novelraw Chapter 40: Another Potions Lesson
Chapter 40: Another Potions Lesson
40st
The next morning, Karen was awakened by a series of urgent knocks on the door.
"Wake up, geniuses! Potions class starts in half an hour!" Ernesto's voice pierced through the heavy oak door.
Karen rubbed his eyes, his grey-blue pupils adjusting to the morning light filtering through the curtains. He glanced at the magical alarm clock on his bedside table: 7:15. Potions class started at 8:00, in the underground classroom; he definitely needed to leave early.
"I'm up," Karen replied, reaching for her wand on the bedside table. With a gentle wave, the curtains automatically opened, letting in more sunlight.
Fabian's bed was empty, the blankets neatly folded. Wesley had just sat up, his eyes still sleepy, his red hair a mess like a bird's nest.
"Merlin," Wesley muttered, "why do first-year students have to have class so early? Can't it be moved to nine o'clock?"
"Because Professor Snape likes to see us suffer," Cullen said half-jokingly, as she put on her school robe.
The door was pushed open, and Fabian rushed in, urging, "Hurry up! I heard that those who are late will be punished by Snape by having to clean the entrails of a toad!"
Karen quickly finished washing up, and the four of them hurried to the Great Hall. At breakfast, Wesley wolfed down his smoked meat and fried eggs, while Fabian sipped pumpkin juice and flipped through his textbook, "Potions and Magical Dispensers."
"Today we'll learn how to process potion ingredients," Fabian pushed up his glasses, "grinding, cutting, weighing, and other preparatory work, to prepare for the potions we'll be making later."
Ernesto gracefully cut a piece of fruit pie: "The basics. I was already adept at handling many ingredients when I was eight years old."
"Wow, that's amazing," Wesley mumbled, his mouth full of food. "I was building castles with Lego bricks when I was eight."
Karen smiled slightly, her gaze sweeping across the hall. At the Hufflepuff table, she saw Cedric Diggory waving at her.
"We should go," Karen stood up. "The underground classrooms aren't easy to walk through."
The four descended the spiral staircase, passed through several corridors, and finally arrived at the castle's underground level. The air here became cold and damp, and the torches on the walls cast flickering shadows, making everyone's faces appear alternately lit and dark.
"I have a feeling we're going to be late," Wesley whispered.
"Quiet," Ernesto said in a low voice, "we're already late."
Sure enough, when they pushed open the door to the Potions classroom, Professor Snape was already standing at the podium, his black robes cascading down like bat wings. The other students were already seated, the first-year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs waiting anxiously.
"Ah, Mr. Hawthorne and his friends," Snape's voice was as smooth as silk, "how honored that you think my class is not worth attending on time."
Karen noticed her three roommates freeze. "Sorry, Professor," he quickly said, "we're lost."
Snape's dark eyes stared at Cullen, as if trying to see into his soul. "Ravenclaw, deduct five points. Sit down."
The four quickly found empty seats and sat down. Karen noticed that the worktables in the classroom were arranged in pairs, each with various tools: mortar and pestle, silver knife, balance and weights, and several basic materials.
"Today," Snape paced around the classroom, "we will learn the most basic and important step in potion making: material handling. A good potion master must know the properties of each material as well as he knows his wand."
He stopped in the center of the classroom, waved his wand, and lines of text appeared on the blackboard. "You will learn how to properly grind, cut, and weigh materials. These seemingly simple steps determine the success or failure of a potion."
Snape pointed to the first worktable: "Hawthorne, come here."
Karen stood up and walked to his assigned workstation. He could feel everyone's eyes on him.
"I remember you answered a question about Sleepy Beans before. Now show me how to properly obtain Sleepy Bean Juice," Snape commanded. "Don't waste my time."
Karen took a deep breath and picked up the silver knife. Recalling the theory she had seen before, she squeezed the sleep bean with the knife, squeezing out the juice which flowed into the prepared reagent tube.
Snape's eyes narrowed slightly. "It's...acceptable." He turned to the class. "See? That's the importance of technique. The juice of the Sleepy Beans must be released evenly, otherwise it will affect the drug's effectiveness."
When Karen returned to his seat, Fabian quietly gave him a thumbs up, Ernesto gave him an approving look, and Wesley had a "you're amazing" expression on his face.
"Now," Snape said, "work in pairs on the blackboard and process the materials in front of you. I look forward to seeing... satisfactory work."
Karen and Fabian were paired together, while Wesley and Ernesto were teamed up. Soon, the classroom was filled with the sounds of mortar and pestle grinding ingredients and silver knives squeezing beans.
"Give me the sleep beans," Fabian whispered. "I'll squeeze them, and you can cut the daisy roots."
Karen nodded and picked up the daisy root. In his True Eye, the plant material shimmered with different colored magical light, revealing its most potent parts. He precisely cut away the unwanted portions, preserving only the areas where the magic was most concentrated.
"Your technique is too precise," Fabian observed Karen's movements, "it's almost like you can see inside the material."
Karen's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm on the surface: "It's just that I practice a lot."
At the other end of the classroom, Wesley was frantically trying to grind dried nettles, scattering powder everywhere. Ernesto frowned and snatched the mortar from him.
"You're wasting too many materials like this," Ernesto scolded in a low voice. "Watch how I do it."
To Karen's surprise, Ernesto patiently demonstrated the correct grinding technique to Wesley. Wesley studied diligently, his reddish-brown hair trembling slightly with concentration.
Suddenly, a scream shattered the classroom's hustle and bustle. A Hufflepuff girl had accidentally cut her finger, and the blood dripping onto the materials caused a small-scale magical disturbance.
Snape moved like a giant bat to the scene of the accident. "Foolish!" he snapped. "Mr. Alonso, your carelessness nearly ruined the entire table of ingredients! Five points deducted from Hufflepuff!"
Karen recognized the boy named Alonso as the first student she had encountered during the sorting process. His eyes were filled with tears as he trembled and apologized.
Snape turned to the class. "That's why I emphasize the importance of precision and focus. Potions are not child's play; a single mistake can have disastrous consequences."
Cullen noticed Snape's gaze linger on him for a second before quickly looking away. He wasn't sure what it meant, but his intuition told him that Snape both admired and was wary of his behavior.
As the course drew to a close, Snape inspected the materials processed by each group. When he saw the work of Karen and Fabian, his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
"...Acceptable," he finally commented, which was already a high compliment coming from him.
When the bell rang, the students packed up their things and left the classroom with a sigh of relief.