days at Hogwarts

Chapter 776: Daily Classroom Life in the Seventh Grade
Tuesday, 9am.

Potions class.

Senior year Potions classes can only be taken if the corresponding academic standards are met.

Originally, the performance standard set by Professor Snape was to achieve "excellent" in the OWLs exam, but this class of students was taken over by Professor Slughorn in the second half of the fifth year. When the sixth-year students were divided into elective classes, Slughorn lowered the admission standards for the advanced classes and admitted more students.

In the first few weeks of this school year, students who only received "good" grades were a little nervous, worried that Professor Snape would investigate and persuade them to drop out. There was even a rumor in the class about a placement test, which made everyone nervous in class and they wanted to write down everything the professor said.

If I hadn't taken the advanced class at the beginning and hadn't worked hard for the Ultimate Wizarding Level Examination, I might not have been so worried.

A month had passed since the start of the school year, and the students gradually breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that Professor Snape seemed to have no intention of conducting a class inventory.

A few perceptive students even made an unexpected discovery: Professor Snape, who had returned two years after leaving, seemed to be much gentler than before. Although he still occasionally ridiculed students who made mistakes and still stood behind them during practical operations, his eyes were not so gloomy, and the students who were being watched would not be flustered or make frequent mistakes when operating.

In the dim underground classroom, Professor Snape occasionally mentioned things other than potions, about the future of students after graduation, what kind of jobs students who love potions should do, and which country has better treatment...

His tone remained calm, but it slightly had a vice-president's demeanor.

If there was one thing that hadn't changed, it was probably that Professor Snape often picked Harry to answer questions, and it was hard to tell whether it was out of favoritism or targeting.

"Mr. Potter, could you please tell me, if your friend drinks a pint of poison mixed with half a love potion, half a living hell decoction, and two parts swelling potion, how should the antidote be prepared?"

Professor Snape's face seemed to be a little gentler. He was wearing a dark green robe and stood straight. It was hard to tell whether he was young or old. He had sharp eyes and a blank expression, which gave people pressure. However, this pressure was different from Professor McGonagall's severity. In short, it had been a long time since I heard female students call him Old Bat.

There were even girls in the freshman group who praised the Slytherin Headmaster.

"I think bezoars can be used."

Harry stood up and answered seriously.

"A boring little cleverness."

Snape glanced at him indifferently, his face expressionless and his tone calm: "Bezoar can be used as a universal antidote, but that doesn't mean it can deal with all types of poisons, otherwise the poisonology ward of St. Mungo's Hospital could be demolished."

"..."

Harry remained silent and cursed the old bat repeatedly in his heart.

Snape glanced around the classroom, his eyes were sharp and oppressive. "In a few months, we will welcome the NEWT examiner. As the key content of the advanced potion class, this kind of interpretation question is set to test your understanding and mastery of Gorbarot's Third Law. If you encounter a corresponding question in the practical operation exam, will you just go to the medicine cabinet and find a piece of feces and give it to the invigilator?"

Most of the students lowered their heads silently, avoiding the professor's gaze.

Only Loren met his gaze and said with his eyes: fecal stone can be used as the main ingredient to make an antidote, and auxiliary ingredients can stimulate its efficacy, which can also be considered a general solution.

"..."

Snape ignored him and turned to look at Harry again: "Potter, recite Gorbarot's Third Law and answer my previous question again."

Harry curled his lips. "The antidote to a mixed poison is not a simple mixture of antidotes to individual poisons. The number of ingredients in the antidote to a mixed poison must be greater than or equal to the sum of the ingredients in the antidotes to each individual poison. When exposed to a mixed poison, one must first use Scapin's Apparition Charm to correctly analyze the ingredients of the potion, find the main poison, and analyze the proportion of the additional poison. Through a process that is almost alchemical, various unrelated ingredients can be transformed and combined..."

“A standard answer.”

Snape nodded slightly, still expressionless. "Because you stopped showing off your cleverness at the right time, Gryffindor gets five points for this."

"!!"

The students in the classroom looked up with incredible expressions.

When did I get poisoned? I’m having hallucinations now!
Merlin, they actually heard Professor Snape giving Gryffindor points!

Harry wins the extra points!
"Continue class."

Snape glanced at their surprised faces, lowered his head and flipped through the lesson plan, hiding the slight joy in his eyes: "For reasons we all know, I don't know your grades. The information left by Professor Slughorn only mentioned the overall teaching progress, lacking individual evaluations. So in the past few weeks, I have reorganized the knowledge taught in the advanced class, and I have a preliminary understanding of you."

"..."

The students in the front row were a little nervous.

"Perhaps it is because of Professor Slughorn's rich teaching experience that you have a very solid grasp of the basic knowledge. However, this has also restricted your thinking and you lack flexibility. NEWTs and OWLs are different. Memorizing textbooks mechanically can only earn you a passing grade, or at best a good grade. If you want to get excellent grades, you must truly understand the knowledge, digest it, and apply it flexibly..."

Snape paced slowly on the podium, his tone calm, as steady as the abyss of the Black Lake.

The feather pen scratched on the notebook, and the scent of ink wafted, mixing with the strange smell of potion that always filled the classroom.

"You don't have enough time, or you will have more time after graduation. I know that many people are not destined to learn the deep mysteries of potions. You have seen the cauldron simmering over a low fire, white smoke rising, and strange smells wafting out countless times in the past few years, but only a few can truly appreciate the beauty of it. I am surprised that many of you are still sitting here. Whether your motivation is to explore potions or to obtain that certificate to pursue a future, I hope you can stay focused..."

Loren stopped writing, looked up at the professor on the stage, and seemed a little dazed.

Not only Loren, many other students were also stunned.

I still remember when I first entered school in my first year, the proud Professor Snape stood on the podium and claimed that Potions could improve reputation, brew glory, and even prevent death.

There are a few moments when students will suddenly pull themselves out of the classroom and observe the professor from a perspective that transcends their own bodies, feeling that he seems to have changed a lot, yet nothing has changed.

Thoughts flashed through his mind quickly, and then his consciousness returned to the classroom. He forgot the strange thoughts just now and once again picked up the feather pen to record the key points of knowledge.

The bell rings.

Snape closed the lesson plan neatly, picked up the textbook and walked out without any delay.

"Help me sort this out. I need to see the professor for something."

Loren quickly stuffed the books and notes to Hermione and ran out quickly. He soon caught up with the professor and the two walked towards the office side by side.

"Being promoted to vice president is different. Even the professors' teaching styles are different."

"..."

Snape glanced at him, not wanting to respond, and hurried back to the office, pushed the door open, and tried to lock him out. Loren squeezed in before the door was completely closed: "Professor, I have a question for you."

"You have five minutes. I'm going to discuss this year's budget with the principal later."

"Tsk..."

Loren grinned and was about to make a joke, but he noticed that the professor was about to stand up and leave, so he immediately became serious: "It's about the precise use of the magic power of the Philosopher's Stone. I want to know how you controlled the dosage of the Philosopher's Stone powder at that time, so that the powerful magic power would just meet the needs of the ritual and potion, and would not be disturbed by the strong magic power. Normal ceremony."

"What do you ask for this?"

"I'm designing a new type of space teleportation device. Long-distance teleportation consumes more magic power. Professor, you know that space teleportation is more difficult to handle than potions. The longer the distance, the greater the deviation caused by slight errors. So I would like to ask for your debugging experience at that time."

"Philosopher's Stone Magic Debugging... Here are the experimental records of my design of rituals and potions. I hope it will be helpful to you."

Snape handed over several stacks of heavy books. "Personal potion brewing and ritual design mainly rely on trial and error. With enough experience, you can naturally control the dosage. I don't know much about the alchemy refining steps, but this kind of standard facility will be affected by different factors depending on the installation location, such as astrology, tides, climate... The debugging details will also be different. You probably don't want to rely on trial and error for debugging every time you install it. This kind of unquantifiable experience cannot be promoted."

"Emm..." Loren looked at the booklet on the table that was taller than him, and suddenly fell into hesitation.

"I recommend you to go to Professor Babel. She is an expert on runes and alchemy."

"I see."

Loren put away the booklet and left the office thoughtfully.

Listening to the footsteps gradually fading away in the corridor outside, Snape leaned back in his chair, tapping slowly on the financial statements on the table with his fingers, a thoughtful expression on his face.

The new space-shifting device... from the name it suggests it's something that will be promoted throughout the entire magical world.

When did this guy become so active?

……

Four o'clock in the afternoon, in the main building of the castle.

Ancient Runes Classroom.

The students gathered in twos and threes, following the instructions of their group leader, using the runic knowledge they had learned in the past few years to analyze some of the products currently on sale. Each group chose the same thing and submitted a report in advance, which was reviewed by the professor and no duplication was allowed.

There is no such thing as copyright protection in the wizarding world. Once it is analyzed, it is a secret recipe that can be exchanged for money. It can be produced and sold in any place. If it is really too embarrassing, just change the country. No one will go against gold Galleons.

The discussion was lively.

The students who have chosen Ancient Runes as an elective course have not applied for withdrawal in the seventh grade, and the students who have stayed are basically the best. By extension, even if we exclude Ancient Runes, the OWLs of other students are basically excellent. For the upcoming NEWTs, each student has booked eight or nine certificates, which means they are truly excellent students.

Therefore, the discussions were basically meaningful. The runic characters on the parchment were constantly added and deleted, and the designs were getting closer and closer to the originals. Some groups even chose items that were too simple or outdated, and the students' designs surpassed the originals.

The group led by a certain Miss Granger was progressing too fast. Although it was clearly this week's homework, they had already finished the first draft before the get out of class was over and handed it directly to Professor Barbour. Ignoring the professor's helpless expression, they stood beside her and chattered on and on to explain their design ideas.

There's just someone mixed in there who's slacking off.

Loren sat in the back row of the classroom, his head resting on his arms, looking at the podium from afar. His mind was filled with runes, all about the design of a new space-shifting device.

The main design has been basically completed, but the actual refining test is still a long way off.

Stable energy supply, interconnection, installation and debugging... every step is foreseeable difficult.

Loren roughly estimated the workload and felt that he could successfully solve the problem of stable energy supply before graduation. The remaining two items could only be improved and perfected after the physical products were produced.

The time required for those parts is currently immeasurable, and it requires the cooperation of the pure-blood families and the Ministry of Magic. This should really be a big business that will gather countless manpower and resources.

"Loren."

A discussion group at the back of the classroom suddenly turned around and looked at him expectantly. "This is the Scrabble board from Weasley's Joke Shop. The figures and the spelling parts are very stable, but they fall apart when put together. Can you help us see what's missing?"

"..."

Loren stared at the scribbled characters on the parchment, pondered for a moment, and began to explain.

Students in the Ancient Runes elective class basically knew Loren. Even if they didn't know his face, they had heard of his name. Every time Professor Babel assigned a difficult question, when the whole class was at a loss, Miss Granger would come forward to answer it with reason, evidence, and details.

Then the whole class will hear Professor Babel's words: "Although this is not your answer, considering that your boyfriend is also a Gryffindor, five points for Gryffindor."

"..."

It's hard to comment.

Where there is a beginning, there will be a follow-up. After answering the questions of this discussion group, other discussion groups will come up and ask questions about runes and alchemy.

Most of the discussion groups chose products from Weasleys' Wheezes, which was truly a tribute to their seniors. I wonder if George and Fred would be happy to know this.

Loren didn't feel bored. He accepted everyone who came and didn't even give them a direct answer. Instead, he patiently helped them troubleshoot the problems and guided them to find the right runes.

What does it mean to be diligent?
What does it mean to guide step by step?

Loren leaned back slightly in his chair, feeling like a dutiful ancient rune teaching assistant. He looked up at Professor Babeling, who was sitting on the podium with a helpless look on her face. The professor even took the time to smile at him, and he was quite grateful.

In fact, there is no need to be grateful. Only friendship based on mutual help can last long.

The bell rang and other students walked out of the classroom in groups, still chattering about the designs on the parchment. The group led by Miss Granger also walked down from the podium to discuss how to improve their designs.

Loren stood up and walked to the front of the podium: "It's my turn, Professor Babeling, I have a question for you too."

"??"

(End of this chapter)