Ethan returned to the dormitory with the photo. He placed the frame on his desk and silently looked at the people in it.
The dormitory was quiet now. Draco had taken Crabbe and Goyle somewhere, leaving him alone.
"Thank you very much for giving birth to me, and thank you for protecting me with your lives. After I become stronger, I will kill the remaining few to pay tribute to you."
He thought silently, the red light in his eyes flickering continuously.
Finally, he placed the photo frame face down on the desk, not wanting his roommates to see it.
The next day, his mood was much better than yesterday, but he was still somewhat silent. So during Snape's master class, he spoke much less than before.
Snape knew he had been called away by Dumbledore last night and didn't ask what happened, but the pity in his eyes became even harder to conceal.
Still feeling uncomfortable, Ethan finally lost his patience after enduring for a long time. He asked directly: "Professor, why are you looking at me with such eyes?"
Snape didn't hide it either: "What did Dumbledore say to you? Did he not tell you to make good use of your natural talent?"
"No, he just told me some things about my family last night." Ethan felt he had slapped Snape lightly. He was different from him, even if he was a natural Occlumens.
"Your family? Shafiq, right?"
"You know?!" Ethan was startled. His hand movement faltered, and some of the potion he was stirring splashed out, landing on the floor with a sizzling sound.
Snape waved his wand, cleaning up the potion on the floor, and roared: "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?!"
Ethan quickly returned to normal movements, stirring the potion evenly.
"Professor, you already knew I was from the Shafiq family?"
"Guessed it long ago. You look somewhat similar to your father. Coupled with the Pandanus wand in your hand, anyone who knows your family should have guessed it long ago."
"So, basically all the professors in the school know my background?" Ethan really couldn't imagine that his background, which he thought was a mystery and had searched a lot of information to find some clues about, was actually an open secret.
"Everyone is just guessing, not daring to confirm. But looking at your performance, it seems it's true. Rhett's son." Snape sighed with emotion.
"I knew your father. He was also a Slytherin, but he was mysterious, very mysterious. He was a loner, rarely interacting with classmates in the same year, let alone people from other years.
I got to know him by coincidence too." When Snape said this, a flash of hatred passed over his face.
"So, you teach me potion brewing because of my father?" Ethan realized why Snape seemed to treat him well during the first Potions class. Presumably, it was because he guessed he was related to the late Rhett Shafiq.
As for the pity after learning he was a natural Occlumens, presumably besides thinking he might be chosen by Dumbledore to be a double agent like him, there was also some pity for his deceased parents.
"Partly. Also, I think you should be suitable for brewing potions." It was unknown whether Snape didn't want to discourage Ethan too much or really thought he had talent.
Ethan didn't dwell on this issue. No matter the reason, he was now Snape's apprentice. Was the process important?
Snape was satisfied with Ethan's performance but dissatisfied with the look he just gave him, so he decided to increase the difficulty for him.
Then, Ethan looked at Snape with grief and indignation, cursing in his heart:
"Damn! Really not human. I was brewing the potion fine, but he had to add some impurities and ask me how to deal with this situation! How would I know how to deal with it? I'm numb!"
The fate of this pot of potion was to be scrapped helplessly because Ethan didn't know how to remedy it at all.
Taking this opportunity, Snape gave him a scolding, feeling refreshed, and avenged the somewhat smug look Ethan gave him just now.
After feeling refreshed, Snape taught a spell named after him—Snape's Separation Charm (or contextually Separation Charm attributed to him).
The function of this spell was to allow the potioneer, under their own control, to separate the impurities accidentally added to the potion to the greatest extent, allowing the potion to be salvaged as much as possible.
When Ethan heard this name, he looked at Snape's indifferent face in shock: "Professor, did you invent this spell?! That's amazing!"
Facing Ethan's shock and admiration, Snape felt secretly delighted. He had invented this spell a long time ago, but because he hadn't spread it, no one had ever given him emotional feedback. He liked Ethan's reaction this time.
"Practice hard. Next class, I'll check your practice results."
Ethan's shock disappeared. He nodded with a bitter face.
This spell wasn't actually prepared for simple potions. After all, the materials for these potions weren't expensive, and the brewing time wasn't long, so re-brewing wasn't a big deal.
But for potions like Polyjuice Potion and Felix Felicis, which took a month or half a year to brew, if some impurities were accidentally mixed in halfway and couldn't be dealt with, wouldn't it be heartbreaking?
So although Snape's spell couldn't salvage all brewing mistakes, it was a salvation for such complex potions and could increase the success rate somewhat.
After class, he carried some medicinal materials taken from Snape with a bitter face and left the office.
In the evening, he took stationery to the library and communicated with Hermione about his background using pen and paper.
Original Hermione wanted to comfort him, but seeing he didn't seem abnormal, she temporarily put her mind at ease.
That night, Ethan kept brewing potions in the dormitory, trying to use Snape's Separation Charm.
The potion he brewed was the simplest Cure for Boils learned in the first class.
This potion didn't take long to brew, but there were four ingredients. Adding an impurity to try separation was moderately difficult.
"This is too hard!" After failing four times consecutively to separate the rat spleen juice mixed into the horned slugs, Ethan was a bit discouraged.
He poured out the potion that failed for the fourth time, cleaned the cauldron, and began to think about the reason for his failure.
The failure experience summarized the first three times still didn't save the fourth potion. He had to summarize the experience again and find the reason for his repeated failures.
"It shouldn't be. I cast the spell in the shortest time every time. Why did it fail?"
He was puzzled, but it was getting late, so he could only go to bed.