days at Hogwarts

Chapter 685 The Handwriting Suddenly Appeared

"Please be quiet, be quiet! Hurry up, there is a lot to do this afternoon!"

Professor Slughorn stood in front of the classroom, taking out glass bottles one after another from a wooden box and placing them on the desk. He smiled kindly, his walrus-like mustache trembling slightly, and his fat beer belly stretched the buttons of his vest tight. No matter how partial he was to his students in normal times, at least when he stood on the podium, he was a qualified professor.

In the cold and damp underground potion classroom, the students in the sixth grade advanced class lined up their textbooks, notebooks, and essays written from previous homework assignments on their desks.

Loren supported his head with his left fist and slowly opened the textbook with his right hand. It was "Advanced Potion Making" by Libasiu Pollach. The notebook next to it was Hermione's, with neat handwriting and detailed content.

He glanced at the neighboring table. In front of Harry was still the half-fallen old Half-Blood Prince textbook. Ron was eager to decipher the words on it. The words were so crooked that it was difficult to read. It took him a long time to understand a single sentence.

Ron scratched his head and was about to ask his deskmate when Professor Slughorn on the podium opened the textbook and began his lecture.

The sixth grade entered the second semester. The students generally adapted to the difficulty of the advanced class. The professor also completely adapted to the teaching rhythm of this class. It has entered the last chapter of the teaching plan for this school year, the key content of the Ultimate Wizard Level Examination -

The antidote to the poison.

Slughorn glanced at the students below, his eyes lingered on Harry for a moment, and then he passed by calmly: "In this class we continue to talk about Gorbarot's Third Law. Do you remember what we learned in the last class? Who can tell me about it?"

Harry and Hermione raised their hands almost simultaneously.

Loren and Ron looked at the two of them silently. Hermione thought of Harry's recent plan and was about to give up after a moment of thought. The next moment, she heard the professor calling her name.

"Miss Granger."

Hermione couldn't help but glance at Harry at the next table and pursed her lips: "Gorbarot's Third Law states that the number of ingredients contained in the antidote to a mixed poison is greater than or equal to the sum of the number of ingredients contained in the antidote to each individual poison."

"Absolutely!" Slughorn smiled amiably, as if he could not see Harry's raised right hand, and continued to talk to himself, "Ten points for Gryffindor! Back to the question I asked in the last class..."

The three of them looked at Harry subconsciously. He opened his mouth but said nothing.

The rash attempt at the last Christmas party caused Slughorn to begin to distance himself from Harry. It can't be said to be distant, but his attitude became very strange. He would answer Harry's questions carefully, still give high marks for class assignments, and comment on after-class papers in detail. It was completely the mode of getting along between a good professor and a good student.

"If we accept that Gorbarot's Third Law holds true, and if we have correctly analyzed the ingredients of the potion using Scapin's Revealing Charm, our primary goal is not simply to select an antidote for each individual ingredient, but to find another substance that can transform various unrelated ingredients through a process that is almost alchemical..."

Only a very small number of people in the entire advanced class can fully understand the theoretical content taught in class. Most students can only take notes of the professor's words and study them carefully after class. The practical part is easier. Students make medicine according to the steps in the book. At least they know what they are going to do, and there will always be a result, whether good or bad.

"Okay, kids, it's time to test your learning!" Slughorn said with a smile, "I want each group of you to come to my podium and take a small bottle, analyze the composition of the poison, look up the poison antidote comparison table in the book, and prepare the antidote for the contents of the bottle before the end of get out of class. Good luck to you, and don't forget to wear protective gloves!"

Loren went up and picked up a bottle of green poison, sniffed it at the mouth of the bottle, and initially determined that it was a mixture of the living hell decoction with the juice of several poisonous plants, poisonous tentacles, belladonna, etc.

Returning to his seat and handing the poison to Hermione, Loren smiled and asked, "The difficulty of this bottle of poison lies in determining what poisons are in it. The rest is to brew the antidote according to the type of poison. Which part are you responsible for?"

"I'll judge the poison."

Hermione took the poison and immediately bent over the table to analyze it with a focused look.

The girl had completely mastered the knowledge in the book. In fact, she was better at brewing poison step by step. Identifying poison was her weak point, but she insisted on choosing the difficult ones. Classwork was about challenging difficult problems, and Loren was there to back her up.

The witch unscrewed the bottle cap, used a glass rod to dip a little poison and smeared it on the parchment. She first analyzed the poison composition from the perspective of color, viscosity, turbidity, smell and impurity particles, then poured some into the crucible, judged it by the boiling state and steam characteristics, and finally took out the magic wand and cast the Apparition spell...

Write down the potions you have identified one by one.

The other students in the class also followed similar steps, but they mostly worked in pairs, checking and filling in each other's gaps, so their progress varied from time to time.

Loren looked around and found that these poisons were basically based on simple poisons with other toxic substances added. The only difference was that the living hell decoction was replaced by scabies potion, and the plant-based poisonous tentacles and belladonna were replaced by animal-based mucus or venom, with several combinations and permutations.

Tsk, Professor Slughorn is a bit lazy...

Harry and Ron at the next table were making slow progress. This kind of analytical question tested the students' comprehensive mastery of all the potion knowledge from previous years, and there was no way to take shortcuts by relying on one or two tricks. Harry could only guess slowly based on his weak basic knowledge of potions, and Ron was of no help.

After listing the scabies potion and mandrake root juice in the notebook, their progress came to a standstill.

Ron held the quill in his hand and pretended to write something on the paper. He turned around and asked in a low voice, "Does the Half-Blood Prince really have no clues?"

"No." Harry sighed a little frustrated.

Ron looked at the bright pink poison and licked his lips, he had a brilliant idea, it just wasn't very safe.

Harry opened the always-effective book "Advanced Potion-Making" and turned to the chapter "Antidote to Poison". He stared at Gorbarot's Third Law in a daze.

Perhaps the Half-Blood Prince did not find it difficult, for the blank spaces were clean and without any comments, and the defining printed sentences were exactly the same as what Hermione had recited.

In fact, he had already memorized this passage. If we only consider his mastery of the book, he would be among the top students in the class, but the analysis questions mainly test the knowledge gained in previous years, and he had not yet met the Half-Blood Prince at that time.

Hermione at the next table was casting a spell on a cauldron. It was impossible to tell what spell she was using because she was now very good at silent spells. The spell acted on the poison liquid, separating out various pure single poisons.

Loren also started to act, taking out herbs from the locker in front, lighting the crucible, and starting to brew the antidote.

"Ugh……"

Harry sighed dejectedly.

I have only been an excellent student for one semester, but I never expected that my reputation would be exposed today.

Slughorn would see through his poor academic nature, and then he would completely distance himself from him, making it even more difficult to extract his memories.

Just as Harry was scratching his head in distress, he caught a glimpse of something crawling across the page. He turned his head and looked carefully, and found a line of scribbled sentences in the blank space to the right of the table of poisons and antidotes:

"Just put a fecal stone in your throat."

“Were there any words here just now?”

Harry blinked his light green eyes and didn't dwell on this question too much. He immediately realized that his classwork had been settled. Snape had mentioned bezoars in the first Potions class. These were stones in goat's stomachs that could resist many poisons.

"Two minutes left, everyone!"

"time up!"

"Okay, now let me see how you're doing!" Slughorn began to patrol the classroom, slowly walking past the students' workbenches, checking the various antidotes.

Blaise's team failed to analyze all the types of poisons and only barely passed.

The concentration of the antidote in Ernie's group was not high enough and could only be considered good.

As expected, Loren and Hermione got excellent grades, and both the poison analysis and antidote preparation were perfect.

Slughorn finally walked over to Harry's desk, glanced at his cauldron, and frowned. "I have to say, this is not your level, Harry..."

Harry silently stretched out his hand and opened it, with the feces stone lying in his palm.

"You've got guts, kid!"

Slughorn looked down for a full ten seconds, then suddenly laughed. "Oh, I can't judge you as wrong. Of course, bezoars are useful, but they can't cure all poisons, and they are very rare, so it's useful to know how to prepare an antidote... Researching potions requires a creative and independent spirit. You're a lot like your mother!"

"Ten points to Gryffindor for your courage to take risks!"

When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, Harry deliberately dawdled and fell behind, politely asking Slughorn questions about antidotes and poisons. The professor answered them tirelessly, and the scene was very harmonious.

A few months later, Harry once again won Slughorn's favor.

……

Friday, afternoon.

Gryffindor common room.

Loren sat in his old seat, at the small round table by the window, with an excellent view. Looking out the window, he could see new buds sprouting on the lawn below, the crisp green color stretching all the way to the lake, the breeze created ripples on the lake, the sky and clouds were reflected on the lake, and further away was the lush forbidden forest and the distant mountains.

Next to me was Hermione, who was buried in writing. She had discussed some results with Professor Bubbage some time ago and planned to write them into a formal paper and submit them to some magazines or journals.

Since the two began communicating and discussing a few years ago, they have published more than a dozen articles like this. Although Muggle Studies is not an important academic field in Britain, Hermione Granger has accumulated some reputation in certain small circles, and from time to time some old wizards and scholars in related fields will write to her for exchanges.

The quill pen scratched on the parchment, the ink had a certain smell, the girl stepped forward, her skin was white, and the tender hair on her ears could be seen. With such a scene, I brewed a pot of tea whose name I didn't know, and it tasted good even without sugar.

The room became even more lively. Seamus and Dean moved the sofa and tea table away, making a small space, and put an old-fashioned wooden circle there. They were practicing Apparition over and over again.

"I must try to soften Slughorn and wait for the right moment to ask him about Voldemort, must I?

"It's best to temporarily let him think that I have forgotten about the Horcrux. It's best to let him have a sense of security first, and then drink the Felicity Potion to attack suddenly... This is the technique Hagrid taught me.

"Hey, did you hear me?"

Harry turned to look at his friends. He couldn't bear to watch the two who were in love. Ron was also absent-minded, staring at Seamus and Dean spinning around foolishly over and over again.

"What are you looking at? There is anti-Apparition magic inside the school. No matter how much you practice, it will be useless."

"At least we'll be more proficient in the movements when we go to class tomorrow." Ron said as he moved forward and joined in the movement practice.

"..."

Harry thought about it for a moment and actually felt that what he said made some sense, so he stood up, took an old-fashioned wooden hoop, and turned around with them.

The four of them were acting silly together, and in an instant, the lounge was filled with silly atmosphere.

Other students didn't dare to approach.

"Slurp..." Loren took a sip of tea and grabbed a strand of the girl's hair with his fingertips. He admired the scenery outside, the beautiful scenery around him, and the wonders over there. He was dazzled and overwhelmed.

I can’t bear to see it all.

Maybe he was tired or dizzy, Seamus stopped, staggered over here, looked at Loren, then looked at Hermione, held on to the chair and slowed down: "Loren, the teacher from the Ministry of Magic said that the most important things for Apparition are goal, determination and composure. The other contents are not as complete as Hermione's notes. I don't quite understand..."

Hermione looked up. "Don't understand?"

Loren let go of her hair: "Tell me about it."

"..."

Seamus scratched his head, feeling as if he was asking a professor a question. "It's about the casting process. When I was in the lower grades, Professor Flitwick didn't explain the principles of spells too much, but he emphasized the key points of casting, such as the trajectory of the wand tip, the tone of the spell, etc. When it comes to Apparition, he uses 3D, which is weird."

Hermione looked thoughtful.

Loren was also sorting out his thoughts.

Apparition is different from other magics. It is derived from ancient magic and involves space, soul and body... The last one that was so complicated was the Patronus Charm, but the Patronus Charm is relatively safe and there is no danger in practicing it.

The teaching method of the Ministry of Magic cannot be said to be wrong. They put aside the obscure principles and let students practice directly. Those with talent will naturally learn it, and those without talent will be able to stay away from this dangerous magic.

"Any tips you can tell me?"

Seamus blinked and looked at them. "You don't need to explain the principles to me. As long as you can give me a direction and tell me what is right and what is wrong, and have a standard action to refer to, that would be the best."

"correct……"

Loren raised an eyebrow, "I have an idea, but it's not proven, so I can't guarantee it will work."

"you say!"

"Close your eyes while you practice."

"Close your eyes?"

(End of this chapter)