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Hi everyone !
So, I'm announcing it again! For every 100 power stones, I'll release a new bonus chapter! Let's start working towards our goal of becoming one of the top fanfictions!
Second announcement: I've posted a bonus chapter on my Patreon, so if you want more, go check it out!
In the meantime, you can contribute to the release of a bonus chapter on P@tre0n.
(PS: A friend suggested I create a P@treon account. If you'd like to see advanced chapters posted on Webnovel, that's where you can find them! I'll also mention all the supporters at the end of each chapter!)
Search : StoryLabo on the website or click the link on my bio
Happy reading !
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A deadly silence greeted this last sentence. A few Hufflepuffs swallowed loudly.
- "Today," Snape continued, heading toward the blackboard where a recipe was already appearing in chalk, "you will prepare a Cure for Boils. A basic first-year potion that even the most incompetent among you should be able to succeed at... in theory."
Cure for Boils. I vaguely remember that one from the books. Dried nettles, snake fangs, horned slugs, porcupine quills... No, wait, porcupine quills are added after removing the cauldron from the fire, otherwise it turns acid green and causes boils instead of curing them. Classic trap.
He turned toward his neighbor who was still observing him with that worrying smile.
- "My name is Kelia," she whispered enthusiastically. "Kelia Moonbridge. And you're Aiden, right? The mysterious boy with the indecisive Sorting Hat?"
WOW, a super long and super cringe nickname.
Aiden nodded briefly, hoping to discourage any prolonged conversation. In vain.
- "It's so cool! We're going to be partners for the potion!"
Oh boy, annoying.
Snape finished his instructions and ordered in a sharp tone:
- "Begin. You have one hour."
Immediately, the class came alive in a controlled hubbub of students retrieving their ingredients and lighting their cauldrons. Aiden stood up to fetch the necessary components, mentally checking the list.
Dried sea anemones, horned slugs, tadpole tails, nettles, porcupine quills. Okay, let's go.
When he returned to the desk, Kelia had already started... martyrizing the ingredients.
Oh no, what is she doing?
She was crushing the sea anemones with the subtlety of a troll in mating season, literally pulverizing the delicate structures into a shapeless mush. The horned slugs were undergoing the same treatment, their scales torn off without ceremony, their flesh reduced to coarse paste.
Aiden physically felt the ingredients scream in pain under this barbaric treatment.
There's no subtlety, no precision, no finesse. This girl cooks like she's preparing concrete.
He slapped his forehead with his palm, breathed deeply to keep his calm—understanding now why Snape was always in a bad mood—then gently placed a hand on Kelia's shoulder.
- "Kelia. Stop, please, I beg you. Go watch the cauldron. Manage the temperature, adding water, all that. I'll take care of the ingredients."
- "But I can..."
- "No. Please. Trust me."
She seemed offended for half a second, then shrugged and headed toward the cast-iron cauldron placed on the small magical brazier.
Aiden refocused on the surviving ingredients, listening carefully to the instructions Snape continued to dispense while circulating between desks like a vulture.
Good. Dried sea anemones. The textbook says to "crush gently." But what matters is extracting specific enzymes without destroying volatile compounds...
With his neurosurgeon knowledge, and especially that of a scientist with basic understanding of biochemistry, Aiden began to see the flaws in the textbook instructions.
If I crush them, I lose 30% of active ingredients through oxidation. On the other hand, if I cut them finely while preserving maximum intact surface, then let them infuse at low temperature before integrating them...
He took his knife and began delicately slicing the anemones, creating almost transparent strips instead of pulverizing them. The horned slugs were treated with the same surgical care, their scales cleanly separated from their flesh, each part preserved for optimal use.
Kelia watched him work with wide eyes.
- "Uh... Aiden? The textbook says to crush them..."
- "The textbook wasn't written by someone who understands molecular biochemistry," he replied distractedly without looking up from his work. "Trust me. What's the cauldron temperature?"
- "Uh... hot?"
Oh hell, we're going to die.
- "Kelia. Look at the water's color. See how it's simmering? We want a light simmer, not a boil. Lower the fire slightly."
He continued his meticulous preparation, subtly modifying the order of adding ingredients compared to the textbook. If you added the tadpole tails before the nettles first, you created a basic buffer that prevented premature denaturation of active proteins...
- "Aiden," Kelia whispered with a hint of panic, "you're changing the whole protocol! We're going to get in trouble!"
He looked at her silently, then slowly brought his index finger to Kelia's lips in a universal "shh" gesture.
Completely stunned by the sudden tactile contact, Kelia remained completely stupefied, eyes wide, mouth half-open.
Perfect, that's silence bought for at least two minutes.
Except Snape had eyes everywhere.
- "Mr. Mortensen!"
The voice cracked like a whip in the room. All students froze.
Aiden slowly raised his eyes toward the Potions professor who was approaching his desk with the menacing grace of a snake.
- "Three points from Ravenclaw," Snape hissed, "for disgusting actions and behavior outside the course framework. Keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Mortensen."
- "My apologies, Professor," Aiden replied with a calm that Kelia was far from having, blushing strongly.
Snape leaned over his desk, his black eyes scrutinizing the ingredients prepared with surgical precision. His nostrils quivered slightly. His gaze passed from the anemone slices to the carefully separated snake scales, then to the cauldron where Kelia was now managing the temperature with a bomb defuser's concentration.
Snape's voice cut off.
He observed in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Aiden felt the gaze of all the Ravenclaws behind him, and Charlie in front of him had his eyes wide open in "You're completely insane" mode.
Finally, Snape straightened slightly.
- "If your potion," he said in a dangerously soft voice, "proves to be of inferior quality because of your... creative modifications... Ravenclaw will lose thirty additional points. Is that clear?"
- "Very clear, Professor."
Snape walked away without another word, his cape swirling dramatically behind him.
Aiden felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead.
All the Ravenclaws in the class were now looking at him with a mixture of horror and if you lose these points, you're dead. Charlie and Narwick looked completely panicked, like "Our new buddy just signed our collective death warrant."
Pressure? What pressure? I drink it for breakfast, Aiden told himself.
He refocused on his potion with renewed determination. No way he was screwing up now. He guided Kelia through each step of preparation—managing cauldron temperature, stirring speed including clockwise during addition of aqueous ingredients and counterclockwise for lipid compounds, precise timing for each addition...
- "Now, lower the fire. No no, lower, more. Yes, that's perfect," he said, not understanding why Kelia was becoming more and more red. "We wait thirty seconds for the temperature to drop before adding the porcupine quills."
- "Why are we waiting?" she managed to articulate.
- "Because if you add the quills while the mixture is too hot, the proteins denature and your potion transforms into a boil generator instead of curing them."
- "Oh."
The class continued in palpable tension. At one point, a Hufflepuff named Marcus exploded his cauldron in a spray of green smoke, ending up covered with instant pustules. Snape sent him to the infirmary with a scathing comment about chronic incompetence.
The atmosphere is warm, at least.
When the hour came to an end, Snape ordered everyone to fill a vial with their preparation and deposit it on his desk.
Aiden carefully poured their potion, a perfect pale pink, slightly pearly, giving off a sweet medicinal smell, into a glass vial that he carefully corked.
Snape began his inspection, distributing assassin comments with the generosity of a bad-tempered dictator.
- "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, what is this... thing? It looks like you boiled your sock."
- "Miss Abbott, your potion has the consistency of mud. It's pathetic."
- "Mr. Thompson, correct color but repugnant odor."
He finally arrived in front of Aiden's desk. Their eyes met.
Aiden noticed no mental probe, no attempt at Legilimency as so many fanfictions claimed. Just a black gaze, cold, analytical.
The other Ravenclaws were swallowing with tension. Charlie looked on the verge of fainting.
Snape took the vial, examined it in the light. Made it turn gently. Uncorked the stopper and sniffed the contents with an indecipherable expression.
The silence in the class was deafening.
Snape re-corked the vial. Looked at Aiden for a long time.
- "Five points for Ravenclaw," he finally said in a neutral voice. "Mr. Mortensen, you will remain after class."
A murmur ran through the room.
- "Class is dismissed. Out."
Students rushed toward the exit as if the castle were on fire. Charlie and Narwick visibly hesitated to leave Aiden alone with Snape, but he made them a reassuring hand gesture.
- "It'll be fine. Go."
Kelia cast him a worried look before leaving with the others.
When the last person had left the room, Aiden slowly turned toward Snape.