The years of welding at Hogwarts

But they didn't know that tonight would be their last relaxing night at Hogwarts this school year.

Chapter 311: Freshmen's First Potions Class

Going through a shared ordeal is a great way to strengthen friendships.

This is common to both the magical and non-magical worlds.

Especially for those freshmen who have just entered Hogwarts.

As newcomers, they did not have a strong sense of belonging to their own house. After all, you could not expect a student who was just assigned to Gryffindor last night to shout out heroically on the first day of military training:

"I am a Gryffindor in life and a Gryffindor ghost in death! I swear I will never coexist with the inherently evil Slytherins!"

Thanks to the hardships they had endured in the military training over the past month, the first-year students did not have much feeling about belonging to each other's houses for the time being. Even the old rivals Slytherin and Gryffindor became very good friends.

Therefore, in the first Potions class this morning, Snape saw a scene that surprised him a little bit -

The Gryffindor and Slytherin students, who should have been divided into two distinct camps along the center line of the Potions classroom, were like a chessboard halfway through the battle in this year's Potions classroom, with black and white pieces intertwined.

No, it’s not quite accurate to talk about the battle situation.

After all, these young kids seemed to be getting along very well with each other, and there was no tit-for-tat between the two colleges as in previous years.

Strange things happen every year. Ever since Noah entered school, there have been especially many strange things happening in Hogwarts.

Snape was no longer surprised by this.

No matter how Hogwarts has changed, the grim old bat still has that terrifying expressionless face that can stop a baby from crying in an instant.

The low pressure emanating from him hovered over the Potions classroom, weighing heavily on the hearts of every student sitting in the classroom, as if an invisible giant hand was firmly gripping their hearts.

No student in the classroom dared to breathe heavily.

They all heard about the deeds of this terrifying Potions Professor from their senior classmates.

This devilish professor is a ruthless person who can use the petrification spell to imprison the bodies of his seniors when they cannot stand in a military posture, and will not remove the spell until they have completed the set training goals.

only……

Isn't it said that Professor Snape is currently teaching the senior magic offense and defense class?

Why is he here?

This is a first-year Potions class!

No brave man dared to question Snape face to face, and every freshman could only wail loudly in his heart.

Especially for those freshmen who were unfortunately assigned to Gryffindor, they had plenty of opportunities to consult seniors during the military training some time ago, and they had already found out the things they should pay attention to in each course at Hogwarts.

The Gryffindor freshmen were especially warned not to even think about getting any chance to score in Snape's classes.

Whether it is magic attack and defense, or potions class.

It was impossible for any Gryffindor to get even a single point from Snape. All they had to do was pray that no points would be deducted, or that only one or two points would be deducted. That would be Merlin's blessing.

Take Potions class, for example.

Each of Snape's Potions classes taught them how to brew different potions.

Poor little Gryffindor lions, if there were no mistakes in the steps of preparing the potion, the entire operation process would be done quite perfectly, and the quality of the potion finally brewed would be quite good.

But the highest praise he could get from Snape was that Snape just took a look and turned away without looking back, without saying a word of criticism.

This is on the premise that a perfect potion has been brewed.

And if the little lions of Gryffindor made mistakes in the preparation of the potion, it would be disastrous.

The grim old bat Snape would definitely arrive in the next second, pointing at the messy potion in the crucible and constantly spraying venom at the poor little lion.

"Is your head filled with slop? Even the dumbest troll is smarter than you!"

"Are your two eyes just for decoration? Can't you understand the cooking steps I wrote on the blackboard? If you don't need your eyes, you can donate them to people in need!"

"Five points from Gryffindor!"

This is probably the situation that will occur at that time.

Even if there is no error in the configuration of the potion, but there are some small details that are not done well, such as the control of the fire. Even if the fire is turned off ten seconds later, resulting in the quality of the potion being slightly worse, it will also attract Snape's criticism.

"Do you think brewing a potion is just a matter of throwing these ingredients into a cauldron in order and then stewing them?"

"This thing you cooked is not called a potion, it's called a pot of shit!"

"Three points to Gryffindor!"

Moreover, potions classes are usually taught in pairs. If you brew the potion yourself but the classmate next to you makes a mistake, you will also face points deduction.

"Why don't you remind your classmates to prevent them from making such a mistake?"

"Can the failure of others make your operation more successful and dazzling?"

"One point from Gryffindor!"

But if you remind them out loud, the same situation will occur again.

"No whispering or talking in my class. Two points from Gryffindor!"

In addition to the various points deductions you may face in potion configuration, there is another typical point deduction link, which is the classroom questions that the old bat loves the most.

The most classic one is the three questions of death that the Savior faced in the Potions class last year.

"Potter, if I add powdered narcissus root to an infusion of wormwood, what will I get?"

"I don't know, sir."

As expected, Gryffindor will be deducted points.

Even if Potter answered the correct answer, that daffodil root powder and wormwood can be combined to make a very powerful sleeping potion, Snape would find all kinds of reasons to deduct Gryffindor points.

"Next time, stand up before you answer.

Come on, one point from Gryffindor."

In addition to the professor asking questions to students, students are also required to actively raise their own questions in class. Of course, there is a prerequisite here, that is, questions cannot be asked about knowledge points that Snape has already mentioned.

Otherwise, Snape would catch the person asking the question and spit venom at him again. "I have already mentioned the answer to this question in the lecture just now. If you have a problem with your ears, I suggest you go to the school infirmary to see Madam Pomfrey."

Although Snape was not reluctant to talk about this issue again in the end, of course points deduction was inevitable.

But if the students stayed quiet like puppets for the entire class, Snape would find the right angle to deduct Gryffindor points from them.

"Not a single question? Have you learned everything I said?"

Next, Snape will check the final products of all the students sitting in the classroom one by one. If the color and smell of the final product are not as recorded in the textbook, then Snape will use his sharp tongue skill again and deduct points from Gryffindor.

In short, no matter what Gryffindor students do, they cannot avoid losing points.

Unless all the students in Gryffindor College have reached the same level of Potions as Snape, he must at least be a high-level potion master.

When faced with the potion recipes given by Snape, every student must ultimately make the potion they brew reach the highest standard that can no longer be improved.

In addition, students should ask Snape some innovative and new questions in class that are not included in the teaching content of this class.

This is the only way to avoid being deducted points by Snape 100%.

Some Gryffindor students slammed their desks after hearing what their senior said, "If we are so strong, then what is the use of a Potions teacher?"

Fortunately, this year's Potions...

Bullshit Potions!

Why the hell is Severus Snape teaching them?

These cute little first-year students don't know that the reason why Snape is here is all related to a certain evil Shafrin imp who is born evil.

Last year, when Noah was substituting for Snape, he pioneered the introduction of various Muggle kitchen utensils into the Potions class, which led all the students in Hogwarts to follow suit.

Now the tools they use to cut potion materials are no longer the not-so-easy-to-use silver knives of the past, but various heavy kitchen knives, whether they are magical plants that are easier to cut, or some harder materials such as dried snake teeth.

If you simply need to crush the snake fangs, you only need to use the extremely heavy blade of a kitchen knife and smash it hard like smashing garlic, and those dry snake fangs will become small pieces that meet your requirements.

This year, these first graders were forced to be self-reliant while surviving in the wilderness of the Forbidden Forest before their classes officially started.

These first-year students, who had never had to do any housework at home, could not go into the dangerous forbidden forest to hunt like the senior students. The only thing they could do in the camp was to help the seniors who were one year older than them prepare meals.

Apart from that, there is only some simple farm work, planting some vegetables on the wasteland reclaimed around the camp to add a bit of green to their three meals a day.

The latter is the basis of Herbology. What Snape wants to know more is that since brewing potions is similar to making soup to a certain extent.

So how will the performance of these first-year students, who have undergone military training and already have some cooking experience, differ in the first Potions class compared to that of previous freshmen?

That's why Snape appeared in the first Potions class for first-year students.

Before beginning his classic opening remarks, Snape picked up the roll call book on the podium.

It was clearly just a simple roll call, but Snape made a small roll call book like a Death Note, as if every name recorded on it would send them to the paradise in the underworld.

Every time Snape read a name, if this name represented a Gryffindor student, a little wizard under the podium would tremble violently.

"You have come here to learn the precise science and rigorous craft of potion preparation..."

Snape's opening remarks were still the same old-fashioned ones. It seemed that he had said the same thing to every class of freshmen in the past ten years of teaching Potions.

The difference is that, since a certain savior classmate was not here, Snape did not immediately launch an attack on the Gryffindor students after finishing his extremely clichéd opening remarks.

Instead, he waved his magic wand and displayed the entire configuration process of the scabies treatment potion clearly on the giant blackboard at the front of the classroom.

Every step and every link was detailed, even down to the specific processing methods of the potion materials, how many times the potion needed to be stirred during the cooking process, and what kind of changes would occur in the potion after each step was completed...

The writing on the blackboard is much more detailed than when Noah and his class first started learning potions last year.

It is much more detailed now.

Step by step, almost anyone who can read and follow the steps on the blackboard can brew a perfect pot of scabies potion.

"In this class, you only have one task, which is to boil a pot of medicine to treat scabies before the end of the get out of class."

Snape's cold and ruthless voice echoed in the dark and damp underground classroom. "At the end of the get out of class, I will cast a spell on each of you and make scabies grow on your body."

"At that time, you will need to use the scabies treatment potion you brewed to treat yourselves. If any of you fails to prepare the potion successfully..."

Having said this, Snape snorted coldly and did not say the rest.

The students naturally understood what he meant.

This made these first-year students tremble even more violently, and they were almost about to hug each other and scream.

Of course, being afraid alone is completely useless.

Under the threat of the curse, no matter how reluctant these little wizards were, they had to shut up and start preparing the potion to treat scabies.

Fortunately, Snape's blackboard writing is detailed enough, so it is not a difficult task if you follow the configuration process on the blackboard completely.

When all the students in the classroom entered the operating state, Snape began to drag his big black robe that fell to the floor and move between each seat as usual, watching how these stupid trolls would use clumsy methods to hold the kitchen knife to cut the potion materials, and how they would fumble to adjust the flame under the crucible.

But what surprised Snape was that, although this group of students was only experiencing the preparation of potions for the first time, the way they handled the potion materials still seemed a little awkward and immature.

But at least they won't make the same stupid mistake that students always made in the past, stupidly putting their fingers under the kitchen knife.

When making a fire, the flame will not fluctuate due to uneven input of magic power.

When a potion master is brewing a potion, especially when it takes dozens of days or even months to brew a potion, it is impossible for him to stand by the crucible all the time to maintain the flame spell.

Therefore, a fire-making spell solidified on the potion testing table has become an auxiliary prop that potion masters must have. The size of the flame is precisely adjusted by the magic power input by the wizard.

In previous years, this group of first-year wizards who had just entered the school were always unable to control the temperature accurately, causing the potion ingredients brewed in the crucible to lose their original effectiveness or produce some worse chemical reactions.

For example...

Art is explosion, drink!

But this year's group of Hogwarts freshmen did not have such a problem. Even if their control over the temperature was not precise enough for the time being, they would not deviate too much and cause some destructive effects on the potion.

This made Snape feel very satisfied.

After watching these students finish steaming the slugs, no idiot reached out to the porcelain plate filled with slugs that was still emitting high-temperature steam. Instead, they put on dragon leather gloves and took it away.

Although there was no expression on Snape's face, a full twenty minutes had passed since the class started and he had not lost even a single point, which proved that he was in a good mood.

After a simple tour around the classroom, even Snape's icy face couldn't help but melt a little, even though there was no upturned curve at the corners of his mouth.

But as long as any brave student dares to look up at their Potions Professor, he will be surprised to find that there seems to be a trace of...

Smile?

This is an illusion! It is definitely an illusion!

He must have been hit by another god!