stimulus source of different pain signals."

Lupin couldn't take it anymore. He looked away and changed the subject: "How's the potion research going?"

"The progress isn't ideal." Vaughn frowned slightly, his gaze lingering on the parchment quickly transcribed with his automatic quill, and he murmured absently, "What we can confirm now is that the technique used in the Stone Basin Potion originates from ancient alchemy. Tom has further modified it, and the modification method is extremely complex, showing traces of modern potion-making, as well as European alchemy, African voodoo, shamanism, and Eastern alchemy—I must say, our Dark Lord is a genius!"

"Have you tried the Scarpin Manifestation Charm?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lupin realized he had asked a pointless question.

Vaughn, who led the project, was a Potions Master, and Barty Crouch the Elder and Donald Graves were both seasoned Aurors; they would have thought of this most commonly used spell for analyzing potion ingredients.

Sure enough, Vaughn shook his head: "The Dark Lord couldn't have set a trap with the Stone Basin Potion without considering the Scapin Revealing Charm. That's why he added so many other potion-making techniques from different countries to his improvements. When Scapin developed the Revealing Charm, he probably didn't consider what to do if someone used alchemy, Voodoo, or alchemy techniques to mix up the various medicinal ingredients when brewing the potion."

Hearing this, Lupin couldn't help but ask curiously, "Are there significant differences in potion-making between different countries?"

"Of course it's big."

A voice came from behind. It was Donald Graves. The poor fellow was so pale he looked almost transparent, and he looked like he was about to die. He staggered over, took a bottle out of his pocket, and gulped down a large mouthful of liquid.

A rich aroma of chocolate and caramel wafts over.

"You're alive—" Donald gasped for breath and continued, "First of all, no potion-making school in the world can achieve a healing effect using only a single potion ingredient. Otherwise, everyone could just take herbs, why bother with a separate potion-making discipline?"

"The essence of potions, if we use Muggle biochemistry to describe it, is that the active ingredients used aren't actually what they should need, but rather—" He turned to Vaughn, "What was that saying again?"

While still checking the automatic quill's records, Vaughn didn't even look up: "It's a secondary metabolite that doesn't participate in the growth cycle, but rather is synthesized defensively due to factors such as damage, pests, and diseases. In other words, it's a small molecule organic compound with a more complex structure than the primary metabolite!"

"Ah, yes, Muggles are great in every way, but their descriptions are always confusing—anyway, it's okay if you don't understand. The reason I'm using Muggle terminology is because Muggle scientists in America are also researching the active ingredients of herbs, and their findings can be applied to potions."

"Of course, Mr. Weasley didn't mention his theory of 'legendary influence properties.' In my opinion, the results described by this theory are actually within the same framework as the Muggle research. It can be argued that 'legends' can cause magical plants to synthesize certain magical compounds, so it's perfectly correct!"

After offering a quick compliment, Donald continued, "Back to the main topic, as Mr. Weasley just explained, secondary metabolites are products of biological defense synthesis. They naturally possess bioactive groups and specific structures, allowing them to interact quite perfectly with biological macromolecules (enzymes, proteins, DNA, etc.)."

"So, potion-making studies are actually about how to synthesize those organic compounds. In ancient alchemy, there's a specific term for this process called 'alchemical transmutation,' which describes the transformation of some elements into others."

"But the variety of organic compounds is enormous. The magical world has not compiled statistics and is still unclear about it. In Muggle society, there are already tens of millions of known types. Such a complex system obviously cannot be encompassed by any single school of thought. Therefore, schools of thought in potions generally specialize in the synthesis of a particular major category of organic compounds."