Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

"Human emotions are not mutually understood; sometimes, people cannot even understand themselves from yesterday."

—From Professor Severus Snape's book.

When Snape saw the potion recipe, he experienced the same silence as Victor had when he saw the divination of this world.

Can potions be made like this?

Is this approach effective?

One cannot completely rule out this possibility, but even if the kind of thing Victor mentioned really existed, Snape didn't think it was a potion—because it neither made the cauldron emit a pleasant fragrance nor contained any herbs.

Snape even thought that the blue clay he had been stirring for thirteen days would only turn into a black slag crust stuck to the crucible he cleaned every day.

As for those messy materials, he didn't want to say anything anymore. He felt that even a glance at them would contaminate the exquisite potion principles he had studied for decades!

This formula is to potions what deception is to divination, and black magic is to black magic defense.

But Victor kept talking.

"I suppose you do have some knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs?" He looked at the parchment for a while and said calmly, "This recipe actually has a few minor problems. It's too active and often causes explosions during the refining process."

"So I was thinking, would replacing the mermaid's voice with a 'scholar's voice' make the drug's effects slightly more stable while maintaining a similar level of activity?"

"Do you have similar descriptions in your potions studies?"

Snape's face turned cold and empty. He took a few deep breaths before speaking in a low voice:

"In the world of potions, cauldron explosions are often caused by conflicts between ingredients or the introduction of impurities. For example, the mermaid's throat—"

His expression became even more disdainful, as if he was very unhappy just saying that word.

"If the purification process involves steps that introduce impurities, such as seawater or mud, it can cause an explosion. Irritating or biologically derived medicines are indeed more unstable than others."

"But that's not absolute. The person who makes the potion is also highly related to the process. Some wizards are just more likely to cause an explosion than others. That might be a coincidence... but I have to say it's more related to the fact that they have eyes but don't use them, like Mr. Seamus of Gryffindor."

Snape patiently shared some of his experiences. Aside from his usual scathing remarks about Gryffindor, the rest were quite useful, at least proving that Victor's proposed changes were possible.

Victor hadn't studied potions much before, nor had he dabbled in alchemy. But in the few weeks since arriving at Hogwarts, he suddenly had a feeling that he would make some discoveries in this area.

A diviner's intuition is rarely unfounded. For example, even Professor Trelawney, whose third eye is often closed, can vaguely sense changes in circumstances. Even her theory that "a noisy life makes my third eye cloudy" has some truth to it.

"So..."

But before Victor could continue asking questions, he was interrupted by Professor Snape, who had lost his patience.

"You should go see Professor Philomon," Snape said coldly. "Potion making requires a precise process and strict techniques. My experience alone is inaccurate and unnecessary. I suggest you go to the library and borrow a book called 'Potions and Magic' to do some basic introductory work."

This was actually a first-grade textbook. But Snape didn't say it explicitly, only adding softly:

"But don't bother me with anything else related to this formula; I have no interest."

He clearly had a lot of opinions about the formula.

But Victor simply folded the recipe a few times, stuffed it into his pocket, and then said, without question:

"I think you'll regret this."

"I don't think so. What evidence do you have?"

"No evidence is needed, my feeling is enough," Victor nodded his head.

"But if I had to say... Mars is brighter tonight."

What does it mean if Mars is bright?

"Some things lose their power when spoken aloud, Severus, especially in astrology. It requires a certain degree of ambiguity to ensure that revealing the future in advance doesn't have a negative impact."

"...It seems we finally understand why the centaurs' divination was so vague," Snape said sarcastically.

Victor seemed oblivious to the sarcasm in his words, simply nodding before leaving on his own. Snape was left speechless, gritting his teeth and cursing the fortune tellers for their unwillingness to speak plainly, before limping away with a sullen face.

……

In fact, the "scholar's voice" that Victor mentioned was the one he had taken from Hermione that afternoon. Hermione's voice was stored inside a white fishbone, and it would emit a faint glow and a faint, ethereal sound belonging to Hermione if one got close.

However, Victor did not intend to get any closer.

Even after the fish skeleton was brought back to the divination office, all the creatures in the office avoided it. Because it emitted an anxious sound at the slightest touch—

"Oh my god, I haven't even started writing my paper which is due in five days. Professor McGonagall is going to be very disappointed in me."

The next day, after accidentally listening to it again, Victor sighed and locked it deeper in the drawer, next to another dark glass jar, making sure it was completely out of his hearing range.

However, the most important reason he kept it was that it could be one of the main ingredients in the alchemical potions he wanted to make.

The potion recipe he showed Snape was only a small part of the grand alchemical ritual to create an 'immortal soul'. Theoretically, this part alone could create a vessel to hold a soul, representing the 'present'.

However, because the ritual has a near 200% lethality rate (in the past, an alchemist not only killed himself while making it, but also unfortunately killed a thief who came to steal from his house), Victor never thought of making it on his own, and he would never even consider drinking the first batch he made.

He planned to first go to the faculty lounge to talk to Professor Philomon, who taught alchemy, and see if there was any useful magic in this world.

The Hogwarts faculty lounge was designed for teachers who taught in the main building. Because it was slightly more comfortable than their offices, with a few armchairs, it was a popular spot for professors to chat between classes. When Victor entered, three or four professors were sitting inside, discussing the previous day's events.

He overheard their conversation just as Victor entered the room—

"I heard Severus got bitten on the leg by Lou Williams last night!"

Professor Kettleburn, who had only half a leg and one hand, sat in one of the chairs and said this, slapping his wooden leg excitedly.