Interesting, Amanda raised an eyebrow, adding the appropriate Potion ingredients to the cauldron without even looking.
It seems some Potion genius had once written down methods to improve the preparation procedures for these Potions in that book.
Unfortunately, this book is too old, too worn; one look is enough to tell it must have been used by many generations of students. Otherwise, one could analyze the approximate time span the book has gone through to figure out exactly who that Potion genius was.
But now, it's impossible to distinguish. A book spanning several generations of students—even for Amanda, it's impossible to precisely identify one specific student from one of those generations.
Withdrawing her gaze and continuing to work on her Potion earnestly, Amanda and Hermione stirred slowly while talking in low voices. As the class neared its end, Harry raised his hand first.
"Professor Slughorn, I, I'm finished."
Amanda added the last Potion ingredient to her cauldron and looked up. Harry's face was full of shock and disbelief; it seemed even he himself couldn't believe he was the first.
"Very well, let me take a look at the Potion you've made." Professor Slughorn walked over with a smile, carefully examined the Potion Harry had made, and then applauded without hesitation.
"Very good, Harry, very good. Perfect quality, incredible speed. The first finisher of today's class has appeared, hasn't he? Without a doubt."
"Then, this is yours."
Professor Slughorn said, pulling that small bottle of Felix Felicis from his wizard robe pocket and handing it to Harry.
"Thank you, Professor."
Harry took it with both hands. Professor Slughorn nodded with a smile, "Please remember, you cannot use it during Quidditch matches or exams."
"Additionally," Professor Slughorn lowered his voice and patted Harry on the arm, "You have inherited your mother's Potion talent very well. Thank Merlin that in this regard, you are not like your father."
Harry froze for a moment, then guiltily glanced at the old potions book on the table out of the corner of his eye.
What outstanding Potion talent did he have? It was just because he had this book to help him.
After Harry, Amanda and Hermione also finished their Potion preparation shortly after. After Hermione handed her Potion to Professor Slughorn for inspection and bottling, she leaned into Amanda's ear.
"Has Harry had a massive leap in Potion talent? Is that really possible?"
Amanda turned her head to look at Hermione and tilted her head, "Doesn't Hermione already have the answer in her heart? How could such a thing be possible?"
How could a person's talent suddenly awaken and become very powerful? That wouldn't be reality, but imagination.
Of course, unless one lets their brain ignore many other things and focuses the vast majority of their mental capacity on one single thing.
This can allow that person to greatly improve their ability in a certain area. Amanda has a lot of experience with this situation, but she does not recommend anyone try it.
"His book?" Hermione asked in a tone that was almost certain.
"Yes," Amanda nodded, "It should be that some Potion genius wrote their own notes on it, as well as some improved methods for Potion preparation."
"Then Harry is really lucky to be able to learn from the wisdom of his predecessors."
Hermione said nonchalantly. They waited until the end of the class before she and Amanda walked out of the Potion Class classroom with Harry and Ron.
As soon as they walked out of the Potion Class classroom, Ron couldn't help but turn to look at Harry beside him, "Mate, when did you become a Potion genius?"
This is too unfair. We were supposed to be good classmates who both got Exceeds Expectations, but in the blink of an eye, my own mate has become a Potion genius?
"Of course I haven't," Harry rolled his eyes speechlessly, "Don't you know whether I have Potion talent or not?"
If it weren't for Amanda and Hermione helping him review, could he have gotten an Exceeds Expectations on his Potion Class O.W.L.s Exam? It would have been good enough just to scrape a Pass.
"Then how did you...?" Ron frowned, looking at Harry in confusion.
Harry looked left and right, grabbed Ron, and signaled for Amanda and Hermione to follow with his eyes.
Amanda and Hermione exchanged a glance and followed Harry to a corner nearby.
Carefully taking out that old potions book, Harry lowered his voice and said.
"It's this book. It has Potion preparation methods in it. Although they are different from what is written in the textbooks, the results are even better than what's in the book."
"Merlin, that sounds like Hermione's book." Ron said without thinking.
Hermione also rolled her eyes at him without hesitation, "Thank you for your compliment and trust, Ron."
"But this person's handwriting isn't very good, just like mine."
Harry smiled embarrassedly, opened the book to the page he had looked at today, and pointed to a line of small text on it.
Amanda, Hermione, and Ron all leaned in together to look at that line of small text.
It was flamboyant and messy—truly illegible. Amanda evaluated this line of text in her mind.
At the same time, her gaze finally locked onto a few of the letters. How could the technique of writing letters like E and P be exactly the same as Professor Snape's?
The notes from when Professor Snape graded her assignments appeared in her mind and slowly overlapped with the letters in Harry's book. The letters written in two different places slowly merged; they were exactly the same.
Amanda raised an eyebrow. There are indeed people in this world who can imitate others' handwriting, and some people's handwriting is very similar.
But to have it overlap completely, to be so identical that even she couldn't spot a single flaw—that is simply impossible.
Therefore, there is only one answer: this book previously belonged to Professor Snape, and the text that just guided Harry to make the Potion using a different method in class was written by Professor Snape.
However, it is obviously too early to draw a conclusion just by looking at these two places. "Harry, can you let me see this book?"
"Of course." As soon as Amanda finished speaking, Harry handed the potions book in his hand over.
Taking the potions book Harry handed over, Amanda flipped through it quickly. Her gaze swept over every note on every page, extracting individual letters to compare.
Very quickly, she reached the final conclusion: this book belongs to Professor Snape.
Furthermore, Professor Snape is truly worthy of being a genius in Potions. He gave improved methods for the preparation of almost every Potion in the book, and these methods, after being simulated by Amanda's brain, are all feasible.
Not only that, Amanda also found a few spells in this book that should be Professor Snape's own inventions.
Through these spells, Amanda could see that the personality of Professor Snape in his younger days must have been far less gloomy than it is now.
Because these spells could hardly be said to contain hidden sharpness; rather, they should be described as displaying a cutting edge.
Among them were relatively mild prank spells, as well as some more malicious prank spells; of course, there was also one spell that Amanda recognized immediately as Dark Arts.
She was also someone who could create many spells in her lower years, and even when facing spells she wasn't familiar with, she could quickly break and analyze them.
And this spell, Sectumsempra—tracing it from the spell language and observing it from the brain's simulation of the spell's effects—Amanda could confirm that this is a type of Dark Arts.
It can cause massive Dark Arts lacerations and must be treated with a specific counter-curse; otherwise, the person struck by the spell would simply bleed to death.
Looking at it this way... it seems the spells Professor Snape created were quite ruthless?
But the spells she created herself weren't much better, for that matter.
Both possessed great lethality. Still, as the saying goes, whether it is Dark Arts or ordinary magic, magic itself has no good or evil; the difference only lies in the person using it and the purpose for which it is used.
"This book should have been Professor Snape's." Amanda said, handing the Potions textbook back to Harry.
S-Professor Snape's?! Harry's hand trembled slightly as he took the book back, feeling that the book in his hand was suddenly both scorching hot and heavy.
Ron even subconsciously took two steps back. This really wasn't because they disliked Professor Snape or anything.
It was simply that both of them were terrified of Professor Snape. Just think about it: they, especially Harry, could almost be said to be the students Professor Snape disliked the most.
As it turned out, Professor Snape's student-era textbook had ended up in his hands. If Professor Snape found out, it would be considered restraint on Professor Snape's part if Harry was only found to have been poisoned by fifty types of Potions the next day.
"It's not that serious, it's just a book."
Amanda looked at Harry and Ron, unable to laugh or cry. It was true that almost all the Young Wizards at Hogwarts were very afraid of Professor Snape.
But it was just a book, not Professor Snape himself standing in front of them with a cold face. Did Harry and Ron have to be like this?
"Just a book?!"
Ron stared at Amanda with wide, disbelieving eyes, as if she hadn't just stated a fact, but was saying that Headmaster Dumbledore was dancing ballroom dance with Voldemort in the Great Hall.
"That's Professor Snape's book!" Thanks to Amanda and Hermione's persistent corrections and the heavy tomes they forced him to read, Ron had finally gotten completely used to always addressing Professor Snape with an honorific in daily life.
"If he finds out that Harry took his book and even used the notes in it to get praise and rewards in Potion Class..."
Ron said, shuddering violently, "Harry will definitely be turned into a Potion by him!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Harry nodded frantically from the side to show his agreement.
Listening to the two boys, the corner of Amanda's mouth twitched. Hermione, looking completely speechless, raised her hand and gave each of them a knock on the head.
"That's enough. Professor Snape isn't that kind of person; he even protected Harry when he was in his first year."
"Even if he really finds out that Harry took the textbook he used in class back then," Hermione paused here, then cleared her throat lightly, "he would only mock him a few times and give Harry a few detentions."
So he still wouldn't let him off easily, huh? Harry's breath hitched, and the good mood from Potion Class just now vanished instantly.
"Alright, alright," Amanda shook her head and reached out to pat Harry on the shoulder, "Anyway, Harry, you've already got this book, so just use it with peace of mind."
"Being able to improve your Potion level, why not do it? As for Professor Snape..."
Amanda deliberated for a moment, "If he finds out one day, you just honestly thank him. Thank Professor Snape for the notes that helped you improve your Potion Class grades, and then honestly apologize, saying that you really didn't know it was a book Professor Snape had used."
"Then say that if he wants it, you are willing to return the book to him."
Putting it this way ensures politeness towards Professor Snape and, to a certain extent, can ensure Harry doesn't suffer too much "hardship." This is the most appropriate and best method Amanda could think of.
"I think so too," Hermione nodded approvingly, "It's just right to improve your Potions level, Harry."
"Think about it, these are Professor Snape's notes, the notes of the currently youngest Potions Master in the world."
"How many people want to see them but can't? Yet you obtained them by a twist of fate. How rare."
"That's true," Harry took a deep breath, looked down at the potions book in his hand, and his expression became determined, "As long as I hold this potions book with Professor Snape's notes and learn Potions well, Professor Snape shouldn't be able to criticize me anymore, right?"
Er... Listening to Harry's mutterings, Amanda silently refuted it in her heart. You might be overthinking that, Harry.
Based on the analysis of Professor Snape's personality and behavior, perhaps he would indeed feel gratified that you successfully learned the Potions course by looking at his Potions notes, even if only a little bit.
But he would absolutely, absolutely never say it out loud, because that would be extremely inconsistent with his personality.
On the contrary, he would certainly mock you a couple of times. For example: "It seems our great Mr. Potter still needs to look at someone else's notes to learn his own Potions." Or, "Perhaps our great Mr. Potter doesn't have his own Potions notes, so he needs to borrow someone else's? It's just simple Potions, after all; how could it be worth our Mr. Potter's time and energy?"
Such words would certainly not be lacking. However, in order not to dampen the child's enthusiasm for learning, Amanda chose to keep quiet and pretend she hadn't thought of it.
However, warnings that needed to be given still had to be given, otherwise it would be over once something happened. "Harry, you must be careful. Professor Snape didn't just write Potion Class notes in this book; he also wrote some spells he created himself."
"Spells he created himself?" Harry froze for a moment, curiously opening the book and trying to find those spells.
"Yes, but they are all written quite discreetly. You can look for them yourself later. The other spells are acceptable, but there are two spells—Levicorpus might make others look foolish, so it's best not to use it on others in front of too many people. Of course, if the opponent is a Death Eater, then just pretend I didn't say anything."
Levicorpus? Making someone look foolish in public? Harry didn't quite understand. Would this spell have any special effect?
Before he could continue thinking about it, Amanda spoke again.
"There is also another spell, Sectumsempra. This is a type of Dark Arts spell that will cause Dark Arts wounds to the opponent. Without the corresponding counter-curse, the wounds cannot heal."
"It is very likely to cause the opponent to bleed to death. I suggest not using it on anyone except Voldemort and Death Eaters."
Gulp. Harry subconsciously swallowed. A Dark Arts spell that makes the opponent bleed to death? This... even if he were facing a Death Eater, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to use it.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.