Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 215 Hetui!

Despite Professor McGonagall's strong opposition, the contest began the following morning at the insistence of the two parties involved.

The two sides arrived at the agreed location—near the Stonehenge, where a fighting arena had been built.

On several rows of wooden shelves beside the arena were countless potion ingredients—Snape had practically emptied his coffers for this bet.

In the center, two potion-making tables were placed.

On Snape's workbench lay a folding cauldron, along with a knife, tweezers, pestle, mortar and pestle, and various bottles and jars, almost identical to the workbench students usually used to practice potions.

Murphy's workbench looked much stranger. Aside from the strange glassware, there wasn't even a crucible on it; instead, there were many instruments.

The two of them stood next to their respective worktables, looking at each other.

"If I lose, cancel the practical classes, restore the college's tradition of four tables for individual meals, and no longer interfere with the school's daily teaching and management," Murphy said. This was the bet they agreed on yesterday.

A large number of young wizards gathered in the audience. In fact, almost the entire school's faculty and students, except for Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, were present.

After all, they had never seen two professors betting on each other like this before.

As soon as Murphy finished speaking, a chorus of whistles and cheers erupted from the audience.

Murphy glanced at them and saw that most of them were students in their fourth year or above, not just Slytherin, but also Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and even Hufflepuff.

There were voices of doubt within the school regarding his educational reform plan, but as a member of the board of trustees and a professor, and with Dumbledore's tacit approval, no one openly opposed it.

Snape's wager today served as a catalyst, bringing together all these dissenting voices.

At this point, the wager was no longer just a personal feud between him and Snape.

It also determines whether his practical courses and educational reform plans can continue to be implemented.

In this situation, if he loses the bet, the core idea he uses to support his practical lessons and reform plans—the scientific methodology—will lose its persuasiveness.

After all, that thing made the simple "wish fulfillment" magic so complicated, but the effect was not as good as the other one. Wasn't that just adding unnecessary details?

Therefore, even if Snape hadn't made that bet, things would most likely have turned out that way after he lost.

"If I lose, I will leave the school, and you can continue with your grand plans," Snape said coldly, as if it were as simple as going to Hogsmeade to buy a bottle of wine.

The students immediately began to murmur amongst themselves; Professor Snape had actually risked his job!

Although Murphy's stakes seem similar, Murphy is, after all, a member of the board of trustees, and he's said to be very wealthy. He's probably only becoming a professor out of interest, and he could live very well even without being a professor. But Professor Snape... where could he go if he left the school?

Should I go work at a potion shop?

Don't forget that Murphy owns all the potions shops in the British wizarding world these days!

Murphy's excellent hearing allowed him to hear the students' discussions clearly. After all, he was a senior professor at the school. Although not many people liked Snape, this desperate gamble immediately won him widespread sympathy.

"That's not necessary," Murphy smiled. "Otherwise, I'd have to go through the trouble of finding a Potions professor for the headmaster. Here's the deal: if I win, Slytherin can't get special treatment, and you can't go against me on practical classes anymore. Also, you have to promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"I haven't decided yet, but it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"So what if I agreed?" Snape scoffed. "Do you really believe my promise?"

"Whether you believe me or not is up to me," Murphy said with a smile. "So what? It's really just a matter of a few words. Even if you go back on your word, I'll accept it."

Snape stared intently at Murphy. He couldn't figure out what Murphy was up to, but it was a trivial gamble anyway, and he couldn't afford to lose.

"Whatever."

"Make way, make way..." A short, plump witch made her way through the crowd and soon arrived on the arena. "Professor McGonagall is very angry. She thinks this is absurd and refuses to be your witness. So, I will do it instead."

Professor Sprout looked at the two of them with a hint of helplessness. "Seriously, do you really want to take this to this point?"

Snape: "Hmph!"

Murphy: "Thank you for your help, Professor."

"Alright, alright..." Professor Sprout sighed. "The rules of the duel are quite simple. Using the materials here, each person will take turns preparing a potion for their opponent to drink. The opponent will have ten minutes to prepare the antidote before drinking the potion. After drinking the opponent's potion, the opponent can prepare their own potion. This process continues until one side concedes or collapses."

Murphy had originally suggested that they each select one student to practice potion-making, with the two of them serving only as instructors, so that the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching methods could be effectively demonstrated.

But Snape rejected the suggestion, clearly aware of his own shortcomings.

"Of course, we don't allow the preparation of deadly poisons," Professor Sprout said, looking at the two men with concern. "You don't want to become murderers, gentlemen, do you?"

"Furthermore, Mrs. Pomfrey will be on standby at all times, and you will all receive treatment after the duel ends."

"However, the results of combining multiple potions are unpredictable... You should know this better than I do, Professor Snape... I sincerely hope you can reconsider..."

But neither Murphy nor Snape said they would give up, so Professor Sprout could only sigh again. "No one can stop wizards from risking their lives in a reckless duel. So, the duel begins now. You two may begin making your potions."

Snape seemed to have been waiting for this moment for a long time. With a wave of his wand, he summoned seven or eight ingredients onto the table and immediately began to concoct potions.

On the other side, Murphy glanced at the materials the other person had received—artemisia, sleep peas, daffodil roots, valerian…

This……

Water of Life and Death?

This is indeed a good choice. This stuff has an extremely strong hypnotic effect. Basically, a person will fall asleep within ten seconds of drinking it, and there will be no time to do anything else. If you can't identify this kind of potion and make the wrong antidote, you will lose right away.

Moreover, even if it is recognized, the invigorating potion that can be used as an antidote is very difficult to make, and it may not be possible to complete it in ten minutes.

Moreover, Murphy wouldn't believe that Snape's Water of Life and Death wasn't improved.

His plan was probably to quickly create an improved version of the Water of Life and Death before I finished refining the potion. This way, I would have to test the potion first, and if I couldn't crack his improved formula within ten minutes, I would lose.

But now that I've seen through your plans, I'm not going to let you have your way.

Murphy waved his wand and summoned more than a dozen ingredients from the shelf. Without even looking at them, he used his wand to grind them into powder, then set up a large beaker, threw the ingredients into it, and boiled them over high heat for half a minute. He then poured the liquid into a crystal bottle—according to the rules, the amount of potion each person could make could not exceed this small bottle.

The crystal bottle was quickly half full. Murphy picked it up and put his mouth to the opening.

"Hetui!"

He spat a mouthful of saliva into it.

Then he shook the small bottle and placed it on Snape's desk. "Professor Snape, please."

(End of this chapter)