After finding the page about the Philosopher's Stone, Kyle placed the book on the table and began to read carefully.
"The greatest achievement of ancient alchemy, a miraculous substance with astonishing properties, capable of turning any metal into pure gold and producing the Elixir of Life, which grants immortality to whoever drinks it.
Throughout history, the Philosopher's Stone has appeared only three times, each manifestation triggering extraordinarily brutal wars.
The longest war lasted twenty years, with the country possessing the Stone razed to the ground by the tenth year.
Due to the countless bloodshed accompanying each appearance, the Philosopher's Stone is also known as the Bloody Gem.
Of the three Stones, one was destroyed by Merlin and King Arthur working together, while another was obtained by Rowena Ravenclaw, who used it with her three friends to create the famous Hogwarts — at the cost of completely destroying the Stone.
The only remaining Philosopher's Stone now belongs to Nicolas Flamel, the famous alchemist and opera enthusiast."
{T/N: Og story, probably. Too tired to confirm it.}
Below this introduction was a picture of the Philosopher's Stone — a bright red, irregular shape resembling an unpolished ruby.
Kyle examined it carefully from every angle until Cedric called him for dinner, at which point he closed the book.
On his way to the Great Hall, Kyle returned the book to the library just before closing time. Madam Pince found it somewhat strange but said nothing, assuming he was merely researching for homework.
In the days that followed, Kyle shifted his focus from the Philosopher's Stone to Snape's notes.
Despite Snape's slovenly appearance and unwashed hair, his notes were meticulously detailed. The careful annotations and explanations made them remarkably easy to understand.
These notes sparked another idea in Kyle's mind. That night during his wandering, he made a special trip to the dungeon classroom where he found a worn copy of "Advanced Potion-Making" tucked away in a corner cupboard.
It was marked with a small line of text, "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince".
"Tsk, tsk, Half-Blood Prince... I never thought Snape had such a chuunibyou phase." Kyle unceremoniously tucked the book into his robes, planning to buy a new replacement and return it in a few days.
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Time quickly advanced to December.
Hogwarts lay beneath a thick blanket of snow, and the lake had frozen solid.
With Christmas approaching, the young wizards were more excited than usual. Professors had to deduct at least a dozen points per class just to maintain some semblance of attention.
Of course, there were exceptions. Professor Binns, for instance, never deducted points.
And Professor Snape... regardless of the upcoming holiday — even if it were the day before break — no one would dare slack off in his Potions class.
Today was no different. In the dungeon classroom, everyone diligently studied the brewing process of the new potion. Even occasional whispered conversations were deliberately kept to a minimum.
Snape stood behind Kyle, watching with a strange expression as he used the flat of his knife to crush the sopophorous beans to extract their juice.
"What on earth is going on, Merlin's beard…" Snape grumbled to himself.
A few days ago, he had noticed Kyle making rapid progress in Potions — far better than his previous level.
The problem was that this kid was already excellent at brewing potions. Such significant improvement in such a short time simply shouldn't be possible.
Snape suspected Kyle had been peeking at the notes he had prepared for Kanna. For this class, he had deliberately skipped the originally planned Hair-Raising Potion and chosen the more difficult Draught of Living Death, normally studied in the sixth year.
Since his notes for Kanna only covered material up to the fifth year, a sixth-year lesson would surely expose Kyle's deception. Snape had already decided that regardless of whether this brat successfully brewed the potion, he would find various reasons to deduct fifty points.
This wouldn't be difficult — the Draught of Living Death was a very complicated potion with numerous intricate steps. If handled properly, deducting a hundred points wouldn't be a problem. He intended to teach Kyle the serious consequences of looking at notes without permission.
But now... Snape found himself utterly perplexed by what he was seeing.
Kyle's technique for squeezing the sopophorous beans was flawless — even Snape couldn't have executed it better himself. This particular method wasn't included in his notes, as evidenced by Kanna beside Kyle, who was still struggling to cut those slippery beans with her knife.
Snape's brow furrowed. Could it be that Kyle hadn't been accessing those notes after all?
No, that was impossible. Even a prodigy couldn't improve so dramatically in such a short time.
He decided to keep watching — perhaps Kyle had simply gotten lucky this once.
With this suspicion in mind, Snape remained at Kyle's side throughout the entire class. When another student's cauldron exploded, he merely flicked his wand to eject them from the classroom, refusing to be distracted.
When class ended, Snape examined the perfect Draught of Living Death in Kyle's cauldron. He opened his mouth to criticize but, finding no fault, could only let out a cold snort.
"How did you do it?" He demanded.
"What did you say, sir?" Kyle asked, genuinely puzzled.
"I mean..." Snape replied stiffly, his face a mask of indifference, "Why has your Potions skill improved so rapidly?"
"I don't know." Kyle said with a smile, "Maybe it's because of Healer Sathia from St. Mungo's. She taught me extensively during the summer holiday and provided several potion samples as references."
"Pegasus Sathia?" Snape narrowed his eyes.
He was certainly familiar with one of the greatest potion masters of the current era, but he didn't believe Kyle's recent improvement could be attributed to her.
Perhaps she had contributed somewhat — but surely not as the primary reason. If that were the case, he would have noticed improvement at the beginning of the term, not just now.
"Tell the truth!" Snape demanded coldly, staring directly into Kyle's eyes.
"I don't understand what you mean, Professor." Kyle blinked, maintaining a straight face, "It's all true. If you don't believe me, you can ask her yourself — she'll vouch for me. Oh, and I also recently met an enthusiastic senior student whose old textbook has been incredibly helpful."
Snape's expression darkened further. He gave Kyle a long, penetrating look, then turned and left the Potions classroom without looking back.
If he didn't want to tell the truth, fine, but to make up stories about an older student's textbook... Did he think Snape wouldn't know the skill level of his students?
Forget about the current bunch of misfits — even going back ten years, no student had ever brewed such a perfect Draught of Living Death in class!
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