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Chapter 1299: A sad story
🕑 Added 2024-11-20 21:42:32 +0000 UTCAt this moment, Harry was filled with both excitement and questions. Could the book’s previous owner always be right?
He stirred counterclockwise seven times , held his breath, and stirred once clockwise.
The effect was immediate. The potion in the cauldron in front of Harry turned palest pink — a near-completion color that signified perfection.
All that was left was to keep stirring until the potion became as clear as water, and it would be done!
It was incredible. If Harry hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.
What had he done? Just changed the sequence and rhythm of his wand’s stirring, and yet it had such magical results.
Next to him, Evan, Hermione, and Ron had all been brewing their potions for much longer, having added their ingredients earlier. Hermione’s potion, in particular, had been simmering for about fifteen minutes and was still a deep purple.
And Harry, less than three minutes after he put the sopophorous bean’s juice into the cauldron, his potion was almost ready!
If this wasn’t a miracle, then what was it?
"Evan, stir with your wand next, stir counterclockwise seven times, then stir clockwise once!" said Harry excitedly, continuing to stir at the same rhythm.
After adding the sopophorous bean’s juice, Evan's potion gradually turned into a light snow-blue color.
He followed Harry’s instructions and couldn’t help but wonder how Snape had discovered such a method.
There was no doubt that whether it was using a silver knife to process the sopophorous bean or changing the stirring order of the wand, it had greatly improved the brewing process for the Draught of Living Death, making everything simpler and more perfect. This was not something that could be researched out in one or two experiments.
Snape must have spent a lot of time and effort on the Draught of Living Death, trying it again and again, and improving it bit by bit.
Not only this potion but also all the other ones in Advanced Potion-Making bore the mark of Snape’s meticulous annotations.
These densely packed notes and adjustments were a record of Snape’s youth.
While everyone else was laughing and having fun, Snape was alone in the dim dungeon, brewing potions over and over again.
Such a picture appeared in Evan's mind, Snape and his potions...
This required a lot of perseverance, especially considering this all had happened during his sixth and seventh years.
Evan felt he was starting to understand what Snape’s after-school life had been like in his youth — and why he’d eventually lost Harry’s mother.
It wasn’t hard to imagine. If Snape had devoted so much time to potion-making, the outcome was inevitable.
Making the wrong choices at the wrong time left little hope for a bright future...
But putting aside this sad story, the fact that Snape was able to make these improvements, in addition to requiring strong willpower and a large amount of time investment, also showed that he did have an extraordinary talent in potions. He was a true genius in this area and a well-deserved Potions Master.
If it were someone else, even if he were asked to make the Draught of Living Death ten thousand times, he probably wouldn't be able to make the slightest improvement.
Wait, Evan suddenly thought of something else.
Slughorn had also been Snape's Potions professor at the time, and he made no mention of that at all.
If Snape had really shown this talent as a student, it wouldn’t have been in Slughorn’s character to stay silent about it.
Quite the opposite — he often spoke fondly of Lily, Harry’s mother, describing her as one of the most brilliant students he’d ever taught.
Lily had a strong talent, especially in potions, and was deeply admired by Slughorn.
Evan blinked and thought of a possibility.
Perhaps Snape hadn’t initially liked or been skilled at Potions. What if it was Lily who inspired him to delve into it? His groundbreaking discoveries might have been intended to impress her or share with her. But in the end, he was left to bury both his innovations and his love for Lily in silence.
Well, this was another sad story. This tattered textbook was not simple at all...
Thinking of this, Evan decided to leave it to Harry. Perhaps Snape’s original intent had been to share its contents with Lily, and now, through some twist of fate, it had found its way to her son. It felt like destiny. No wonder Evan had failed to find it in the past, no matter how many times he looked.
He only needed to make a copy to study later, but the original Advanced Potion-Making should remain in Harry's hands.
As Evan reached this decision, Hermione finally tore her gaze away from her potion.
She was astonished to see that both Evan's and Harry's potions had turned pink, especially Harry's, which was getting lighter and lighter and was about to succeed.
How could this be possible? What happened in this classroom when she was concentrating on brewing the potion?
“How are you two doing that?" she demanded. She was red-faced and her hair was growing bushier and bushier in the fumes from her cauldron; her potion was still resolutely purple.
"Stir seven times counterclockwise, then once clockwise!"
“No, no, the book says counterclockwise!” she snapped.
"Add a clockwise stir, it will be more effective," said Evan.
"But that's not what the book says," Hermione held up her copy of Advanced Potion-Making and double-checked. “Look, it specifically states to stir counterclockwise continuously until the potion clears. It’s a critical step."
As always, Hermione clung to the authority of written instructions. Unless someone provided concrete evidence, she wouldn’t abandon the book’s guidance.
"Yes, that's what the book says, but our method has been verified," Evan continued to persuade. "This is more effective. It's not wrong to stir counterclockwise all the time, but it takes a long time for the potion to change, and the sopophorous bean in your potion..."
Harry shrugged and continued working on his own potion.Seven stirs counterclockwise, one clockwise, pause … seven stirs counterclockwise, one stir clockwise ...
As Evan added the sopophorous bean’s juice to a panicked Hermione's cauldron, Ron was cursing fluently under his breath; his potion looked like liquid licorice, and he had no clue what had gone wrong.
Harry raised his head and glanced around the classroom. As far as he could see, no one else’s potion had turned as pale as his. He felt elated, something that had certainly never happened before in this dungeon.
"I think I must be going crazy!" After seeing her potion begin to change after adding the sopophorous bean’s juice, Hermione, with a flushed face, hesitantly stirred her wand as Harry and Evan said, watching the changes in her potion in surprise.
Harry smiled knowingly, Hermione was famously stubborn about things like this.
But when Evan got involved, she always eventually relented.
