The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 109 Second Year Potions Class

Moriarty and Lilith were researching in the library, following Mrs. Pince's rules by quietly reading and taking notes, until nearly noon when Jericho burst into the library, breaking the peace.

Jericho ran to the desk where Moriarty and Lilith were sitting. "Sir, sir? You know what? After class I went to talk to those two lads, and they just glared at me and ran away!"

He raised his hands to shoulder height and waved them excitedly: "This isn't normal! I have a great relationship with them, and they're not the type to wear their emotions on their sleeves!"

"Blanche!" Mrs. Pince roared.

Before Mrs. Pince arrived, Moriarty dragged Jericho out of the library, and Lilith followed after returning the books.

"Keith and Larpo have also developed the same aversion to school as you?" Lilith found it quite laughable. "They should thank Merlin for his help if they graduate smoothly; how could they possibly be averse to school!"

"They got carried away just from being guards once. I won't be assigning them any more tasks." Moriarty shrugged, clearly finding the whole thing hilarious.

The three of them talked as they walked toward the auditorium. After having lunch, they went back to their dormitory to get the crucible and other equipment, and then headed toward the Potions classroom.

Having experienced arriving early for Transfiguration class, they chose a suitable time to enter the classroom. Professor Snape sat on the podium, his black cloak draped over his shoulders as always, making him look like a large bat.

"Why are there so few people here?" Jericho looked around and saw that most of the benches were empty.

"No one dares to be late for Professor Stuart's class. Come on, take your seats. I bet we'll be making swelling potion in this class." Lilith chose her seats, and Moriarty and Jericho took their places in turn.

Moriarty asked, "So the information you were looking for in the library was about swelling potion?"

“That’s right,” Lilith said confidently. “Do you remember what I said last semester? I was going to compete with you in Potions class.”

"You two are quite interesting," Jericho muttered. "I'm more interested in our school motto than potions. Sir, what did you find on your library trip?"

"No," Moriarty's voice was unreadable. "There are countless stories about dragons, but few about the legend of 'Don't disturb a sleeping dragon.' Old Flint wrote back to me yesterday saying he would send me all the dragon legends in the world by next Monday."

As Jericho cleaned the gold cauldron with a brush, he muttered, "I'm worried that the story of the dragon slayer turning into a dragon might come true. Maybe there really is a sleeping dragon hidden beneath our castle, but it was transformed from some dragon slayer and then sealed away in the school."

Moriarty and Lilith exchanged a glance and nodded slightly: "Your concerns are not unfounded."

During their conversation, a large group of students walked in, and strangely enough, the lion and the snake walked together.

In the past, the little lions would rush to walk in front of the little snake, but whenever it was potions class, the little lions would always drag their feet and walk behind because of the snake.

Never before have students from the two colleges been mixed together like this, slowly making their way into the classroom.

Moriarty saw that even the usually energetic Percy was mixed in with the crowd, walking forward listlessly.

Snape crossed his arms unhappily and laughed sarcastically: "I used to think you were all brawn and no brains. A year later I realized that's an exaggeration for you. Your legs and feet are just for show."

Moriarty and his two companions chuckled to themselves. The students, as if waking from a dream, slipped back to their seats. The teacher picked up a dark green crystal bottle from the podium and stepped down.

"There's a potion that causes swelling in any part of the body that comes into contact with it," Professor Snape asked in a low voice. "Who can tell me its name?"

Lilith raised her right hand high, and Steve glanced at her but walked up to Percy, looking down at him: "Weasley?"

"Oh! Oh, sir." Percy bounced up as if he'd been put on a spring. "Hmm, swelling potion!"

"The answer is obvious," said the teacher, who neither deducted nor added points for Gryffindor. Moriarty suspected that he was just reminding Percy to attend class, and the teacher's next words proved this to be true.

"Concentrate," Si Jiao said calmly.

Percy sat down as if granted a pardon, and Speaker walked to the next student, "Keith? The ingredients of the swelling potion."

Keith stood up unsteadily: "I don't know, Professor."

"So? Why don't you pick up your textbook and read it aloud? Or does the great Keith think he doesn't need textbooks and disdains reading?" Snape walked up to him, staring at him, his dark eyes like two black holes, as if sucking away all of Keith's joy.

Keith gasped for breath, his hand trembling as he reached for the textbook, *Potions and Magic*, but the teacher was already gone. "Miss Piriwick!" he called out, "Read the ingredients for the swelling potion! Don't tell us you can't find it!"

"Of course not, Professor." Lilith stood up and immediately turned to a page in her textbook, which Moriarty saw was covered in notes.

"The ingredients of the swelling-reducing solution include dried nettles, pufferfish eyes, bat spleen..."

Listening to Lilith's clear and fluent explanation, Moriarty closed his eyes. Judging from the ingredients, this swelling potion was far more complex than the potions made by the first-year students, but compared to the neutralizing potion, it was nothing.

After Lilith finished reading the last ingredient, Moriarty opened his eyes. He memorized all the ingredients and saw Professor Snape walk up to the podium, draw his wand, and distribute the potion ingredients to the students.

"One serving per person," said Si lazily, "and I'll only say it once."

After he finished speaking, he directed the crucible, balance scale, crystal bottle, silver knife, and a transparent mortar to fly onto the podium and personally arrange all the utensils.

"The professor is too fast!" Lilith complained. "I practiced for two weeks over the summer and still can't keep up!"

"Use your heart, not your hands," Moriarty said, having already set out the tools he would be using, fiddling with a mortar and pestle in his hand.

"Listen! First step, add two spoonfuls of dried nettles to the mortar!" Professor Snape announced abruptly, causing the students to scramble to get started.

He completed the step on his own, while only Moriarty and Lilith followed. Jericho's movement with the small spoon was so large that he almost knocked over the crucible.

"Step two: Add 3 portions of pufferfish eyes to the mortar!"

Moriarty did as he was told, and Lilith followed suit. Jericho, meanwhile, rolled his eyes at Keith with the pufferfish eyes in an attempt to make him laugh, which made Keith's pale face look a little better.

"What a gentle and thoughtful person." Moriarty shook his head and smiled as he saw this.

"Step three!" The instructor's voice rang out like a death knell, "Grind them into a medium-fine powder. Remember, it only takes five minutes. One second more and you'll have to start all over again!"

Moriarty held the crystal pestle and pounded it into the mortar, making a "thump thump thump" sound.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lilith grabbed Moriarty's arm. "The professor and the book both say to grind, not pound!"

"Then see how Professor S handled it?" Moriarty took out a hand, placed it on Lilith's head, and gently turned her head towards the podium.

Lilith blushed slightly, but the blush quickly disappeared. "Spirit actually used his wand to turn dried nettles and pufferfish eyes into a medium-fine powder!"

Lilith was indignant: "He cheated! It should have taken five minutes, but he finished it in no time!"

"If you've made swelling potion a thousand times, you can conjure it up in an instant. Now, grind it properly." Moriarty continued grinding, making a rhythmic "thump thump thump~ thump thump thump~" sound.

The students all looked at Moriarty, and Stoker glanced at him too before looking away. Lilith, while grinding vigorously, asked, "Why isn't Stoker paying attention to you? Crushing will damage the material."

You'll understand next.

"snort."

Lilith pursed her lips and increased the force, seemingly treating the material in the mortar as Moriarty, grinding it vigorously.

Jericho, on the other hand, continued his freeloading style from the previous semester, doing exactly what Moriarty did.

"It's so great to get something for free," he said, leaning back on the edge of the table behind him with a smug look on his face as he watched the other students struggling to grind the materials. He felt a great sense of superiority because, using Moriarty's method, it only took him two minutes.

(End of this chapter)