Hogwarts: What wicked thoughts could a little wizard possibly have?

Chapter 23 Improved Potion

The idea that potions are essentially spells is Vaughn's core concept. He compiled it into a paper when he was 10 years old and published it in the journal of the Extraordinary Apothecaries Association, "Extraordinary Potions," which is also the part of him that has been controversial ever since.

Potions are a relatively independent discipline. In the eyes of many apothecaries, only the fragrant aroma rising from the cauldron can represent the mysterious and omnipotent side of magic.

As long as they carry enough potions, they can easily accomplish all sorts of things without having to "silly wave their wands" or cast a bunch of "fancy spells".

Not to mention, many illnesses and spell damage can only be cured by potions.

This makes them look down on other disciplines with arrogance.

Vaughn's statement clearly violated their taboos. Not all of those people necessarily disagreed with his views, but most did not want to see change.

Some of them are old-fashioned types who are intoxicated with glory, some are vested interests (the more mysterious the potion, the easier it is to monopolize it), and some are fools!

The last comment was made by Professor Snape in the newspaper at the time.

Vaughn's paper advocates a simple idea—to involve more magic in the potion-making process, just like casting a spell.

Like this moment.

As he sprinkled the venomous fang powder into the crucible, Vaughn drew his wand and gently touched it, a wisp of magic seeping into the potion.

Hermione stared wide-eyed, but magic is invisible to the naked eye; she could only see the snake fang powder falling into the liquid.

"Snake fangs are the main ingredient. Their role in the formula is to absorb toxins, but remember, they don't have this function on their own. We only need their properties."

As Vaughn whispered, a few glimmers of light emerged from the powdered snake fangs, while the powder that had been floating sank to the bottom of the pot.

"Once the toxins have been absorbed, the next step is detoxification and treatment. For simple conditions like scabies, horned slugs and dried nettles can be used. Horned slugs are usually used to heal wounds, while dried nettles neutralize the absorbed toxins."

The wand continued to tap lightly on the cauldron. As more materials were added, more faintly glowing dark currents appeared in the potion liquid, tinged with a slight pink.

Hermione, holding the book, opened her mouth slightly and watched everything intently.

She asked softly, "These..."

“Yes, the properties of the materials, Hermione.” Vaughn nodded and explained, “I used magic to extract them and let you see them. In the traditional recipe for scabies medicine, the final step, the porcupine quills, is used to extract properties; they don't participate in the treatment process themselves, so my magic saved that step!”

With that, Vaughn turned off the fire in the crucible and stirred it clockwise five times: "Five times, no more, no less. This is another key point I mentioned earlier, the ritual! Numbers have magic in this recipe ritual, look—"

Hermione stared intently.

Inside the crucible, the originally distinct and colorful liquid changed color with five stirs and Vaughn's wave of his wand.

As it spun and spun, it suddenly turned into a pot of deep blue medicine, clear and refreshing, without a trace of impurity.

The finished product looks even better than the pictures in the textbook!

Before she could even react in surprise, Snape slid over like a bat.

He peered into the potion in the crucible, a hint of surprise appearing in his lifeless eyes.

He couldn't resist dipping his finger in the liquid, sniffing it, and looking at Vaughn: "It doesn't have the pungent smell of porcupine quills... You've made some improvements?"

Vaughn nodded: "Yes, Professor."

"Using the magic extraction method you mentioned last year?"

Vaughn smiled: "Yes, but for now it can only be used on simple potions like this. The higher the level of the potion, the more complex and demanding the properties of the materials become. It takes a lot of time to understand, explore, and find the tricks."

"But I think it's very meaningful. Traditional formulas often use one or even several additional materials to extract the final properties, which inevitably affects the efficacy of the drug, and some are even toxic... Although side effects and toxicity can be tolerated for the sake of the drug's success, there's nothing better, isn't there?"

Snape remained silent and said nothing more.

As he turned to leave, everyone heard him speak: "Slytherin, 10 points. Vaughn Weasley, Granger, go help our Longbottom and Finnegan, I suspect they're trolls in disguise... Ron Weasley, what are you daydreaming about? Why don't you learn from your brother?"

Harry heard Ron mutter in his ear, "I'm not going to be like him!"

Harry didn't say anything for a moment, then whispered, "I want to partner with Vaughn in Potions class next time."

Ron's eyes widened: "Traitor!"

Meanwhile, Vaughn and Hermione, following the instructions of their dear Professor Snape, went to Neville and Seamus's desks.

Neville was crying because he had been berated by Snape throughout the lesson, which made him question his existence and resulted in a 5-point deduction.

This made him feel very guilty.

"I'm sorry, Vaughn, I'm so stupid, I can never remember anything."

"It's okay, Neville. Just look at your textbook and don't panic."

Perhaps because he had received help from Vaughn in the past, Neville always trusted Vaughn, even though he was a Slytherin.

This kind and honest chubby boy, apart from having a bad memory and being prone to tears, is actually a very honest and obedient fellow.

At least when it came to Vaughn, whom he trusted, he listened to everything he was told and followed his instructions strictly and meticulously.

Seamus, on the other hand, was more mischievous. Perhaps he did have some hidden talent; even with Hermione watching, he almost caused an accident when they reached the final step of cooking, when they needed to add porcupine quills.

Without turning off the fire, he threw a handful of porcupine quills into the crucible.

Fortunately, Vaughn, who had been watching him closely, quickly cast the Levitation Charm to stop the porcupine quills; otherwise, the classroom might have faced a huge disaster!

At high temperatures, porcupine quills can turn the medicine into a highly corrosive liquid and even cause an explosion.

This made Professor Snape even more displeased with Gryffindor, and he took the opportunity to deduct another number of points.

On the way back to Gryffindor after class, Seamus was still explaining to Hermione, "...I was just too nervous. Snape was constantly around me, and I was under a lot of pressure!"

Hermione, her face stern, demanded in a clear, sharp voice, "Then why didn't you pay a little more attention? The professor didn't force you to leave the stove on!"

Feeling embarrassed, Simo was angry and stopped talking to her.

Ron, who was watching the commotion, turned to Harry and said, "She's too serious and often makes people feel awkward."

When Harry saw Hermione approaching, he quickly changed the subject:

"Tomorrow's the weekend, how about we go visit Hagrid?"

Hagrid wrote to him today, inviting him to visit his cabin.

But Ron clearly didn't understand what he meant. "Okay, but it's best not to bring her along. I don't want to hear someone constantly telling me, 'You did this wrong, you did that wrong...'"

Hermione pursed her lips, instantly reminding Harry of Professor McGonagall. She limped past the two of them, even bumping into Ron and causing him to stumble.

Harry sighed as he watched the girl walk away.

"Ron, you shouldn't have said that about her."

Ron knew he was in the wrong, so he just grunted twice.