A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 84 The First Step of a Potions Master (Third Update)

William had seen far too many magical creatures at Hogwarts, but none could compare to Professor Snape's secret box.

He finally understood why Snape treasured the medicine pantry so much; more accurately, his entire fortune was there.

This room, expanded by the Unseen Stretch Charm, is more like a supermarket taken over by a mad scientist, who fills all the aisles and shelves with bottles and jars of various shapes and sizes used to store species.

The lighting setup around the room, with the addition of red "safety lights," is professional, making it resemble a darkroom for developing photographs.

These red "safety lights" projected upwards from under the shelves, illuminating the entire space and shining on containers soaked in alcohol, protecting photosensitive species from exposure to normal light.

Under the light, those inanimate species seemed to gather together, staring at you through the shadows!

This gave William the illusion that he was in a giant aquarium.

He glanced around casually, and the corridor seemed to stretch endlessly, containing at least tens of thousands of corpses of magical creatures.

If Hagrid were to see this room, wouldn't he kill Snape?

After all, these are all his little darlings.

So, this is the graveyard of magical biologists and the paradise of potion masters!

But William wasn't a magnifying biologist; he was overjoyed, like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world before, lying in front of a large glass container, watching the incredibly ugly fish floating there.

This is a coelacanth, which William had seen in a book of magical creatures. It is a treasure trove, and most of its parts can be used to make potions.

It's the most precious kind of magic potion!

William glanced at it greedily for a few moments, but soon his attention was drawn to something on the left.

On the left side of the aisle, there is a large water tank. That water tank looks like it has fused together a row of glass telephone booths placed side by side.

Inside the transparent long coffin, a terrifying thing hovered, its body deathly white and its shape indistinct.

William looked down at the thing; its bulbous, sac-like head had eyes the size of basketballs, and a strange light gleamed in them.

This is the carcass of a giant squid!

On the water tank, there was a label that read "King Squid".

This squid is also recognized by the magical world as the largest invertebrate magical creature. It is not only larger than the giant squid, but also an extremely active predator.

This squid is found in the waters surrounding Antarctica, and occasionally extends northward to the waters off South Africa. It is a terrifying magical creature on par with fire dragons.

That's way too exaggerated!

For example, some potions require dragon blood as an ingredient, since dragon blood has twelve uses and is an irreplaceable ingredient among many potions.

But which potions master would hide the carcass of an adult fire dragon in his home simply because he needs some dragon blood?

Professor Snape is doing just that right now!

I'm so envious... Ugh, that's too much! Someone like Snape should be sent to Azkaban. As for this room, William wouldn't mind keeping it for him.

After all, good things are meant to be collected by those who know how to appreciate them.

For a moment, William suddenly didn't want to save Professor Snape anymore. He decided to let him bear the guilt of murdering Tywin and spend his life in Azkaban repenting for his sins.

William was clearly delighted by the squid, and seemed unable to take his eyes off the glass window.

He began to fantasize, as if he were standing in front of a cauldron, brewing a top-grade potion.

I wonder if adding a little bit of antennae would make making potions even more enjoyable?

Using these tentacles instead of gill sac grass to make a diving potion can extend its effects to a week.

It's important to know that after consuming gill sac grass, one can move freely underwater for over an hour. But just a small amount of these tentacles can amplify the effect a hundredfold.

To be honest, William has never made any high-difficulty potions before. He always uses the cheapest magical creatures and herbs.

This is burning through a huge amount of money!

William strongly suspected that Professor Snape had used all the money in Hogwarts to hoard these things.

Yes, the school couldn't even afford to upgrade their flying broomsticks until Shabi's accident, at which point they finally scraped together some money.

So where did all the money go?

Other subjects, such as Charms and Transfiguration, are not too expensive, so Professor Snape must have used them to buy these things.

Most importantly, these things can also be sold, just like gold.

As human activity expands, the habitats of many magical creatures are being destroyed, leading to a surge in the prices of many medicinal herbs.

For example, African tree snake is an important component of compound decoctions, but with Africa cracking down on smuggling and restricting exports, its price changes almost every year.

William just saw more than a dozen boxes of African tree snakes.

Not only Snape, but William also saw in Hagrid's hut that unicorn hair was bundled up in bundles, seemingly to make a blanket.

Those things can easily sell for hundreds of gallons.

It seems that every teacher at Hogwarts is a master of disguise.

From now on, if anyone dares to say that the professors at Hogwarts are a bunch of paupers, William will definitely slap their mouth shut.

Of course, William didn't believe that Professor Snape had collected all of these himself.

Some of these items are clearly prohibited from being bought or sold, yet Professor Snape has a whole bunch of them.

William absolutely refused to believe that Hogwarts School hadn't pulled strings behind the scenes.

Yes, all wizards in Britain graduate from Hogwarts.

For those outstanding students, once they enter their respective fields, it would be far too easy for them to get preferential treatment at Hogwarts.

It's fair to say that most of Britain is Dumbledore's student. This kind of educational monopoly is truly terrifying; it's practically an academic tyrant!

In the corner, William also saw more than a dozen cauldrons, all filled with potions.

Many potions have long brewing cycles. For example, the brewing of lacewings alone takes twenty-one days, and the entire process takes nearly a month.

Many of the sealed items inside are semi-finished products.

Based on the smell, William could only tell that one of the pots contained Felix Felicis. Snape was probably trying to improve his luck, as he hadn't been having much luck lately.

There was also a pot of Truth Potion; I wonder who Professor Snape intended to give it to.

William couldn't smell the others; they were all high-difficulty potions, anyway.

William felt as if he had discovered a new world.

This place is full of rare creatures he has never seen before, so he can practice without worrying about failing.

Which potion master wasn't cultivated through countless potions, just like those combat masters?

No matter how talented you are, you can't become a master without a lot of practice.

William used to be poor and had no medicine, but now things are different; he's rich!

William can study Transfiguration every afternoon and spend his evenings brewing potions—this is the first step to becoming a potions master.

He's growing to like this time loop more and more.

……

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(Third update, please vote!)

(End of this chapter)