After afternoon tea, Luke did not rush to start making Potions, but instead summoned a magic book.
The cover of the magic book read "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration."
When Luke returned to Hobbiton from Buckleberry, he did not take the straight East Road but instead made a detour north, visiting Hardbottle and Longbottom in the Northfarthing to check in.
He obtained "History of Magic" by checking in at Longbottom and "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" by checking in at Hardbottle.
"History of Magic" was basically useless to Luke, except for passing the time and learning about the history of the magic world.
But "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" was different; as the Transfiguration textbook for first and second years at Hogwarts, its content mainly covered basic Transfiguration, such as transfiguring everyday objects.
What made Luke even happier was that, besides Transfiguration spells, it also contained useful spells like Summoning Charms such as Aguamenti and Orchideous, and Vanishing Spells.
Transfiguration is different from Charms; Charms can be successfully cast with firm belief and magic.
But Transfiguration is a delicate discipline that greatly tests imagination and magic control, so it is more difficult to cast than Charms.
The beginner stage mainly involves transfiguring objects, such as turning an inanimate object into another inanimate object, and secondly, turning a living object into an inanimate object.
At the intermediate stage, it involves transfiguring animals, such as turning inanimate objects into living ones, or living objects into other living objects.
As for the advanced stage, it even involves human Transfiguration, including the highest achievement of Transfiguration—Animagus Transfiguration.
The "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" that Luke currently possessed only contained basic Transfiguration content, but for him, who was thirsty for knowledge, it was a timely rain.
With the aid of his wand, Luke found it not difficult to cast some of the simplest Transfiguration spells; for example, he successfully transfigured a small matchstick into a needle on his first try, but as the volume of the transfigured object increased, the difficulty of Transfiguration also increased, and more magic was consumed.
"Feraverto!"
Luke cast a spell on the small bed in the guest room; the small wooden bed rapidly expanded and transformed into a large bed over two meters long, and the bedding on the bed also turned into comfortable velvet and silk.
Luke nodded in satisfaction; now he no longer had to worry about sticking his feet out of the bed when he slept.
Then he turned around and asked Bilbo, who was gaping, with a smile, "Do you want me to transform your bed and bedding too?"
"Yes!" Bilbo snapped back to reality, his eyes sparkling as he nodded eagerly; this was even more magical than the magic he had seen before.
In the days after returning to Hobbiton.
After mastering basic Transfiguration, Luke began preparing for the Potion-making task.
Potions is different from other disciplines, just as Professor Snape said:
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of Potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.
I don't expect you to really understand the beauty of the gently simmering cauldron with its shimmering steam and wafting aromas, nor will you truly grasp the enthralling, mind-bewitching power that can be poured into veins to bewitch the senses, to ensnare the mind…
I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I've had to teach before."
Luke was not sure if he was the kind of dunderhead Professor Snape spoke of, but he knew that Potions were very important; if he could master this discipline, he would have an extra means of self-preservation in the world of Middle-earth.
After all, Potions possess effects that spells cannot achieve, such as healing injuries; many injuries that would be fatal to ordinary people can be instantly cured by taking a Potion, making them lively and vigorous again.
There are also Polyjuice Potion, which allows one to transform into others and cannot be detected by spells, Veritaserum, which makes people reveal secrets, Felix Felicis, which brings luck, and even the Elixir of Life.
The only problem is that many ingredients for making Potions cannot be found in Middle-earth, so if one wants to make these magical Potions, they must find substitute Potion ingredients.
This requires the level of a Potion Master to achieve.
However, these problems were too early for Luke, who could not even be considered a beginner in Potions at the moment.
"Magical Drafts and Potions" only contained basic Potion content, and some of the ingredients required for these Potions were not special, so they could also be found in Middle-earth.
Luke's first true Potion-making attempt was the simplest Potion for boils, chosen as practice for a beginner.
Inside the storeroom,
Luke set up a silver cauldron and preheated it with a kerosene lamp underneath.
Then he put the prepared 6 snake fangs into a mortar, ground them into fine powder with a pestle, and after the cauldron had preheated for 1 minute, he poured them into the cauldron to stir and boil.
Waving his wand, the flame of the kerosene lamp under the cauldron turned into a large fire, heated for 10 seconds, then changed to a medium fire, and then 4 slugs were added for steaming.
Throughout this process, Luke followed the instructions in the book step by step.
Only when the liquid in the cauldron boiled and smoked did Luke extinguish the flame and let the cauldron stand for a while.
He added 2 porcupine quills, then stirred 5 times clockwise with his wand; as he stirred, magic evenly and continuously diffused into the cauldron's liquid through the wand, and the liquid gradually changed color, eventually turning blue, while pink smoke rose.
At this step, the Potion for boils was completed.
The Potion for boils was not complicated to make, but Luke was very satisfied with its immediate success.
Using Transfiguration, he conjured a crystal bottle, and Luke poured the Potion for boils into the bottle.
"Is that it?" Bilbo, who had been quiet beside him, finally asked. He had always been curious about how Luke made Potions, so after getting Luke's permission, he watched from the side.
Now, seeing Luke miraculously create a blue Potion with snake fangs, slugs, and porcupine quills, he was greatly astonished.
"Of course." Luke nodded with a smile, then handed him the Potion bottle, "This is the Potion for boils, it has a miraculous healing effect on boils. You can take it to someone with boils and try it."
The Potion for boils was a Potion specifically for treating boils, with a single purpose. Luke only used it as a practice piece for his Potion initiation, so he gave it to Bilbo without hesitation.
Then he began to prepare to make Potions again, and it was still the Potion for boils.
However, his purpose was different this time, so he used an unwanted iron pot from Bilbo as a cauldron.
He again followed the Potion Class textbook step by step until, at the step of adding the porcupine quills, Luke did not extinguish the fire but directly threw the quills into the boiling liquid.
Instantly, the liquid in the pot emitted sour-smelling green fumes, a sharp hissing sound, and the green liquid reacted violently, rapidly corroding the bottom of the pot and splashing everywhere.