Vizette stood up and explained calmly, "Professor Snape, my stipend is only thirty Galleons."
"If I used the money to buy new books, I wouldn't have enough to buy all the supplies on the list, so I copied down all the textbooks."
"Touching, but it sounds like a cheesy inspirational story." Snape said expressionlessly, his voice drawn out, "Since you can even make your own textbooks..."
"You must be quite familiar with the contents, right? What ingredients are used in the formula for the Cure for Boils Potion? What symptoms does it primarily target?"
Upon hearing this, the other students quickly opened their books.
Before they could even turn to the page about the Cure for Boils Potion, Vizette had already spoken.
He explained clearly: "Half a crucible of water, four ground snake fangs, three horned slugs that need to be steamed, two portions of dried nettles, and one porcupine quill."
"The Cure for Boils Potion is mainly effective against common pustules, measles, and boils. It can also be quite effective for some symptoms of lymph node tuberculosis. As long as it does not involve magical damage, it is a highly effective medicine."
"If the simmering is done properly before adding porcupine quills, pink smoke will rise from the cauldron. The purer the pink smoke, the more skillful the potion master is."
Snape curled his lip, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire classroom. "Why aren't you all starting to prepare your materials? Are you waiting for me to serve you?"
Except for Vizette, everyone else shuddered and hurriedly took out the materials and their corresponding quantities.
Snape didn't sit still; he wrote down the key points on the blackboard:
Grind the snake teeth as finely as possible, and frequently lift the lid to observe the horned slugs during steaming. It's best if you can see the black under the transparent skin. Once it starts bubbling, stir five times clockwise, remove it from the heat, and add the porcupine quills...
Although the method for making the Cure for Boils Potion is not difficult, preparing the materials takes a lot of time and requires meticulous handling.
Even without considering the preparation time, they still need to simmer the potion for at least half an hour to complete it.
In such a tight schedule, they also had to record the time spent on each step and endure Snape's constant inspections.
Snape walked with a swagger, his robes billowing, wandering the classroom like a ghost, sending chills down the spines of almost everyone present.
Faced with the slug covered in slime, Hannah held the tweezers but dared not touch it, her body trembling violently.
Vizette noticed Hannah's troubled expression and pushed the snake fangs towards her. "You handle this, okay? No rush, there's plenty of time."
Hannah nodded with a grateful expression and began grinding her snake fangs with focused concentration.
Vizette used tweezers to pick up six slugs and put them into the steamer.
Under the action of high-temperature steaming, the slug's mucus solidifies, and its body shrinks.
He used his magic eye and discovered that the slugs in the steamer were different.
The slug's loose magic circuits were also converging, and a neat symbol was about to form.
Is this why slugs are steamed?
Vizette thought to himself, without lifting the lid, but simply using his Magic Eye to observe the changes in the symbols.
"Why don't you open the lid?" Snape appeared behind him, his sinister voice ringing out, "Or are you planning to steam the slug for exactly ten minutes, as the book says?"
Hannah's hand trembled, and she almost crushed the mortar.
The people around reacted strongly; they held their breath and dared not exchange a single word.
"Of course not, Professor Snape." Vizette didn't even look up, observing the changes in the slug's magical circuits. "If you open the lid too often, it will affect the final product."
"That's right." Snape pursed his lips and stood behind Vizette, glancing at the timer next to him from time to time.
Seven minutes later, Vizette picked up the tweezers, removed two of the slugs, quickly put the lid back on, and recorded the time.
Snape's eyes narrowed. The two slugs that had been taken out were translucent, with a deep black beneath their transparent skin.
His cheeks twitched, but he remained silent, arms crossed.
At seven minutes and forty seconds, Vizette opened the lid again, took out the remaining slugs, and recorded the time again.
There were six horned slugs in total. After steaming and boiling, they were all the same size and shape, and their appearance was exactly the same. They were all top-quality products.
"Not bad!" Snape gave Vizette a deep look, then wandered around the classroom again.
The Potions classroom was still very oppressive, but Vizette was not affected by the atmosphere; instead, he enjoyed the quiet environment.
Whether it's a slug, a snake's fang, a dried nettle, or a porcupine quill, they all have their own magical symbols.
With the help of the Eye of Magic, Vizette put the ingredients into the pot and cooked them, watching the symbols break and reshape, turning into exquisite and intricate patterns.
He enjoyed the process, feeling like a painter, outlining various materials into interesting pictures.
As Snape said at the beginning—destruction and rebirth are contained in a steaming cauldron.
The mixture in the pot turned a deep green, then a murky blue, and began to bubble vigorously.
Vizette glanced to the side. "Hannah, it's bubbling. Now you should stir it five times clockwise."
"Okay! Okay!" Hannah nodded repeatedly, picked up a spoon, dipped it into the crucible, and carefully stirred it.
After stirring, the large bubbles that emerged turned into small bubbles, the murky blue color gradually became clear, and the impurities gradually gathered towards the center.
The liquid in the crucible turned into a clear light blue, and at that moment, impurities suddenly flew up, forming a pure pink smoke at the mouth of the crucible.
"It's so beautiful!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly, her face flushed. She grabbed the porcupine quills and was about to throw them into the crucible.
Vizette quickly reminded her, "Hannah, you must leave the fire before adding the porcupine quill."
"I almost forgot!" Hannah said gratefully, quickly picking up a rag and the crucible to add the porcupine quills.
The porcupine quills slowly melted in the residual heat, turning into specks of starlight that adorned the potion.
Snape came over again, picked up a spoon, scooped out the boil-healing potion, and examined it. "First time making a potion? Never learned before?"
Vizette countered, "Did you help Mr. Lovegood press Gurdyroot for tea?"
"Gurdyroot for tea?" Snape's hand trembled as he looked at Vizette very seriously. "Can you not be influenced by those absurd theories?"
Vizette was a little confused. "You mean Mr. Lovegood? I think what he and Luna said made a lot of sense."
"You do have some talent!" Snape didn't reply, his voice dry.
He changed the subject and continued, "Now that you've finished the potion, why don't you look at your classmates? Are you trying to stand out from the crowd?"
Vizette calmly replied, "Yes, Professor Snape."
Hannah followed behind him, and the two of them wandered around the classroom like Snape.
If Snape brought fear to the students, then Vizette brought hope.
With the help of his magical eye, Vizette could improve the potion-making process by observing the completeness of the symbols on the materials.
Before long, all the students who had been helped by Vizette successfully completed the potion.
In the students' eyes, the originally scalding hot crucible now looked even more pleasing to the eye.
Even the rising pink smoke was as festive as celebratory fireworks.
...
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