Chapter 57: Snape, You really aren't Human!
In this week's Care of Magical Creatures class, Professor Kettleburn introduced Ashwinders and Fire Crabs, two magical creatures related to fire.
After class, Ethan Jones asked the professor if Magizoologists had a magazine for communication.
"Of course, there is, called The Daily Prophet's Guide to Magical Creatures (or likely just Magical Creatures Daily contextually), but generally, it is published twice a year.
After all, in the current environment, discovering unknown magical creatures is basically impossible, and other magical creature research is mostly correspondence between familiar wizards, rarely published."
"Okay, Professor, thank you. I was just curious." Ethan Jones instantly gave up the idea of padding a paper. This kind of useless journal was better left alone; it was better to make a fortune in silence.
The week ended, and tomorrow was Saturday, the day Snape said last week he would test whether the frogs he pickled could successfully be used to brew an antidote to neutralize the Love Potion.
His heart pounded. During dinner, Draco asked strangely: "What's wrong with you? Your face is so red!"
"Nothing, nothing." He answered perfunctorily, absent-mindedly simulating the brewing of the potion in his mind, looking exactly like a student frantically memorizing answers before an exam.
Unlike exams in his previous life—exams, if you failed, you failed—if the potion failed to neutralize, he would make a big fool of himself.
In the evening, Hermione finally went to the library with him. When he asked what she was doing, she just smiled and said: "It's a secret!"
Ethan Jones didn't ask further, whispering the potion formula and various precautions he knew by heart.
That night, he first brewed a successful antidote in the dormitory before going to bed somewhat relieved.
The next morning, Ethan Jones, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, walked into Snape's office.
Old Snape smiled disdainfully, obviously mocking Ethan Jones's appearance.
Ethan Jones was very dissatisfied: "Isn't this all your fault, my dear Professor?!"
Snape smiled insidiously: "Alright, cut the crap. Do it yourself. All the materials are here; take what you need. When you finish refining, I will feed you the Love Potion. I think you will like the connection object of the potion."
Ethan Jones had a bad premonition, his heart in his throat. His operations became more cautious.
Careful weighing of medicinal materials, more meticulous stirring of the potion, and more accurate timing of wand intervention.
After simmering for two hours, a pot of potion with a slightly different color from the antidote brewed last night was completed.
"Is this color a bit wrong, Professor?" He confirmed carefully.
"What's wrong?" Snape was expressionless.
"The antidote for Love Potion should be a clear liquid, but why does mine have a faint pink color? I think there's a problem, Professor. Can I brew another dose?" The uneasiness in his heart prompted him to ask Snape.
"No. There are other things to learn today; there's no time for you to waste. Now, take a vial of your antidote and follow me."
Ethan Jones could only take a full test tube of antidote and follow Snape's footsteps.
Arriving at the rest area, Snape took out a cup of drink with a mother-of-pearl sheen and spiraling steam that looked somewhat dangerous.
"Pro, Professor! You won't make me drink a whole cup of Amortentia directly, will you!" Ethan Jones was so scared he stammered a bit.
Amortentia, the most effective Love Potion, is characterized by its mother-of-pearl sheen and spiraling steam.
"Don't worry, this is just a glass of water with half the Amortentia content. It's not that dangerous." Snape smiled like the old witch trying to trick Snow White into eating the poisoned apple.
"Professor, can you tell me who the object of infatuation for this Amortentia is?" The drink with the weird color was already at his lips. Ethan Jones asked, looking like he was about to die a heroic death.
"You'll know when you drink it." Ethan Jones swore he had never seen Snape so happy.
Death comes sooner or later. Ethan Jones steeled his heart and downed the whole cup of water in one gulp.
The large dose of Amortentia took effect immediately.
Ethan Jones's eyes became a bit blurry, constantly shouting a name: "Little Black, my Little Black, my baby!"
Yes, Snape had set the object of infatuation for this Amortentia to his pet lizard.
Seeing Ethan Jones about to get up and walk towards the lizard nest, Snape stopped him: "Take out your antidote and drink it."
Ethan Jones's last bit of reason was about to be obliterated. Hearing this, feeling something was wrong with his state, he quickly took out the freshly brewed antidote and poured it into his mouth.
Unfortunately, nothing happened. Ethan Jones still walked steadfastly towards Little Black and even passed through the flames to hug Little Black.
This scene surprised Snape, who was prepared to see Ethan Jones suffer a little and teach him a lesson.
"Still underestimated you, Jones." He spoke in a low voice. Ethan Jones was obsessed with stroking Little Black's scales and didn't hear it at all. Of course, even if he heard it, he probably wouldn't react under the influence of Amortentia.
Snape watched for a while, feeling the time was about enough and the lesson was profound enough. Keeping it up wouldn't make much sense, so he extinguished the flame, took out a test tube filled with clear transparent liquid, and forcibly fed it into his mouth.
"No, what are you doing~" Ethan Jones was uncooperative at first, but as the potion entered his stomach, he sobered up, threw Little Black down, and walked away feeling a bit nauseous.
Snape relit the flame and looked at him leisurely.
"Why! Professor, why didn't my antidote work!" He was filled with grief and indignation.
"Is that so? Did you check the medicinal materials before brewing the potion? Did you not notice the white rose petals mixed in with the daffodil petals?" Snape couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth.
"Professor!" Ethan Jones wept tears of blood. He hadn't expected there to be a trick in the materials.
"Before officially starting today's lesson, teaching you a lesson through this matter will make you realize how important the spell you are going to learn is."
Ethan Jones complained in his heart: "To put it bluntly, you just want to see me make a fool of myself, right?"
"Specialis Revelio (Scarpin's Revelaspell), invented by Scarpin, a spell used to analyze the composition of a given potion. Of course, besides analyzing the composition of the potion, it can also be used to determine whether the potion materials are correct."
Snape's voice was very light. Although Ethan Jones was complaining in his heart, it didn't stop him from taking out his notebook and jotting it down quickly.
The day's Master Potions class ended. Ethan Jones learned a lot, especially after that profound lesson. He cast Specialis Revelio every time, fearing Snape would give him the wrong or impure materials again.